Every Design Decision Deserves a Witness

We match the method to the question. Generative research (interviews, contextual inquiry, diary studies) uncovers needs before a solution exists. Evaluative research (usability testing, heuristic evaluation) checks whether a design works. Structural research (card sorting, tree testing) validates navigation and information architecture. Behavioral research (analytics review, surveys) adds scale to what smaller qualitative studies find.

For qualitative usability testing, five to eight participants per user segment typically surfaces the majority of usability problems, adding more participants mostly repeats the same findings. Quantitative or behavioral studies, such as surveys or analytics-based research, need larger samples because they are measuring rates, not patterns.

Both. Most usability testing and interviews run as moderated remote sessions over video call, which also makes recruiting a broader, more representative set of participants easier. In-person or contextual research is used when the environment itself matters: a clinical setting, a retail floor, or a warehouse, for example.

Either. We can recruit participants from your existing user base or, for research on a product still being validated, screen and recruit external participants who match your target audience through a structured screener.

Research is not limited to the start of a project. It runs before a redesign to identify what to fix, during design as a small-batch validation loop on early concepts, and after launch to measure whether a shipped change actually solved the problem it was meant to solve.

Market research generally asks whether people want a product and how large the opportunity is. UX research asks how people actually use a product or prototype, what confuses them, what they do without thinking, and where a specific flow breaks down. The two are complementary, not interchangeable.

A structured findings report tied to your original research questions, with prioritized, actionable recommendations, not just a transcript dump. Depending on the engagement, this can include session recordings, an affinity-mapped insight board, personas, journey maps, or a usability score such as SUS.

A focused usability test on an existing prototype can run one to two weeks end to end, including recruiting. A larger discovery study with interviews across multiple user segments typically runs three to five weeks. We scope timelines up front against the decision the research needs to inform.

Participants are recruited and consented under a clear research protocol before any session starts, recordings are stored securely and shared only with your team, and personally identifiable information is stripped from findings reports and the insight repository.

Both. Confirmatory research validates a decision already in motion, checking whether it will work before full investment, and is just as valuable as generative research that shapes a decision from scratch. Either way, findings are reported honestly, including when they contradict the original plan.

Share the decision you are trying to make: a redesign, a new feature, a flow with a high drop-off rate, or a product you are about to build without ever talking to a user. We will recommend the method that answers that question fastest and scope a plan around it.