Doing good user research

A foundation in user research for anyone wanting to better understand their users and improve their service, product, programme or campaign.

This six week course has been designed to cover foundational knowledge and best practice across the most widely used methods of user research for charities and the public sector.

Each half-day session is held online with a cohort of peers, where you’ll apply what you've learn through small group activities. You'll take away templates and guidance for all the areas we cover, as well as an additional library of resources than you can access to keep building expertise. Our community of practice, and personal coaching from our facilitators, will help you continue developing as a user researcher.

What do previous attendees say?

  • This course has been designed to give you a solid foundation in common methods of user research. You will learn:

    • The principles of good user research

    • Deciding what to test, and choosing your method

    • Best practice methods for speaking to users

    • Methods for researching digital projects

    • Conducting research with lived experience

    • Analysing your research findings (with a focus on qualitative data)

  • Anyone that works on something used by humans can benefit from skills in user research. We expect our cohort will include:

    • those new to user research

    • content, service or product designers

    • programme development teams

    • innovation and product development teams

    • digital teams

    Our course is only for participants working in the non-profit and public sectors or on social impact projects.

  • By the end of this course you’ll be equipped with the skills, tools and knowledge you need to conduct user research at work. You will be able to use research to determine what problems you're trying to solve, what you should build, how well your offering works for your audience, and the impact of programmes and services.

    An understanding of what your audience needs, how well you serve those needs, and the tools to measure impact are integral to business planning and portfolio management. It reduces our risk of bias or costly mistakes, enhances our case for funding, and allows for efficiency and cost effectiveness across our body of work.

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What do we cover?

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We’ve put everything you (and your manager) need to know into a handy deck! Fill out the form here to download it.