Research Repositories: A Critical Tool for UX Research
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I’ve recently come to learn about research repositories and upon exploring deeper into their use cases, I realized how much insight and efficiency they could bring to any research project.
Let’s dive into what they are and how incorporating a research repository tool could improve your current research process.
What is a Research Repository?
According to Nielsen Norman Group:
“A research repository is a shared collection of UX-research-related elements that should support the following functions at the organization level:
- grow UX awareness and participation in UX work among leadership, product owners, and the organization at large
- support UX research work, so UX professionals may be more productive as they plan and track research
Research repositories can be broken down into two essential elements:
The input of information collected from research.
The output generated from research which produces insights and reports.
Depending on the type of repository tool the possibilities of study findings are endless. As long as there is data input, the complexity of related insights are searchable by each individual user.
Advantages of Using a Research Repository Tool
Centralized information: Research repositories help to establish a localized home for all kinds of data and can be organized and broken down into specific findings or larger reports.
Anyone can use it: The repository allows an environment where data can be easily viewed and searched not only by the UX research team, but product managers, engineers, and any other role which data searching can provide value. This may help promote collaboration and mutual understanding between various teams.
Streamlines research process: Without a place to store all related research data the manual process of sifting through various files can be time-consuming, frustrating and data can often get lost or forgotten. The use of a research repository tool eliminates such inefficiencies.
Provide evidence-based decisions: Teams are able to clearly identify high priority projects and use data reports to aid as evidence to back up their decisions.
In summary, incorporating a research repository would simplify the work of the research team and promote UX awareness and participation throughout an organization.
A few Research Repository Tools:
Works Cited
World Leaders in Research-Based User Experience. (n.d.). Research repositories for tracking UX research and growing your ResearchOps. Nielsen Norman Group. Retrieved April 29, 2022, from https://www.nngroup.com/articles/research-repositories/#:~:text=What%20Is%20a%20Research%20Repository,and%20the%20organization%20at%20large
Mózer, B., Damsa, D., & Sima, L. (2022, January 27). What is a research repository and what to consider before building one? UX Studio. Retrieved April 21, 2022, from https://uxstudioteam.com/ux-blog/what-is-a-research-repository-and-what-to-consider-before-building-one/#Popular_examples_of_research_repositories