Reimagining research: What does the field need to grow? [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]

Key Insights

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  Cross-cultural research reveals significant gaps as many products overlook local norms, especially in Asia-Pacific, leading to mismatched user experience.

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  Researchers must question if they are the right person to conduct research in a given culture to ensure ethical and accurate data collection.

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  UX research teams often operate in silos, missing opportunities for collaboration with product management, growth, and customer-facing teams.

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  Knowledge repositories designed for researchers rarely meet the actual needs of the broader organization, limiting adoption and impact.

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  Continuous data collection without curation reduces research impact; researchers should focus on storytelling and framing insights relevant to specific organizational contexts.

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  Building relationships with stakeholders is crucial for research influence and credibility, often more than presenting data alone.

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  Researchers should actively follow how insights are interpreted and applied throughout product development rather than seeing their job as done after handing off findings.

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  There is value in embedding cultural intelligence into product development processes rather than relying on static cultural playbooks.

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  Recruitment for user research in underrepresented regions requires leveraging local networks and researchers to diversify participant pools.

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  Training stakeholders on research methods is less effective than demonstrating the value of insights through direct project partnership and collaboration.

Notable Quotes