Two reports on the current state of user research

Maze and User Interviews, both USA-based entities providing user research platforms and user panels, published reports in the last months on the current state of user research.

On the whole, the User Interviews report is much more detailed, insightful, and realistic in its balanced assessments, although some of the insights are not jumping at you in the summary. 

Maze: The Future of User Research (March 2024)

Between December 20, 2023 and January 16, 2024, Maze surveyed over 1,200 product professionals using their own Maze platform [which obviously creates a selection bias] to “uncover how product teams conduct research to inform decision-making and build successful products”. 

Their key insights from the report [more of a trend report than a research report]:

• The demand for user research is growing. 62% of respondents say the demand for user research has increased in the past 12 months.
• Research democratization empowers stronger decision-making: organizations are scaling research by empowering different teams to engage in research
• New technology allows product teams to significantly scale research

Survey respondents were located in multiple regions around the world, including 40% in Europe, 32% in North America, 9% in Asia, and 8% in Latin America. 

User Interviews – The State of User Research (June 2024)

Between April 4 to April 17, 2024, User Interviews collected 759 qualified responses via social media, their weekly newsletter (Fresh Views), and an in-product slideout; they also posted the survey in research-related groups on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Slack, and on their professional networks.

There are many takeaways in the report, and we at Experientia have selected some that we think are most telling:

• Research specialists are becoming rarer: a fifth (22%) of the people surveyed said that their company laid off dedicated researchers in the last 12 months. 
• Researchers are uncertain about the future: when asked how they’re feeling about job opportunities and room for growth within User Research, most dedicated Researchers and ReOps specialists responded pessimistically. 
• 56% of researchers use AI to support their work

The report has also a lot of detail on what roles researchers have in the organisation, and what department they fit into.