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How to write effective UX research questions (with examples)

Collecting and analyzing real user feedback is essential in delivering an excellent user experience (UX). But not all user research is created equal—and done wrong, it can lead to confusion, miscommunication, and non-actionable results.

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You need to ask the right UX research questions to get the valuable insights necessary to continually optimize your product and generate user delight. 

This article shows you how to write strong UX research questions, ensuring you go beyond guesswork and assumptions . It covers the difference between open- and close-ended research questions, explains how to go about creating your own UX research questions, and provides several examples to get you started.

Use Hotjar to ask your users the right UX research questions

Put your UX research questions to work with Hotjar's Feedback and Survey tools to uncover product experience insights

The different types of UX research questions

Let’s face it, asking the right UX research questions is hard. It’s a skill that takes a lot of practice and can leave even the most seasoned UX researchers drawing a blank.

There are two main categories of UX research questions: open-ended and close-ended, both of which are essential to achieving thorough, high-quality UX research. Qualitative research—based on descriptions and experiences—leans toward open-ended questions, whereas quantitative research leans toward closed-ended questions.

Let’s dive into the differences between them.

Open-ended UX research questions

Open-ended UX research questions are exactly what they sound like: they prompt longer, more free-form responses, rather than asking someone to choose from established possible answers—like multiple-choice tests.

Open questions are easily recognized because they:

Usually begin with how, why, what, describe, or tell me

Can’t be easily answered with just yes or no, or a word or two

Are qualitative rather than quantitative

If there’s a simple fact you’re trying to get to, a closed question would work. For anything involving our complex and messy human nature, open questions are the way to go.

Open-ended research questions aim to discover more about research participants and gather candid user insights, rather than seeking specific answers.

Some examples of UX research that use open-ended questions include:

Usability testing

Diary studies

Persona research

Use case research

Task analysis

Check out a concrete example of an open-ended UX research question in action below. Hotjar’s Survey tool is a perfect way of gathering longer-form user feedback, both on-site and externally.

Pros and cons of open-ended UX research questions

Like everything in life, open-ended UX research questions have their pros and cons.

Advantages of open-ended questions include:

Detailed, personal answers

Great for storytelling

Good for connecting with people on an emotional level

Helpful to gauge pain points, frustrations, and desires

Researchers usually end up discovering more than initially expected

Less vulnerable to bias

 Drawbacks include:

People find them more difficult to answer than closed-ended questions

More time-consuming for both the researcher and the participant

Can be difficult to conduct with large numbers of people

Can be challenging to dig through and analyze open-ended questions

Closed-ended UX research questions

Close-ended UX research questions have limited possible answers. Participants can respond to them with yes or no, by selecting an option from a list, by ranking or rating, or with a single word.

They’re easy to recognize because they’re similar to classic exam-style questions.

More technical industries might start with closed UX research questions because they want statistical results. Then, we’ll move on to more open questions to see how customers really feel about the software we put together.

While open-ended research questions reveal new or unexpected information, closed-ended research questions work well to test assumptions and answer focused questions. They’re great for situations like:

Surveying a large number of participants

When you want quantitative insights and hard data to create metrics

When you’ve already asked open-ended UX research questions and have narrowed them down into close-ended questions based on your findings

If you’re evaluating something specific so the possible answers are limited

If you’re going to repeat the same study in the future and need uniform questions and answers

Wondering what a closed-ended UX research question might look in real life? The example below shows how Hotjar’s Feedback widgets help UX researchers hear from users 'in the wild' as they navigate.

The different types of closed-ended questions

There are several different ways to ask close-ended UX research questions, including:

Customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys

CSAT surveys are closed-ended UX research questions that explore customer satisfaction levels by asking users to rank their experience on some kind of scale, like the happy and angry icons in the image below.

On-site widgets like Hotjar's Feedback tool below excel at gathering quick customer insights without wreaking havoc on the user experience. They’re especially popular on ecommerce sites or after customer service interactions.

Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys

NPS surveys are another powerful type of (mostly) closed-ended UX research questions. They ask customers how likely they are to recommend a company, product, or service to their community. Responses to NPS surveys are used to calculate Net Promoter Score .

NPS surveys split customers into three categories:

Promoters (9-10): Your most enthusiastic, vocal, and loyal customers

Passives (7-8): Ho-hum. They’re more or less satisfied customers but could be susceptible to jumping ship

Detractors (0-6): Dissatisfied customers who are at a high risk of spreading bad reviews

Net Promoter Score is a key metric used to predict business growth, track long-term success, and gauge overall customer satisfaction.

Pro tip: while the most important question to ask in an NPS survey is readiness to recommend, it shouldn’t be the only one. Asking follow-up questions can provide more context and a deeper understanding of the customer experience. Combining Hotjar Feedback widgets with standalone Surveys is a great strategy for tracking NPS through both quick rankings and qualitative feedback.

Pros and cons of closed-ended research questions

Close-ended UX research questions have solid advantages, including:

More measurable data to convert into statistics and metrics

Higher response rates because they’re generally more straightforward for people to answer

Easier to coordinate when surveying a large number of people

Great for evaluating specifics and facts

Little to no irrelevant answers to comb through

Putting the UX researcher in control

But closed-ended questions can be tricky to get right. Their disadvantages include:

Leading participants to response bias

Preventing participants from telling the whole story

The lack of insight into opinions or emotions

Too many possible answers overwhelming participants

Too few possible answers, meaning the 'right' answer for each participant might not be included

How to form your own UX research questions

To create effective UX questions, start by defining your research objectives and hypotheses, which are assumptions you’ll put to the test with user feedback.

Use this tried-and-tested formula to create research hypotheses by filling in the blanks according to your unique user and business goals:

We believe (doing x)

For (x people)

Will achieve (x outcome)

For example: ' We believe adding a progress indicator into our checkout process (for customers) will achieve 20% lower cart abandonment rates.'

Pro tip: research hypotheses aren’t set in stone. Keep them dynamic as you formulate, change, and re-evaluate them throughout the UX research process, until your team comes away with increased certainty about their initial assumption.

When nailing down your hypotheses, remember that research is just as much about discovering new questions as it is about getting answers. Don’t think of research as a validation exercise where you’re looking to confirm something you already know. Instead, cultivate an attitude of exploration and strive to dig deeper into user emotions, needs, and challenges.

Once you have a working hypothesis, identify your UX research objective . Your objective should be linked to your hypothesis, defining what your product team wants to accomplish with your research—for example, ' We want to improve our cart abandonment rates by providing customers with a seamless checkout experience.'

Now that you’ve formulated a hypothesis and research objective, you can create your general or 'big picture' research questions . These define precisely what you want to discover through your research, but they’re not the exact questions you’ll ask participants. This is an important distinction because big picture research questions focus on the researchers themselves rather than users.

A big picture question might be something like: ' How can we improve our cart abandonment rates?'

With a strong hypothesis, objective, and general research question in the bag, you’re finally ready to create the questions you’ll ask participants.

32 examples of inspiring UX research questions

There are countless different categories of UX research questions.

We focus on open-ended, ecommerce-oriented questions here , but with a few tweaks, these could be easily transformed into closed-ended questions.

For example, an open-ended question like, 'Tell us about your overall experience shopping on our website' could be turned into a closed-ended question such as, ' Did you have a positive experience finding everything you needed on our website?'

Screening questions

Screening questions are the first questions you ask UX research participants. They help you get to know your customers and work out whether they fit into your ideal user personas.

These survey question examples focus on demographic and experience-based questions. For instance:

Tell me about yourself. Who are you and what do you do?

What does a typical day look like for you?

How old are you?

What’s the highest level of education that you’ve completed?

How comfortable do you feel using the internet?

How comfortable do you feel browsing or buying products online?

How frequently do you buy products online?

Do you prefer shopping in person or online? Why?

Awareness questions

Awareness questions explore how long your participants have been aware of your brand and how much they know about it. Some good options include:

How did you find out about our brand?

What prompted you to visit our website for the first time?

If you’ve visited our website multiple times, what made you come back?

How long was the gap between finding out about us and your first purchase?

Expectation questions

Expectation questions investigate the assumptions UX research participants have about brands, products, or services before using them. For example:

What was your first impression of our brand?

What was your first impression of X product or service?

How do you think using X product or service would benefit you?

What problem would X product or service solve for you?

Do you think X product or service is similar to another one on the market? Please specify.

Task-specific questions

Task-specific questions focus on user experiences as they complete actions on your site. Some examples include:

Tell us what you thought about the overall website design and content layout

How was your browsing experience?

How was your checkout experience?

What was the easiest task to complete on our website?

What was the hardest task to complete on our website?

Experience questions

Experience questions dig deeper into research participants’ holistic journeys as they navigate your site. These include:

Tell us how you felt when you landed on our website homepage

How can we improve the X page of our website?

What motivated you to purchase X product or service?

What stopped you from purchasing X product or service?

Was your overall experience positive or negative while shopping on our website? Why?

Concluding questions

Concluding questions ask participants to reflect on their overall experience with your brand, product, or service. For instance:

What are your biggest questions about X product or service?

What are your biggest concerns about X product or service?

If you could change one thing about X product or service, what would it be?

Would you recommend X product or service to a friend?

How would you compare X product or service to X competitor?

Excellent research questions are key for an optimal UX

To create a fantastic UX, you need to understand your users on a deeper level.

Crafting strong questions to deploy during the research process is an important way to gain that understanding, because UX research shouldn’t center on what you want to learn but what your users can teach you.

UX research question FAQs

What are ux research questions.

UX research questions can refer to two different things: general UX research questions and UX interview questions. 

Both are vital components of UX research and work together to accomplish the same goals—understanding user needs and pain points, challenging assumptions, discovering new insights, and finding solutions.

General UX research questions focus on what UX researchers want to discover through their study. 

UX interview questions are the exact questions researchers ask participants during their research study.

What are examples of UX research questions?

UX research question examples can be split into several categories. Some of the most popular include:

Screening questions: help get to know research participants better and focus on demographic and experience-based information. For example: “What does a typical day look like for you?”

Awareness questions: explore how much research participants know about your brand, product, or service. For example: “What prompted you to visit our website for the first time?”

Expectation questions: investigate assumptions research participants have about your brand, product, or service. For example: “What was your first impression of X?”

Task-specific questions: dive into participants’ experiences trying to complete actions on your site. For example: “What was the easiest task to complete on our website?”

Experience questions: dig deep into participants’ overall holistic experiences navigating through your site. For example: “Was your overall experience shopping on our website positive or negative? Why?”

Concluding questions: ask participants to reflect on their overall experience with your brand, product, or service. For example: “What are your biggest concerns about (x product or service)?”

What’s the difference between open-ended and closed-ended UX research questions?

The difference between open- and closed-ended UX research questions is simple. Open-ended UX research questions prompt long, free-form responses. They’re qualitative rather than quantitative and can’t be answered easily with yes or no, or a word or two. They’re easy to recognize because they begin with terms like how, why, what, describe, and tell me.

On the other hand, closed-ended UX research questions have limited possible answers. Participants can respond to them with yes or no, by selecting an option from a list, by rating or ranking options, or with just a word or two.

UX research process

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30+ User Research Questions To Ask For Building Better Products

10 min read

The right user research questions will help you collect relevant data about your target audience and make informed decisions to propel growth.

However, if done wrong, you risk encountering confusion and skewed results. This article serves as your guide to avoid such pitfalls by showing you:

• How to craft your questions the right way and collect valuable feedback .
• Examples of questions you can copy or tweak.
• Best practices to adopt for effective results.
• User research questions are quantitative or qualitative questions you ask users to uncover insights about their mental models, needs, behavior, and experience with your product.

Broadly speaking, you can trigger research questions to:

• Understand user problems .
• Uncover user preferences.
• Gather information about the product experience.

Examples of user research questions to understand user problems:

• What problems are you looking to solve with this product?
• What is the main goal when completing [a task in the product]?
• How hard is it to accomplish [task]?

Examples of problem research questions to understand user needs:

• Describe the problem you are trying to solve as a [user persona].
• What tasks do you accomplish during an average workday?
• On a scale from 1 to 5, how difficult is it to accomplish [a task]?

Examples of UX research questions to improve user experience:

• What were your initial expectations when you started using our product, and how did the actual experience compare?
• How would you describe the organization and clarity of our menu and interface labels? Are there any terms or options that are unclear to you?
• On a scale of 1-10, how was your experience with [task]?

Adopt these best practices to crush your UX research goals:

• Ask concise questions and be specific.
• Avoid asking leading questions so research participants can provide honest answers.
• Use a mix of closed-ended and open-ended questions for comprehensive insights.

Channels to collect UX research responses:

• Use in-app user feedback surveys to gauge satisfaction.
• Conduct user interviews to understand needs, preferences & experiences.
• Carry out user testing to dig deeper into how users interact with your tool.
• Effective user research hinges on employing the right questions, user interview strategies, and continuous experimentation to discover which techniques resonate best with your audience. Userpilot can help with that. Book a demo to learn more.

What are user research questions?

User research questions are quantitative or qualitative questions you ask users to uncover insights about their perception, needs, behavior, and experience with your product.

By analyzing the responses to these questions, you can make informed decisions about product design and development. Ultimately, research helps you build a product that users love, thereby driving customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Types of user research questions

User research is as broad as it comes, but generally speaking, there are three categories when surveying SaaS users:

User research questions to understand the problems

The questions in this category help you uncover the pain points and challenges your ideal customers face.

By triggering these questions and analyzing responses from the research participants, you’re better positioned to make continuous iterations and ensure your product evolves to meet user needs.

Use this category of questions when you want to:

• Brainstorm new product ideas .
• Design a product sprint.
• Design feature enhancements.
• Improve product usability.

User research questions to understand user preferences

These questions enable you to glean proper information about your target audience . By asking them, you’ll know what makes your audience tick, the factors that influence their buying decisions, and what tasks they accomplish each day.

Trigger surveys about user preferences early in the product development stage to:

• Design data-driven user experiences .
• Identify features that will drive product adoption.
• Understand the preferred pricing structure and your users’ WTP (willingness to pay).

User research questions about the product experience

The overall product experience shapes how users perceive your brand and determines whether they continue doing business with you. By conducting surveys about the user experience, you will uncover insights to:

• Improve the product experience and usability .
• Guide new features and enhancements.
• Discover churn reasons .

Examples of user research questions to understand the problem

Trigger the questions below to gain insights into problems your users face and identify solutions that will improve their experience.

Qualitative research question examples

• Can you describe a time when you were struggling to use [product/feature] and how you eventually overcame the challenge?
• Are there any recurring issues or problems that, if resolved, would significantly enhance your overall satisfaction with our product?
• What features or functionality are missing from our product that would make it more useful for you?

Quantitative research question examples

• On a scale of 1 to 7, how challenging do you find [specific features of your product] to use?
• How likely are you to recommend our product to others based on your current experience?
• What is the likelihood that you will switch to a competitor product in the next six months?
• How often do you have to contact our customer support team for assistance?
• Indicate your level of agreement with the statement: “The current version of [product] adequately addresses my primary pain points.”

Examples of problem research questions to understand user needs

Curious about user needs, preferences, and willingness to pay? Trigger the following qualitative and quantitative survey questions at the right points in the user journey:

Qualitative research questions

• What tasks do you accomplish in an average workday?
• Can you describe one particular feature you find most valuable in a product like ours?
• Are there any missing features you’ll be willing to pay extra for?
• How do you currently address gaps or limitations in our product? Are there workarounds you’ve developed?
• How important is mobile accessibility in your workflow, and what features would you consider essential for a mobile version of our product?
• When it comes to integrations with other tools or platforms, which integrations would be most beneficial for your workflow?
• What has been the biggest hurdle in using [feature]?

Quantitative research questions

• What are the top three tasks you complete most often with our product? (List the most common tasks in your tool to make it easy for users to simply click an option)
• To what degree do you value product updates and new feature announcements in maintaining your interest in a SaaS product?
• How likely are you to consider upgrading to a higher pricing tier for access to premium features?
• How much would you be willing to pay for a solution to [problem]?

Examples of product research questions to improve user experience

Trigger the following to learn more about the user experience and identify ways to improve usability and retention.

Qualitative UX research questions

• How can we improve your experience with the product?
• Are there any features you rarely use, and if so, can you explain why?
• Can you describe a time when you were struggling to use our product and how you eventually overcame the challenge?
• Have you used similar products or competitors in our industry, and if so, what aspects of their user experience do you find better or worse than ours?
• If you were to stop using the product, what would be the main reason?

Quantitative UX research questions

• On a scale from 1 to 5, rate how easy it is to use [product].
• How often do you encounter problems completing the following tasks with our product? (List the tasks)
• On a scale from 1 to 10, how likely are you to recommend this product to a friend?
• How easy is it to find the information you need to complete tasks with our product?
• Indicate your agreement with the statement: “My overall satisfaction with [product] has increased over time.” (strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, strongly agree)
• How would you rate your overall experience with [product]?

Best practices when conducting user research

To avoid distorting your research results, it’s important you choose your survey questions carefully. One word or phrase could influence user responses and give you inaccurate data.

Below are three best practices when rolling out user research questions:

Ask concise questions and be specific

Concise questions help participants clearly understand the information you’re seeking. They prevent confusion and ensure participants can provide relevant insights.

Stay away from product or industry jargon, as not all participants might be familiar with them.

That said, focus on asking specific questions—ideally, one idea per question. This makes it easier for users to respond, and it also helps you analyze better and faster.

Here’s an example of an incorrect survey question: “How satisfied are you with the ease of navigation and the responsiveness of customer support in our product?”

This question combines two distinct ideas—satisfaction with ease of navigation and satisfaction with customer support responsiveness—into a single question. Respondents may have differing opinions on each aspect, making it challenging to pinpoint specific areas for improvement. It also doesn’t allow participants to express nuanced feedback on each element separately.

Avoid asking leading questions

Leading questions are intentionally or mistakenly worded in a way that suggests or pushes respondents toward a certain answer.

Example: “Was the product very easy to navigate?”

This question is leading because it suggests a positive outcome and assumes agreement with the statement. Respondents may feel compelled to respond positively even if they don’t genuinely believe the product has easy navigation. This can introduce bias and result in inaccurate data.

A better phrasing would be, “How would you describe your experience with navigating the product?”

Let’s consider another example.

What do you think about the survey question below?

“Is feature A better than feature B? (Yes/NO)”

Leading or not?

Binary questions can be tricky because the phrasings inherently imply comparison; however, the above question is leading.

A better way to frame it for unbiased responses is to ask: “Do you prefer feature A or B?”

Use a mix of closed-ended and open-ended questions

This is known as mixed-method research, and experts use it to get both qualitative and quantitative feedback for better insights.

Closed-ended questions provide quantitative data that you can quickly analyze to generate actionable insights. On the other hand, open-ended questions offer qualitative feedback, uncovering the “why” behind quantitative responses.

When designing your survey, strike a balance between closed-ended and open-ended questions. Ensure closed-ended questions cover key metrics , while open-ended questions delve into user perceptions and experiences.

Sometimes, it’s effective to start with quantitative questions to gather baseline data and then ask open-ended follow-up questions to explore nuances and gather rich qualitative data.

For example, you can trigger an NPS survey that asks users on a scale of 1-10, how likely they are to recommend your new feature, then send a follow-up asking the reasons for their scores.

How to collect responses to user research questions

There are multiple user research channels. The ones you choose boil down to your audience and research goals. For SaaS participants, in-app surveys, user interviews, and usability tests work great.

Let’s go over them in detail.

Use in-app user feedback surveys to gauge satisfaction

Meet customers where they are with contextual in-app surveys that let you collect input on the spot. This real-time feedback is valuable for understanding immediate user experiences and satisfaction levels.

For instance, triggering a CSAT survey immediately after a user interacts with your new feature lets you get more accurate feedback compared to when you wait to ask them weeks later in a one-on-one interview.

By integrating surveys into your app, you engage users without requiring them to switch to a different platform. This convenience encourages higher participation rates.

Conduct user interviews to understand needs, preferences & experiences

When it comes to understanding user needs and preferences, interviews work better. They help you interact closely with the research participants, ask follow-up questions immediately, and generate in-depth feedback to uncover underlying motivations and reasons behind user behavior.

All these are critical to building products your users will love, especially when building an MVP to test with a new audience.

In addition, direct interactions foster empathy as you can observe non-verbal cues and emotions, gaining a holistic perspective on user experiences beyond what may be expressed verbally.

Carry out usability tests to dig deeper into product usability

Usability tests help you gauge how user-friendly your product is. The tests focus on understanding customer satisfaction with your tool and their perception of its value.

Usability tests help pinpoint specific areas of your product that may cause confusion or frustration for users. By observing users during tests, you’ll gain insights into their natural interaction patterns, allowing you to make adjustments that align with user expectations and behaviors.

Popular usability testing methods include guerilla testing, lab testing, and remote testing. The approach you choose depends on your audience and research objectives.

User research isn’t a one-time task but an ongoing process of learning about users and making improvements.

Regularly conduct user research to keep track of changing customer needs and preferences. Doing this will save you from losing users to churn and ensure your product is competitive.

When you think about it critically, research boils down to asking the right questions. Your phrasing matters as much as the channels and timing. So, A/B tests different research questions to see which gives you better results.

Userpilot can help you trigger and analyze user research questions in-app. With our platform, you can:

• Design different kinds of quantitative and qualitative surveys.
• Segment users to determine who sees what.
• Set event-based triggers so your surveys are contextual. For instance, you can set your surveys to be sent after a user interacts with a new feature. This way, only users who hit that goal will see your surveys.
• A/B test different survey elements and get real-time results.

Book a demo now to get started!

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How to Craft the Best UX Research Questions

In this blog post you will find:

Understanding ux research, brainstorm with other stakeholders, break down and categorize your ideas.

• Introductory Questions

Questions about the problem

Questions about the product.

As a UX Researcher, engaging with customers and prospects is a critical part of your role. Mastering the art of asking effective UX research questions is essential. The right questions not only illuminate user needs but also safeguard against the costly mistake of developing a product that misses the mark.

This blog post is designed to guide you through identifying key questions for your UX research. It will provide you with a foundation of essential UX research questions and offer strategies to develop customized ones that align precisely with your specific research objectives.

Firstly, it’s important to grasp the true essence of UX Research. It goes beyond just gathering data; it’s about interpreting this data to drive informed decisions in product design and development.

Tailoring UX Research Questions To Your Research Goals

Before crafting your questions, it’s crucial to define what you aim to learn from the research. Clear objectives will guide your questioning strategy. Whether it’s improving a specific feature or understanding overall user satisfaction, your goals should dictate the type of questions you ask. Let’s go over some actionable advice to define your research targets.

The primary objective of conducting UX Research is to provide insightful data that informs decision-making across various teams, including marketing, product and sales. Therefore, it’s essential to develop a hypothesis with each team member on board. Their insights will not only assist in more precisely defining the problem to be solved but also ensure that the UX research questions posed are on target. Their presence brings diverse perspectives and insights to the table.

After compiling a comprehensive set of UX research questions, it’s vital to categorize and prioritize them. This step is key in developing a structured approach to your UX research. In the following sections, we’ll suggest a framework for organizing your questions. Remember, this structure is adaptable and can be tailored to align with your specific research goals and the unique nuances of your project.

Types Of UX Research Questions

To get the insights you’re seeking, consider employing various types of questions in your research.

Introductory questions

These are particularly useful for bridging any gaps that may remain after participants have answered initial screener questions or surveys. These questions aren’t just limited to the beginning of your research; they can be integrated throughout the process.

At this stage, the key is to encourage participants to speak freely. Opt for open-ended questions that stimulate conversation and allow for expansive answers. By taking this approach, you’ll effectively warm up the atmosphere and help the participant relax, which is crucial for unlocking a wealth of valuable insights.

Here’s a list of introductory UX research questions you can use: 

• What does your typical day look like?
• Can you walk me through how you interact with technology throughout your day, including any specific devices or platforms you frequently use?
• Aside from your typical weekday, how do your weekends or non-working days differ in terms of activities and technology usage?
• What factors most influence your decisions when choosing to use a particular app or website?
• Could you tell me about your current role?
• Could you describe any specific habits or preferences you have developed in your professional field?

These questions provide a richer context for understanding the participant’s daily life and interactions with the product or service being studied.

In this category of questions, the focus is on the problem that your product or service is designed to solve. You introduce this problem as the central topic of the study and explore the participant’s behaviors and habits related to addressing this issue.

For instance, if the application under study is a macronutrient tracking app, the problem topic revolves around weight loss and/or muscle growth. The questions, therefore, should be centered around these areas, aiming to understand how participants currently manage these challenges and how they perceive solutions offered by apps like yours. This approach helps in gaining insights into their needs, preferences, and potential barriers they face.

Here are a set of example questions:

• What is the biggest challenge in counting your macronutrients?
• What kind of workarounds have you figured out to make this easier?
• Can you describe your dietary goals and how they influence your approach to macronutrient tracking?
• What specific features do you look for in a tool or app for macronutrient tracking, and why are these features important to you?
• Have you paid for tools to track your macronutrients?
• What, if anything, would you change about other macronutrient tracking tools or apps you’ve used? 

At this point, probing questions like “why?” and “why not?” can uncover more profound understandings of the participant’s motivations as well.

In this phase, you present the product as a potential answer to their needs. It’s crucial to distinguish between gathering data before and after product usage within your research methodology.

Demonstrating a demo or prototype is an effective approach to elicit initial reactions. Prior to their usage of the product, consider asking questions such as:

• Is there anything on the homepage that would stop you from exploring the website and the product further?
• Based on your first look at our homepage, what are your initial thoughts on the design and ease of use of this product?
• What feature or aspect of this product stands out to you as unique or different from others you’ve seen?
• Considering your current habits and preferences, what might be a barrier for you in adopting this product?
• What emotions or feelings does this product evoke in you upon first exploration?
• Would you use this product today? Why or why not?
• What would you pay to be able to use this product?

After allowing the participant to use the product or guiding them through several tasks, the following UX research tools questions are designed to elicit suggestions, ideas and feedback. These questions are best asked once the participant has had hands-on experience with the product, providing insights based on their actual usage:

• Can you identify any specific features or functions of this product that particularly stand out to you?
• Can you identify any specific features or functions of this product that could be improved?
• What, if anything, did you find appealing about the product? Why?
• How do you feel about the overall user experience provided by this product?
• How does this product compare with other similar products you’ve used in terms of features and usability?
• Would you keep using this product after what you’ve seen? Why or why not?
• Based on your current experience, how do you perceive the long-term value of this product for your needs?
• Did you have expectations about this product that have not been met?

In conclusion, the power of well-structured questions cannot be overstated. They are the tools that guide the path to creating products that resonate deeply with your audience. This guide on UX research questions has hopefully provided you with the knowledge of what questions to ask and when — the kind that lead to breakthroughs. Remember, every question should be a stepping stone towards creating a more intuitive, user-centered product experience.

While fundamental questions form the basis of UX research, advanced techniques can provide deeper insights. A platform like Userlytics helps you dive deep into user behaviors and preferences more effectively. See how our platform can help you get those insights you crave. If you would like to book a free demo, it’s right here .

Related posts:

What Is Preference Testing And How to Do It Right?

9 Tips On How To Recruit Participants For A UX Study

9 UX Research Books for Designing Better Products

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The effectiveness of your UX research is deeply influenced by the relevance of your user testing participants. Imagine creating a blockbuster movie where the ensemble of actors, the narrative, and the screenplay must harmonize perfectly to craft something exceptionally good. In UX research, recruiting participants for a study who mirror your target audience is essential…  Read More » 9 Tips On How To Recruit Participants For A UX Study

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35+ Excellent UX Survey Questions You Need to Ask

If you invest a ton of resources and money into building a product solution, you should ensure that it agrees with the target audience. That’s what UX survey questions are for.

User experience survey questions help you explore what the targeted users like, what they don’t like, and what will make your products better. 

The biggest advantage of using UX surveys is they let you run research and optimization processes without disrupting the product cycle.

You can seamlessly integrate the feedback loop into your product stages and ensure the final product meets customers’ expectations.

The first step is to write effective questions. That’s where this blog comes into play.

We have created a comprehensive list of 25+ UX research survey questions to help design the perfect surveys and extract valuable insights from your users, stakeholders, and testers.

Let’s get started.

A Short Note on UX Survey Questions

UX survey questions are designed to extract feedback about the product from the intended and actual users. These questions assess the users’ product experience about different aspects like:

• Product and Website Usability – How easy and intuitive it is for users to navigate and interact with the product.
• Functionality – Insights on features and capabilities of the product.
• Satisfaction – Gauges overall user satisfaction with the product, i.e., are users happy with their experience?
• Visual Design – Feedback on the product’s appearance, layout, colors, and overall visual appeal.
• Performance – Questions about the speed, responsiveness, and overall performance of the product.
• Accessibility – Assesses whether the product is usable by individuals with disabilities.
• Task Completion – Inquires about users’ success in accomplishing specific tasks or goals using the product.
• Suggestions – Asks users to provide their thoughts, suggestions, and ideas for improvement.
• Emotional Response – Asking questions about how users feel while using the product can provide insights into their emotional response and overall experience.
• Competitive Analysis – Questions asking users to compare the product with similar ones they’ve used.

Here is a simple UX survey Nudge™ for collecting feedback from the app users:

37 User Experience (UX) Survey Questions Examples to Ask Users

Before we get to the list, we have to put it out there: there is no magic list of UX survey questions that will help you get all the answers. Instead, you will have to create your own magic by using some great website user experience survey questions.

We have segmented this list into different types of questions for user experience surveys to make it easier for you to understand and use them. Let’s look at what questions to ask for user experience surveys.

UX Survey Questions – Research

• What problems are you currently facing?
• How often do you encounter this problem?

• What is the most frustrating part about this task?
• Did you try any workarounds to help you with your problem?
• How long did you spend on this problem?
• Have you tried any other products/tools?

UX Survey Questions – Usability Testing

• To what extent does this product match your expectations?
• How do you think this product can help you?
• What elements of this product are the most/least important to you?
• What would you like to change about this product?
• Is there anything more you would like us to add to this product?
• What was the most difficult part about using this product?
• How likely are you to recommend this product to your friends and colleagues?

• Did you find the navigation menu intuitive and easy to understand?
• Were you able to quickly find what you were looking for?
• Were there any specific tasks that you found challenging?
• How quickly were you able to learn how to use the product?
• Were instructions and information provided clear and easy to understand?

UX Survey Questions – Interaction Design

• What are you trying to accomplish on this screen?
• How would you rate the interface design of the website/app?
• Do the menu items make sense?
• Is the position of this element appropriate?
• What can we do to simplify this design?
• Is there anything you would like us to remove?
• Does the screen layout look organized to you?
• Is there anything you would like us to add to this screen?
• How would you like to rate the overall navigation experience?

UX Survey Questions – Visual Design

• Do you like how the page looks?
• Does the color scheme look appropriate?
• How would you rate the overall aesthetics of the product?

• Are there any visual changes that you would like us to make?
• Please rate the overall visual appeal of this page?

UX Survey Questions – Stakeholder Reviews

• Does this product/service solve your user’s problems?
• To what extent are your users satisfied with the offering?
• Does the product meet all your requirements?

• To what extent does the product reflect the brand image?
• Was the product able to meet the defined goals?

User Experience (UX) Survey Templates: Jumpstart Your Survey Creation

You have two solid options on the table. First, there’s the hands-on approach—crafting UX surveys from the ground up using the questions provided earlier. Alternatively, you can jump right into action with Qualaroo’s UX survey templates.

These templates are incredibly versatile, allowing you to fine-tune them to align with your brand’s personality. Adjust the branding, play with fonts and colors, and decide which questions make the cut or get the boot.

Consider this pro tip: spice up those surveys by adding a few extra questions from the above list. It allows you to give your UX surveys an extra layer of depth.

And here’s the magic touch – these survey templates are equipped with conditional logic . It means you can dive deep into the minds of your customers, extracting more nuanced feedback.

So, whether you’re going the DIY route or opting for the shortcut with these UX survey templates, you’ve got the tools to gather feedback that goes beyond good – it’s downright impressive.

How to Create a UX Survey Using Quality Questions

Crafting a UX survey is an iterative process. Listen to your audience, let their insights guide you, and continuously evolve your questions to refine the feedback. Here are a few general steps to design UX questions to ask users:

Lay the Foundation with Clear Objectives

Start with putting the campaign goal at the center of your UX questionnaire design. What are you trying to achieve from the exercise?

Are you seeking to enhance product or website usability , measure customer satisfaction , or explore new features? Each audience, be it customers, prospects, or users, should be asked tailored questions that align with your objectives.

For example, if the objective is to improve the usability, then you can ask website usability survey questions such as:

On a scale of 1 to 5, how easy was it to find the information you were looking for on our website?”

Then add a follow-up open-ended question to explore the reason behind the user rating.

In the same way, you can add the following question to gauge what information/features are missing to improve the usability further.

Mix Open and Closed-Ended Questions

Balance closed-ended UX questions with open-ended ones. While closed-ended questions provide quantifiable data, open-ended questions offer qualitative insights.

A strategic blend provides a comprehensive picture of user experience and lets you listen to their minds without restricting them to predefined answer options. 

For example:

Closed-ended – How would you rate the loading speed of our mobile app?

Open-ended – Please describe any difficulties you encountered while using our app.

In this example, you can first segregate the users based on their ratings and then use the open-ended feedback from users who gave lower ratings to identify the user issues with the app.

Visualize the User’s Journey

Another way to design your UX survey questions is to map the user journey across the product and find the bottlenecks.

Then, use it to craft the UX survey design and flow. Start by measuring the initial impressions, delve into interactions, and conclude with satisfaction metrics.

This dynamic approach crafts a holistic narrative.

Initial Impression – What were your first thoughts when you landed on our homepage?

Interaction – Did you find it easy to customize your profile settings?

Satisfaction Metric – On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our website to a friend?

Seek Inspiration from Other UX Survey Examples

If you get stuck in a creative whirlpool, explore existing UX survey question examples for inspiration.

You can search for the UX survey examples online to understand the type of questions to use, their sequence, and the answer choices. 

Then, Tweak and personalize these questions to suit your campaign objectives. 

You can also avoid manual efforts by using a user experience survey tool like Qualaroo that provides built-in professional survey templates to help you get started.

Each template is a complete survey based on a particular scenario designed to extract targeted insights from the audience.

Just pick the relevant template and start customizing the questions and themes to suit your content. Once you are ready to go, you can launch the UX survey.

It saves a ton of time and effort, so you can focus on working on the feedback rather than designing the UX survey from scratch.

Test for Clarity and Simplicity

The quality of insights you get depends on the questions you ask, so they must be clear and understandable.

Here are tips to improve the UX questionnaire’s clarity for the users:

• Avoid Jargon and Complex Terms – Make sure that the survey speaks the language of your participants. Skip the jargon and opt for words everyone can relate to.

Unclear question – “Assess the UI’s perceivable usability in the context of multivariate user interactions.”

Clear and Simple – “ Rate how easy it is to use the website’s different features.”

