Evaluative Research
What is it? Evaluative research is an umbrella term for studies in which participants are “evaluating” something such as a storyboard, video, sketch, packaging, a question set, prototype or even a fully developed live product, service or interface.
Evaluative research first entails a clear understanding of what is being evaluated and the criteria it is being evaluated against. It requires something that exists in a format where people can provide feedback on it. Once the criteria (e.g. preference, comprehension, usability, discoverability, product market fit, etc.) have been determined, the study is designed and conducted to be measured against the agreed upon assessment criteria of the study.
When is it best used? Generally conducted at several different times in a product development lifecycle, each time feeding back learnings into the next or subsequent iteration during the evolution of the product or service. It could equally be used to evaluate the performance of an existing product, service, website and or app
What does it entail? Approaches may include moderated or unmoderated studies, observation, qualitative and / or quantitative methods. Examples include click testing, A/B tests, 5-second tests, concept/prototype and preferences tests, usability studies, taste tests, voice recognition testing, competitive and workflow analysis, surveys, as well as other methods, may all fall under the category of evaluative research.
Interchangeable term: Formative usability testing, validation research, concept testing and other terms used above
Related Terms: usability testing, validation research, concept testing, formative and summative research
Use in a Sentence: During the evaluative research session, the interviewee completed tasks on a high fidelity mockup to inform whether the top tasks were easy to complete.
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