UX Lex
An evolving, interactive glossary of UX research terms.
It's ironic. Those of us who work in UX, user researchers included, aspire to create terrific user experiences. That’s what we do. But what we have done with our own terminology is to create a mess. Eighty UXers from around the globe began to address that problem in September 2019. Here is a sneak peek of that work. More details, and full credits, to come. Sign up here to get weekly terms in your inbox >>
A/B Testing
An experiment where two versions, A and B, of a creative treatment (e.g. email, concept, web page or app) are shown to different users randomly…
Affinity Map
Affinity Mapping is a method of analyzing the relationship between ideas or data points, in order to help make sense of data. This process is commonly done …
Benchmark Testing
Based on the idea that all improvements should be measurable, a benchmark is an initial baseline assessment or measurement, taken before…
Cognitive Walkthrough
A combination of observation and a user talking aloud to evaluate the experience and perceptions of a product/service/website/retail…
Contextual Inquiry
A research method that involves observing people in their natural context (in person or remotely for some topics), and asking semistructured and or unstructured …
CX / Customer Experience / CX Research
Customer experience (CX) refers to the perception of a brand, product or service formed by the interactions and experiences individuals have had across any touch points (e.g. e-commerce, social media, …
Empathy Mapping
An empathy map is a visualization of trusted data used to express the understanding of a prospect, customer, or other persona. The process of collecting the data is called empathy mapping …
Evaluative Research
Evaluative research is an umbrella term for studies in which participants are “evaluating” something such as a storyboard, video, sketch…
Generative Research
Exploratory research is used to build a foundational understanding for problem definition and to identify potential opportunities and solutions…
IDI / In-depth Interview
A method to gather information via a live, interactive conversation. The researcher/interviewer explores the research topic designed to meet the research objectives…
Intercept Interview/Survey
Interrupting someone digitally (via pop-up window, chat, banner ad, etc) or physically (in-person), while they are engaged in a specific activity relevant…
Intercept Recruitment
Interrupting someone digitally (via pop-up window, chat, banner ad, etc) or physically (in-person) to answer a few initial screening questions…
Journey Mapping
A journey map is a visualization of a process someone goes through to accomplish a specific goal. It typically contains actions, emotions, and touch points…
KPI / Key Performance Indicator
KPIs are critical, measurable indicators that, when reviewed together, help organizations, teams and individuals align and gauge performance against business objectives. KPIs can be set …
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