• Avoid long-winded questions that can lead participants down a confusing rabbit hole. Keep it snappy and on point.

Unclear – “On a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 indicating not at all likely and 7 indicating extremely likely, how probable is it that you would not consider potentially using our service in the future?”

Clear and Simple – “How likely are you to use our service in the future? (1 = Not Likely, 7 = Extremely Likely)”

• Avoid double negatives , which may be misinterpreted, leading to inaccurate feedback data. Imagine you’re explaining a route: “Don’t turn left” might be misinterpreted.

Unclear – “Would you not be dissatisfied with the absence of a chat feature?”

Clear and Simple – “Would you like a chat feature?”

For more tips, check our detailed blog on types of survey errors you need to avoid.

Work on Survey Structure

Structuring a survey well is extremely important if you want your participants to stay interested and not leave in the middle. 

When a survey is well structured, it provides a seamless experience to the users and also makes it easier for them to comprehend the intent behind the survey.

A good way to structure your survey questions for user experience is by asking the simplest questions in the beginning and making your way to the more complex questions later in the survey.

But remember, complex questions don’t mean you make your questions difficult to understand. Keep it simple at all times.

You can easily create a diverse survey structure by using multiple different question types from your survey maker tool. 

For instance, Qualaroo features 12+ question types built into the survey creator to help you create diverse and engaging surveys at all times. These questions include:

Here’s something you may also like: Likert Scale Surveys: Why & How to Create Them (With Examples)

Ask UX Questions That Never Miss The Mark

User experience, mobile app, or website usability survey questions are great for gaining actionable insights into your product’s or website’s usability and the overall user experience. 

Not just that, these surveys also give an excellent opportunity to work on problem areas in your user experience and make it better for improved conversions. 

It’s pretty straightforward as well – you just have to ask the right UX survey questions the right way by pairing your surveys with the right feedback tool.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are 5 good survey questions.

Here are five good UX survey questions:

• How would you rate the overall usability of our product/service on a scale of 1 to 10?
• Which specific features do you find most valuable/useful in our product/service? Please describe why these features stand out to you.
• On a scale of 1 to 5, how visually appealing do you find the design of our product/service?
• Were there any aspects of our product/service that were confusing or hard to understand? If yes, please provide details on what you found confusing and any suggestions for improvement.
• How likely are you to recommend our product/service to a friend or colleague, based on your current experience, on a scale of 0 to 10?

How can mobile app surveys benefit businesses and marketers?

Mobile app surveys provide insights for improving products, enhancing user experience, guiding marketing strategies, and increasing customer loyalty.

What types of feedback can be collected through mobile app surveys?

Mobile app surveys can collect feedback on usability, feature preferences, bugs, user satisfaction, and demographic information

Are there any best practices or tips for implementing mobile app surveys successfully?

Consider these best practices:

• Timing: Prompt users for feedback at appropriate moments within the app.
• Keep it short: Limit the number of questions to maintain user engagement.
• Clear language: Use simple, concise language in questions and response options.
• Incentives: Offer small rewards or discounts to encourage participation.
• Analyze and act: Collect and analyze data, then implement improvements based on findings.

What is the aim of a mobile app?

The aim of a mobile app is to provide a specific functionality, service, or information to users through their mobile devices, often enhancing user experience, convenience, engagement, and specific actions.

About the author

Qualaroo editorial team.

The Qualaroo Editorial Team is a passionate group of UX and feedback management experts dedicated to delivering top-notch content. We stay ahead of the curve on trends, tackle technical hurdles, and provide practical tips to boost your business. With our commitment to quality and integrity, you can be confident you're getting the most reliable resources to enhance your user experience improvement and lead generation initiatives.

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How to Ask UX Research Questions

In this part of the guide we are going to explain what makes good ux research questions, as well as how and when to ask them..

Last update 11.10.2023

The key to an insightful study is a set of carefully thought-through questions that correlate to your project’s goals. Today we’ll take a look at 4 common types of UX research questions and their examples.

Why is it important to ask good UX research questions?

UX research questions are one of the key parts of your research, and when used right can bring out all the important details you miss during the study itself. They help you gather additional information, allow testers to share their opinions and concerns and are just a great way of gathering feedback before, during and after the study.

We recommend to plan out your questions ahead and include them into your UX research plan . This way you can make sure to not forget anything and won’t change the questions going from one participant to another. 

A great advantage of UX research tools like UXtweak is that they allow you to insert those questions during the study setup process, no matter what UX research method you choose. 

This comes in handy especially when conducting an unmoderated user test, with no researcher present to ask the questions. This saves you tons of time as there is no need to prepare a separate questionnaire each time and send it out to the participants before and after the study.

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Types of UX research questions

There are different types of questions you may want to ask depending on the part of the study you’re in, the goals of your research etc. However, the questions also differ in their subject. 

Some of them will be questions about the participants themselves. You might want to know their background before the study, get to know them better in order to understand how they think and approach certain tasks dealing with your product. 

There are also questions concerned about the problem you’re trying to solve. These are usually asked at the earlier stages of user research, during its generative phase. They are focused on uncovering the pain-points and the needs of your future users in relation to the digital product you’re creating. How can it make their lives easier? Which one of their problems is it going to solve and how?

The last group of questions are those about the product. With their help you can find out more about users’ thoughts on product’s design, usability and functionality. Those questions will help to figure out if you’re actually solving the user’s problem and discover ways in which you can do it even better.

During the different stages of your study you’ll need to ask different questions so let’s take a look at the 4 different question types based on the stages of your UX research:

Pre-study questions

Intra-study questions, post-study questions.

Screening questions are essential in most of the UX research studies as they help to filter out the respondents that are not representative of your target audience. This is important in order to not skew the results analytics later on. One screener is usually more than enough but in some cases your study might need more. 

Write your screening questions with the target audience in mind. For example, if you’re testing an e-commerce clothing store your participants should definitely have an experience of purchasing clothes online. 

A good question in that case would be:

How often do you shop for clothes online?

• C) Every couple of months
• D) Hardly ever

In an online UX research tool like UXtweak, you can set up that the participants who choose options D or E will be redirected to the thank you page and the tool will not let them complete the study.

Before the study is the perfect time to get to know your respondents better, ask questions about their demographics, background with the product and any kind of previous experiences related to the study. 

Following up on our example with an online clothing store, here are some examples of pre-study questions:

• What is your current occupation? 
• How often do you shop online?
• Are you familiar with this brand?
• When you shop online, what is the most important feature for you to have on the website?
• What other websites do you usually buy from? What do you like/dislike about them?

The purpose of intra-study questions is to get additional information about users actions and decisions during the test and motivate them to verbalize their opinions. Here, you can ask them to explain why they took a certain action, get feedback on specific features of the product and get their honest opinion on what they’d wish to improve.

Examples of intra-study questions:

• What did you expect to happen when clicking on this item?
• How hard was it for you to complete the task? (1 = very difficult, 5 = very easy)
• What is your opinion on the product’s design?
• Do you find this feature helpful or unhelpful?
• What do you think of …
• If you were looking for …, where would you expect to find it?

After the study you can ask about the participant’s overall impressions of the test and the product, their opinion on the task difficulty. Ask if they’d use that product in real life or if they would recommend it to a friend. It’s also a perfect time to ask them questions that would generate new ideas for improvement. 

Examples of post-study questions:

• What is your overall impression of the test?
• How would you rate the difficulty of using this app on a scale? (1 = very difficult, 5 = very easy)
• What did you like the most/the least about the app?
• Did you feel confused at any point? If so, explain what happened.
• On the scale from 1 to 5 (1 = very satisfied, 5 = very dissatisfied) how would you rate your experience with the product?
• Is there anything a product lacks in your opinion?
• If you could add one feature, what would it be?

In case you are interested in learning more about all of these types of questions and hearing useful tips on when to ask them, we recommend you to watch a video from our YouTube channel where we discuss it all:

Check out our list of best UX Research tools where we explain the pros and cons of each tool and help you choose the best one for your research!

Discover our list of best UX Research tools

We reviewed 18 best tools on the market, so you don't have to!

UX Research Plan

Ux research methods, topics: ux research basics.

• 01. UX Research Basics
• 02. Remote User Research
• 03. UX Research Plan
• 04. UX Research Questions
• 05. UX Research Methods
• 06. Quantitative vs. Qualitative Research
• 07. UX Research Process
• 08. UX Research Report
• 09. UX Research Framework
• 10. UX Research Presentation
• 11. UX Research Bootcamp

UX Research Basics

Remote user research, ux research questions, quantitative vs. qualitative research, ux research process, ux research report, ux research framework, ux research presentation, ux research bootcamp.

• Card Sorting
• Tree Testing
• Preference Test
• Five Second Test
• Session Recording
• Mobile Testing
• First Click Test
• Prototype Testing
• Website Testing
• Onsite Recruiting
• Own Database
• Documentation
• Product features
• UX Glossary
• Comparisons

Crafting good UX research questions for qualitative research

There is no better feeling than getting good results from participants easily. Whether it’s confirming the prototype you’re working on is useful and exciting to potential customers, or getting a better understanding of how individuals view your current website, getting good responses can make your work feel worthwhile.

So how do you hit it out of the park with every study? A great place to start is to focus on crafting quality questions for every study you run!

In this article, I’ll be going through the steps to take before getting your questions written, how to find the right type of study for your project, what types of questions yield the best results and how to stay as un-biased as possible in the process!

There is definitely an art to crafting good, non-biased research questions – however, you first need to focus on how to find the goal for your study and what type of study you should run for the project you are working on.

So to get started, let’s talk about goals.

Recently here at PlaybookUX, I have been working on updating our tester experience. I wanted to get an idea of what testers thought of our landing page and the experience of signing up for an account. But before I could do anything, I needed to stop and ask: “Why?” What is the goal of this? Sure, it’s nice to have a clean, updated website, but I need to understand the purpose of this page.

The landing page, if successful, should be informative enough to entice someone to want to join the platform. So, with that in mind, I can come up with a goal for my redesign: I want to increase the number of recruited testers with my design. This gives me a great jumping off point for my research, and an idea of progress that I can track in the long run.

Finding a goal to work towards is fundamental to good research – you want to have something guiding you forward and informing your decisions. Going into a study blind or without a purpose can risk biased research – just because something is important to you doesn’t mean it is important to your customers, and designing and building a feature without a valid purpose can be a huge time-waster if it backfires.

So goals are extremely important and can come from different places. In the previous example, I wanted to increase testers on our platform to improve the customer experience. Other companies might want to decrease the amount of drop offs from a shopping-cart-to-checkout flow. Some companies might want to decrease the amount of support tickets and drive more volume to their help center by improving their chat bot… these are all great examples of different goals that can be established before starting your research.

Now there are two other things that need to be decided before writing questions: (1) Who are you looking to target and get feedback from and (2) What type of test should you run?

Your participants will vary depending on the goal you set – for example if you are working on a banking app for businesses and you want to drive traffic to your startup program, choosing an audience of small business owners, CEOs, accountants, etc. will most likely be helpful for your study. You can even dig deeper to get more specific with screener questions – for example, finding individuals who regularly use grocery apps on their phone to have groceries delivered, if you are a grocery store trying to revamp the shopping cart/checkout experience.

In the tester experience example, I want to look for a wide variety of individuals who have either little experience doing user testing or have done many user tests in the past to get an opinion from both sides, so I will leave the audience more broad.

Finally, you need to determine what type of study to run.

There are a variety of different types of studies that all serve different purposes and have different ways of asking questions. One of the most common types is called a first impression test – this study will give you a better idea of how a participant thinks and feels about the website/prototype/product they are looking at. First impression tests are a great first step to designing early-stage prototypes or getting a baseline of what people think of your current design – because they will be judging the content based on how it looks and is presented to them, the functionality of the product does not have to be perfect.

Now if you want to know if your product works and makes sense, you will want to run a usability study – which is another commonly used test. In this study, the participant will walk through steps to use the website/prototype/product and communicate their understanding of how it works. Compared to first impression tests, usability studies are best done mid-to-end-project development as you will only want to test the designs that have passed the first impressions of participants.

I’ll talk more about these two types of studies momentarily, but I want to stress that those are just 2 out of many different types of studies you can run. If you are looking to understand your audience more – their needs, their experiences on and off platform – you can run a Persona test. You can dive deeper into experiences like chat bot, shopping cart, phone app, etc. and specialize studies to test if these programs work. If you are not quite sure what type of test you want to run, feel free to check out the PlaybookUX Academy , where we have many common types of studies and questions you can utilize.

So let’s go back to my example of the tester landing page. I first want to make sure that my landing page is enticing people to sign up to be a tester, so I want to run a first mpressions test to see how people perceive the site as it is now – this will help me understand areas that are working well and others that need improvement as I move forward.

Now I’m going to say a statement that is going to sound very obvious, but I think it’s important to highlight: the audience cannot read the researcher’s mind.

The reason I highlight this is because one of the most common mistakes I see in research studies is vague questions that do not provide directions. How often have you had a participant race through a prototype because they didn’t realize it was not a real app/website/program yet? This has absolutely happened to me before, and I realized it was because my questions were not specific enough.

So my rules of thumb when crafting questions #1: Be as specific as possible with your questions, and don’t be afraid of context and directions.

Think about the type of material you want, and how you would go about obtaining that. Do you want the participants to answer questions before they start the study? Do you want them to walk through a study slowly? These are both possible, but you will want to make sure the participant understands what they are doing so they don’t instinctively move forward.

When coming up with questions, give instructions to direct them through each step. Use phrases like “Without clicking”, and “scroll up and down but don’t click,” on questions where you want them to look over something – this will help the user slow down and not charge forward through each webpage. For my tester landing page, I want to know where they think the tester information would live on the website. So I might ask “Where would you go to find more information on becoming a tester?” – my participant, after reading over the prompt, may take a moment to look for the correct response and then click on the area they think would take them to that spot. I don’t want this for many reasons: If I had follow up questions about that experience, they would now be ahead of me and potentially reviewing the information without instruction. Or worse, they may have clicked on the wrong spot, which will only make the next few questions confusing if they can’t navigate back. Now, if I ask the same question, but add “ Without clicking, where would you go to find more information on becoming a tester?” – this gives the participant a specific instruction that they should not click anything, but they are being asked to locate something so they can answer the question without moving forward. This keeps them on the correct path and in a spot where they could answer potential follow up questions.

Going back to my example about prototypes – as a researcher it is best to assume that your participants may not have experience looking at prototypes or websites, so providing context can help set the stage for parts of the study that may otherwise confuse them. If I have a prototype on Figma that I want to show my participants, I might set up a task/question that says “On the next page, you’ll be taken to a prototype of our design. Once the prototype is loaded, the following questions will prompt you on how to move forward!” This will allow my participants inside knowledge that their screen will change and may not operate the same as they are used to, but that the questions will provide instructions. You’re building trust with your participants this way, and thus making the research better.

I do want to point out that some researchers like to keep things vague to see how people interact without instruction – this is completely at your discretion and is a valid form of research! Depending on the nature of your product, audience, and information you are looking to gather, you can ask more open-ended questions and see how a participant flows through a site, which can test how intuitive or easy to use the site is. That being said, I recommend doing this type of study in a moderated session, where a conversation and flow can happen more naturally instead of an unmoderated study.

So, for my tester landing page, I want to run a first impressions study. So what types of questions should I ask? I want to learn more about how the participant feels about the design, so I want to stick to asking questions about what they think and feel about certain aspects of the page.

• “Do you find this website helpful?”
• “Describe this section in 3 keywords.”
• “On a scale of 1-10, how easy is it to navigate through the site?”
• “What would you improve about the website?”

You’ll notice that my questions are not necessarily asking if it’s functional but rather looking at it on a surface level – these are all great questions for first impression tests. However, I am still not crafting good questions. Why?

My rules of thumb #2: You do not want to lead your participant down a path – this will create bias.

Listen – we’re all human, we all have preferences and ideas of what looks good or works for us. But in research, it’s important to get as much of your opinion out the door as possible so you can allow the participants to make up their own mind about the content they are seeing. So using keywords like ‘helpful’ or ‘easy’ in a question, or asking them a yes/no question, might put the thought into the participants head before they had a chance to form their own, or even worse, it might make them feel uncomfortable sharing their opinion if they didn’t find the information ‘helpful’ or ‘easy’. Suddenly there’s a secret expectation that the participants have to make you feel good about your research and your design. Yes/No questions also lack answers with substance as most individuals might not want to answer their reason why they chose what they chose.

So you want to frame questions in a way that doesn’t pre-suppose what the person is going to say, and you want to find a balance. If you are going to ask “What part of the webpage was the easiest to understand?” follow it up with “What part of the webpage was the most challenging to understand?”

Instead of asking “How easy is this website to navigate,” say “On a scale of one to ten, how did you find the process of navigating the website” and save ‘easy’ for the scale.

As you start to configure your questions and work on being less biased, you may encounter a different type of issue – asking vague or very open ended questions can often confuse and overwhelm your participants. “Tell me what you think of this page” – this is a question that can lead participants to either overthink about the page they are looking at, or will prompt them to describe what they are seeing without giving much of an opinion. I’ve seen studies where, during questions like this, participants will answer with phrases like “It’s fine,” or “I like this” without really diving deeper into what it evokes. Questions like “Describe this page in 3 words” or “what draws attention to you the most on the webpage and why” give the participant a little more direction to answer more thoughtfully, and often lead to interesting and more detailed insights.

So my questions are starting to come together with just a few edits:

• “What is the most helpful part of the website?”
• “What is the least helpful part of the website?”
• “Describe this section in 3 keywords.”
• “On a scale of 1-10, how did you find the process of navigating the website?”
• “What would you improve about the website?”

