UXD102 · User Research and Personas

Categories: Digital Innovation
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About Course

Plan and run small, ethical user research studies, then turn raw notes into clear insights, evidence-based personas and journey maps that guide design decisions.

Explore · 4 hours · 4 lessons, a lab, an assessed assignment and a portfolio piece

Who it is for

Beginners in UX, product owners and small-business teams who want to base design decisions on real user needs rather than assumptions.

Prerequisites

UXD101 is recommended; no prior research experience is needed.

What you will be able to do

  • Write a research plan with goals, questions, methods, participants and consent approach
  • Conduct at least three user interviews and one short survey without leading questions
  • Synthesize findings with affinity mapping into at least five insight statements
  • Create an evidence-based persona and a current-state journey map

Lessons

  • Lesson 1 · Planning user research
  • Lesson 2 · Interviews and surveys that produce real insight
  • Lesson 3 · From notes to insights, personas and journeys
  • Lesson 4 · Lab and assignment

Lab: Mini research study: from interviews to persona

You run a mini study for a realistic product, such as a booking app for a neighborhood hair salon. You publish a ten-question Google Forms survey, interview three to five people, then cluster your notes on a FigJam affinity board and turn the clusters into insights, a persona and a journey map.

Free tools: Google Forms, Google Docs and FigJam free plan

Assessed assignment

Submit a research report containing your research plan, a summary of survey results, anonymized interview notes, a photo or export of your affinity map, at least five insight statements, one persona and one current-state journey map. Every persona attribute must be traceable to evidence from your research. Explain how you obtained consent and how you protected participants' personal data. Close with three design opportunities written as How might we questions.

Criterion Weight What excellent work looks like
Research plan and ethics 20% Goals and questions are clear, methods fit the questions and consent and data protection are handled properly.
Data collection quality 25% Interview and survey questions are open, neutral and focused on real behavior; notes are detailed and anonymized.
Synthesis and insights 30% Clusters are meaningful and insights explain why users behave as they do, supported by quotes or data.
Persona and journey map 25% The persona is grounded in evidence rather than stereotypes, and the journey map shows stages, actions, emotions and pain points accurately.

Portfolio piece

A research report with insights, a persona and a journey map that you can feature as a portfolio case study.

Self-paced, 12-month access. Questions are answered in writing through the student panel. A completion record is issued when you finish the course.

Next step

Continue with UXD103 · Information Architecture and Wireframes · 6 hours · $42.00

Continue to the next course

Prefer the whole program? Program in UX/UI & AI-Assisted Product Design · $277.00 (10% less than buying the courses separately)

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What Will You Learn?

  • Write a research plan with goals, questions, methods, participants and consent approach
  • Conduct at least three user interviews and one short survey without leading questions
  • Synthesize findings with affinity mapping into at least five insight statements
  • Create an evidence-based persona and a current-state journey map

Course Content

UXD102 · User Research and Personas (4 h)
Plan and run small, ethical user research studies, then turn raw notes into clear insights, evidence-based personas and journey maps that guide design decisions.

  • Lesson 1 · Planning user research
  • Lesson 2 · Interviews and surveys that produce real insight
  • Lesson 3 · From notes to insights, personas and journeys
  • Lesson 4 · Lab and assignment
  • UXD102 Assessment · User Research and Personas
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