UX Eng – Research Picker

Find the most appropriate research methods to get insights for your aims and goals, fast.


Launch UX Eng Research Picker (Opens in a new window)


Version 2.0 (Beta) Updates – 26th May 2020

I’ve added some new features, to the Research Picker – this includes:

  • A simplified quick query mode, to find research methods faster.
  • Clear breakdowns of individual research methods.
  • Homepage icons optimised for iOS (looks great on your home screen)

It’s still a beta release, so there are some bugs – and a few pieces of detailed content still needs to be added, but it gives a good indication of what will drop shortly. Give it a go and I’d be grateful to hear more feedback.

What is it?

A very simple tool for narrowing down user research methods based on the criteria you specify. Want to discover an insight, but aren’t quite sure which plethora of research methods will be most useful to what you’re trying to uncover. This will help you very quickly understand and review the options.

Animation showing picker usage

Who’s it for?

Anyone who wants to obtain a user insight, but needs to review the options available – product managers, business analysts, UX architects, visual designers, user researchers, entrepreneurs and business owners. If you’re putting together an effective high-level product delivery strategy, this is something you can use to help review the research options at the different stages of your product development.

How does it work?

It’s a one page webapp – open the link, and follow the instructions. Bookmark it for easy access.

UX Eng Research Picker (Opens in a new window)

Optimised for both mobile, desktop and everything in-between.

What is it not?

It is not in any way designed to replace a research plan, but to give options with regards to the approaches that are available and can be taken.

It is not designed to be exhaustive, but more of a guide – to help steer you toward an insight led product development approach.

Wireframe of Research Picker ToolCan I add to it and enhance it?

Yes you can, i’ve uploaded the souerce code onto github, and anyone is welcome to fork it. It uses Foundation 6 and there are instructions on how to deploy and build it locally.

UX Eng Research Picker Git Hub Repository (Opens in a new window)

Why I made the Research Picker

As a UX Architect I’ve spent much of time speaking to stakeholders – from business and product owners to analysts, about research plans. Continually looking to gain the right insights for product development, that offers the most value and is most appropriate for the current phase of the product development cycle.

I wanted to empower product owners especially, to get a quick view of how to obtain those insights before a UX Architect or Researcher had been hired or consulted, so a clear research led approach was engrained from the outset.

After putting numerous variants of the multi-dimensional map outlined in the great NNG article “When to Use Which User-Experience Research Methods (Opens in a new window)” into stakeholder presentations about research plans; I thought why not make this easier to interrogate by non-UXers – and so the Research Picker was born.