The Yzzi Research Podcast

Thanks for supporting The Yzzi Research Podcast! Season four was the final season of the podcast and I hope that you enjoyed listening. This podcast was produced by my production company, Whisper and Mutter. I am also producing and releasing another podcast unrelated to UX research, but you may like it if you're interested in reading, thinking, the human experience, and fresh perspectives on a book you've likely heard of.Stay subscribed to The Yzzi Research Podcast and I'll share the trailer for this upcoming podcast. It'll be a while, think like one or two years, but you'll hear it first. Thank you again for all your support, messages, reviews, and feedback over the past few years. I appreciate you!

Janice Chan is the Director of Shift and Scaffold. In the past, she's been a User Experience Consultant and project manager. Her mission in life is “to increase agency and reduce frustration through clarity, connection, access, and usability.” In this episode, Janice discusses her experience working with coworkers in different locations and in different functions.

Janelle Ward led UX/user research at digital product companies, both as a founding lead and as a manager upskilling and growing existing research teams. She discusses being a UX research manager.

Marcos Moldes is a qualitative UX Researcher who is a former academic now working at Pinterest. In this episode, Marcos discusses research panels.

Lindsey Brinkworth is a user experience researcher with a design background. Currently, she is a Senior Researcher at Magic+Might. She also enjoys helping other researchers with their research portfolios In this episode, Lindsey discusses perfecting the research portfolio.

Andréa Stella is a UX researcher and former academic. In the past, she's been a professor and worked as a UX researcher at Sony Music Entertainment. In this episode she talks about her career path.

Michele Ronsen founded Curiosity Tank where she provides research and career support. She is a user researcher, designer, coach, and educator with over 5,000 hours of adult design and user research teaching expertise in academic institutions and 20+ years of corporate training, workshops, design, and research for Fortune 500s and start-ups. In this episode, Michele discusses building confidence and career pathing for researchers.

Nia Jarrett is a UX Research contractor who is a former teacher and communications professional. In this episode, Nia discusses her path to UX research.

Chloe Markley is a UX Research Director at EchoUser, a UX Research & Design firm. In the past, she's been a research leader at Ipsos, Gfk, athenahealth, and Oracle. In this episode, Chloe discusses recruiting high quality people for research.

Karen Eisenhauer is a qualitative UX Researcher with a background in linguistics and teaching now working for herself. In this episode, Karen discusses tagging qualitative data.

Stephanie Marsh is a UX Research Operations Lead who has worked at companies including HSBC and the United Kingdom government. In this episode, Stephanie discusses evaluating UX research impact.

Season Four of The Yzzi Research Podcast is premiering on February 26, 2024. This season, you'll hear about:Being a UX research managerEvaluating the impact of UX researchTagging qualitative data and much more!This will be the very last season of the podcast, so tune in!

Thanks for supporting The Yzzi Research Podcast. The final episode of season three was my conversation with Nicole Wallace about NDA-protected research. The Yzzi Research Podcast will be back for season four either at the end of 2023 or at the beginning of 2024.

Nicole Wallace is a research leader who works at SMART Technologies and has worked with the Albertan government. In this episode, Nicole discusses getting hired as a UX researcher. Visit https://www.yzziresearch.com/podcast for show notes.

Mandi Hall is a UX researcher who works at Microsoft. In this episode, Mandi discusses doing ambidextrous research (not research about using both hands equally well). Visit https://www.yzziresearch.com/podcast for show notes.

Morgan Ramsey is a Research Strategist and Systems Designer who has worked at companies including Compass and Google. In this episode, Morgan discusses doing UX research in the artificial intelligence space. Visit https://www.yzziresearch.com/podcast for show notes.

Carol Rossi is a UX researcher who has worked at companies including Nerd Wallet, Kelley Blue Book, and Edmunds.com. In this episode, Carol discusses how to prioritize research topics and projects and how to measure research impact. Visit https://www.yzziresearch.com/podcast for show notes.

Michelle Wantuch is a UX researcher who works at Microsoft. In this episode, Michelle discusses best practices for researching neurodiverse people especially in education. Visit https://www.yzziresearch.com/podcast for show notes.

Alex Siegel is a quantitative UX researcher who works at Adobe. In this episode, Alex discusses quant UX research and how to make sense of it when you're not a numbers person. Visit https://www.yzziresearch.com/podcast for show notes.