You’ll see I added more here to my list. But how do these questions differ for a usability test?

With a usability test, the same rules of thumb apply, but your questions will be geared more towards how the product works. In this case, providing instructions becomes much more important as you want to make sure your participant is moving through the product in the order that you choose.

For example: “Where would you find information on startup banking accounts?”

When I run usability studies, I also like to ask questions before clicking and follow up after clicking to see if it met expectations: “Without clicking, what information do you expect to find on the “Create an account” page?”

Followed by: “Go ahead and click on “Create an account” – what do you think of the way it is laid out – compared to your previous expectations?”

This helps me understand how intuitive my program is or isn’t. Of course with usability tests, you can use questions that could also be used for first impression tests – asking things like “Did you find anything surprising about this page?” or “what draws attention to you the most on the webpage and why” can help you understand how the user is understanding the product. Now, coming up with questions can be challenging for anyone, so don’t be discouraged if you are having trouble wording questions or coming up with ideas. We are always happy to help you, and there are a couple of ways you can utilize PlaybookUX to your advantage. First, you can click on “Popular Questions” – this is a list of questions that researchers often use in a variety of different types of studies. You can browse through and select as many questions as you’d like to add to your study, and all these questions can be reworded, duplicated, moved around and deleted at your leisure. If you want a good jumping off point, you can even import one of PlaybookUX’s templates – here we’ve compiled a list of common types of tests (including both usability and first impression tests), and you can select a full template to add to your study and edit as you please. If you and your colleagues launch lots of successful tests on the platform, you can even save those questions in a workspace template to import for future studies – so check in with your colleagues and check their templates for usable questions!

Once you have your questions put together, you might be asking yourself – how do I know if these questions are usable? The best way to check if your questions work is by running a study! Many researchers will create what is called a “pilot test” – this is a 1-person study that will give you an idea of how successful the questions are. Once you get your participant’s response, you can analyze how they answered the questions, make notes on what worked and what didn’t, and then duplicate your study – making edits as you go. If you find that the study went really well and you don’t need to make any changes, you can add participants to the same study and work on getting more responses! This pilot test process is a super helpful way to ensure you are not wasting your time and energy analyzing research that is not very helpful.

Finally, if you find that your study goes well and the questions were successful, consider saving your study as a workspace template – not only will this make it easy to find good questions later when you launch other studies, but you’ll be helping out your colleagues in the process!

I want to briefly talk about moderated studies and asking questions, which I consider to be a whole different ballpark. With moderated studies, you will be face to face with the participant as they are working through each question, so you can have more natural conversations and ask follow up questions as you go along. But staying unbiased in a moderated study is a whole lot more difficult than you might expect. There’s a lot of pressure to fill the silence or help your participant as they struggle through a part of the study – these can be times where saying something can actually hurt your research. Don’t feel like you have to jump in on uncomfortable silences: remember, you are testing your product to see how easy it is to navigate or how easy it is to understand, and by providing too much guidance you are not allowing the participants to work at their own pace. If they are struggling with a section that is not directly relevant to your research, you can lightly set them back on track but remember to allow for room for them to figure things out on their own.

In addition to this, you want to be careful with how you ask follow up questions. You might find yourself wanting to ask things like “ Did you find it more challenging than the other part?” When asking them to compare two things – just like with the keywords from before, you are now putting an idea in the participant’s head that the second part was more challenging, whether they think that or not. Sometimes giving the participant space to answer, even if it takes a little longer, can help you get a better response: avoid answering your own question in a question. For example “Do you think maybe you did it this way because ____?” This assumes the answer of the participant and makes it harder to get a unique answer from them. I’m not going to lie to you – staying unbiased in a moderated interview is a lot harder than you think, and is a skill to unlearn – so if you slip up, just make a note to work on it in the future. By employing these rules of thumb and working on how you present questions to your participants, you’ll start to see the fruit of your labor in the responses you receive. Better questions reveal better results and get you closer to accomplishing your goal!

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Feb 13, 2024

How to avoid leading questions in UX research (+ examples)

Understand what leading questions are, how they influence UX research, and learn about the four types of leading questions you should know about.

Melanie Buset

User Research Manager at Spotify

If you’ve ever been asked, “How satisfied were you with [product]?” then you’ve experienced a leading question. This question assumes that you had a satisfactory experience ('how satisfied') and primes you to think positively about it, which can end up influencing your reply.

That is the essence of leading questions–they can strongly influence how participants answer them based on their structure and words. As a result, they impact your results and affect what your team decides to prioritize in product development.

Whenever we do any research, whether it's user interviews, customer satisfaction surveys, or field research, we should keep our assumptions in check and ask better questions.

In this article, we’ll look at what leading questions are, how they influence UX research, identify four kinds of leading questions you should know about, and share actionable advice on how to avoid asking them.

What are leading questions?

Leading questions are questions or statements that contain assumptions or affirmations and encourage respondents toward a specific answer or outcome. When using leading questions, we make inferences about people's feelings or experiences, and as a result, collect biased results.

We might not notice them but leading questions are quite present in our daily lives. For example, when we have a nice dinner out, we'll ask our dining partner "Wasn't that a good meal?"

To be completely neutral and not influence their response, we should instead ask "What did you think of the meal?" . In these kinds of situations, there's not a significant negative effect to using leading questions—it's completely normal to frame the question that way.

Unfortunately, in user research, leading questions can have more consequences. Leading questions can easily make their way into questionnaires, survey questions, interviews, and other types of customer feedback collection initiatives—skewing the validity of your results as they do. You may also have heard the term loaded questions, which are similar—but not quite the same.

Leading questions vs. loaded questions: What’s the difference?

Put simply, loaded questions are more extreme leading questions. While leading questions nudge respondents to give a specific response by phrasing questions a certain way, loaded questions are more overt—often emotionally-charged or implying a socially-desirable response—to guide respondents to a specific answer.

For example:

• Leading question: Did you prefer the blue button design to the green button option?
• Loaded question: Do you think that the blue button design is much better and more visually-appealing than the green button option?

There are lots of similarities between assumptive leading questions (which we’ll cover shortly) and loaded questions. Loaded questions can also be more intentional in their usage, while leading questions are often leading by mistake. Ultimately, the two are very similar, and both ultimately distort data and skew results.

How leading questions affect UX research

In UX research , leading questions impact the accuracy of results and what a team prioritizes to build. If you’re running user interviews or UX surveys with leading questions, you can get false feedback—either too positive or negative feedback unrepresentative of people’s actual lived experiences.

Leading questions are often caused by UX cognitive biases , like the framing effect , where the way a question is presented (either positively or negatively) impacts how someone responds.

A frequently used example of a positively-framed, leading question is "How easy was this product to use?" . This question instantly assumes the product is easy to use.

When research questions are framed incorrectly, it leads to missed opportunities to learn how to improve your product, which is the inherent intent of user research.

Positively-framed questions over-index on delightful experiences, leaving no room for people to share what didn't go well or what they disliked. When research questions are framed incorrectly, it leads to missed opportunities to learn how to improve your product, which is the inherent intent of user research.

As UX practitioners, we should make our participants feel like they can share all types of feedback, whether positive or negative. We must allow them to do so by asking open-ended, non-biased questions that focus on actual experiences, not assumptions.

The ease of use question above makes an assumption based on how someone experienced a product. Other types of leading questions make assumptions about people’s feelings or emotions, how they compare to others, and the cause-and-effect of their future actions. Let’s look at four examples of the different types of leading questions.

Types of leading questions to avoid + examples

1. assumptive leading questions.

These are questions that make assumptions about how others feel, what they’ve done or will do. These questions are usually framed in a positive light to achieve predetermined responses.

Examples of assumptive leading questions:

• How much do you enjoy [product]?
• What did you like and dislike about our product?
• Why do you prefer our product over [competitor product]?
• How often do you run?

How to reframe assumption-based questions:

• Please walk us through your experience when you did [x] with our product
• Recall a time when you used our product for [x] and share that experience
• First, ask: Do you partake in any physical exercise? Then, ask: On average, how many times per week do you engage in physical exercise?

The reframed questions remove the assumptions that they enjoyed, liked, or disliked the product and instead prompt respondents to share more about their experience. When asking people to recall and walk you through their experiences, you will naturally learn what went well (or what they liked) and what didn’t (or what they disliked) from their responses.

The order in which you ask questions is also critical to avoiding leading questions. First, confirm that respondents had the experiences you’re asking them to speak about, then ask a neutral question about their experiences.

2. Statement-based leading questions

These questions share an assumptive statement and then ask the respondent for feedback on the assumed experience. These questions can easily result in completely false answers due to response bias and sometimes even FOMO (fear of missing out).

Examples of statement-based leading questions:

• Our previous feedback survey showed that most people prefer breakfast as their favorite meal. Do you agree?
• Finance organizations report that many employees work overtime. Do you work overtime?

How to reframe statement-based questions:

• If you had to choose just one, which meal do you most prefer: breakfast, lunch, or dinner?
• What are your thoughts on working overtime?

The reframed questions remove the leading statements to help avoid agreeable answers. The first example promotes breakfast as the most preferred meal and makes it easy for the respondent to say ‘yes'. The second question shares a belief that is apparently held by the group's majority, which may make it difficult for the respondent to disagree because people want to appear socially desirable to others.

3. Coercive leading questions

These questions begin with a seemingly factual statement and then ask you to confirm if it's the truth. These are the types of questions you will often see in legal interrogations. For example, questions related to whereabouts, such as "You were at the grocery store at 8 PM that evening, so you most likely saw the robber, right?" .

Examples of coercive leading questions:

• We can see that the last time you logged into your profile was on March 7th. That’s correct, right?
• You’ll provide me with a 5-star rating once I drop you off, yes?
• Our services met your needs, correct?

How to reframe coercive questions:

• Can you recall the last time you logged into your profile?
• After I drop you off, could you please rate your experience today?
• Please share if our services met your needs or not.

Similar to statement-based questions, coercive questions are loaded with assumptions. The use of affirmative language such as “yes?” and “right?” nudges the respondent to agree. These questions are also sometimes called ‘tag questions’—as you’re tagging on the questions at the end of a statement or assumption.

The more particular and personal the assumption is, the more difficult it can be to disagree and doubt its validity. These leading questions produce predetermined responses, leaving no opportunity to collect data about the actual context of respondents' experiences.

4. Consequential leading questions

These questions—which are often also called direct implication questions—ask people to predict their behavior and future events. Questions that require users to make predictions about their future behavior are ineffective because we’re not good at predicting our behavior reliably.

Examples of consequential leading questions:

• If you found what you were looking for today, will you come back and shop with us again?
• Imagine our product helped you save more money. Would you open another account with us?

How to reframe consequential questions: Framing questions based on current or existing experiences that people have had will produce more accurate survey results. For example, the first leading question above can be redesigned into a multi-select question:

Based on your previous experience(s) shopping with us, please share what contributes to you visiting our store:

• Cost of goods
• Selection of goods
• Quality of goods
• Location of the shop
• Other (please specify)

This allows the person to share why they visited the store, which yields more useful information than just asking if they will return or not.

💡 Want more from your next customer survey? Use Maze AI to write dynamic follow-up questions that leave no insights undiscovered.

5. Complex leading questions

Also known as double-barreled questions, these questions force respondents to think about two concepts at once. Typically, 'and' is used to merge multiple questions into one. This can confuse respondents and lead to incorrect data and missed insights.

Examples of complex leading questions

• Do you think our support team are efficient and effective?
• Can you access the blog and help center on our website?

How to reframe complex leading questions: Avoiding complex leading questions is simple—divide the two questions you’re asking at once into two separate questions. In doing so, you might also notice you’ve asked other types of leading questions. In our case, “Do you think our support team is efficient?” may lead respondents to give a favorable answer.

Instead, consider:

• What’s your experience with our support team?
• Can you access the blog on our website?
• Can you find the help center on our website?

This allows respondents to focus on one question at a time, instead of lumping two considerations into one.

6. Scale-based leading questions

This type of leading question encourages a particular answer by providing an unfairly balanced rating scale in which one sentiment outweighs another.

Examples of scale-based leading questions

How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the customer experience?

• Very satisfied
• Somewhat satisfied
• Dissatisfied
• Very dissatisfied

How to reframe scale-based leading questions: The above example includes 'satisfied' in three out of the five possible answers, encouraging participants to answer in a particular way. To avoid leading respondents towards a particular answer, consider adding a neutral middle option or turning it into an open-ended question:

• Neither satified nor dissatisfied

Can you tell us about your experience as a customer?

Rating scale questions are a great way to get quantitative data en masse, but opening up questions for qualitative data allows for much deeper customer feedback and insights.

How to avoid leading questions in UX research

Now you know what to watch out for when it comes to leading questions, here’s our top tips for how to avoid sneaky biases creeping into your UX research.

Access 350+ ready-to-use research questions 🙌

Get your research up and running with our Question Bank , the internet's best open-source question repository for user research.

Avoid words related to feelings and/or sentiment

Remove adjectives related to feelings, such as how much people like or dislike something. Instead, ask them to share their experience and naturally uncover what works and what is challenging.

Be mindful of the order of your questions

Be mindful of where and when you ask questions, so you don’t assume people have had experiences. A good rule of thumb is to start broad and then get specific. For example, start by uncovering if someone uses a particular feature and then ask specific questions related to that feature—don’t make assumptions right off the bat.

Create a safe and open environment

Create space for any type of feedback—positive and negative—and make participants feel safe to share their opinions. Remind people that there are no right or wrong answers and that you are not testing them—you’re testing the product.

Run through your questions with someone

Asking your questions out loud with someone not part of your company or team is a great way to identify if you’ve accidentally created a leading question. Call on a friend, family member, or even someone at the company who is unfamiliar with the product area to do a mock interview or run through your survey.

Use AI assistance when crafting questions

Using AI in UX design can optimize your questions to ensure you’re avoiding leading questions when collecting customer insights . Maze AI’s uses an advanced algorithm to identify bias in your questions—as well as illegibility and grammatical errors—and provides newly-phrased questions to avoid leading questions.

Don't let leading questions impact your data

Leading questions are pretty common in everyday life—whether we're the respondent or the interviewer. But while asking someone to confirm they enjoyed their meal is no big deal—using leading questions in product research leads you to a path of assumptions and misinformed product roadmaps .

The next time you prepare for your next user interview, keep these best practices in mind and practice framing questions in a neutral, unbiased way. The more experience you have with crafting effective research questions, the easier it will become to spot leading ones.

Frequently asked questions

How can I identify a leading question?

To identify leading questions, review the questions you prepared and ask yourself if they focus on a particular sentiment (e.g., like or dislike), or if they are balanced and neutral. Indicators of leading questions include affirmative language such as ‘right?’ ‘wouldn’t you?’ ‘isn’t that true?’ and so on; sweeping statements that assume an experience actually happened are usually followed by leading questions; and questions that ask participants to predict future behavior.

What are some examples of leading questions?

There are four types of leading questions you should be aware of, from assumptive questions to statement-based, coercive, and consequential questions. Examples of leading questions are: ‘How much do you enjoy using [product]?’ ‘What did you like and dislike about [x]?’ ‘Our services met your needs, right?’

How can I avoid asking a leading question?

To avoid asking leading questions, don’t use words related to feelings and/or sentiment in your questions. Be mindful of the order of your questions, and create an open environment, encouraging your UX research participants to share their thoughts. A best practice is to run through the questions with someone before using them in real-life research.

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Fundamentals

The Art of Asking Effective UX Research Questions

Written by: Phil Hesketh

Published on: 18 May, 2023

Running an effective UX research study relies on your ability to create questions for your participants that drive meaningful results for your organization.

In this article, we’ll be looking at the best question types, what makes a good or bad question, and some examples you can use in your research studies.

What is a UX research question?

A UX research question is designed to help your researchers gather insights about user behavior, thoughts, experiences, pain points, and preferences when you’re conducting user research studies. They are used for user research interview questions, user testing, surveys, and other situations where researchers need to observe behaviors or get feedback during a research study.

Well-crafted questions are concise and clear, and each question should speak to a specific aspect of the user experience.

Responses to these questions will help your UX team and wider organization to uncover meaningful data about how to improve your products, services, and design.

What makes a good UX research question?

In the world of UX, there tend to be good and bad UX research interview questions. A bad question is one that won’t give you much useful feedback from users, whereas a good question will give you insights that you can take action on to improve your user experience and product.

Bad UX research questions:

“Yes” or “no” questions. Closed ended questions like these prevent your participants responding in detail and giving you more meaningful feedback. However, they do come in handy in certain circumstances. We’ll talk about this further down

Leading questions that encourage the answers you want to hear. These can compromise the objectives of your study. For example “How much do you love using our new checkout page?”

Questions that might send users off on another tangent that isn’t relevant to your study

Ambiguous or broad questions that lead to confusion and different interpretations among your participants. For example “What do you think about our product?”

Combining multiple questions into one. This can make it difficult for users to give you a focused response.

For example, “What were the problems you encountered during onboarding, and how did you overcome them?”. Complex questions like these should be split up and presented as separate questions

Questions that assume participant behaviors and preferences without allowing them to give you their perspective. For example “How often do you use our board feature for your project management?”

Jargon and complex language should be avoided. Questions like “How did you perceive and approach the microinteractions in our UI?” can be confusing for participants to understand, and should be reframed in simple terms.

Good UX research questions:

Are clear, concise, and accessible

Use simple language that is an 8th grade level

Focus on a specific objective

Are unbiased and centered on the participant’s perspectives and experiences

How do you write a UX research question?

When you’re designing your research questions, it’s best to  start with your objectives  and the assumptions you want to test, and work backwards.

