Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on User Experience (UX) Research

Shah, S.; Jain, A.

The COVID-19 pandemic has globally impacted the world with both near-term and long-term damage. At an individual level the impacts were financially, mentally, physically, etc. which resulted in drastic behavior shifts. The majority of working professionals were permitted by the government, local authorities & the employers continue working from home (remote work) to avoid mass gatherings & maintain social distancing. Considering the user research professionals, conducting in-person user research and other qualitative studies became challenging, which has also impacted the working methodology of a user researcher. The primary goals of the study were to understand the impact of the pandemic on user research activities and identifying the challenges faced in various research stages by a user researcher. In this study, 57 user researchers (work experience ranging from 0 to 10+ years) participated by responding an online survey. Key themes emerged from the study such as ‘increase in effort to co-ordinate’, ‘exploration & usage of digital tools’, ‘scope & time-lines’, ‘virtual cross team collaboration’, and ‘challenges with participant recruitment’ [1]. The current context of a global pandemic presents challenges to the continuation of longitudinal studies [2]. Approximately 67% participants reported facing challenges in working remotely & conducting research. ‘Running & Execution (57.89%)’, ‘Planning (55.26%)’ and ‘Preparation (47.37%) were identified as the most challenging stages of research. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.