Ep 2. Teacher Turned UX Researcher: Job Overview and Transferable Skills

Ever wondered how a teacher's expertise could unlock the potential of tech products? I'm here to enlighten you! As a former educator now thriving in the realm of UX (User Experience) Research, I share my journey and insights on how teaching skills are not only transferable but also vital in understanding and enhancing user experiences, especially within an EdTech company. From collaborating with product teams to diving into users' behaviors, this episode unpacks the essentials of a UX Researcher's role, and I detail a real-life project cycle that reveals the striking similarities between refining research and crafting lesson plans. Tune in for an engaging look at how your knack for communication and collaboration can be your passport to a fulfilling career transition.

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Transcript

Narrator: 0:01

Welcome to the UX Teacher Prep podcast, the ultimate destination for educators who aspire to break into the field of user experience and product design. Your host, z Arnold, a 15-year teacher turned UX researcher, is here to guide, coach and mentor you through every twist and turn as you make your career transition into tech. If you're ready for a more satisfying career and lifestyle and you want the balance to unleash your creativity, this podcast is for you. Now for the show.

Zee: 0:30

Hello teacher friends, coach Z here, and today's episode is all about UX research. So after I transitioned to my job as a UX researcher, it actually took a while for me to put what I do into words, to explain it to my family members and my friends, because everyone kind of knows what teachers do to an extent, but UX research seems so mysterious and I get this question a lot in my DMs on Instagram, like what is a UX researcher? What exactly does a UX researcher do? And so today I'm going to pull back the curtain and uncover the mystery of what it's like to be a UX researcher. So, first of all, the UX in UX researcher stands for user experience At a high level. The job of a UX researcher is to work with product design teams to understand how people interact or might interact with the company's products. We study their behaviors and motivations and uncover their friction points while using the products, and we do that by using different methods like user interviews, usability tests, eye tracking, focus groups and many other methodologies. So some companies use the title design researcher or product researcher instead of UX researcher, but essentially it's the same thing. Every company runs their organization differently, but my goal in explaining my UX research process to you is threefold One, to give you an idea of what the actual role and responsibilities look like. Two, to help you see that teachers have lots of transferable skills that carry over to UX research. And three, to help you decide if this is a good career path for you to pursue. So a lot of times you'll see on YouTube or on Instagram where people will post a day in the life of a UX researcher or a day in the life of XYZ role right, and I feel like for UX research it's similar to teaching, where every day is a little bit different. It's not going to be any one day that's exactly the same as the previous day. So, depending on what you're working on and where you are in your cycle of work, a UX researcher's day will look different from day to day. So, just like as a teacher, your work might look different at different parts of the marking period or semester, like you might be working on pre-assessments for the first week and then focusing on planning and gathering feedback about students for the next week, and then on to assessing and preparing to enter report card grades or write up progress reports for your students, ux research is similar in that way. So I'm going to map it out in terms of a full project cycle.

Zee: 2:56

So this is what my cadence looks like as a UX researcher at an ed tech company, an educational technology company. So the cycle for me is one research project, which usually lasts about six weeks give or take, and then I basically repeat the same cycle again for each project that I'm working on. So week one is the project kickoff. So once a product team or another team decides that they need research on something that they're working on whether it's a website, an app or a specific report or part of a specific app or website they would usually contact the UX research team and then we send out a project brief template for them to complete. So sometimes we are the ones who receive the project and sometimes we're the ones who kind of scope out projects and decide where UX research needs to be done. And if I'm embedded on the team, I'm usually the one to identify the research opportunities for that team, as I'm sitting in on meetings and hearing about the projects that they're working on.

Zee: 3:54

Once I get the information about the research I need to conduct, I'm going to go ahead and I set a meeting with stakeholders to understand what their research goals are. So I'm trying to understand the background of the project, any previous studies that the project is built on, what have we learned in the past from those studies, if any, and just trying to really get a good understanding of what exactly it is that the team wants to find out in this research study. Sometimes it may take up to a week to really get a good idea of what's going on in the research. So I may have to do some desk research, some secondary research, just looking at different literature reviews and academic context to understand the problem fully before we get into the actual research sessions. So it all depends on what the big problem is that the team is trying to solve, and the goal here is just to get a lay of the land so I have a better understanding of the project I'm working on.

Zee: 4:40

So now, moving on to week two, it's time to refine the research questions, and this is where writing skills are super important for this role. So I was an English teacher, so this was very helpful for me because I was able to use my skills and writing and editing to be able to carve out those research questions and refine them very carefully. And this is also the time to decide on the best method for research. So it's up to the UX researcher to decide what the research questions are going to be at the end of the day. So the stakeholders would originally come up with a few questions that they think they want answered and then the UX researcher would go back and refine those questions and make them make sense for the project that they're working on.