Annemarie Fulcer is a UX researcher who has worked at companies including Microsoft and the New Jersey Institute of Technology. In this episode, Annemarie discusses doing UX research quickly in pulse cycles. Visit https://www.yzziresearch.com/podcast for show notes.

Sara Duke is a UX researcher and strategist who has worked at companies including Microsoft and Facebook. In this episode, Sara discusses the jobs to be done framework. Visit https://www.yzziresearch.com/podcast for show notes.

Frankie Kastenbaum is an experience designer who has worked at companies including Adobe, HP, and United Airlines. In this episode, Frankie discusses what UX design is and how UX research fits into design. Visit https://www.yzziresearch.com/podcast for show notes.

Gabi Duncombe is a user experience designer and has worked at companies including Adobe, Microsoft, and Instagram. In this episode, Gabi discusses how and why she used Instagram to do a diary study. Visit https://www.yzziresearch.com/podcast for show notes.

A new season of the Yzzi Research Podcast is coming on February 13, 2023. I'll be having conversations with researchers talking about sharing NDA-protected research during job interviews, using Instagram for research, jobs to be done, and much more! The third season will be live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts on February 13, 2023. Visit yzziresearch.com/podcast to catch up on the first two seasons.

The word “brand” has become ubiquitous. Everyone seems to be building a brand, staying on brand, or protecting their brand. A brand is nebulous, but is the marriage of words, images, feelings, and associations people make with you. Did you know that UX researchers and aspiring UX researchers also have a professional brand and this branding can be the difference between getting your dream job or landing your dream client, but how do you create and craft your brand as a researcher? 

Melissa Albright is a hiring professional. She's a Talent Acquisition Specialist recruiting technology professionals including UX researchers. If you've ever applied to a UX research job and wanted to chat with the recruiter to get some inside knowledge, here's your chance. Melissa gives an insider perspective on how to get hired.

Shipra is a designer dedicated to transforming the way we work together as a global community. She spoke with Imani about voice of the customer (VoC). She talked about her experience establishing, maintaining, and socializing a VoC program at UpWork.

Angelique Rickhoff is is a research director at a management consultancy. In this episode, she talks about growing and scaling a UX research team from zero and she gives advice about hiring UX researchers and managing a team of UX researchers.

Katrina Noelle is a market research entrepreneur who owns KNow Research. In this episode, she discusses conducting remote research, how to storytell qualitative findings, insights, and managing stakeholders.

As an independent researcher, Imani gets to work with a variety of clients. Though her research company, Yzzi Research, is relatively new, she's already had the chance to work with some interesting clients on a variety of projects. One of those clients is an organization called New America. Along with several other independent researchers, Imani investigated low income taxpayers in New York. She shares what happened and what she learned.  Support this podcast

Elyse Voegeli is a UX professional. At the time of our conversation, she was working as a UX researcher and designer for the City of New York. She talks about being a UX researcher in government. Support this podcast

Imani talks about her UX research fellowship experience with the NYC[x] Innovation Fellowship co-produced by US Digital Response and New York City Mayor's Office of the Chief Technology Officer. Jessica Watson, Co-Founder and Chief Experience Officer at U.S. Digital Response, provides some more context about volunteering in digital government. Support this podcast

Jeff works at a company called Artefact. Artefact produced a digital product you may or may not have heard of called The Tarot Cards of Tech. Jeff talks about what the tarot cards are and how technology professionals can use them in their work. Support this podcast

In this episode, Imani speaks with Babz Jewell. Babz talks about ethnographic sociology in the context of conducting UX research. She also gives practical and creative advice for navigating the UX researcher job market. Support this podcast

Imani conducted a crude analysis of 12 associate UX researcher job descriptions and she shares what she found. Support this podcast

Diary studies are the perfect balance between research and storytelling. Diary studies are arguably one of the most human research methods. A while ago, Imani had the chance to conduct her first diary study and she was so excited! Imagine how vexed and frustrated she was when she jacked the whole thing up! She botched her first diary study, but wants to try again. In this episode, Imani will explore how researchers fail and how researchers can recover. Support this podcast

