Dear Academic Researcher

It seems you are thinking of switching from academic research to UX research… and specifically to my space, which is design and user research. I actually get a LOT of notes from people in your exact circumstances, so much so that I’m crafting this note and am posting it here, so that it also benefits many others.

These are some observations that might make your transition easier, understand the differences between the practices, or simply help you decide whether you really want to make such a switch. But first, let me warn you that I like to have fun with my language on social media, and if I accidentally say something that offends you, please know that was not my intention; I’m genuinely trying to be helpful, and to highlight the differences I perceive between these two paths.

UX research is directly connected to a product or product strategy tied to industry goals. It's very focused work. We may not know what we're looking for, but it's all in service to a product or some sort of strategy. This is a kind way of saying we don’t just research what interests us; we research what a client or employer wants to learn.

In broad terms, design-related factors are a very big part of what we do.

From what I can tell, this strong connection to design has not existed in academia. 

Our pace is very fast.

If you're an academic, you can work on your thesis for five years, right? I get that those studies are conducted at a much slower pace due to the methodological rigor required when publishing, but still, being scrappy is usually not a thing in academia! We sometimes turn around research in two days or two weeks. It might be prudent to ask yourself whether you’ll be comfortable working at what could seem like a very accelerated speed.

Collaboration is the norm.

I typically work with and/or am part of a cross-functional team; our research is collaborative with non-research partners/stakeholders. MY POV is that applied research = teamwork. On this side, you’ll be working in partnership with your designer, product manager, content strategist and many others. What we do is really creative. (Do you see your current work as creative? I'm genuinely curious to learn about this!)

We get to see how our research is applied.

I love this aspect of our work, which is magnified because of the fast pace I mentioned earlier. 

We’re part of an enterprise.

The driving forces behind our work are sustaining growth and profitability. Yes, there are other goals such as better understanding a group of people and their needs, but the reason we do this is to generate more profits. That creates a certain vibe that might be unfamiliar to you. Today, you probably want to get your work published. Our goal is to develop better experiences, so much so that they move the needle on revenues.

Hmm… how do I say this politely? We communicate differently.

We talk in bullets, you probably talk in paragraphs or even pages. We are along the lines of, “Consider this. Here’s why.” This is because we are in product/service development that moves quickly, and people simply don't have time to go through giant reports. This differs from how many academic researchers communicate. Nine times out of ten, I can tell you whether an email is from an academic researcher based solely on its length. To get traction in the applied space, you’re going to need to significantly shift your communications style. Get pithier. 

There's nothing wrong with what you're doing. We're not better than academia. It's just that in this space, people get to the point quicker and everything is attached to a business goal. 

Two paths. Two terminologies.

Even when we use the same word—such as ethnography—we are often using it differently. We also have a lot of different terms. Do you know terms such as agile and waterfall? Or how terms like iterate and sprint apply to product design? Depending on which industry niche you choose, you’ll likely need to learn many new words. (NOTE: This is how UX Lex came to be. More on that in another article though.)

We might conduct an ethnography in service to the development of a product or a service experience. You might conduct ethnographies from—I’m making this up—an anthropology standpoint to find out why a given population is no longer hand-painting ukuleles. (Sorry if that was obnoxious. It was a thesis example provided to me from a student!) 

You’ll likely need to develop a portfolio (aka a series of case studies) that’s related to products.

This will show the methods you used to explore a topic and demonstrate your storytelling capabilities. How many people did you speak with, and what were the learnings you gathered along the way? How were the learnings presented, and what was the result of those learnings? (Here is the product connection and communication style importance again.) This is how you get work in my space.

Is this helpful? I’m not 100% sure, so I’m asking for you to comment below AND moderating an online panel discussion called “What I wish I knew before starting a career in user research.”

The goal is to support you, arm you with concrete next steps to transition, and share lessons learned from those who successfully made the leap!

NOTE: This panel will take place over Zoom and will be recorded. The recording and post-event articles and resources recommended by panelists (who all transitioned from academia) will be sent to everyone who registers on Eventbrite. Afterwards, the panel recording and materials will be housed on www.curiositytank.com for everyone to access in the future.

I hope you find this open letter helpful. I absolutely love this industry and thrive on teaching others how to ask better questions. Curiosity Tank was founded in large part to help fill the gap between people wanting to increase their user research skills, and transition into the field, but feeling lost about how to go about it. Through these articles, my LinkedIn posts, events, newsletter called Fuel Your Curiosity, and class offerings, I hope to support people in learning how to fish for themselves.