Grace O.
Sample Templates are worth it alone
The discussion guide and findings report templates saved me hours. My first readout went far better than I expected.
UX research: run interviews and usability tests that matter
Plan studies, recruit participants, run interviews and usability tests, then turn notes into findings your team acts on
Created by Yasmin Farouk
- Updated September 2026
- English
- Beginner
What you will learn
- Write a one page research plan that names the decision it supports
- Choose between interviews, usability tests and surveys for a given question
- Recruit and screen participants on a small budget
- Run interviews with open questions that reveal real behaviour
- Moderate a usability test and measure task success
- Synthesise notes into ranked, evidence backed findings
- Present findings so stakeholders agree on next steps
Course content
Research that leads to decisions
Interviews that uncover real behaviour
- Article: Writing a discussion guide 10 min
- Article: Asking open, non leading questions 9 min
- Article: Running the session and taking notes 11 min
- Article: Handling silence, tangents and sensitive topics 8 min
Running usability tests
- Article: Writing realistic tasks 9 min
- Article: Moderated versus unmoderated tests 8 min
- Article: Think aloud and when to step in 10 min
- Article: Measuring success, time and ease 9 min
- Article: Setting up remote tests 8 min
Synthesis: from notes to findings
- Article: From raw notes to observations 9 min
- Article: Affinity mapping with your team 11 min
- Article: Rating severity and frequency 8 min
- Article: Writing insights, not opinions 9 min
Sharing results so they stick
- Article: The one page findings report 9 min
- Article: Presenting to stakeholders 10 min
- Article: Building a lightweight research repository 8 min
Making research a weekly habit
- Article: A continuous interview cadence 9 min
- Article: Ethics, consent and handling data 8 min
- Article: Showing the impact of research 7 min
- Quiz: Final check 6 min
Requirements
- No prior research experience needed
- Access to a video call tool and a shared document editor
Description
Most product teams agree that research matters, then skip it because it feels slow, expensive or hard to turn into decisions. This course shows you a lean way to do user research that fits inside a normal sprint and produces findings people actually use.
What you will practise
You will plan a small study for a realistic product, a booking app for a local fitness studio. You will write a one page research plan, recruit five participants, run interviews and moderated usability tests, and synthesise what you saw into clear, ranked findings. Every step comes with a template you can keep.
- A one page research plan tied to a real product decision
- A discussion guide with open, non leading questions
- Usability test tasks and a simple scoring sheet
- An affinity map and a severity rated findings list
- A short findings report and a presentation outline
How the course is built
Section 1 is fully written so you can start right away. Later sections walk through interviews, usability testing, synthesis and sharing results, with short lessons you can finish in a lunch break. The final section covers how to keep research going every week rather than as a once a year project.
No special software is needed. A video call tool, a shared document and a whiteboard tool such as FigJam or Miro are enough.
Who this course is for
- Designers who want to back decisions with evidence
- Product managers and founders without a dedicated researcher
- Junior researchers who want a repeatable process
Instructor
Yasmin Farouk
UX researcher teaching interviews, usability testing and discovery that changes product decisions
- 4.3 instructor rating
- 15 reviews
- 3,980 students
- 2 courses
- Sample
I have spent most of my career as a user researcher on small product teams, where research has to be fast, cheap and directly tied to a decision. I plan studies, recruit participants, run interviews and moderated usability tests, and turn messy notes into findings that a team can act on the same week.
My courses focus on the practical middle of research work: writing a discussion guide that avoids leading questions, choosing between an interview and a test, synthesising with affinity mapping, and presenting results without a forty page deck. I also teach discovery habits for product teams that do not have a dedicated researcher.
Every lesson comes with templates I actually use, and the exercises are built around a realistic product so you can practise on something that feels like work.
Student reviews
Nino K.
Sample Finally a plan I can follow
The one page research plan changed how our team starts projects. We now write the decision first and half our meetings got shorter.
Daniel R.
Sample Useful for product managers too
I am a PM without a researcher on the team. The recruiting and screener lessons were exactly what I needed to get started.
Marcus T.
Sample Practical and calm teaching
I ran my first five interviews two weeks after starting. The section on open questions alone stopped me from leading every participant.
Aiko S.
Sample Great on usability tests
The task writing lesson was excellent and the severity scale is now in our team wiki. I wanted a bit more on unmoderated tools.
Rahul P.
Sample Solid basics, light on advanced
A good foundation, but if you have done research for a few years most of this will be review. The ethics lesson was a nice addition.
Sofia M.
Sample Clear synthesis process
Affinity mapping finally clicked for me once I separated observations from interpretations. Good examples throughout.
Tamar L.
Sample Good balance of theory
Short lessons that fit into a lunch break, and the running studio example kept everything concrete.
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