UX Research

Chapter 1. The History of Research

If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?

—Albert Einstein

Before jumping into the methods and approaches of research, it is important to spend some time discussing where research started and its evolution into the processes and methodologies that user experience (UX) practitioners use today. Over the next few pages, we will offer a brief introduction to the history of research in manufacturing, web, and product design. We will compare the rigor of research in academic settings with the streamlined and often-accelerated research found in product design. If you already feel comfortable with the history of research, or are eager to get directly into the making, feel free to jump to Chapter 2.

Research in Manufacturing

Some could argue that product development dates back to the earliest cavemen and their stone tools. If we accept this argument, product research existed long before the title “user experience professional.” Research existed before the Web and digital age, before the day of disruptors and crowdsourcing, and before conversations about getting seats at the proverbial table. For this discussion we will look at the turn of the 20^th century and the “second industrial revolution” as the beginning of product design and research. It was then that advances in manufacturing and mass production allowed improvements in efficiency and utility to be explored in a scalable and measurable manner.

Industrial Engineering ...