If you want to be a UX researcher, you have to understand the difference between discovery, evaluative, primary, and secondary research. When Imani first became interested in UX research, she would hear evaluative and discovery research mentioned quite a bit and though she googled them to learn more about them, she didn't fully understand what they actually were, when to apply them, and which methods they encompassed until fairly recently. If you do some googling, you'll notice that there are different opinions among researchers as to which methods are evaluative and which are discovery. Since UX research is still a relatively new career path, it is actively being defined by those who are current practitioners. What constitutes primary and secondary research seems to be better understood and more universally defined. This episode unravels discovery, evaluative, primary, and secondary research.  Support this podcast

Mario Carrasco is a market researcher and he owns a market research firm called ThinkNow. Mario talks  about multicultural research and the challenges of building a panel, especially a multicultural panel. If you are a UX researcher, you should still listen to this episode because Mario gives practical advice about recruitment and building a panel. There's also some wonderful dialogue about acculturation, immigration, and identity.  Support this podcast

In this episode, Imani speaks with Jia Liu who talks about his time working as a product designer at LinkedIn. In the first part of the conversation, Jia discusses: the importance of doing secondary research as a UX professional, how he tackles working on a huge product like LinkedIn, how LinkedIn supports the entire hiring journey with its recruiter suite of tools, and how making tiny UI decisions affects the business and its various customer segments.. In the second part of the conversation, Jia talks about Kano models, performance features, labor markets, how being a teacher influenced his product design career, research and insights prioritization, and dealing with conflict when you're not confrontational.  Support this podcast

Imani talks about UX research in general. She talks about what UX research is, who a UX researcher is, what a UX researcher does, how UX researchers do it, evaluative research, generative research, moderated research, and why UX research is important. This is a good episode to listen to if you're learning about UX research. Support this podcast

Imani revisits guest interviews from season one and reflects on building domain vs. method expertise as a UX researcher, why research is both an art and a science, and UX research in the United States and Hungary. Support this podcast

Hosted by UX researcher, Imani Nichols, The Yzzi Research Podcast is the resource for people who research people. The first episode of the second season will be live on October 18, 2021. Visit yzziresearch.com and sign up for the mailing list to be updated about the podcast. Follow Yzzi Research on https://twitter.com/yzziresearch (Twitter) and follow Imani on https://www.linkedin.com/in/imanin/ (LinkedIn). Support this podcast

Becoming a UX researcher can be tricky. There’s no clear path into the career and as a result, it can leave you confused and vulnerable. Considering such, coaching and mentorship are critically important. Keep listening to hear my thoughts on UX researcher career coaching and mentorship. Support this podcast

Iris Yim is a market researcher and principal at Sparkle Insights. She focuses on multicultural market research. Listen to her thoughts on doing good market research, creating engaging reports, creating a sound sample, and why she thinks MBAs are worthwhile for market researchers to pursue. Support this podcast

There are several personality traits that enable people to be good researchers … and there are a few bad ones that undermine the capacity to become a good researcher. Listen to Imani outline the personality of a good researcher. Support this podcast

How much money does a UX researcher make? What are the differences in the role of a user experience researcher and user experience designer? How should I feel about my team not applying my research? Stay tuned to hear Imani’s answers to these and other listener-submitted questions. Support this podcast

Imani met Asha Toulmin when she was interviewing for a UX researcher role. At the time of this recording, Asha was working as a Research Manager at CNN, but had been a UX researcher at Google, Airbnb, and Bloomberg previously. She’s conducted research and hired UX researchers. Asha is incredibly well rounded and has a lot to share about graduate education, career pathing, and hiring UX researchers. Support this podcast

There’s a shortage of UX research internships which makes it hard for aspiring researchers to test the field to see if it is what they want to do. It also makes it harder for people to become UX researchers considering that many UX researcher roles require direct UX research experience. If you do secure a coveted UX research internship, what should you expect? Imani analyzed 20 UX Research Internship job descriptions and this is what she learned. Support this podcast

Imani used academic research as a strong foundation to build a successful career in industry research as a UX researcher. Listen to this episode to hear what she learned during her time as both and how she was able to transition. Support this podcast

Michele McDonald is an experienced market research expert. Michele has been a mentor of Imani's for a few years. When Imani decided to produce this podcast, it was natural for Imani to invite her as Imani wanted to share Michele's expertise and wisdom with other people. Support this podcast

When you are a researcher, you interact with a lot of people. People who can help or hinder you as a researcher and people that you can potentially help with your research. Imani calls this the researcher’s ecosystem. Support this podcast