Once you’ve decided what you want to learn from your study, what you’re trying to achieve as an end goal, and what your research methods will be, it’s much easier to create big-picture questions that help you move towards creating the questions you’ll ask your users.

Your questions should help you explore a range of user behaviors, challenges, and needs as you carry out your study. For example:

Are you aiming to find out about key problems users have with your product?

Do you need to find out more about who uses your product, and how they’re using it?

Do you want to learn how users experience your product?

Do you just need some quick answers to verify previous findings?

Let’s take a look at these in more detail.

Open ended questions

Open-ended UX research questions help you discover more about your participants, and gather detailed responses about their experiences with your product.

These questions can’t be easily answered with a couple of words, and are useful when you’re running things like usability tests or task analysis.

Starting your questions with words like these ensure you get free-form feedback from your users that can move you towards testing your hypotheses:

How did you…

Describe how…

Tell me more about…

While the questions are great for getting more in-depth responses, they can also have a few drawbacks for researchers. Sifting through free-form responses can take a long time, especially if you have a large research panel — and many participants can find these types of questions difficult to answer in detail.

Closed questions

We mentioned above that “yes/no” questions aren’t that helpful in many UX research instances. But they do have their place!

If you have a huge participant pool, or you want more statistical responses, close-ended UX research questions can work well, as there are limited possible answers. They’re also perfect if you’re running  NPS  or  CSAT  surveys.

Participants can typically respond to these by:

Giving a yes or no reply

Checking a box in a multiple-choice list

Using a single descriptive word

Selecting a rating from a short list of options

If you’re using closed questions, it’s a good idea to have an option like “other” “neutral” or “none of the above” to ensure you’re not forcing your participants to choose an unsuitable answer for them in order to move to the next question.

Screening questions

Screeners are often used as a prelude to UX research studies. They help you filter for your most ideal users so you can get higher quality responses during your study.

These questions are designed to qualify/disqualify people so you can move the right people onto your research panels. For example:

How often do you use the internet?

How frequently do you shop online?

Do you use software tools for project management?

Questions about your users

These questions can help you to understand more about your users, such as who they are, what their pain points are, what they like/dislike, and their more general wants and needs.

Digging into these insights can help you create a better product by giving you more background around your users’ demographics, habits, and attitudes towards product adoption.

You might include questions like “What does a typical weekday look like for you?” or “What type of tools do you usually use to perform [task]”

Questions about pain points

To create a product that successfully solves problems for your users, you first need to understand what those actual (not assumed) problems are.

Questions around pain points help you validate concepts, test new features, and refine existing features. For example:

What was the key challenge you were facing when you went looking for a product like ours?

What other solution or alternative did you use to try and solve this problem?

Can you recall a time when you wished [product/service] had a specific capability?

What was the need or pain point behind this desire?

Are there any tasks or features in [product] that you find overly time-consuming or confusing?

Awareness questions

These help you tap into your users’ relationship with your brand. Some examples of questions like these are:

How did you first hear about our product?

How did you discover our website?

If you visited our website a few times, what made you keep coming back?

How long did it take you to purchase something from our website after your first visit?

Experience questions

Experience questions make a good follow up to your awareness questions. They move further along the customer journey and look at what happened after a user first learned about your product.

These might include questions such as:

What were your first impressions of our website?

When you were on our website, what motivated you to take the free trial?

Was there anything in particular that caused you to abandon your purchase at checkout?

Expectation questions

These investigate the thoughts and assumptions your participants have when they first use your products. To tap into these valuable insights, you can ask questions like:

What was your impression of our onboarding process?

How did you think using our new feature would benefit you?

What were your first thoughts when you were moving through our product dashboard?

Do you feel our product is similar to anything else on the market?

Task-driven questions

These can fall into a general category of asking how participants would perform a certain task, or they can be more specific (e.g. in an interactive user testing environment).

Task-related questions help your researchers find problems with workflows and interfaces, validate your design concepts, and pinpoint any other blocks that might stand between your product and a user having a good experience with it.

Examples of these questions might be:

Go to the dashboard and upload your profile picture

From the homepage, log into our application

How would you go about performing [specific task] ?

What do you expect to happen if you click [specific button in the app]?

Product questions

These questions are fairly straightforward, and can be related to things like usability, design, how users feel when they’re on your app or website, and what people feel could be improved.

They’ll help you get a better idea of which features to focus on, which elements could be altered to improve user experience, and whether your designs are appealing or not.

For example:

How would you feel if you had to navigate through this product by yourself?

How did you find the product navigation in terms of ease of use?

Did you run into any problems installing our app?

What are your overall feelings about using our product?

What appeals/doesn’t appeal to you visually?

Why do you think somebody would use this specific feature?

Do you feel you can trust this product?

What’s the most you’d be willing to pay for this feature?

Dig deeper with follow-up questions

Many of the user research interview questions you ask might reveal an interesting fact that you want to explore further. This is where having a few “dig deeper” questions at your side can come in handy to help you get more inside the mind of your users.

Sometimes even a simple “why?” as a follow-up can be enough to get you a more comprehensive response.

As examples:

User: I felt the layout was very confusing

Follow up: What was it about the layout that you found confusing?

User: This new feature isn’t something I’d personally use

Follow up: What makes you not want to use the new feature?

User: I wasn’t expecting the dashboard to be so difficult to get set up

Follow up: How were you expecting the dashboard setup to work as a new user? \

User: I’m not a fan of the colors here

Follow up: What is it about the colors that you don’t like in relation to this feature?

Always make sure your follow-up questions are open-ended to give your participants the room they need to talk more about their experiences and thoughts.

Closing questions

Having a closing question at the end of your user interviews gives your participants the opportunity to give some final feedback on your product. This last question can often reveal new insights, or reframe some previous insights in a different light.

If you were recommending our product to a friend or colleague, what would you tell them about it?

Do you feel this product was made for you?

If you could change one thing about our checkout page, what would it be?

What’s the one thing you like most about our product?

What’s the one thing you dislike most about our product?

Wrapping up

To create a fantastic UX experience for your customers, you need to understand who your users are, how they experience your brand or product, and the exact problems you’re trying to solve for them.

A key part of your success will hinge around crafting effective UX research questions that help you eliminate all the guesswork and create a product your customers truly want.

With Consent Kit, you can quickly set up UX research questions for your studies that have accessibility, consent, and security features built-in, as well as keeping you compliant with data and privacy regulations.

Try it free for 14 days , or get in touch for a  personalized demo .

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UX Research Questions

• Modern science relies on research problems, questions, hypotheses, experiments, replication of research, and meta-analysis.

Research methods, UX research, and usability testing (qualitative research, quantitative methods) are based on research questions.

To conduct UX research is, first and foremost, to ask good research questions.

• Relevant problems and research questions are the starting point and form the horizon of our knowledge of the world and phenomena.

Problems and research questions organize knowledge and establish research trends for years to come (including within User Experience research), bringing to life entire schools of research or more detailed approaches.

They are simply necessary.

This is no different in the field of UX Research — the academic studies conducted within the broader field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) — and the more business-oriented, pragmatic ones.

In this article, we will look at the "scientific background," how knowledge is created, how research is born, and what role research questions play in investigation, definition, discovery, and understanding.

We will highlight best practices regarding the formulation of research questions. We will also show the differences between research problems and research questions and between research questions and research hypotheses.

At the end, we will present examples of research questions. In particular, we will focus on the research questions posed in the context of User Experience.

If you are interested in qualitative research, quantitative research, UX audits, usability testing, benchmarking, A/B testing, or other types of UX research  (e.g., eye-tracking). You definitely also need to know about the issue of research questions.

In the following article, you can find everything you wanted to know about research questions but were afraid to ask.

We invite you to read on!

Do you want to perform UX Research?

What are research questions?

A research question is a question around which research is focused. It organizes it, structures it, and directs it. It is influenced not only by the research problem but also by choice of research method.

Research questions are the foundation, and as such, they are the starting point and the point of arrival because every study, on the one hand, uncovers something, reveals something, and allows for a better understanding. On the other hand, it points out the "unknown" area and subsequent research problems and inspires new research questions and hypotheses. The cyclical nature of this process is the essence of science. It is the driving force behind the development of the world of knowledge.

John W. Creswell, in his book " Research Design. Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches ," starts by distinguishing between research questions in qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods because of their differences.

In qualitative methods:

• Research questions are posed, but no assumptions are made (the study is conducted without expectations), or hypotheses (no predictions are made that take into account variables and statistical tests)
• Questions are posed in the most general way possible
• Research questions are asked in two forms — in the form of a main question, and additional questions
• Researchers seek to know as many factors as possible that can influence and condition a given phenomenon.

The purpose of posing research questions (including in the design process) in qualitative research is to "discover," "explain," or "explore" also during usability testing (e.g., of mobile apps for the target audience).

Catherine Marshall and Gretchen B. Rossman, in their book " Designing Qualitative Research ," distinguished and divided research questions in qualitative research into:

• Contextual questions that seek to describe the nature of what already exists
• Descriptive questions which try to describe a phenomenon
• Emancipatory questions that aim to generate knowledge that will help people engage in social action, especially for those who are underprivileged
• Evaluative questions that assess the effectiveness of existing methods or paradigms
• Explanatory questions that seek to explain a phenomenon or explore the causes and relationships of what exists
• Exploratory questions, which deal with lesser-known areas of a given topic  (e.g., the different viewpoints represented by different target groups)
• Generative questions that aim to provide new ideas to develop theories and activities
• Ideological questions that are used in research aimed at developing specific ideologies of a stance.

In quantitative research:

• Very detailed research questions are posed (regardless of who we want to study)
• Research questions are much more specific
• Hypotheses are made on the basis of a small number of variables
• Having expectations is common
• Quantitative hypotheses are used to capture the relationship between variables.

An important characteristic of questions in quantitative research is their precision.

• Quantitative questions cannot be answered in the affirmative ("Yes") or negative ("No"); hence we cannot use words such as "is," "are," "do," or "does."

As Imed Bouchrika notes in his article " How to Write a Research Question: Types, Steps, and Examples ," quantitative research questions can be divided into three types: descriptive, comparative, and relationship research questions.

Descriptive Research Questions usually start with the interrogative word "what" and are intended to provide answers to a single variable.

Comparative Research Questions aim to discover differences between groups where a given variable occurs.

Relationship Research Questions investigate and define trends and interactions between two or more variables.

In mixed methods:

• Specific research questions that are appropriate for mixed research methodology should be used
• Both quantitative and qualitative research questions are used.

We should also add Uwe Flick's remarks that he made in his book " Designing Qualitative Research. " According to him, the success of research depends on the quality of the research question, which should be clear and emphatic.

We will write in a moment about the ways of formulating research questions.

The quality of the research question determines what data we will collect and what aspects and problems will be analyzed and interpreted. According to Uwe Flick, a good research question defines the scope of necessary data that cannot be omitted from the research process.

How to formulate research questions?

Formulating research questions and asking research questions (e.g., during user interviews) are two of the most critical issues addressed when discussing the researcher's workshop.

A properly posed question makes it clear what we want to study — and, indirectly — why we want to study it.

Research questions, including UX research questions, should be:

• Clear , the more detailed and specific the question, the easier it will be to understand and identify what problem it indicates and what its scope is
• Concise , a research question should be appropriately balanced in terms of length. It should be long enough not to leave out any important issues and brief enough not to lose its point and clarity
• Complex , so that the simplification expressed in the answers "Yes/No" is not possible
• Argumentative so that they open a discussion rather than offer definitive conclusions
• Focused on a given problem and thus, they should be devoid of any digressions and unnecessary elements
• Realistic and rational so that it is possible to conduct research within the given time, context, budget, logistics, and organizational frame.

Most often, research questions are aimed at the following objectives:

• Description
• Exploration
• Explanation
• Testing, including usability testing

In the case of description and exploration, most often, a research question takes one of the following forms:

• What are the characteristics of X? (for example, a user interface )
• How does X change over time? (for example, users and their expectations)

In the case of explanation and testing, a research question, most often, takes one of the following forms:

• What is the relationship between X and Y? (for example, visible during eye-tracking studies with users)
• What role does X play in Y? (for example, a mobile application in the user's life)

In the case of evaluation and action, a research question, most often, takes one of the following forms:

• What are the advantages of X? (for example, graphical user interface)
• How effective is X? (for example, usability testing of digital products for a user)

Imed Bouchrika, quoted above, provides a very practical method for checking whether a research question is relevant.

A research question must meet five fundamental criteria.

It must be:

• Feasible — both in terms of realism, which we already mentioned, and limitations of the researcher themselves, whether they can face the challenge
• Interesting and/or useful — especially in the case of UX research questions regarding usability. The practical dimension of the knowledge obtained during the research is vital — although science should not have boundaries, not everything is worth knowing. Anti-awards are the best example of this (for instance, Darwin Awards)
• Novel — it should bring something new to the subject, to the knowledge about the problem in question
• Ethical — it cannot violate legal norms, informal social norms as well as rules, ethical norms that apply to researchers
• Relevant — novelty and freshness are important, but it is equally essential that the research provides value not only to the researcher but also to all or at least the majority of stakeholders.

Questions and research problems

A research problem is a much broader concept than a research question.

It is defined as a problem, issue, phenomenon, or mechanism that must be investigated, described, explained, understood, categorized, and embedded in the structure of existing knowledge.

As a part of research problems, research questions are formulated to concretize the research problems.

In the field of social sciences, six types of research problems are distinguished:

• Theoretical

A research problem simply defines what we still do not know and what we should find out because of various objectives and benefits (teleological and practical).

• A research problem focuses on pointing out what we already know and, even more importantly, what we still do not know.

Research problems have two sources:

• Heterogeneous — it is a reality itself in which something feels incomprehensible and needs explanation.
• Autogenic — it is a community of scientists who, based on the subject literature, see gaps in the knowledge that need to be filled.

Moreover, research problems based on the criterion of their usefulness and the purpose of the study can be divided into:

• Theoretical research problems — these are basic problems that are solved to develop research and provide tools for solving practical problems.
• Practical research problems — their purpose is primarily to realize important social goals; they are intended to improve the functioning of the social world (e.g., more useful user interfaces).

Research questions and hypotheses

While the research questions and hypotheses may look no different to a layperson at first glance, they are not the same.

Andrzej Jankowski, in his study " Jak stawiać hipotezy i pytania badawcze? Teoria, wyjaśnienia, przykłady " (How to write hypotheses and research questions? Theory, explanations, examples) defines a research hypothesis as a statement in which a supposition is expressed about (operation, structure, influence, dependence) some phenomenon, which should be confirmed or disproved by statistical analysis.

Hypotheses organize quantitative research, define its scope, and provide a link between theory and research methods and research as such.

A research problem, research hypotheses, and research questions are the triad (UX research is no exception) that forms the core of any study.

We can organize these three key elements of every research (including User Experience research) according to the criterion of their generality, and thus:

• A Research problem is the most general
• Research questions are more specific
• Hypotheses are the most concrete.

We should also add that research hypotheses are made for a particular purpose — namely so that they can be confirmed or refuted with the help of statistical tools and methods.

Hypothesis verification — if it is methodologically correct and no error has been made — means that we have (relative) certainty that a supposition is "true" or "false."

The relationship does or does not occur.

That said, the certainty level depends on the generality of the hypothesis itself.

As a rule, the more specific, concrete, and narrow the hypothesis, the more reliable the result of its verification (positive or negative).

Research questions, User Experience research — examples

We can find the best examples of research questions by reading research reports. It is also worth practicing posing research questions because it is very easy to make mistakes, especially if we are a novice researcher.

For example, a research question — formulated for quantitative research — that is too general, vague, or unspecific might read as follows:

How do people react to the interface?

The question is too general because it operates with a category of people that cannot be studied. It is physically, time-wise, organizationally, financially, logistically, etc., impossible to study several billion people.

The question is unclear, as it is unknown to whom and to what it refers.

It is unclear what type of reaction is of interest to the researcher. For example, whether they mean emotional, behavioral, conscious, involuntary, or automatic reactions.

The question is also unclear because it does not specify the concept of an interface. What kind of device is this interface on?

On what application? What type of interface? Reaction to which interface element is going to be measured?

Finally, the question does not imply the importance of the problem. It is impossible to deduce why such a problem is worth the effort.

The above research question, in order to sound much more concrete, understandable, clear, and realistic, should read like this:

In what time can American men between the ages of 25 and 30 find an ADDE chair in Ikea's online store using an internal search engine?

In qualitative research, research questions are often formulated to explore, evaluate, probe, discover, and describe users' expectations, impressions, and problems.

For example:

How would you rate your shopping experience in Ikea's online store?

Express your opinion using a scale of 1-10, where a rating of 1 means Very Bad Experience and 10 means Fantastic Experience.

How strongly do you agree with the following statement: "The ordering process at the Ikea store was easy."

Express your attitude with one of the statements from the following scale:

• I strongly disagree
• I neither agree nor disagree
• I strongly agree

Of course, this is only a small sample of research questions. Depending on the research method, the purpose of the study, the research problem, the methodology, and the respondents, they will vary considerably.

UX Research Questions. Summary

• How to formulate research questions — the purpose of posing research questions in qualitative research is to "discover," "explain," or "explore."
• Research questions can be divided into descriptive, comparative, and relationship questions.
• Research questions should be formulated in a clear, concise, complex, argumentative, realistic, and rational manner.
• A research problem is a much broader concept than a research question and is defined as a problem, an issue, a phenomenon, or a mechanism that needs to be investigated, described, explained, understood, categorized, and embedded in the structure of existing knowledge.
• A research problem, hypotheses, and questions are the triad that forms the core of any study.
• The research process and the design process are intertwined, and their common link is precisely the research questions.

