Upon writing down the title of this reflection, I realize it’s not fair to say I’ve “lost interest in UX research” — I don’t really have much interest to begin with. I love research and I enjoy doing research, but UX research is not research. This I was clear of since the very first week of interning at Facebook (the company was still known as “Facebook” then). The kind of research I want to do doesn’t exist in the corporate world. But UX research was – and still is – the closest alternative I could find, so I opted in, thinking at least I could still read and write as part of my daily job.

I was not wrong — until I am: UX research requires one to read and write, yet UX research also means so much more than reading and writing. In fact, playing around with text is only a minuscule part of UX research. Conducting the research, including collecting data and analyzing them, isn’t even the most important thing in a UX research study: a drastic opposition of academic research I used to do. The two most critical aspects of UX research are

• (1) gathering asks from those that this research will serve (e.g., product managers, UX designers) and continuously aligning with them throughout the research process, and

• (2) convincing these people that they should take the research results seriously and incorporating the research insights into product design and development.

In one sentence, what matters for UX research is not the “research” part of this job, nor the “UX” part, but “selling UX research so that people will incorporate your research into their jobs.”

An optimistic understanding of “selling UX research” presumes that those who will benefit from your research (i.e., stakeholders) already have a baseline understanding of what UX research is and what it can do. This presumption is optimistic because it doesn’t reflect the reality. In reality, successfully selling out one’s UX research findings first and foremost requires one to explain the definition of UX research to stakeholders and justify the existence of UX research as a valid, valuable functional role in the company: what awesome business outcomes can UX research provide, and if it is not about business, then why is it here? There is a corporate euphemism for this work: “Evangelize UX research.” In plain, accessible language, I prefer to describe this effort as “justifying your existence to others until they stop asking you why you were hired.”

While evangelizing UX research can certainly feel draining, especially when considering this is (literally) one of UX researcher’s daily responsibilities, it is actually not too bad when comparing it with the constant disappointment of being told, or somehow learned on one’s own (this is more common), that “your research findings will not be implemented in product design and development.” That’s right; research is all you do for your job, and it is virtually the most important thing in your small world (at least in the 8 working hours on a 24-hour work day, 5 days in a week), yet after you pull all your hairs out to develop the appropriate research plan, find the best users to talk to, endure all the negative sentiments users exert on you, and painstakingly write up a complete and thorough research report, your stakeholders or leadership tell you nonchalantly that “our priority has shifted, so we are not going to use your research now but perhaps we will in the future.” Let me again translate the last part into understandable words: “We don’t give a shit about your stuff because we are moving on to other things that our bosses deem profitable. So forget about your past work and move on and keep doing what we ask you to do like your love of your stupid job doesn’t matter a single bit.”

You know, sometimes I do think maybe I should try writing sarcastic comedy. I’d be so good at it.

Remember, the disappointment I described above isn’t a one-off happening: it is, essentially, the bleak reality every UX researcher lives in.

One might argue that this bleak reality isn’t anything unique to UX research. Everybody experiences it, it is what everyone’s job is like. To me, this is, again, not true. Most occupations produce visible outcomes that people outside of their professions can easily see and understand: marketers market so that customers buy, engineers fix machines so that machines work, software engineers write computer codes so that applications run, UX designers draw software prototypes so that software engineers can write codes on. Even if all professions are subject to leadership’s capriciousness, software engineers still output visible codes and UX designers visible prototypes (though neither is tangible) — there are outcomes these professions can show even if leadership decides to dump initiatives and switch focus. For them, the impact is there, no matter how small. However, for a UX researcher, impact only manifests if product managers, UX designers, or engineers implement the research findings into their product decision-making, design prototypes, and codes. This means the value of UX research relies solely and completely on other stakeholders’ willingness to “believe in” UX research. If stakeholders somehow don’t like your research or don’t think you know your shit (as if they have a crystal-clear grasp of their shits), good luck on changing their minds and making any impact.

All what I’ve vented is determined by UX research being one of the most peripheral functions in corporations, if not the most peripheral. The situation worsens as User Experience as a whole is not well understood nor valued equally as functions that can build stuff (i.e., engineering) or make money (i.e., marketing). While the real competitiveness of UX lies in creating user-friendly experiences that will lead to higher user satisfaction and thus more users and more profit, oftentimes, UX is asked to outline its value in traditional business metrics, such as return of investment (ROI). UX doesn’t speak the language of money, but it nonetheless lives in a money-centered world. The tragedy of UX is pre-determined before its birth.

It is very sad when I recall that people first talked about “usability” in the 1980s. Over 30 years have passed, UX design is still taken as a synonym of “user interface design” or even “graphic design,” and UX research still doesn’t have “a seat at the table.” All things considered, I don’t blame myself for losing interest in UX research. I work for a sense of achievement, for knowing that my work will be taken seriously, even if it’s just a job. As a UX researcher, this sense of achievement takes too much to obtain.