And what did UXRs tell us in the “About You” section of the study?

Researchers behind the scenes

Most participants worked in an in-house organization (80.6%). Of those, 55.9% of researchers worked on a centralized research team, supporting different groups and teams within their org, while only 38.2% of participants reported serving in an embedded model, where they were assigned to support specific product teams.

Is an advanced degree a requirement for any neophyte UXR? Our data shows that a full third of UXRs don’t possess one. The remaining participants reported earning either a Masters (58.3%) or Ph.D. (8.3%).

Navigating the ocean of UXR job titles

“UX Researcher,” “Design Researcher,” “Experience Researcher”…Do these sound similar to you? Throughout UX, the title variations are endless. We’re curious about this. What titles are we calling ourselves? How do you navigate this as a novice researcher? Here’s what we learned:

The majority of the titles included “User” or “Experience”. Three titles that did NOT include “UX” are Product Researcher, Design Researcher, Customer Insights Researcher. Some titles actually contained broader job definitions — — general UX, Design, Product, Marketing, such as UX Specialist, UX Design and Research.

What did we take away from this?

Although we’re all in “user research,” the variety of titles is still expansive.

If hunting for a user-research job, be sure to expand the terms you’re using to search.

Should you come upon a differently-titled user-research job, be sure to ask if the expectations are different from a more typical “user experience researcher” role. You might find that the title is indicative of additional requirements.

Background before becoming a UX Researcher

If you are interested in getting into UXR through formal education, Human Factors (7), Design and Art (6), Anthropology (5), Psychology (5), Computer Science (4), Human-Computer Interaction (3) were the most popular fields among our sample of UXers.

UX also seems to be a great option for those hungering for a career transition. Several researchers have past work experience in the following roles: