How I overcame my anxieties of conducting research
Do researchers also get nervous? Yes, it's quite possible and not very difficult to conquer.
While learning about User Research, we do come across a lot of articles on how to moderate studies, how to nail the craft of making your users feel comfortable and the dos and don’ts of conducting research. But not much of attention is given to the nature of the Researcher itself, the kind of person you are and how to stay calm during your research sessions.
What if you are shy or an introvert or super awkward while interacting with people for the first time?
The way we conduct our research is deeply connected to our personality. As we plunge into studying people’s experiences and actions, we need to expose ourselves to their personality and make them feel relaxed while doing so. We are like therapists, keeping our users calm and remodelling a designed study into a positive interaction. In this process, however, we tend to neglect our fears and emotions.
The above sketch note is a clear flashback of when I conducted my first user study of my career. While everyone else in my team was excited about me conducting my first research, I was having a nervous breakdown. There was a lot of pressure as I thought people would judge me or I would mess up and most importantly, I feared failure.
But when you have a user in front of you, chances are they must be going through a similar nerve-wracking thought process. I didn’t realise back then that this scenario had a term to it. This is called the Spotlight Effect.
The biggest thumb rule of research is to make our users feel comfortable. However, I wish someone made researchers feel the same while conducting the study.
So here are some pieces of advice that helped me keep a fear check and be mentally prepared before a user study:
1. Exercise the Art of Planning
Understand what you are looking for in your research, speak to your stakeholders and get aligned with the goal of the research
This process also includes the easily neglected yet very important Discussion Guide or a Questionnaire.
A guide helps you stay connected with what questions you want to ask or probe and once you have that in place, you have a pretty good map so you don’t get lost in your session.
Treat it like a torch that would help you get through a dark mine.
2. Take Pilot sessions as your Life Jacket
You can be a researcher with a few months of experience or someone with 5 years and 1000 sessions under your belt — Pilots or Dry runs will always make you grow confident with your script. It helps you manage the friction points and ensure a smooth and productive session.
Pilot sessions can be conducted with office colleagues outside the core team so that you can identify ways to adapt with different users, their personalities and fix the situation on the go.
Treat it like a rehearsal before the big play and work with improvisations.
3. Put the person first…Always!
Research is never about the researcher, it’s about what you are studying and even more, about the person sitting right in front of you and don’t forget they are human beings too!
A friend once told me, “The user always wants to feel that they are important and are here to help you improve. Provide them that opportunity to feel that way.”
Treat the entire session as a casual conversation, getting to understand the person better, relating to their problems and providing them with a platform to act as change-makers. As researchers, we need to care about what they have to say, what they feel and how they behave rather than being overwhelmed by our fears. Best way to start this is by just Listening and observing!
Connect rather than just question (it helps you calm yourself at times).
4. In Practice, there is every opportunity for skill
When I wanted to venture out into this field, I did two important things:
- I observed every research session possible conducted by my seniors and colleagues and just examined the way they executed the plan. I made self notes of what to do and what not to do as well.
- I took the support and mentorship of Senior researchers and ex-colleagues (Thanks Nikita Chandawale & Apoorva Ghanekar) who made me conduct practice sessions with the team giving me feedback and advice at every stage (sometimes getting frustrated too 😜).
Small opportunities pave the way to improve as a moderator, as an observer and as a listener :)
5. Befriend Uncertainty
Ambiguity, uncertainty and unpredictability are stressful boundaries to be in. But trust me, these factors are just some of the superpowers of UX Researchers, helping us get through any situation. The more you be on field conducting studies, the more experience you will gain in handling anything that goes out of hand. And, don’t shy off in asking for help when you’re stuck.
It’s all a learning process and you can do this!
Was conducting every single user session a piece of cake? Nah, Not at all. There were periods of disappointment, frustrations, stress and Oh! I could have done better… but this whole experience has made me realise my weakness, get comfortable with it and mould it to shape my strengths.
So for anyone considering to be a researcher but can’t get rid of those butterflies, I hope this helps you steer your way through it. Relax, calm down and sip some nice green tea before starting your research and just go with it :)
Happy Researching, Folks! :)