Next article

How to create a UX research plan?

• Research question
• How to create a research question
• Research Questions Overview
• Problem, goal and research question
• Research questions and types of hypotheses. What can we expect and how to define our predictions?

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32 common UX job interview questions with example answers

Last updated

11 January 2024

Reviewed by

Miroslav Damyanov

Whether it's your first UX research job or the next step in a long career, the interview process is often nerve-wracking and stressful. 

Many candidates spend a lot of time worrying about how the interview process will go. What kinds of questions will the interviewer ask? What are the best ways to answer them?

As with most things, the best answers depend on your circumstances. Different phases of the interview process ask different types of questions. 

In this guide, we aim to provide an overview of the types of questions you may encounter in each phase of the process. 

Keep reading for concrete tips on approaching these questions so you can feel confident and prepared. 

• 7 background and experience questions

The interviewer will ask these questions to get to know you better and glean a little about your experience:

What did you study in college, and how has it prepared you for a career in UX research?

How do you define a successful user research project?

How have you collaborated with design, product, and engineering teams?

How has your approach to UX research evolved since you began your career?

Describe a particularly impactful research project you've led and what you learned from it.

Describe a project that didn’t implement your findings and how you handled it.

Some of these questions might not apply to entry-level positions. 

Tips for answering UXR background questions

Be specific.

Interviewers aren't looking for generic answers. Answer questions by detailing specific projects and experiences. Detail how the experience relates to their question. 

Highlight impact

Companies want to hire someone who will make an impact on their products. Discuss tangible ways your research has increased user engagement or retention. When possible, give precise metrics.

Showcase collaboration

Being a team player is vital in any position in a company, but that's especially true for UXR. Discuss how you collaborated with designers, product managers, and other stakeholders to inform decisions.

Discuss methodologies

Part of gauging your experience is examining how well-rounded you are. Discuss different research methods you’ve worked with to highlight your versatility. 

Interviewers are great lie detectors. If you haven't used a particular method or tool, don’t lie about it. Missing some experience is less of a dealbreaker than lying. 

Highlight soft skills

Many companies find that employees often lack the soft skills for effective teamwork and collaboration. Be sure to highlight how your soft skills have driven results with examples. 

Show continuous learning

The field of UXR is constantly evolving. Unless you've recently graduated college, you should have been evolving with it. Be sure to mention any classes, workshops, or other training that you've had to keep your skills sharp.

Don't fear failure

Sometimes, projects don't go as planned. It can be tempting to avoid discussing these, but interviewers aren't expecting perfection. Instead of avoiding projects that didn't go well, use them as an opportunity to highlight how you learned and grew from them.

Prepare a portfolio

A portfolio of your work showcasing the projects you're most proud of can serve as a visual aid. It’s an easy-to-access place for key metrics and projects, making answering questions easier. 

Practice active listening

This is one of the soft skills mentioned earlier. Listen carefully to the question to ensure your answer is relevant. If a question is unclear, don't be afraid to ask the interviewer to clarify.

Take your time

Interviews can be stressful, and stress often results in impulsive answers. Keep the stress under control by taking your time to think about the question to provide a better answer. 

• 8 decision-making assessment questions

A UX researcher is responsible for making or influencing many decisions that will impact a project's success. The interviewer will ask questions that assess how good you are at making these decisions. 

Some examples include:

How do you decide which research method to use for a particular project?

How do you prioritize research requests from different teams or stakeholders?

How do you decide what to research with limited time or resources?

How would you handle situations where user needs conflict with business goals?

How do you handle situations where quantitative data contradicts qualitative findings?

How do you determine if a finding is significant enough to recommend design changes?

Describe a time when your research directly impacted a product decision.

How do you ensure your recommendations align with short- and long-term strategy?

Tips for answering decision-driven research questions

Think aloud.

Take time to gather your thoughts before speaking. Once you do, walk the interviewer through your thought process. This will show off your analytical and decision-making skills better than simply answering questions. 

Reference past experiences

The interviewer wants to know how you'll put your decision-making skills into practice. The best way to do this is to highlight real-world examples of your skills. 

Emphasize user-centricity

The user experience is obviously one of the most important parts of user experience research. Highlight how the user's needs and experiences are central to your decision-making.

Consider business objectives

While user needs should always be at the forefront of UXR, decisions must also align with business goals. Let the interviewer know how you balance these two goals. 

Data-informed decisions

Data has always driven research of any kind. In the era of big data, that's never been more true. Discuss how you leverage quantitative and qualitative data to inform your decisions. 

Discuss collaboration

UX research is a collaborative field. Often, you won't be the only one involved in the decision-making process. Discuss how you've collaborated with various other business units to come to the best decision for all stakeholders.

Acknowledge trade-offs

Decisions often involve trade-offs between two competing interests. Interviewers are going to ask questions about how you'd handle these situations. Be prepared to answer them. 

Stay calm and logical

Your interviewer will likely ask complex questions that require deep thought. Don't rush to an answer. Take a moment to process the question to answer it logically. 

Ask clarifying questions

Given the complex nature of some of the questions you'll need to answer, you might not fully understand them the first time. Asking clarifying questions shows thoughtfulness and ensures you don't give a silly answer. 

• 9 technical questions

Your technical capabilities aren't the be-all and end-all of the interview, but they are its meat and potatoes. These questions will determine whether you have the knowledge to perform the job effectively. 

Some questions you may hear are:

Which UX research tools are you most familiar with?

How do you ensure the validity and reliability of your research data?

How do you handle recruiting participants for research studies?

How do you typically analyze and prioritize user feedback from disparate sources?

How do you structure and present your findings to ensure they're actionable for others?

How do you employ user journey mapping to identify UX pain points and opportunities?

What strategies do you employ to ensure unbiased results during user testing sessions?

What metrics do you track in usability studies, and how do they inform your conclusions?

Describe when you used a specific statistical analysis method to interpret research data.

Tips for answering process and technical knowledge questions

The interviewer will be asking you many particular questions. They are looking for equally specific answers. Avoid generalities and answer the question as directly as possible. 

Use real-world examples

Back up your answers with examples from your work. Discuss specific projects, challenges, and how you applied your technical knowledge to address them.

Explain your process

As your math teachers wanted you to show your work, interviewers are interested in how you arrive at your conclusions. Explain the thought process behind your answers. 

Highlight continuous learning

Answers to technical questions are an excellent opportunity to show the interviewer that you have an interest and background in continuing your education. 

Showcase problem-solving skills

Many questions will revolve around the challenges you face. Answering these in detail is a great way to show off the problem-solving skills you've developed in the field. 

Speak the language

Remember, you aren't talking to a layperson who doesn't understand jargon. You're trying to impress someone who does. Use the appropriate technical terms to show off your knowledge of the subject. 

Prepare in advance

If you think the interview will contain technical questions, give yourself time to quickly review the material. This will ensure you don't get caught off guard by a question you haven't considered. 

Be enthusiastic

Interviewers want someone who is excited about the field. When answering technical questions, show your enthusiasm for the work. This will show the interviewer that your passion for the field aligns with company culture and expectations. 

Ask reflective questions

Another way to demonstrate your passion for the field is to ask the interviewer related questions after you answer. Don't go overboard and give the impression that you're the one conducting the interview, but show you love to discuss the topic. 

• 8 adaptability questions

Interviewers will likely want to know how you handle things not going as planned or when conditions change rapidly in the middle of a project. 

Some of the questions they may ask to determine this include:

How would you handle stakeholders who disagree with your research findings?

How do you adapt your research focus to match product lifecycle stages?

How do you handle feedback or criticism about your research approach or findings?

How do you adapt your research objectives to sudden changes in business goals?

How do you approach research with emerging technologies or unfamiliar platforms?

Describe a time when you had limited resources for research and how you made it work.

Describe a time you changed your research methods due to unforeseen circumstances.

Describe a time you faced significant challenges in a research project and how you overcame them.

Tips for answering adaptability questions

Highlight problem-solving skills.

At its core, adaptability is about problem-solving. As you answer the interviewer's questions, discuss the strategies you use to keep your thinking critical and focus on the task at hand.

Show flexibility

Whether it's due to new data, stakeholder feedback, or changing project goals, UXR work requires flexibility. Giving examples of how you've handled these situations in the past will give interviewers a better idea of how easily you adapt to new directions.

Emphasize collaboration

Adaptability in UX research involves changing needs across various teams. Showcase how you've integrated the needs of other stakeholders and teams into your process as goals change.

Communicate proactively

In scenarios where you've had to adapt, emphasize how you effectively communicated changes or new directions to stakeholders.

Show resilience

Few people enjoy sudden changes, but a good researcher will not be dismayed. As you answer your questions, emphasize your resilience rather than your annoyance at the changes. 

Demonstrate empathy

Several questions may include conflicts with other team members or stakeholders. Always demonstrate that you value their input and consider it, even if you go in another direction.

While it's essential to provide detailed examples, ensure your answers are concise and to the point. Avoid over-explaining.

• Frameworks for crafting effective interview answers

An effective and engaging interview answer tells a story. Like any story, it needs structure. 

Several frameworks can ensure your interview answers are well-structured. Let’s go over a few so you can find one that best fits your personality and matches specific types of questions.

The STAR method provides a straightforward structure to answer questions. It provides context to the situation and how you resolved it. 

It's a good method to use when interviewers seek specific examples of past behavior to gauge your future performance.

Situation : Explain the circumstances of the situation you’re discussing

Task : Explain the challenge or responsibility that arose as a result

Action : Describe the specific actions you took to address the task or challenge

Result : Detail the result of your actions, focusing on positive impacts and lessons learned

This method is a simplified version of STAR. CAR is good for quick-paced interviews or discussing experiences with clear and direct outcomes. 

It's easy to remember as a general structure when nerves make it hard to think clearly.

Context : Describe the situation you'll be talking about

Action : Explain the actions you took to resolve it

Result : Discuss the outcomes of those actions

METEOR goes more in-depth and incorporates metrics and broader outcomes, providing a tangible scale to the situation you’re discussing. 

This framework is good for quantifying the impact of your actions or answering questions about scenarios with broad-reaching implications.

Metric: Start with numbers or data to give context or scale

Example: Provide a specific scenario or situation

Task: Describe your responsibility or challenge in that scenario

Effect: Talk about the immediate impacts of your actions

Outcome: Expand to broader implications or longer-term effects

Result: Sum up the result of the experience and what you learned from it

• Final thoughts

There's a lot to absorb in this lengthy list of potential UX research interview questions, tips, and frameworks. If you try to memorize all of it, you'll likely stress yourself out even more. 

Instead, read over it a few times in the lead-up to your interview and give it a quick review on the day itself. Focus on the tips you hadn't thought of before or stick out in your mind.

Pick one or two frameworks that might apply to your interview. Practice telling the story of some of your past projects under those frameworks. 

This approach will familiarize you with the frameworks and how to adapt them on the fly. It’ll also give you a set of stories to draw from during the interview. Good luck!

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50 Powerful User Interview Questions You Should Consider Asking

We researched the best user interview questions you can use for your qualitative research studies. Use these 50 sample questions for your next interview.

Do you understand the art and science of asking the best questions in your user interviews? Here at  Respondent , we will be more than happy to assist you with asking the right and best questions along with all aspects of your user recruiting and research.  

Though there are several options for eliciting these user insights, the primary focus of this article is how to interact directly with your users to garner the most helpful information. We will explore: 

• Creating effective user interview questions 
• The basic format for user interview questions 
• Examples of user interview questions

How to Create Effective User Interview Questions 

To conduct a user interview that is both thorough and effective, you must plan ahead. The good news is, once you have learned how to create effective user interview questions, you can be sure that the responses you’ve elicited will be useful. We’ve outlined a 5-step formula that you can use to structure your UX research questions.

1. Identify Relevant Broader Themes 

The first step in this process is to decide exactly what you hope to learn from this research. The best way to do this is to hold a brainstorming session to develop some themes of interest. 

At the end of your UX research, you will likely be sharing your findings with several departments within your company—R & D, product development, marketing, etc. So, include team members from each relevant department in your brainstorming session. This will not only help in identifying themes of interest but will encourage buy-in throughout your company as well.

2. Create Questions that are Answerable 

Once you have identified some broad themes to focus on, you can go a step further. Go through your list of ideas and note that there are a few differences between each of them.

Take each theme and break it down. Create questions that are related to the overall objectives of your research. Write down each and every question that you can think of for that idea, even if you don’t feel like it’s a good one. The point right now is to come up with all possible questions. 

Your next step will be to cull and refine questions by holding them up to the final themes of interest you choose as the objectives of your research. If the question doesn’t reflect or explore the objective, get rid of it. 

3. Don’t Ask Leading Questions   

Keep in mind that the overall goal of the questions is to get honest answers from your users. Therefore, you don't want the questions to suggest how they should answer. You especially want to throw out or refine any questions that are leading or biased towards a certain answer. 

For example, you might be interested in learning how a customer feels when using a certain product or exploring a particular interface. In this case, a leading or biased question would be: 

“How happy did you feel when you added items to your shopping cart?” 

Instead, the more appropriate question, in this case, would be: 

“How do you feel when you added items to your shopping cart?” 

When it comes to user research, your questions should never be stated in a way that assumes anything. They should always be crafted to allow participants to provide their own honest answers. 

Ask Users to Provide Examples or Walk You Through Processes

In some cases, your research participants may have difficulty explaining how they feel about the usability of a particular interface, product, or service. Therefore, you’ll want to have some questions that can help you get past this obstacle. 

One way is asking your participants to provide specific examples from their experiences related to your questions. This can help them provide more precise answers. 

Another method is to ask them to walk you through the process and then, as they go step-by-step you can probe on the “why”, what they were thinking and how they were feeling.

Ask Open-Ended Questions 

Questions that elicit only a “yes” or “no” do not spark responses that provide any useful information or insights. Therefore, though it’s not always easy, avoid yes/no questions.

To avoid getting these yes/no responses from your users, you'll want to make sure that your questions are open-ended. For many questions you’ll want to create follow up probes. These could be as simple as “why/why not” but will help you draw out more detailed and deeper responses especially from shy or stubborn participants 

For example, if exploring how a user felt during the purchase process instead of asking: 

“Were you satisfied with the purchase process?

You might ask:

“How satisfied were you with the purchase process?

While open-ended the above question still assumes some level of satisfaction. A still better choice of question is:

“Describe how you felt during the purchase process? Why?

This question is completely open and will allow for an un-biased, honest response.

Regardless of what exactly you want to learn from your customers, it’s a good idea to follow these five steps when creating your questions. This will help to increase the possibility of getting some valuable feedback from your users. 

Basic Format & Examples of User Interview Questions 

Typically, your user interview comprises a series of various types of questions. This includes: 

• Customer intro questions 
• Product/Feature/Service issue questions
• Product/Feature/Service reaction questions 
• Product/Feature/Service opportunity questions

Below, we’ll take a closer look at each one of these and provide you with some examples for each. 

Customer Intro Questions 

Chances are, you gathered the necessary demographic information from your participants during the screening process. However, you still would want them to repeat the basics as part of a warmup and to have that information handy on the recording of the session. The introduction or warmup is also an opportunity to learn anything additional about your participants that wasn’t included in the screening interview. 

This includes questions such as: 

• What is your occupation?
• How long have you been in that occupation?
• Explain your role in your company. 
• On a typical day, when do you use the product/service/user interface? 
• How often do you use the product/service/user interface?
• How is this particular product/service/user interface relevant to your daily life? 
• How would it change your work habits if you no longer could use the particular product/service/user interface?

This is also where you can include any lifestyle questions relevant to the topic at hand or the product/service/user interface. 

By asking these customer intro questions, you can categorize the responses even further to better understand who your customers are. Additionally, it can help the more reserved participants relax and get comfortable in the interview setting, so they are more forthcoming.

The questions in the following categories will make up most of the interview. They will be useful in helping you understand the needs, wants, and motivations of your customers in relation to the objectives of your research.  

Feature/Service/Product Issue Identification and Solutions

Here are some questions for exploring issues around a task/product/service and how those issues might be improved to better the user experience.

• What if any issues do you have with (issue/task)? 
• How do you currently deal with (issue/task)? 
• How much of your time is typically spent dealing with (issue/task)? 
• How much time would you like to spend dealing with (issue/task)? 
• How important is saving time on (issue/task) important to you? 
• Are there any obstacles you must overcome when dealing with (issue/task)? Tell me about those. 
• Walk me through the last time you did this (issue/task). 
• What do you like, if anything, about how you are currently dealing with (issue/task)? If yes- what is it? If no- why not? 
• What other methods, if any, have you tried for dealing with this (issue/task)? If so, what are those? How well did they work/not work?
• What is your primary pain point related to (issue/task)? 
• Why is this (issue/task) important to do? 
• What are the most difficult parts of (issue/task)? Why?
• Do you have any workarounds for this (issue/task)? Tell me about those. 
• What are the easiest parts of (issue/task)? Why?
• What would an alternative solution to this task look like (issue/task)? 

Product Reaction Questions

The following questions would be asked to assess the overall affinity for and identify any issues when introducing a new product/service/interface.  

• How likely/unlikely are you to use this product/service/interface? Why or why not? 
• Do you feel this product/service/interface would be useful for you? Why or why not? 
• In what ways would this product/service/interface be useful for you?
• In what ways would you use this product/service/interface? Why?
• How often do you imagine you would use this product/service/interface? 
• What are reasons you might not use this product/service/interface? 
• Do you see any potential issues with this product/service/interface? What are those issues? Why?
• How likely would you be to use this product/service/interface today? Why or why not? 
• How much do you feel you can trust this product/service/interface? Why or why not? 
• What would you be willing to pay for this product/service/interface? 
• Does this remind you of other products/services/interfaces on the market? If so, what are they, and why are they similar? 
• In what ways is this product/service/interface better or worse than those you felt were similar? Why?
• What are your thoughts on the look and feel of this product/service/interface?

