#27181
#25722
Crafting a User Research Plan, Part II
The most difficult part of setting up a schedule for your user research plan is integrating it into the existing development system.
Kuniavsky, Mike. Adaptive Path (2003). Articles>Usability>Research
#31092
What is the biggest problem I face almost every time a client hires me to do something about a web project going awry? They don't know a thing about their users. They don't have a clue, whatsoever. Unbelievable but true!
Lafreniere, Daniel. Boxes and Arrows (2008). Articles>User Centered Design>Research>Usability
#25686
The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information 
Experiments on the capacity of people to transmit information.
Miller, George A. Psychological Review (1956). Articles>Research>Usability>Cognitive Psychology
#26247
Designing or redesigning a product often feels like a risky proposition, especially in today's business climate.
Anderson, Gretchen. uiGarden (2005). Articles>Usability>Research
#27028
Planning for User Research Success
Planning is crucial if you want your user research efforts to be effective. You need to think about what information you need to gather, and why, before embarking on any research. Good planning, well communicated to the client or project, and followed by careful implementation will ensure your research is effective.
Szuc, Daniel and Gerry Gaffney. Apogee (2005). Articles>Usability>Research
#30286
Research And Technology Stem Overview 
The Research and Technology stem offers 47 sessions in the areas of usability, online documentation, hypertext and multimedia, the Internet, advancing technology, and academic research--including a few miscellaneous topics. As much as possible, the sessions in each area have been scheduled in different time slots.
Dean, Morris. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Usability>Research>Education
#20154
Theory and Research Stem Overview
In its second year the Theory and Research stem has grown in scope and subject matter. We welcome a myriad of Usability sessions into this stem - new this year! We think you’ll find a natural link between the latest research, new theory, and their application with a focus on the user. Research and its implementation are essential to improving our methods, tools, and response to users’ needs. From planning, to prototyping, to collaborative design, to usability testing, through production, you’ll find topics to pique your interest. This stem provides a forum for discussing fresh ideas and new results, assessing trends, and evaluating research that confirms or revises the way we work.
Logan, Leanne. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Usability>Research
#20820
Usability Laboratories: A 1994 Survey
This article provides a table with summary statistics for the thirteen usability laboratories described in the papers in this special issue. It also gives an introduction to the main uses of usability laboratories in usability engineering and surveys some of the issues related to practical use of user testing and CAUSE tools for computer-aided usability engineering.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (1994). Articles>Usability>Research
#28676
User Research: Subjectivity and Objectivity in Practice
A discussion of concerns about the actual quality of the user research companies are undertaking and the validity of any conclusions they have drawn from the resulting data.
Baty, Steve. UXmatters (2006). Articles>Usability>Research
#32940
Making Decisions About User Research
We know that we should do user research for projects. All the user-centred design material says so, we talk about it at conferences, we put it in proposals. We just know that it is a good thing to do. But when I talk to people about their actual projects, I find that very few people actually do user research. There are many many reasons (no time, no money, already know what users need etc etc etc). I think that part of the reason it doesn’t happen is also that we don’t have good tools to tell us just how much research to do, and even when it isn’t necessary at all to do research.
Spencer, Donna. DonnaM (2008). Articles>Research>Usability>User Centered Design
#33352
User research offers a learning opportunity that can help you build an understanding of user behavior, but you must resolve discrepancies between research findings and your own beliefs.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2004). Articles>Usability>Research
#33581
Jared Spool on User Research Methods
Adaptive Path’s Peter Merholz recently talked to the founder of User Interface Engineering Jared Spool about user research.
Merholtz, Peter. Adaptive Path (2005). Articles>Research>Usability>User Centered Design
#34467
So What IS User Requirements Gathering?
Requirements gathering is all about aiming at the right target. It doesn't matter how accurate you are, if you aim at the wrong target, you miss.
Frontend Infocentre (2009). Articles>Usability>Research>Functional Specifications
#34537
Guesses vs. Data as Basis for Design Recommendations
Even the tiniest amount of empirical facts (say, observing 2 users) vastly improves the probability of making correct UI design decisions.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2009). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Research
#34901
ごくごく小規模な経験的な事実（例えば、観察対象のユーザが2人）からでも、そこから得られる事実はUIデザインに対して、正しい判断ができる確率を大きく高めてくれる。
Nielsen, Jakob. Usability.gr.jp (2009). (Japanese) Articles>Web Design>Usability>Research
#34941
Meta-Usability: When the Method is Not the Message
There is a necessary connection between theory and practice. But there is also a difference between the two. And that difference, as van de Snepscheut said, is larger in practice than it is in theory.
Straub, Kathleen. UI Design Newsletter (2007). Articles>Usability>Research>Publishing
#34942
Connecting Usability Education and Research with Industry Needs and Practices 
Ideally, academic research should inform workplace practices and workplace practices should inform academic research and education. However, as many researchers have noted, a gap often exists between academia and industry. This article begins to bridge that gap by reporting the results of a small-scale study at Microsoft in which 12 individuals were interviewed about their views on usability education and research. This study addressed two questions: (1) What knowledge, skills, and abilities should technical communication teachers stress in teaching usability and (2) how can academic research in usability benefit practitioners? The results indicate that usability education needs to be expanded to include additional usability evaluation methods and that students need strong critical assessment and communication skills when they enter the workplace. The results also reveal that usability research in the areas of return-on-investment, online help, and cognition would be of great use to practitioners.
Cooke, L. and S. Mings. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (2005). Articles>Usability>Research>Publishing
