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name: user-research description: Design and conduct user research to understand needs, behaviors, and experiences. Use when user wants "journey mapping", "user interviews", "survey design", "usability testing", "user research", "customer discovery", "card sorting", "information architecture", "accessibility audit", "design critique", "prototype testing", "requirements gathering", "discovery phase", "validation phase", "research planning", or needs to understand users deeply. allowed-tools: Read

User Research - User Understanding Guide

Design research approaches that reveal what users actually need, do, and experience. Move from assumptions to evidence about your users.

Start Here

New to research? Read workflow/research-planning.md first.

Know what you need? Read workflow/phase-selection.md to find the right technique.

Quick Phase Reference

Phase	When	Techniques
Discovery	Don't know enough about users	Interviews, Journey Maps, Card Sorting
Validation	Testing if solution works	Prototypes, Usability, Surveys
Design	Shaping the output	Critique, Story Maps, Requirements
Compliance	Meeting standards	Accessibility Audit

Default: Start with Discovery interviews, use Validation surveys for scale.

Phase 1: Discovery

Goal: Understand users deeply before building anything.

Use Discovery when you don't know what users actually need, or need to understand the problem before solving it.

Technique	Best For	Read
Interview Design	Deep motivations, context, "why"	cookbook/discovery/interview-design.md
Journey Mapping	End-to-end experience, pain points	cookbook/discovery/journey-mapping.md
Card Sorting	User mental models, information architecture	cookbook/discovery/card-sorting.md

Triggers: "understand users", "what do they need", "pain points", "problem space", "discovery"

Phase 2: Validation

Goal: Test whether your solution works for users.

Use Validation when you have a design or prototype and need evidence that it works.

Technique	Best For	Read
Prototype Feedback	Early concepts, interaction design	cookbook/validation/prototype-feedback.md
Usability Testing	Task completion, real product	cookbook/validation/usability-testing.md
Survey Design	Quantitative data at scale	cookbook/validation/survey-design.md

Triggers: "test this design", "will it work", "validate", "feedback", "measure"

Phase 3: Design Support

Goal: Shape output with research-informed decisions.

Use Design Support when evaluating options, prioritizing features, or documenting constraints.

Technique	Best For	Read
Design Critique	Structured design feedback	cookbook/design/design-critique.md
User Story Mapping	Feature prioritization, MVP definition	cookbook/design/user-story-mapping.md
Requirements Gathering	Constraints, trade-offs, specs	cookbook/design/requirements-gathering.md

Triggers: "prioritize features", "what to build", "requirements", "critique", "constraints"

Phase 4: Compliance

Goal: Ensure the product meets standards.

Use Compliance when preparing for launch or ensuring inclusive access.

Technique	Best For	Read
Accessibility Audit	WCAG compliance, inclusive design	cookbook/compliance/accessibility-audit.md

Triggers: "accessibility", "WCAG", "inclusive", "a11y", "compliance"

Core Principles

1. Observe behavior, not just words - What people do often differs from what they say
2. Ask "why" and "show me" - Surface explanations hide deeper truths
3. Recruit the right users - Wrong participants = wrong insights
4. Separate research from validation - Don't seek confirmation of your ideas
5. Document and share - Insights locked in your head don't help the team

When User Research Works Best

• Building something new (discovery)
• Existing product isn't performing (diagnosis)
• Prioritizing features (evidence-based decisions)
• Resolving internal debates (let users decide)
• Before major investment (de-risk)

The Research Mindset

• Curiosity over confirmation: Seek to learn, not to prove
• Empathy over judgment: Understand their world, don't evaluate it
• Patterns over anecdotes: One user's opinion isn't data
• Action over analysis: Research should drive decisions