Product Opportunity Questions 

The following questions are used to explore other or additional uses for a particular product/service/interface—what are the opportunities for more use and additional users. 

• What are your thoughts on this product/service/interface? 
• How often do you currently use this product/service/interface? 
• When do you use this product/service/interface? 
• For what do you use this product/service/interface? 
• What other product/service/interfaces have you used or tried to accomplish the same goals?  
• How successful were those in comparison to this product/service/interface? Why/Why not?
• For what else do you imagine you could use this product/service/interface for?
• What’s stopping you from using product/service/interface for that?
• What product/service/interface have you used for that?
• Describe your experience(s) with using that/those product/service/interface.
• If you could improve this this product/service/interface, what would you change? 
• How would those changes effect your use of it?
• How valuable would the product/service/interface be to you if you enacted those changes?

In some cases, you'll find that it's useful (and sometimes even necessary) to allow research participants to use your product/service/interface and ask them questions as and after they've done so. 

In this scenario have participants walk you through what they are doing as they are doing it. As they describe their actions you can probe on the why—the reasons behind their actions as well as their reactions to the results of their activities. 

Once again, don’t be afraid to ask for clarification or more details on their answers. This will help you gain an understanding of exactly what your customers needs, wants, wishes, thinks and feels. 

Conclusion 

One of the best ways to gain insights into your customer base is through user research interviews. However, it can be challenging to come up with appropriate questions to ask during this process. In this article, we’ve explained the steps in creating effective interview questions. Then, we took you through the basic format of these questions and provided you with some examples.

If you need to find participants for research or use a platform to schedule and pay participants, use Respondent for free today. We will be happy to help ensure that your UX research is thorough and to conduct effective user interviews to get the answers you need. 

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Asking the right questions in the right way is the key to research success. That’s true for not just the discussion guide but for every step of a research project. Following are 100+ questions that will take you from defining your research objective through  screening and participant discussions.

Fill out the form below to access free e-book! 

Recommend Resources:

• How to Recruit Participants for Qualitative Research
• The Best UX Research Tools of 2022
• 10 Smart Tips for Conducting Better User Interviews
• 50 Powerful Questions You Should Ask In Your Next User Interview
• How To Present Your User Research Findings
• 5 Researchers Share Why They Love Respondent For User Interviews
• How to Minimize Bias During Interviews

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15 Key UX Survey Questions: Examples and Templates for Better User Insight

Understanding your users is at the heart of an effective user experience (UX) design. To gather meaningful data, one of the best tools at your disposal is a well-crafted UX survey . 

In this blog post, we'll show you 15 carefully designed survey questions proven to unlock valuable user feedback . Combined with ready-to-use templates, these surveys will help you uncover a wide range of insights, from website usability to feature requests.

What is a UX survey?

A user experience (UX) survey is one of the most popular UX research methods used to understand users' perceptions, preferences, and experiences while interacting with a product or service.

It typically consists of a set of questions designed to collect specific information related to the user experience.

UX surveys can help you gather insights about a variety of factors, including the usability of a product, users' satisfaction levels, potential areas of improvement, and barriers users might be experiencing. 

The questions can be qualitative (open-ended, allowing users to freely express their views) or quantitative (closed-ended, offering a range of preset answers for statistical analysis).

The primary goal of a UX survey is to enable designers and developers to improve the overall user experience by making data-driven decisions based on users' feedback. By understanding what works well and what doesn't, teams can make adjustments that make their products more intuitive, enjoyable, and effective for their users.

Top 15 UX survey templates

To help you gather actionable user insights, we’ve created this list of 15 UX survey templates, complete with templates that can be added to your UX research plan and deployed in minutes . 

The templates cover a wide spectrum of user experience aspects , from overall satisfaction and usability to specific elements like navigation and content quality. Each template is designed to elicit clear, actionable responses, allowing you to pinpoint areas of success and opportunities for improvement. 

Remember, the best UX surveys are those that are concise yet comprehensive, easy to understand, and sensitive to the user's time . The templates below are designed with these principles in mind, enabling you to gather meaningful data with minimal user effort. 

This website's/product's/tool's capabilities meet my requirements (UMUX survey)

The Usability Metric for User Experience (UMUX) is a standardized qualitative survey that offers a shorter alternative to the 10-question SUS questionnaire.

The UMUX survey aims to measure how easy or difficult it is for users to interact with a website, app, or other digital product. 

It typically consists of a series of questions about different aspects of the user experience, including navigation, design, and functionality. The questions are designed to be simple and straightforward, and they can be customized to suit your specific needs. 

How easy was it to complete your task on our website/app? (CES survey)

The Customer Effort Score is a powerful and hugely popular UX metric that can help you measure how much effort your customers put into interactions with your company. 

The CES survey is a transactional questionnaire, meaning you should deploy it after specific interactions or customer journey touchpoints. Your customer should see it right after, for instance, a conversation with customer support, the use of a new feature, or a finalized purchase.

To calculate your CES, divide the total sum of your CES scores by the total number of responses. For example, if you received 100 answers and got a total score of 400, your CES would be 8.

How likely are you to recommend our product/service to a friend or colleague? (NPS survey)

One of the most widely used surveys, the Net Promoter Score (NPS) measures how satisfied your customers are with your product or service and how likely they are to recommend it to others.

It consists of a simple question:

“How likely is it that you would recommend this company to a friend or colleague?”

Respondents are presented with a rating scale of 0 to 10, and based on their score, they’re classified as Promoters , Passives , or Detractors .

To calculate Net Promoter Score , you need to subtract the percentage of your NPS Detractors from the percentage of your Promoters.

However, NPS is more than a metric—it’s a way of doing business. It can inspire your company to adopt a customer-centric culture to guide the entire way you do business.

Is our pricing clear to you?

This simple survey can help you collect user feedback on how clear your pricing plans are. 

Creating the right pricing model is an art that might take a few attempts. During this process, user insights play a crucial role in driving your decisions. 

By making sure your pricing policy is transparent and understandable to your users, you’ll increase conversion rates and boost user acquisition and retention.

The SUPR-Q survey

The SUPR-Q is a standardized survey that consists of 8 short questions. Users respond to the first 7 questions using a 5-point Likert scale . The last question is a standard NPS question.

While some questions in a SUPR-Q survey measure usability, others refer to aspects such as loyalty or appearance. The survey looks at the holistic experiences of and attitudes toward your product and is not limited to usability: 

• The website is easy to use.  
• The website is easy to navigate.
• The information on the website is credible.  
• The information on the website is trustworthy.
• I find the website to be attractive. 
• The website has a clean and simple presentation. 
• I will likely return to the website in the future. 
• How likely are you to recommend this website to a friend or colleague?  

How would you rate your most recent interaction with customer service?

Keeping track of your users’ interactions with your customer service will go a long way toward improving customer lifetime value, boosting sales, and building a positive brand image. 

This customer service team evaluation survey should be sent to customers after they've interacted with your frontline teams to help you stay on top of the quality of service.

On top of measuring satisfaction with your customer support, the survey can also help you identify any problem areas and prevent any issues from escalating. 

How satisfied are you with your subscription to [product name]?

Subscription plans require careful attention, as even slight changes to pricing can drive your users away. 

With this survey , you can monitor your customers’ satisfaction with the pricing plan and gather their thoughts on any improvements they’d like to see. It’ll also help you prevent customer churn , build a loyal customer base , and tackle any issues that might lead your users to canceling their plans. 

How satisfied are you with [product name]? (CSAT survey)

Another hugely popular metric, the Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) asks respondents to rate their satisfaction with your company or a particular product/service you offer on a 1-to-5 scale. 

The first rating question is often followed by an additional open-ended question which usually asks the respondents to elaborate on their score.

To calculate your CSAT , simply divide the number of respondents who chose four or five on the scale by the total number of respondents.  

Once you know your score, you can benchmark and track it over time as well as observe any patterns in the answers to the open-ended questions. 

Rate product features in terms of importance

A product features matrix is a survey that allows you to collect data on the features that are most important to your users. 

Asking your users to rank specific features in order of importance might help you to make data-driven decisions about improving your product and provide the best possible user experience. 

Which of the features should we build first? 

The feature prioritization survey aims to involve your users in building a product roadmap . 

This short poll asks your respondents to pick the features they’d prioritize and justify why they are important to them.

Thanks to the survey, you’ll gain additional evidence to validate your product development choices and create alignment across your team.

What would you expect to be able to do with [...] feature?

At times, unclear in-product copy can lead to poor user experience and even churn. To make sure your development team and your users are on the same page, simply run a survey that validates the names of your new features with your users. 

‍ What is the goal of your visit to our website today?

The purpose of this survey is to understand why users are visiting your website and what they hope to achieve during their visit.

By knowing what users are looking for, you can ensure that the content on your website is relevant and aligns with the needs of your audience. It can also help you verify whether you attract the right traffic .

If many users are visiting with a specific goal but then leaving without completing their task, it may indicate that the website's design or navigation is not intuitive or user-friendly.

Responses to this question can guide website improvements, help prioritize new features or content, and improve overall user experience. 

How happy are you with the search results?

Satisfaction with search results is a significant aspect of user experience. If users are consistently unsatisfied, it could result in a worse overall user experience, which might make users less likely to return to your website or application.

Users' dissatisfaction might not always stem from the search functionality itself; it could also be due to the lack of relevant content. 

By asking this question , you can gain valuable insights to enhance the search functionality and the content on your platform.

It’s also helpful to follow up with an open-ended question such as "What can we do to improve your search experience?" to gain more specific feedback and actionable insights.

How easy or difficult was it for you to find the information you were looking for?

The goal of this survey is to understand the ease of navigation and the effectiveness of the site's design and information architecture.

By triggering this questionnaire at critical touchpoints on your website, you can discover how easy it is for visitors to find what they came for. 

If users find it difficult to locate the information they need, it could be an indication that the website or app's navigation and overall design may need improvement. This can lead to frustration and reduced user satisfaction, which can in turn affect user retention and engagement.

Why did you decide to leave our site?

A website exit survey is a type of web survey that pops up when a visitor is about to leave your website. 

By understanding why users are leaving your site , you can take steps to address the underlying issues and improve your site's overall performance and conversion rates. 

However, not all exits are negative. Users might leave because they found exactly what they needed and completed their intended action.

This survey can be a great addition to other analytics tools as you dig into your bounce and conversion rates.

Automate your UX surveys with Survicate

Crafting impactful UX survey questions is a significant step towards understanding your users better and optimizing their experience. 

However, the process doesn't stop there. To fully harness the power of your UX surveys, consider automating them with Survicate. 

Our user-friendly, intuitive tool allows you to schedule and distribute your surveys seamlessly, analyze results in real time, and even integrate natively with other platforms you might be using. Sign up for free and take your UX research to the next level. 

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Common UX Research Interview Questions

Have you received an interview invitation for the role of UX researcher at your desired organization? If yes, congratulations on this accomplishment! 

So, do you have a portfolio? Furthermore, are you prepared to respond effectively to the UX research interview questions ? If you're wondering how to prepare for a UX research job interview , we're here to help! 

Answering interview questions goes beyond the standard queries that most interviewees are expected to know. It requires a deep understanding of the field and a mastery of research methodologies and techniques . Let's remember that demonstrating strong problem-solving and critical-thinking skills is equally important.

To stand out and make a lasting impression, it's essential to be well-prepared. Focus on articulating your unique perspective and approach to the challenges of UX research.

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(Find out why user research forms the backbone of the design process .)

We will help you understand how to prepare for a UX researcher job interview and ace all UX researcher interview questions . It covers all questions you may have to answer in a UX researcher job interview. 

UX Research Background Questions

Did you know the "tell me about yourself" category of UX research interview questions are the ice-breakers? 

They have their own importance in an interview. But the questions you will likely face are related to your overall background as a UX researcher.

It will not make a difference if you are starting as a UX researcher or a seasoned one. Answering these questions gives the hiring manager the exact insight to decide whether you can be a good fit for the role. Here are some UX research questions you can expect related to your background:

What motivated you to pursue a career in UX research?

How do you approach a new research project?

What is your biggest strength as a UX researcher?

How do you keep up with industry trends and advancements?

Can you describe a time when you had to handle a problematic stakeholder and how you approached the situation?

How do you handle a situation where the stakeholders have been skeptical about the project research?

What would you consider as your most significant strengths being a UX researcher?

How did you learn about UX research, and what drives you to continue pursuing this career path?

Top Tips to Answer These Background Questions Confidently

Understanding your background is essential for the interviewer to frame the next set of questions. While answering your questions, make sure you follow these tips:

The age-old idiom “Honesty is the best policy” will work in your favor. There are no right or wrong answers here. So, take deep breaths , relax, and share your genuine experience freely.

It’s best not to talk about negative experiences. Even if you had a negative experience, only mention it if it adds value to your answer. If you’re asked to address a negative experience, focus on the positive steps you took to remedy the situation.

Don’t memorize your answers in anticipation. Your experience is personal and unique—express it!

UX Research Decision-Driven Process Questions

As a UX researcher, any company will expect you to deal with complex situations. You need to be able to make sound decisions based on the data gathered during research. 

The ability to make the right decision can mean the difference between a successful project and a failed one. Your skills can shine more with your critical thinking, strong problem-solving abilities, and the ability to prioritize tasks. 

In this video, CEO of Experience Dynamics Frank Spillers explains how he used a diary study to research the behavior of Apple Watch users:

Understanding the users' needs and expectations will help you make informed decisions that will benefit the end user. Good decision-making skills also allow you to navigate complex projects confidently and efficiently. It helps you to anticipate potential challenges and take proactive measures to overcome them. 

Here are some decision-driven UX research interview questions you can expect:

Can you explain how you prioritize research projects based on business needs?

How do you understand the user pain points and balance user needs with business goals during a research project?

Can you describe a time when you had to make a recommendation based on conflicting research insights?

How do you determine the appropriate sample size for a research project?

How do you ensure that research insights are integrated into the product roadmap? 

Top Tips to Confidently Answer These Decision-Driven Questions

As a UX researcher, you should make informed decisions as they can make or break the project. Consider the following tips to ace these questions:

The decision-driven process involves making informed decisions that lead to positive outcomes. While answering, please focus on the results and how your research helped achieve them. This will demonstrate your ability to connect research to business goals.

Before answering decision-driven process questions, it's crucial to have a solid understanding of the decision-making process. This will help you identify the relevant factors you must consider and how they relate to the research question.

As these are open-ended questions , you can elaborate on your answers. When answering research questions, use data to support your answers whenever possible. This will demonstrate your ability to analyze and interpret data, as well as your capacity to use data to inform decision-making.

Learn the importance of user research in our post by Ditte Hvas Mortensen – User Research: What It Is and Why You Should Do It .

UX Research Technical Knowledge Questions

As a UX researcher, it's essential to polish your technical knowledge. When preparing for a UX research technical interview , having a solid understanding of technical concepts is helpful. It will allow for more confident and articulate responses. 

For instance, knowledge of relevant software can help you explain how you would approach designing a user interface or conducting usability tests. Additionally, understanding technical jargon and practices can assist in communicating effectively with developers and engineers.

UX Research Methods and Techniques

© Interaction Design Foundation, CC BY-SA 4.0

Follow this simple rule: "Stick to what you know best." Here's a list of technical knowledge UX research questions that you can expect in the interview:

What research methods do you typically use? 

Can you walk through your process for conducting a usability test ?

How do you analyze and interpret qualitative data?

How do you ensure your research is unbiased?

Can you explain the difference between behavioral and attitudinal research?

Which tools do you use?

Top Tips to Answer These Technical Knowledge Questions Confidently

Interviewers expect you to have sound technical knowledge. If you don't, revise the basics . Make sure you follow these tips to ace your UX research technical interview :

Focus on the specific technical skills required for the position and be prepared to demonstrate your proficiency in those areas.

Give specific examples of how you have applied your technical skills in past projects or work experiences. This will show the interviewer that you have practical experience and can use your skills in a real-world setting.

Use clear and concise language to explain technical concepts. Avoid using jargon or complex language that may confuse the interviewer.

Highlight the areas you are eager to learn about. Be honest about your technical skills and limitations. It's best not to exaggerate your abilities or pretend to have knowledge you don't have.

UX Research Adaptability Questions

Your portfolio is a valuable asset during the interview process. It serves as a visual representation of your capabilities and showcases the projects and methodologies you have used in the past. It helps the interviewer to understand how quickly you can adapt to constant changes during a project's duration.

Join Steven Gay, UX Lead for Google One, as he shares the power of a portfolio in capturing your design journey and collaboration .

In addition, it can help you to stay organized and focused during an interview. You can easily trace back to your experience when answering complex questions by presenting relevant examples from your previous work.

Sharing real-life examples demonstrating how you have applied your skills and expertise to adapt to challenging situations in specific projects is valuable. This approach makes it easier to address complex questions and showcase your qualifications effectively.

Here are some interview questions for UX researchers related to adaptability:

Can you describe a research project you are particularly proud of and why?

How did you adapt to a situation where the research insights must be aligned with stakeholder expectations?

How do you ensure that research results are actionable and impact the product design ?

Can you describe a time when you had to pivot research strategies mid-project and how you approached the situation?

How have you incorporated user feedback into the product design process?

What is your best experience with any client during the project?

Can you describe your usual process for gathering information before starting any project?

Have you worked on any project that has contributed to a breakthrough for the business?