Zee: 5:21

And just to take a step back into the weeks that I'm explaining here. I know I'm explaining this by weeks, but depending on the organization you work in, this might be truncated into a shorter period of time. So this might be a three day part or this might be a two day part. So it all depends on how fast and how agile your company is and how quick they're moving through the research. We tend to do things not slowly, but we tend to do things not so fast. So once we're doing some kind of quick sprint, so it does take us a little bit more time to get the research done. But it all depends on the timeline as well. So, just like with teaching, if you were given a scoping sequence to teach something for a certain class, it might take you a week to teach this topic For another class. It might take you three days to teach this topic. Another class might take you one day, right, and so just think about it in that way.

Zee: 6:09

I'm giving each section of this process a week, but it can be more or less give and take. So, going back to that week two or step two, it's also up to the UX researcher to decide what method of research is going to be conducted. So sometimes a team will come to you and say, okay, we want to do usability testing or we want to do eye tracking, but that might not necessarily be the best type of research for this particular project. So it's up to the UX researcher to really have that sense of understanding and be able to look at the entire project, look at the goals and the research questions and decide what the best method is based on all that information. And the other part of that is really understanding what stage of the design process you're in and considering the type of insights that are required for this research. All those things will help you to determine the best method for research.

Zee: 7:01

So it's time to go back to the stakeholders and talk to them about a few other things. So the first thing is the recruitment parameters. So the recruitment parameters is basically understanding who's the target audience we need to speak to, who are they looking to hear from and where are we going to be recruiting those people from? Is it going to be internally? Is it going to be externally? So, depending on the organization, you may or not have a specific team that works on research operations. At my organization we have a special recruitment team that works on research operations, so I don't necessarily get into the weeds of the research. So the other thing we need to talk about is the actual prototype that we're going to be testing. So at this point we would do a walkthrough of the prototype and see if there's any glitches or anything that may come up in the sessions that might cause any type of friction with the user, and work all those kinks out before we actually get into the testing. And the final thing we need to discuss is the timeline, so understanding when they need the key findings and insights by and things of that nature. So all those things need to be discussed in those initial meetings with the stakeholders.

Zee: 8:05

Okay, so by now you're probably thinking who I have to meet with a lot of different people. Yes, ux research is a very collaborative role. So if you're looking into being a UX researcher, understand that there are going to be times when you're going to be collaborating with a lot of different people, but then there's also going to be times when you're going to be having heads down time and working by yourself. So I feel like it's a pretty decent balance between the two. But just understand that one of the big skills you need is collaboration skills being able to collaborate with different cross-functional teams and I feel like this is one of the strengths that teachers have is teachers meet with parents, teachers meet with students, with administrators, with superintendents so many different people that we come into contact with and we have to basically explain student data and explain how we're advocating for students and all those things. So teachers definitely have the ability to collaborate with different teams and the ability to break things down in different ways. So when you land your UX research role, if you're a remote researcher, then you should expect to be in online meetings for a good amount of time, whether in Zoom or Teams or whatever platform your organization uses, and if you're in person, expect to have a lot of face time with other cross-functional team members. Ux researchers work with product managers, designers, developers, engineers, ux writers, content designers, so expect to have a lot of meeting time with other people. But don't worry, you teach 30, 40, 50, 120 students per day, with all different personalities and different learning styles. So you got this Week three, or step three would be recruitment slash, creating your discussion guide. So these two things kind of work together. So both of them are happening at the same time, at least at my company, just because we have a separate team that is responsible for recruitment operations, and so the UX researcher can continue to work on their process while the recruitment is happening.

Zee: 10:02

Writing skills are also important here, because you're going to need to create a clear and concise screener with questions that you want answered to identify exactly how you're going to pull in for this study. You have to make sure you get the right participants, because if you don't get the right people, then you don't get the right insights. So while I'm creating a discussion guide or protocol to be used with my participants, think creating an interview outline. Writing skills are also crucial for this part of the job as well. I have to think about being clear and concise, and I like to say different words because different companies call it different things and I want to make sure you understand the language. So it could be called a discussion guide, it could be called a protocol, it could be called a moderator's guide. Those are the three main ones.

Zee: 10:45

So, while you're creating that for your sessions let's say you're going to have interview sessions or you're going to have usability sessions for an hour each, understand that when you create that, it has to go through several iterations and then even going back to stakeholders for a final review. So your work is going to be on stage and it's not something that I want you to be afraid of. It's something that you have to understand. That part of UX design and the work that happens in user experience and in the product world there's a lot of iterations. Think of the iPhone right, it went through many different iterations and it's still going through more iterations. And so it's the same thing with your work.

