research

Alternative jobs relevant to UX research and design

I was fairly intrigued by this little bit burried in a thread about the lack of employment opportunities for junior UX folk.

"Along with that, I would encourage you to broaden your search beyond pure UX roles. BA roles, product manager roles and other roles in technology, experience delivery, or an industry of interest can be a great platform of experience on which to biuild a career."

I'm curious if anybody can expand on this. A few specific questions to get the ball rolling:

What is the best way to merge qualitative and quantitative data?

Good Afternoon IXDA…

I could really use your expertise to help me answer this question…

The "magic place" between user research and design - tips & stories

Hi:

There is a "magic place" that exists between user research
(speaking with your users & stakeholders), taking all that goodness
and designing the product with that in mind and speaking to it.

Often, user research can fall into a chasm because there is no up
front thought put into how it can translate into the design.

So what has worked well for you?

For example:
* How do you translate findings from user research into design?
* What do you plan for up front in your user research to help
communicate your design?
* What do you use to tell a story around and to the design?
* H

International Usability Vendors?

Hello,

We are looking for vendors to conduct international usability studies in the UK, France and Germany with in-country participants and moderators who speak the language.  Has anyone used a vendor and been happy with the service and results that they have received?  Please let me know about the name of the vendor and the contact information.

Thank you,
Shima

Nice Research on Persona Effectiveness

I know that members on this list are dubious about using personas in
the design process.

Here's a nice, solid research paper by Frank Long at NCAD in Dublin
that shows how they can improve team dynamics:

> Real or imaginary: The effectiveness of using personas in the
> product design process.
>
> As you know, the use of personas as a method for communicating user
> requirements in collaborative design environments is well
> established.