Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.
Log in Create free account100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.
A Genuine Conversation about the Future of UX Research
Summary
If you’ve followed LinkedIn of late, it’s clear that UX researchers are frustrated. They feel their work is undervalued, their strategic contributions are marginalized, and their jobs have been made redundant. Multiple fingers have been pointed in multiple directions, and—as you’d expect from social media—the discussion has often ended up in a decidedly sour place. In light of The big design freakout and the UX research reckoning, there is an important conversation to be had about the changing roles of research, design, and product, and where we go from here. In light of this, Rosenfeld’s Advancing Research community is hosting a panel of respected, collaborative, and opinionated experts from the disciplines/functions at the core of this changing dynamic: Jamika Burge, Teresa Torres, Robert Fabricant, Noam Segal, and Peter Merholz—to stop litigating the past, and engage in a positive, constructive conversation about the future of UX research. Panelists: Jamika Burge, Robert Fabricant, Noam Segal, Teresa Torres Moderated by: Peter Merholz
Key Insights
-
•
Aligning user research outcomes with business goals is critical for demonstrating research value.
-
•
AI offers opportunities for continuous discovery but raises concerns over bias and ethical transparency.
-
•
Democratizing research involves enabling non-researchers to conduct basic studies, freeing skilled researchers for complex tasks.
-
•
A mature organizational environment is necessary to successfully democratize research without sacrificing quality.
-
•
Research quality can be evaluated using reliability and validity concepts adapted from academia.
-
•
Not all research activities require advanced skills; even product managers can be trained in targeted, simple research types.
-
•
Organizational change management is as important as research execution for advancing user-focused practices.
-
•
The UX research community debates moving past the term 'democratization' to focus on evolving roles amidst technological change.
-
•
Measuring UX research value is complex because impact permeates across teams and is less quantifiable than engineering outputs.
-
•
Despite evolving roles and tools, there will always be a need for specialized, skilled researchers for longitudinal and rigorous studies.
Notable Quotes
"How do we show the value of the work that enables us to really advocate for the humans whom we are serving?"
"Building for humans is a huge challenge because humans are multi-layered, weird, and wonderful irrational creatures."
"If we are truly going to create customer-centric organizations, every single person needs firsthand exposure to customers."
"Democratization has been happening for over 20 years and it’s only going to keep happening."
"User research itself is not a single function but many disciplines that require integrity and stewardship."
"We need to move past the point of who does what and into how our roles are changing with technology."
"We know what is not good research, but defining and communicating what good research looks like is more challenging."
"The ultimate measure of our research is its impact—did we build the right thing and did it have the expected effect?"
"Organizational change management requires as much care and effort as executing good research."
"There is always more work to be done than we will ever be able to do, so enabling others to participate is beneficial."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Impact and influence have become buzzwords with no real meaning; we need to focus on making a difference."
Julie Norvaisas Pert Eilers Mina JonssonBack to basics, or start from scratch?
March 12, 2025
"The future was already here. It’s just not evenly distributed."
Daniel J. RosenbergDesigning with and for Artificial Intelligence
August 11, 2022
"Civic design is relatively new and spans all kinds of government agencies from federal and national down to tribal and local."
Louis Rosenfeld Bria AlexanderOpening Remarks
November 16, 2022
"Accessible design is not about shackles or lowest-common-denominator; it’s about building great, flexible experiences for everyone."
Sam ProulxAccessibility: An Opportunity to Innovate
June 8, 2022
"The black Buzz Rickson jacket came from a work of fiction by William Gibson and then was made real."
Matt WebbContext Window: Five Futures for AI
June 11, 2025
"We must create spaces that allow nature to thrive within our cities."
Lena ShenkarenkoCollaborative Wireframing for Creating Team Alignment and Shipping Better Products
October 21, 2020
"Executive air cover is having someone in a senior role who protects and supports the design team from other business pressures."
Dave GrayGroup Activity: Making Sense of DesignOps
November 7, 2017
"Going from 100 to 200 people, suddenly product managers started hearing from a dozen people a week with conflicting requests."
Shipra KayanHow we Built a VoC (Voice of the Customer) Practice at Upwork from the Ground Up
September 30, 2021
"We should think of AI as something that amplifies what we already are: if we think research is about impact, AI will help us understand and track it."
Llewyn PaineCoexisting with AI: A practical guide for researchers to navigate tools, ethics, and integration
March 11, 2025
