Traditionally, a UX researcher conducted any needed research. This, however, has its drawbacks. There are far fewer researchers than designers, so the time it takes to gain insights is longer than it should be.

Democratizing research is the process of teaching designers and other professionals how to conduct tactical usability testing, understand what questions can and cannot be answered through research, and how to use secondary research to make informed design decisions.

As a User Experience Researcher I trained designers to:

• Use our unmoderated testing platform

• Locate and use Research best practices; how to remove bias and not ask leading questions

• Understand what kinds of questions are best answered through usability research

• Recruit research participants inclusively

In this role, I also attended design meetings to offer feedback on design challenges from a research perspective.  This made engaging research easier and kept the dialogue open and continuous. Additionally, I helped designers locate reputable secondary research and UX best practices, saving time and money.

Throughout the research democratization effort, we saw:

• Increased confidence in designers as they could conduct usability research on their designs.

• Faster delivery of designs

• Stronger relationships between research, design, and product

• Researchers had more time available to conduct impactful discovery research