A recent survey conducted by EnjoyHQ, an
organisation assisting in UX Research and
testing, reported insights on how UX teams
were affected by the disruption of the
pandemic. The survey revealed that 31% of the
designers and design researchers were already
in stages of going completely remote even
before the pandemic and 21% of the sample
claimed to have already adapted to remote
work for a while. However, the other 40%
expressed a negative affirmation to remote
work experiences prior to the pandemic. The
survey then highlighted one of the major
challenges faced by 34% of researchers, which
was the unpredictability of user behaviour and
perceptions since Covid-19. Another crucial
disruption that many professionals revealed
was the psychological impact the pandemic
would have on them such as the possibility of
downsizing, reduced clientele, and disrupted
funding. Nevertheless, this time has also
opened up new opportunities for crisis
intervention (Quintero, 2020).
Conducting User Research during Covid-19
The crisis indefinitely affected the way design
teams work, especially for researchers but it is
not impossible to adapt to the situation. The
world is changing and the responsibility of a
user researcher is to observe, unwind,
understand, and translate these changes,
needs, and pain points into curating
appropriate designs for the present-day
context. There are still certain best practices,
tools, and methods designers can adopt to
conduct an effective user research, even with
the limitations of the pandemic.
Empathy- Now, More than Ever!
Empathy has always been the go-to ‘mantra’
for a UX designer and researcher to deeply
understand users’ behaviours, motivations, and
thought processes. This life skill has helped
designers innovate and design products of
necessity and of high value. The
unpredictability of the crisis is and going to be a
major factor influencing consumer behaviour
and researchers have to be comparatively more
intuitive and empathic as opposed to the prepandemic
times. We have to take into account
the users’ behaviour, emotional response,
decision-making processes with respect to
perceptions of safety, affordability, accessibility,
and sociability. Moreover, this time can also
seem a bit more tedious than the previous UX
research projects as the recruitment of user
participants might not be as simple. The users’
mental models and openness to interact with
the researchers have to be taken into
consideration and researchers must ensure that
the potential participants are not forced into their
work. It is also highly important to understand
that while every individual may not respond the
same way to the crisis, they may not be
completely different either. The main task for
user research, even with the limitations of the
pandemic. an organisation, due to the crunch of
time, money, and resources (Ardill, 2020). Due
to the financial crisis, many design agencies
and organisations experienced postponement or
cancellation of existing projects, client
withdrawals, and delay in product development
and launch (Khemsurov, 2020).
A recent survey conducted by EnjoyHQ, an
organisation assisting in UX Research and
testing, reported insights on how UX teams
were affected by the disruption of the pandemic.
The survey revealed that 31% of the designers
and design researchers were already in stages
of going almost/completely remote even before
the pandemic and 21% of the sample claimed to
have already adapted to remote work for a
while. However, the other 40% expressed a
negative affirmation to remote work experiences
prior to the pandemic. The survey then
highlighted one of the major challenges faced
by 34% of researchers, which was the
unpredictability of user behaviour and
perceptions since Covid-19 was unanticipated
phenomenon. Some design researchers also
stated that it is supposedly quite challenging to
adapt to the changes in executing research
during this time, adding to the fact that they are
juggling home and work simultaneously. Another
crucial disruption that many professionals
revealed was the psychological impact the
pandemic would have on them such as the
possibility of downsizing, reduced clientele, and
disrupted funding. Nevertheless, there are 2
sides to every coin and so, apart from the nailbiting
challenges the designers and researchers
are experiencing, it has also opened new
opportunities for crisis intervention (Quintero,
2020).
“Working remotely might be the new norm, but
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