Zee: 11:21

As a UX researcher, ux designer, ux writer. You really have to think about improving, improving, improving, making it better each time. So let me give you an example. So when you're doing a lesson plan, let's say you teach first period, second period and eighth period. When you teach the lesson first period you're just getting an idea of how students are reacting, maybe little things you need to tweak. By the time you get to second period, you change up some things and you're like, okay, this turned out better than first period. By the time you get to eighth period, you've mastered how you're going to be teaching that lesson right and you're just laying it all out there for the students, even though eighth period students might be going a little bit crazy. But you've kind of mastered what you're doing because you've iterated on that lesson plan a few times before you actually deliver it the way you wanted to deliver it. So it's the same thing with this. What I really want to get across to you in this stage while recruitment is happening, you're also creating your discussion guide is be ready to have your work critiqued by others, be ready to have your writing edited, changed, fixed. There's going to be a constant revision, so the idea of it is revise, revise, revise. Continue to work on it throughout the entire process.

Zee: 12:27

All right, folks, so we're at weeks four and five, or step four and five, and this is my favorite part, and this part is called fielding. This is the actual time that you are engaged in the research study that you are doing. So this is when you're going to be either doing interviews, diary studies, eye tracking, hard sorting, usability tests whatever method you decided to use for this project. This is when you're actually going to be face to face with users or potential users of the product. So, again, my work is remote, so I'm screen to screen, I'm on Zoom, I'm having these conversations. You might be in person having these conversations, so I consider this my on the stage time. The reason why this is my favorite time is one because I get to connect with educators and I get to connect with students, depending on the project, and so I feel really great being able to support students and educators and I can reach so many more people that I was reaching in the classroom. And, of course, if you know me, you know that I love technology, and so being able to reach so many people in the classroom and being able to improve their experiences with technology gives me so much joy, so I am super excited to talk about this part.

Zee: 13:40

I got to be honest with you. Since I work remote, I wear whatever I want to wear. I don't have a dress code. No one's going to see what I'm wearing, unless I'm on a Zoom meeting. But when it's time for me to have sessions with users, this is the time when I get pretty much dolled up. So I do put on some makeup sometimes or I'll let my Zoom do the job with enhancing my features, and I also put on a nice shirt, nice earrings, because I know that I'm going to be on camera with participants.

Zee: 14:06

So this part of the work requires excellent listening skills and questioning techniques. The questioning techniques kind of came in earlier when you were creating that discussion guide, and in that discussion guide you were creating just the right questions you want to ask to get users to elaborate and be comfortable in explaining how they would use a product. And that's a whole other podcast episode, for today we're just brushing the surface. This is the part where you have to have excellent listening skills, because you want to listen and respond based on what users are saying in the sessions. And building rapport with your participants is so important because once you have participants that are smiling, that are laughing, that are feeling comfortable, they'll be more likely to give you the raw, unfiltered feedback of whatever you're showing them. If they're nervous, if they don't feel comfortable, if they feel like they're being tested, then you won't get the genuine feedback that you're looking for. And you also have to know how to ask the right questions at the right time. And so again, different words.

Zee: 15:10

Participant is the person who's on the other end of the line or who is sitting in front of you and testing out the product. They're also known as respondents. They're also known as users. So you have to get to the why. Why is the user thinking this way? Lots of probing questions, lots of prompts, and the more you practice, the better you get. So we rehearse and role play internally before sessions, just like you would do in a classroom.

Zee: 15:34

Oh, I don't know about you, but when I was teaching, I would practice lessons, especially lessons that I was teaching for the first time. I would practice them with a buddy teacher or a co-teacher, or even practice them at home with my kids. I mean, you probably don't take it that far, but I definitely used to practice. So one thing to note about this is that most stakeholders are invited to the sessions. So, depending on your company, that can happen or maybe not, but usually, for me, they observe off-camera and that could be a little bit nerve-wracking for new researchers, but you get used to it, of course. After all, you are standing in front of students teaching every day, so we know how to be on stage. So at the end of each session, those observers can join the panel and ask me clarifying questions, and it's helpful because you may not have all the granular details about the products and the functions, so it's good for you to have them there as well.

Zee: 16:21

Okay, now it's time for week six, or step six, the last step in this process, the second to last, so it's called analysis. Analysis begins really from the first time you start sessions, but the rule of thumb is after the first three sessions you start to see trends and patterns and then you can start analysis. So the skill that you need here is to be able to analyze and synthesize data in order to come up with top-line findings and top-line insights based on that information. This point is when you're really sitting down, having heads down time, and this is your quiet time, when you're not interacting with anyone else, you're not in meetings, you're simply blocking off time in your calendar to go through all the recordings or all the notes that you have, and this time is dedicated to analyzing the data. Whether you're a qualitative researcher or quantitative researcher, you're really looking at your data to discover the patterns and understand what the data is saying, and so you're going to have certain findings that come out of the research, and those findings are aligned with the research questions. Then, from those findings, you're going to create insights, and so this is where affinity mapping and formulating top-line findings comes in, and this process again is very iterative and requires a lot of time and focus. So you definitely have to block off that time on your calendar to be able to make sure you can have that focus time to analyze all of that hard work that you put in.

