Quantitative Research Methods for Growing Businesses and Organizations
While I’m not an analyst in any way, I’ve aggregated a list of my favorite methods for conducting Qualitative Research that has benefited my Design Process. These methods can help any business owner or organization feel more confident moving forward with proper design solutions in their industry.
As with any research project, first, you must identify the problem necessary to research alongside a clear statement of purpose. Unless you’re creating a hypothesis to confirm, develop this problem and statement without speculation on potential answers to the problem, allowing any secondary problems to develop and accompany your main research question.
Quantitative Research
Quantitative Research simplifies and provides evidence behind things, drawing specific conclusions from random samples. Quantitative is conducted in a statistical manner and is less theoretical than Qualitative Research.
I’ll be pulling summaries from the book Universal Methods of Design, created by Bella Martin and Bruce Hanington to properly characterize steps behind each of the Research Methods recommended.
LITERATURE REVIEWS
Literature reviews are an integral part of academic papers, but are also a useful component of any design project, to collect and synthesize research on a given topic.
References can include books, chapters, journals and magazine articles, theses and dissertations, corporate and academic websites and blogs. Organize the material by the topic or category researched, converging the information to focus the design.
A/B TESTING
Use A/B testing to compare two versions of the same design to see which one performs statistically better against a predetermined goal.
Run the test by randomly assigning different people down two separate paths, “A” and “B,” through a significant sample size. From the results, you should be able to determine which design was the most successful.
Small things to test: call-to-action buttons, headings, layout, graphics, and even color treatments. Testing options can be much more extensive when comparing user interface layouts.
SURVEYS
Surveys are a method of collecting self-reported information from people about their characteristics, thoughts, feelings, perceptions, behaviors, or attitudes.
These are best used to collect a lot of data in a short time frame. There are two approaches to conducting surveys: via interview and questionnaires.
There are various ways to conduct a survey:
Closed - forced choice with limited options
Open - broad to encourage discussion or longer answers
General - focus on big picture, broader issues
Specific - focus on details
Factual - those that can be verified by observation or supporting information
Hypothetical - when the participant speculates on behaviors and actions
Judgemental - when the participant answers through opinion
Comparative - comparing two alternatives
Request for suggestions - participant can suggest new ideas or opinions
Request for questions - participant can suggest questions that may have been overlooked
QUESTIONNAIRES
Questionnaires are survey instruments designed for collecting self-report information from people about their characteristics, thoughts, feelings, perceptions, behaviors, or attitudes, typically in written form.
Asking participants to rank the order of their choices by a five-point range from strongly agree to strongly disagree or any other numeric chart can help properly scale responses.
Pay careful attention to the question wording and response options to ensure unbiased answers and limited confusion.
USABILITY REPORT & TESTING
Usability Testing focuses on people and their tasks, and seeks empirical evidence about how to improve the usability of an interface.
Usability Testing is an evaluative method that allows teams to observe an individuals’ experience with a digital application as the participant walks through the steps of a given task or set of tasks. This allows a team to identify any frustrations that may surface so that they can prioritize and enhance the interface design.
WEB ANALYTICS
Web Analytics are a gateway for your organization to become deeply invested in what your customers are doing online, and why.
Use any type of digital analytics for a more realistic picture of what users are doing when they visit your site or your social platforms.
Martin, Bella, and Bruce Hanington. Universal Methods of Design: 100 Ways to Research Complex Problems, Develop Innovative Ideas, and Design Effective Solutions. Rockport Publishers, 2012.
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