Module Descriptors
USER RESEARCH
COMP40075
Key Facts
Digital, Technology, Innovation and Business
Level 4
20 credits
Contact
Leader: Robin Oldham
Hours of Study
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities: 34
Independent Study Hours: 24
Total Learning Hours: 58
Pattern of Delivery
  • Occurrence A, Stoke Campus, UG Semester 1
Sites
  • Stoke Campus
Assessment
  • PRESENTATION (GROUP WITH INDIVIDUAL COMPONENTS weighted at 100%
Module Details
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Apply current UX research tools and techniques to describe and document users for a given context

Problem Solving, Application


Apply established approaches to gather requirements for a given context using current techniques and tools, working individually and as a team

Application


Document a service design flow for a given context

Application, Problem Solving


Analyse results from chosen techniques to evaluate the users and requirements for a given context

Analysis

ADDITIONAL ASSESSMENT DETAILS
Presentation (group with individual components) (LO 1-4)

Production of plan for the project, with dates and team roles

Create Personas for a given context

Create a questionnaire to discover information on concepts

Analyse the results of the questionnaire

Use other research techniques to inform the user analysis and service design

Present (live):

your ideas for service design and user journey

the final target audience users

the requirements for the system

the service design flow

how each person contributed

you have discovered about the users and the service and how you undertook the process

what further research would be needed and how this would be carried out,

INDICATIVE CONTENT
User research frameworks

User stories

LSEPI issues

What are requirements? – functional, non-functional, content

Requirements gathering – users, business, stakeholders

Questionnaires for requirements gathering

interviews, workshops, focus groups, contextual inquiry, competitor analysis

Field Research / in the wild studies

Observations

Active Listening

Conceptual modelling

Discovering the users – target markets

Personas

Users, Journey maps, service blueprint and service design

Product design ideation
WEB DESCRIPTOR
User research frameworks guide the structured investigation of user needs and behaviours. User stories capture user requirements from their perspective. Requirements encompass functional (what the system should do), non-functional (how it should perform), and content requirements. This module will help you develop the tools to gather these requirements which will include learning how best to engaging users, businesses, and stakeholders through questionnaires, interviews, workshops, focus groups, field research, contextual inquiries, and competitor analysis.

Once the analysis is complete you will develop user journey maps and service blueprints to define the user experience and service design touchpoints. Product design ideation follows, ensuring solutions align with user needs and gathered requirements, promoting a user-centred design approach.
LEARNING STRATEGIES
This will be taught in 4 sprints. Students will be required to read around the subject between sprint weeks, using guided sources.



The pattern of sprints will replicate the terminology and the ethos of how UX teams work in industry.



There will be a welcome day for all modules in that term on the first day of the first sprint.



Each sprint will have 1 day (7 hours) of contact totalling 28 hours, plus 6 hours online throughout the module, so 34 hours in total.



Contact will be a combination of workshops, lectures and guest seminars facilitating individual and group work.
TEXTS
Marsh, S (2022) User Research: Improve Product and Service Design and Enhance Your UX Research Publisher ¿ : ¿ Kogan Page; 2nd edition



Buley, L, Natoli, J (2024) The User Experience Team of One- 2nd Edition Publisher ¿ : ¿ Rosenfeld Medai LLC; 2nd edition
RESOURCES
https://www.interaction-design.org/

https://www.nngroup.com/