Zee: 17:40

Now we all know that teachers don't have enough time to sit and analyze student data when it comes to tracking any type of formative or summative assessment data. That is basically what this time is set aside for, and so in a dream world, teachers would be able to sit and analyze all that information and be able to make targeted next steps. But in the UX research world, I'm actually able to do that. I'm able to make informed decisions and targeted next steps, to be able to go back to the product team and say this is what we found out in our research. Here are some recommendations and next steps that we can take in order to improve our product, but it doesn't stop there.

Zee: 18:17

You're going to have to know how to communicate those findings to your stakeholders. So we're bringing it full circle here, and the last part of this is presenting your findings. So you have to be able to present those findings to your stakeholders and know your audience. You have to know your audience and understand who they are in order to understand the best way to present that information to them. And so this is just in line with teaching, because when you're teaching three different classes or three different populations of students, you don't deliver the information to each population of students in the same way. You know your students well, you know how they take in information, you know what methods work best for them. So one class, the method might be presenting it in a visual way. Another class might be presenting it in a written manner, and so knowing your audience is the same thing in UX research Knowing the best way to present your insights, the best order to present your insights. You may have one class who you have to get to the point with them right away, or else you'll lose them Right. You'll have another class who they want you to kind of build it up and tell them the story and then get to the point Right.

Zee: 19:27

I think about when I was teaching ELA and I was doing storytelling and I was teaching them certain things and we were practicing stories. Some classes would want me to build up to that final point, to the end of the story, and they love that journey. And then you had some classes where they just wanted to know who died, who did what, how did the story go? They didn't want me to go through that entire process, and so knowing my audience was super important, and the same thing holds true for UX research when you're presenting your findings. So for me, my share out session is a one hour session to present my findings to my stakeholders, and this might look like creating a slide deck, but some teams prefer to just go directly into our platform that we use, with all of our data in there and we actually write out a full report, and some teams prefer to just redo that report in all the bullet points. Other teams prefer to have it, you know, presented in a more creative slide deck manner.

Zee: 20:21

And, of course, as a teacher, you have all of these skills you can prepare a presentation, and you can certainly deliver a presentation to a group of stakeholders. So during that Zoom meeting, I share my screen and we have an open discussion about the findings. I provide recommendations and considerations for them, we discuss next steps and we take it from there. And I think what's important to note here is that this is where you can really get more creative, depending on your style of presenting. So I think it's best to present in a way where you paint a picture and tell a story to walk the audience through the findings, and that doesn't mean that they can't get the findings right away. You can still present it in a way that's clear, concise and gives them the information they need. But instead of just stating the findings, you give some background information on who the participants were, the method that you used, why you chose to use that method, and just share the process and what you learned about the participants and the prototype that was presented to them in that process. I always sit down ahead of time and sketch out my talking points and I weave in the transitions to help me better tell that story, and then my manager will provide feedback on my work and my presentation after each project so I can continue to improve my practice. And that's it. That's the end of that whole cycle for my UX research project.

Zee: 21:41

So two themes that came out of me walking you through that process were iterating on your work and receiving feedback. I want you to know that for career and user experience, you're always going to need to go back to improve your work and fine tune as you go. No project is ever considered 100% done. And the other part is feedback, feedback. Feedback. Be ready to receive feedback on your presentations, on the documents that you're creating, on your actual process for interviewing or whatever method you're using. Just be open to feedback and know that that feedback is going to help you improve your practice.

Zee: 22:22

And one more thing that I want to stress here is the importance of building relationships, not only during your user research sessions, but also when you're working with different teams. So I work across many different work streams, so that means that I work with many different stakeholders. So a math team, an ELA team, so many different teams. It's important to understand that as you're moving between those different teams. If you are doing that, you need to be able to build rapport so that you can gain trust from those other stakeholders that you're working with on different projects. So if you made it this far and it sounds like UX research is a career path you'd be interested in, I'd love to work with you. Head over to uxteacherprepcom, where you can book a one-on-one career strategy session with me or grab your free transferable skills cheat sheet, which outlines all the teacher-to-UX skills we spoke about today.

Narrator: 23:13

Thanks so much for tuning in. If you liked this podcast, hit, follow and scroll down to leave a five-star rating. Then share it with a friend. Follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram at uxteacherprep for daily tips and motivation. Have a topic you'd like to hear addressed on the show? Send us a DM on Instagram. If you're listening on YouTube, like, subscribe and share. Until next time, be well.