Qualitative Research

27 Aug

Posted at 21:34h in Market Research, Qualitative Research, Quantitative Research, Research

As August ends and autumn approaches, companies, and schools across the country are preparing for a return to business as usual.

Now two years out from the initial disruption of the pandemic, many workplaces are seeing a return to “pre-pandemic” routines like mandated in-person work and school programs. With a slow return to life as we used to know it, combined with a significant drop in national unemployment and an employee-friendly hiring market, it seems like a promising time to be a young professional beginning a career in research.

Equally promising is the wave of recent interest and growth in UX research. Life in quarantine spurred innovation in tech and media design that opened new possibilities of inquiry and investigation for UX research. With the research market evolving rapidly, it is worth considering – what makes a good researcher? And how can young researchers pursue a career in UX research?

Each research team may be looking for something a little different, and there are countless different ways to pursue a career in research. But whether you are interested in statistical analytics or immersive ethnography, these four tips may help you hone your targets in the job hunt.

1. Identify your skills

Whether a researcher has a background in humanities, social sciences, or STEM, all researchers possess a unique set of skills and a wealth of knowledge that they will contribute to a research team. Consider what sets of knowledge you have acquired throughout your academic and professional career. Everything you have experienced, whether it was an intensive graduate program, unpaid internship, part-time job, or one-off volunteer opportunity, has given you a unique perspective that you can leverage and apply to your research process. Do not sell yourself short for having a resume that may not match those around you – all experience is good experience, even those that may seem like they aren’t directly relevant to your field.

The emotional intelligence and consumer familiarity acquired from working years in customer service can be just as useful in a research setting as academic expertise acquired in a Ph.D. program. The best researchers know how to recognize value and insight from the everyday life experiences of not just others, but themselves as well.

2. Identify your passions.

Pursuing a career in research means you are pursuing a career in endless exploration. Every economic sector, nonprofit, and government branch needs research to function and grow. When considering a career in research, remember that the opportunities for research are endless – so you should make sure you apply for jobs in an area that truly speaks to you and your passion. Identify what social issues, industry sectors, or creative interests are most important to you. Chances are, there’s a company within that sector that needs research.

3. Identify your potential for growth.

Career building is an ongoing, dynamic process with many small decisions along the way that contribute to what will become your overall lived experience. When looking for a career in research, ask yourself in what ways you would like to grow. Do you want to work alongside designers to create and perfect ideas at one particular company? Or do you want to be on the research vendor side, leading many different projects across a variety of industries? The research positions you seek out should not just reflect your interests, but also offer an opportunity for your growth as a researcher. The types of routines, co-workers, and topics that stimulate you the most may be indicative of what industries and work settings would be the best fit. Be curious, and reach out to industry professionals who could offer insight. Considering how you think you may contribute to a team and the ways in which you could grow within it is essential.

4. Market yourself!

You may have noticed the last three steps were all about reflection. While you may not need to know exactly what you want to do in research, you do need to have a deep understanding of yourself and who you are. Hiring is a two-way experience – employees and employers need to have a significant understanding of who they are and their potential contribution to the other. In pushing yourself to identify who you are and what you bring to the table, you are practicing articulating those qualities. Self-expression is half the battle in job hunting, so be vocal! Share what makes you unique as a researcher, what research philosophies speak to you the most, and why you see value in gathering and sharing knowledge.

As the research industry blossoms alongside a recovering economy, know that the possibilities for growth as a researcher have never been more expansive and exciting. In using these tips to reflect and grow, we hope that your journey in research remains expansive and exciting as well.

By Charlotte Beatty.

Charlotte Beatty is a User Experience Researcher at Fluent, where she specializes in qualitative research design, implementation, and analysis.

21 Jul

Posted at 23:49h in Children, Kids, Media, Methodology, Qualitative Research, Research

Digital contexts are becoming more prevalent in children’s lives than ever before, fueled in part by the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to move various aspects of children’s lives online*. Since human development is a holistic and dynamic process between the developing person and his or her context* and children develop in positive and healthy ways when their strengths are combined with the strengths of their contexts, we have an opportunity as researchers to bring this framework to the changing landscape of children’s lives.

What has become apparent in our company’s recent requests for proposals, is that there is a lack of fit between the knowledge and experience of many designers and the developmental needs and abilities of children. This lack of fit signals a fundamental problem, and an opportunity, given the growing presence of digital technology as a context for children’s development. The virtual world is a new frontier and there has been a land rush of companies looking to stake their claim flag.  This rapid growth has seemed to create holes in the capabilities of these frontier companies. More precisely, the talent needed to design for adults does not adequately translate to designing for kids. In the absence of comprehensive knowledge about child development, current designers may err in using themselves or those close to them as the markers of success and/or “normality”.

“We all have a blind spot and it’s shaped exactly like us.” – Junto Diaz, Author

Short of extensive training in child development, designers can utilize a few central rules of thumb when designing for kids. Keeping these in mind will go a long way to minimizing, or at least acknowledging, our biases:

1) All humans are whole. Sometimes by necessity, we need to zoom in and focus on a specific part of children’s development, such as their literacy level or their ability to swipe on a tablet. But it is important to understand those parts within the context of the whole developing person. We then need to further adjust our lens to view that person as situated within a dynamic relationship with his or her context.

2) There is no ‘typical’ child. Much of what we know and have studied about children is approximations that are gathered from information that has been averaged over large groups from mostly Westernized societies. Expectations about children should be considered approximations that can get you close to understanding.

3) All households are different. A common mistake is to view children’s development as unfolding in a vacuum. Rules and expectations differ greatly by household and are driven by cultural, situational, and practical factors. Just because a child is developmentally capable of something does not mean that they will do it.

4) Child development is less linear than it appears. Because development is an iterative process, there are often regressions that ebb and flow with progressions. Development of a skill or competency may occur steadily over time or rapidly in spurts. While many abilities get better over time, it is not always the case.  Some abilities, like attention span increase gradually over time during childhood while other capacities, like learning a new language, decrease over time. Other aspects of development, like identity development, are latent during younger years and then rapidly develop.

If there is one mantra that we could recommend to all designers and those thinking about how to best support kids, we would strongly offer this:

“Every [child] is like all other [children], some other [children], and no other [child].” – Kluckhohn & Murray, Anthropologist & Psychologist

By Dan and Amy Warren.

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1*Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children. UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti, Florence, 2022.

*Lerner, R. M., Lerner, J. V., Almerigi, J., Theokas, C., Phelps, E., Gestsdóttir, S. Naudeau, S., Jelicic, H., Alberts, A. E., Ma, L., Smith, L. M., Bobek, D. L., Richman-Raphael, D., Simpson, I., Christiansen, E. D., & von Eye, A. (2005). Positive youth development, participation in community youth development programs, and community contributions of fifth-grade adolescents: Findings from the first wave of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development. Journal of Early Adolescence, 25(1), 17-71.

 

21 Jun

Posted at 15:08h in Employee News, Market Research, Qualitative Research, Quantitative Research

We’re excited to welcome two new team members to Fluent Research. Amber Gonzalez is a Quantitative Researcher and Charlotte Beatty is a User Experience Researcher.

Prior to joining Fluent, Amber worked at EDC’s Center for Children and Technology as a field researcher and at NYU School of Medicine’s Student Health Service, where she leveraged data-driven insights to expand mental health services for medical students.

Charlotte recently graduated from Boston University, where she studied the anthropology of health and medicine. For her undergraduate academic research, Charlotte designed and conducted an investigation into aspirations for marriage and family among Gen Z young adults. Check out Amber and Charlotte’s full bios on our website.