Introduction
User stories were originally developed for agile software development. Nowadays, we use them more widely, and any discipline can make use of them.
Different types of research
Broadly speaking, user research encompasses:
- Generative research – carried out to establish insights (e.g. surveys, depth interviews, ethnography, competitor reviews, diary studies and analysis of existing information sources)
- Evaluative research – carried out to test solutions. Please see the article on User testing for more on this.
Making our research inclusive
By including people with disabilities in our research we know that anything we learn will reflect and do justice to the diverse abilities, circumstances, and backgrounds of our actual users. We will have also created an inclusive design foundation on which the rest of the project can be built.
Here are some ways to make sure our research is inclusive:
- when conducting face-to-face research, set a target to include at least 1 participant in 12, who represent an extra need or disability
- nominate someone in the team to lead on inclusive research – championing and checking-in to make sure it’s present at every touchpoint
- start building a bank of contacts for potential recruits with differing needs
- assess the accessibility of tools you’re using if you’re sending out something like a survey or interview online.
When planning a project, allow extra time for recruiting a wide range of participants.
Common obstacles
“We can’t get recruits with different needs in time!”
It takes more time to conduct research with different needs. But, this needs to be addressed at the outset. If we don’t do it now, we’ll have to backtrack later down the line anyway.
Two recruitment companies with expertise in inclusive research recruitment are:
- Amber-light https://www.amber-light.co.uk
- Bunnyfield https://www.bunnyfield.com/needparticipants/
In addition, try putting an advert in Disability Rights UK newsletter which is shared by a large number of organisations
“We don’t have the right tech to do that research…”
Then let’s go about getting it. In the meantime, we can conduct research in external labs, or ask users to use their own tech.
Things to check
- Included in your research:
- at least 1 in 12 participants with an different access needs?
- participants who need support to use the product or service? (e.g. a screen reader, rich media transcripts, browser magnifier, keyboard or speech only use).
- participants with a situational or temporary impairment, low digital literacy or mental health issues
- Wherever possible, made sure participants are using their own assistive technology?
- Chosen an accessible location?
- Only used accessible tools to connect and communicate with participants before or during research?
Resources / external links
- Running research sessions with people with disabilities (GSD)
- Understanding users who don’t use digital services (GDS)
- Better Accessibility Needs User Research (UIE)
- User research for government services: an introduction (GDS)
- What we learned doing user research with people who have access needs (GDS)
Inclusive research recruitment companies:
- Amber-light https://www.amber-light.co.uk
- Bunnyfield https://www.bunnyfield.com/needparticipants/
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