Top Tips to Answer These Adaptability Questions Confidently

UX research is a rapidly evolving sector. You have to adapt quickly. While answering the UX research interview questions , include these tips to display your adaptability effectively:

Be specific about the research methods you have used, the challenges you faced, and the outcomes you achieved. This will help the interviewer understand your thought process and research approach.

Emphasize the results of your research rather than the research process . Give examples of how your decision-making and adaptability have improved a product or increased user satisfaction.

If you need to gain experience in a particular area, be honest about it. Avoid pretense during the interview. Instead, focus on your skills and how you can apply them to the job.

Finally, show your passion for UX research. Talk about why you love this field and how you can contribute to the company's mission. This will help the interviewer see that you are interested in more than landing a job and want to make a career in UX research .

UX Research Teamwork and Collaboration Questions

Teamwork and collaboration are essential to ensure efficient processes, to see problems from different perspectives, and to get real-time feedback. You'll work closely with other product development , design, and management team members. Here, the goal is to understand the users’ needs to develop effective solutions. 

Effective collaboration requires strong communication skills. That means active listening, clear articulation, and the ability to provide constructive feedback. You must be able to conduct user interviews confidently and understand user behavior . Moreover, communicate research findings, insights, and the research plan to team members concisely and in an actionable way.

Learn how team research helps organizations move faster with Laura Klein.

Here are some questions you can expect in the interview related to teamwork and collaboration:

How do you ensure effective communication with team members during a project?

How do you handle disagreements with team members or stakeholders during a project?

Can you describe a time when you had to work with individuals from different departments or teams?

How do you ensure team members are aligned on the research goals and objectives?

Can you describe a time when you had to manage conflicting priorities on a project?

How would you resolve any miscommunication between two stakeholders associated with a project you are leading?

How would you motivate your team members if they are facing a problem?

Can you describe ways of tailoring the project based on different requirements?

Top Tips to Confidently Answer These Collaboration Questions

Collaboration questions aim to gauge your responsibility, ownership, and leadership skills. The interviewer needs to know that you are a team player, how well you apply feedback and also how well you communicate with others. 

Highlight your skills by using the following tips:

Show how you can work with others to solve complex problems creatively. Explain how you have tackled challenging research projects in collaboration with team members to find solutions that work for everyone.

The interviewer would want to see that you are enthusiastic about working with others and are committed to creating a positive team environment. Show that your team can rely on you to work effectively towards a common goal.

Use examples of how you have effectively communicated complex research insights to non-technical and technical stakeholders. Show that you are a good communicator, One who can ensure that everyone on the team understands the research findings.

Emphasize your ability to collaborate with people and research participants with different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. Give examples of projects where you could work effectively in cross-functional teams and how you overcame any challenges.

UX Research Questions to Ask Your Interviewer

That time of the interview when your interviewer asks, “Any questions for me?” is your final chance to stand out. Most importantly, it's your opportunity to figure out whether the position suits your personality, interests, and qualifications. 

Here are some questions to catch your interviewer off-guard (in a good way).

What is the usual approach for your company for a user-centered design, and how does UX research fit into that process?

What software or tools does your organization use for research, design, collaboration, prototyping , etc.?

How does the company ensure that UX research insights are being effectively implemented?

What are the qualities and attributes that can make for a successful UX researcher in the company?

The ice-breaker UX research interview questions still hold their importance. They are basic in nature but helpful in creating that first impression on your interviewer. If you have your technical expertise in place, give equal importance to soft skills as well. 

Key Steps to Prepare for a UX Research Job Interview

Moreover, it's good practice to ask your interviewer questions. Try to keep a few questions ready on your end. They can be about the organization, the role, or anything important to you before you decide to join the organization. 

Lastly, it's equally important to highlight your ability to collaborate effectively with team members and stakeholders. But if you need a little extra boost to complete your journey as a UX researcher confidently, take courses offered by the IxDF. 

The Interaction Design Foundation offers a range of UX courses that will take your career to the next level. Enroll in one of our UX courses today and unleash your UX superpowers!

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Published on January 3, 2024

UX Research Interview Questions

Whether you’re a seasoned UX researcher or just starting your career in this field, interviews can be a challenging but exciting part of the job search process. To help you ace your UX research interviews, we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of UX research interview questions that cover a wide range of topics.

These questions have been carefully curated to assess your knowledge, skills, and experience in UX research, as well as your ability to think critically and solve problems.

In this blog, we will explore various aspects of UX research and provide detailed insights into the interview process. We’ll discuss common interview question categories such as research methodologies, participant recruitment, data analysis, and reporting.

So, let’s dive in and ensure you’re fully prepared to ace your UX researcher job interview!

Table of contents

Ux research background questions, decision driven questions, technical knowledge, adaptability, tips and tricks for ux research interviews.

In a UX research interview, background questions are like friendly chats that help the interviewer dive into your experience and expertise in the field. They’re genuinely interested in learning about your previous roles, projects, and the cool methods you’ve used in your research work. It’s all about understanding your skills, knowledge, and how well you’d fit into the team. 

When they ask you about your background, they’ll explore a variety of topics. The interviewers want to hear about your education, your work experience, and the specific research projects you’ve been a part of. It’s a chance for you to share your story and show them what makes you awesome in the world of UX research .

Here are some background-related questions along with the way you can answer them:

a) Can you describe your previous experience in UX research?

Highlight your relevant experience, including the methodologies you’ve used, the projects you’ve worked on, and the impact you’ve made. Provide specific examples that demonstrate your skills and expertise.

b) What motivates you to pursue a career in UX research?

Share your passion for understanding user behavior, solving complex problems, and improving user experiences. Explain how your skills align with your motivation, emphasizing your ability to empathize with users and uncover actionable insights. 

c) How do you stay up-to-date with the latest trends and advancements in UX research?

Discuss your commitment to continuous learning, mentioning industry blogs, conferences, webinars, and online courses that you regularly engage with. Highlight any recent advancements you find particularly interesting and how you apply them to your work. 

d) Can you explain your approach to conducting user research?

Outline your research process, including the steps you take to define research goals, select appropriate methods, recruit participants, gather data, and analyze insights. Emphasize the importance of a human-centered approach and iterative design. 

e) How do you effectively communicate research findings to stakeholders?

Explain how you tailor your communication to different stakeholders’ needs and preferences. Discuss your ability to distill complex findings into actionable insights, using visual aids and storytelling techniques to engage and educate stakeholders. 

f) How do you handle challenging situations or conflicting priorities in UX research?

Share your experience in managing tight deadlines, limited resources, or disagreements within a team. Highlight your problem-solving skills, flexibility, and ability to prioritize tasks while maintaining a user-centered focus.

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These questions play a crucial role in shaping the design and development of user-centered products and services. So, it’s really important to understand their significance and be prepared to answer them like a pro!

Decision-driven questions are all about getting insights that directly influence the decisions made in designing a product or service. They aim to uncover what users prefer, expect, and what issues they face when it comes to different aspects of a product. In an interview, you might come across questions like: 

• “How would you determine which features are most important to users?”
• “Can you describe a time when user research helped influence a design decision?”
• “What methods would you employ to identify user needs and pain points?”
• “How do you prioritize design improvements based on user feedback?”

Here are some questions with tips for answers:  

a) Can you provide an example of a research project where your insights directly influenced a design decision?

Select a project where your research findings had a significant impact on product design or features. Describe how your insights led to specific design changes, improved user satisfaction, or increased business outcomes.

b) How do you determine which research methods to use in a given project?

Explain how you assess project requirements, goals, and constraints to select the most appropriate research methods. Discuss your experience with qualitative and quantitative methods, and how you balance them to gain comprehensive insights.

c) How do you handle situations where stakeholders are skeptical about the value of user research?

Discuss your strategies for educating stakeholders about the benefits of user research. Share success stories where research provided valuable insights, leading to improved products, increased user satisfaction, or business growth.

d) How do you ensure the validity and reliability of your research findings?

Talk about your attention to detail, rigorous data collection, and analysis processes. Highlight your commitment to following established research methodologies and best practices, including triangulation, participant recruitment, and data validation.

e) Can you explain your approach to conducting usability testing?

Describe your methodology for planning and conducting usability tests, including setting objectives, defining test scenarios, selecting participants, and analyzing results. Mention your expertise in identifying usability issues and providing actionable recommendations.

f) How do you involve stakeholders in the research process?

Discuss how you collaborate with stakeholders throughout the research process, from defining research objectives to interpreting and applying insights. Explain the importance of involving stakeholders to ensure alignment and buy-in.

Be concise, articulate, and focused on providing concrete examples that highlight your ability to make informed design decisions based on user insights.

UX research technical knowledge questions play a crucial role in evaluating an individual’s expertise and competence in the field of user experience research. 

 Now, when you encounter these UX research technical knowledge questions, it’s essential to approach them with confidence and a structured mindset. You want to showcase your knowledge and experience by providing accurate and concise answers.

Take the time to clearly explain your understanding of the specific research method or technique being discussed. Show how it can be applied to gather meaningful insights and ultimately enhance user experiences.

Let’s take a look at some example questions to give you an idea: 

a) What software tools do you typically use for UX research?

Mention popular tools like UserZoom, Optimal Workshop, or UserTesting.com, and explain how you leverage them for various research activities such as remote testing, survey creation, or data analysis.

b) How familiar are you with statistical analysis in UX research?

Highlight your proficiency in using statistical methods to analyze research data. Discuss your experience with tools like Excel, SPSS, or R, and your ability to derive meaningful insights from quantitative data.

c) Are you comfortable working with HTML/CSS or prototyping tools?

If you have relevant experience, share your proficiency in working with HTML/CSS for conducting research or creating interactive prototypes. Mention any prototyping tools you are familiar with, such as Figma, Sketch, or InVision.

d) Can you explain the difference between quantitative and qualitative research methods?

Provide a concise definition of each method and discuss their strengths and weaknesses. Give examples of when each method is most appropriate and how you integrate them to gain a holistic understanding of user experiences.

e) Have you conducted A/B testing or other types of experimentation in your research?

Talk about your experience with A/B testing and other experimental methods to evaluate design alternatives or measure the impact of changes. Highlight how you analyze the results and make data-driven recommendations.  

f) How do you ensure data privacy and ethical considerations in your research?

Emphasize the importance of respecting user privacy and following ethical guidelines. Discuss your experience obtaining informed consent, anonymizing data, and ensuring compliance with relevant regulations like GDPR or CCPA.

Let’s talk about UX research adaptability questions, which play a vital role in understanding how users can easily adapt to new technologies and design changes. These questions give researchers valuable insights into users’ comfort levels, their willingness to learn, and their overall adaptability when it comes to interacting with different interfaces.

Why are these questions so important, you might wonder? Well, by confidently answering adaptability questions, researchers can gather valuable information that guides the development of user-centered adaptive user interfaces. This means creating digital products and services that are tailored to meet the needs of users who might encounter frequent updates and improvements in technology.

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, technology is constantly evolving, and user interfaces are frequently updated and improved. That’s why it’s crucial for users to be able to adapt to these changes. The success and usability of digital products and services heavily depend on users’ ability to embrace new or changing experiences.

To give you an idea, let’s take a look at some of these adaptability questions:  

a) How do you handle unexpected changes or disruptions during a research project?

Explain your ability to adapt to unexpected challenges and changes in research plans. Share examples where you successfully adjusted your approach or timeline to ensure the project’s success.

b) Have you ever had to conduct research for a product or domain you were unfamiliar with? How did you approach it?

Describe a situation where you had to quickly familiarize yourself with a new domain and share your approach to gaining domain knowledge. Highlight your ability to learn quickly and apply your research skills effectively. 

c) How do you manage multiple projects or priorities simultaneously?

Discuss your organizational and time management skills, emphasizing your ability to prioritize tasks, delegate when necessary, and maintain focus on delivering quality results across multiple projects. 

d) Can you adapt your research methodologies for different target audiences?

Demonstrate your flexibility in tailoring research methods to various user groups, taking into account factors such as age, cultural background, or accessibility requirements. Provide examples where you successfully adapted your approach to different user segments.

e) How do you handle feedback or criticism of your research findings?

Discuss your open-mindedness and willingness to accept constructive feedback. Describe a situation where you received feedback on your research and how you incorporated it to improve the quality of your work. 

f) Can you share an example of a time when you had to pivot your research focus due to changing project requirements?

Explain how you handled a situation where research priorities shifted abruptly. Share how you adapted your research plan, communicated the changes to stakeholders, and still delivered valuable insights. 

Sharing specific examples of successful adaptation or challenges faced can help researchers understand the factors that contribute to or hinder users’ adaptability.

Successful teamwork and collaboration are essential in the field of user experience (UX) research. UX research team and collaboration questions play a vital role in facilitating effective research studies and delivering impactful insights. 

These questions are specifically designed to explore the dynamics within a research team, uncover communication preferences, and identify strategies for efficient collaboration. 

Let’s go through some of the possible questions: 

a) How do you collaborate with other team members, such as designers or product managers?

Highlight your ability to work effectively in cross-functional teams. Describe your communication style, collaboration techniques, and how you contribute to creating a shared understanding of user needs and goals.

b) Have you ever faced challenges when working with stakeholders who had conflicting opinions or priorities?

Share a situation where you successfully managed conflicting stakeholder opinions or priorities.

c) How do you ensure research findings are effectively incorporated into the design and development process?

Explain your approach to collaborating with designers and developers to translate research insights into actionable design decisions. 

d) Can you describe a time when you had to resolve a disagreement within a research team?

Share an example of a situation where there was a difference of opinion or conflict within the research team. 

e) How do you foster a culture of research within an organization?

Share examples of how you’ve encouraged collaboration and knowledge-sharing among team members, and how you’ve influenced decision-making processes.

f) How do you handle remote or distributed teams when conducting research?

Discuss your experience conducting research with remote or distributed teams, highlighting the tools and techniques you’ve used to facilitate communication, collaboration, and remote user testing. 

Prepare Your Background

Before the interview, take the time to review your previous roles, projects, and methodologies used in your research work. Be ready to articulate your responsibilities, achievements, and the impact of your work. Prepare specific examples that demonstrate your skills and expertise.

Understand User-Centered Design

Familiarize yourself with the user-centered design process and its key principles. Be prepared to discuss how you have collaborated with cross-functional teams, stakeholders, and designers in past projects. Showcase your ability to create research deliverables such as personas, journey maps, or user interviews.

Highlight Decision-Making Abilities

Show your ability to use research insights to inform design decisions. Discuss how you have identified user needs, prioritized improvements, and influenced design choices based on research findings. Provide concrete examples that showcase the impact your research had on the final product or service.

Brush Up on Technical Knowledge

Review different research methodologies, tools, and techniques commonly used in UX research. Ensure you have a solid understanding of research planning, data collection methods, data analysis techniques, and reporting. Stay updated with recent advancements and trends in the field.

Showcase Adaptability

Demonstrate your willingness to adapt to new technologies and design changes. Reflect on past experiences where you successfully adapted to evolving interfaces or software updates. Discuss the strategies you employed and any challenges you faced during the adaptation process.

Emphasize Teamwork and Collaboration

Highlight your experience working effectively within a research team. Discuss your role in collaborative decision-making, conflict management, and knowledge sharing. Showcase your communication skills and preferred communication styles, channels, and strategies.

Be Clear and Concise

When answering interview questions, provide clear and concise responses that highlight your relevant experience, achievements, and skills. Focus on the most important points and avoid rambling or providing excessive details.

Provide Specific Examples

Support your answers with specific examples from your past projects or research initiatives. Sharing concrete evidence of your skills, accomplishments, and the impact of your work will make your responses more compelling and memorable.

Demonstrate a Comprehensive Understanding

Show your depth of knowledge by explaining research methodologies, techniques, and best practices in a clear and concise manner. Avoid jargon or overly technical language, but ensure you convey a strong understanding of the subject matter.

Be Confident and Passionate

Approach the interview with confidence, enthusiasm, and a genuine passion for UX research. Let your excitement and dedication to creating meaningful user experiences shine through in your answers.

Remember to practice your responses beforehand, conduct mock interviews if possible, and research the organization you’re interviewing with to tailor your answers accordingly. By following these tips and tricks, you’ll be well-prepared to showcase your skills, expertise, and suitability for the UX research role.

In a UX research interview, it’s super important to come prepared and feel confident when answering questions about your background, decision-making abilities, technical know-how, adaptability, and teamwork skills. By optimizing your responses in each of these areas, you can really show off your expertise, qualifications, and how you’ll contribute effectively to user-centered design goals.

By connecting all your responses together, you’ll be able to showcase your comprehensive skill set and your passion for creating impactful user experiences. This is your chance to really shine and show them why you’re the perfect fit for the role. Leave a lasting impression on the interviewers and make them remember you long after the interview is over.

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Faq: ux research interview question.

Concentrate on clarity, relevance, and specific examples. Highlight your background, decision-making abilities, technical knowledge, adaptability, and teamwork skills. Share concrete experiences that demonstrate your expertise and the impact of your work on user-centered UX design .

Very important. You should understand and explain different research methodologies, tools, and techniques. Be prepared to discuss research planning, data collection methods, data analysis techniques, and reporting. Keeping up-to-date with recent advancements in UX research is also crucial.

Daria Krasovskaya is the Head of Content at UXtweak. Since content quality is her responsibility, she works closely with our UX researchers, UX/UI designers and content writers to ensure that we publish high-quality, informative, and engaging content on our blog and guides. During her studies for a degree in Marketing communication, she discovered her interest in user experience and design. Daria is not only a key member of the UXtweak team but also contributes to other websites and UX publications. Her articles can be found on well-known sites like UX Booth, where she shares her insights on UX topics.

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