Top UX Research books recommended by experts

At MentorCruise, we are all about making the most out of the experience of others. As part of that, we've connected and asked dozens of experts and professionals about their favourite UX Research books – and here are the answers.

Table of Contents

Fundamentals of UX Research

Understanding the concepts of UX Research starts with understanding the fundamentals. On your way to mastery, it's crucial for you to understand how certain concepts were derived, and why things work like they do. Starting with these resources is the best way to do so.

100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People

We design to elicit responses from people. We want them to buy something, read more, or take action of some kind. Designing without understanding what makes people act the way they do is like exploring a new city without a map: results will be haphazard, confusing, and inefficient. This book combines real science and research with practical examples to deliver a guide every designer needs. Wit…

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UX Methods: A Quick Guide to User Experience Research Methods

UX Methods features 50 different research methods. Each method has concise instructions aimed at getting you in the field gathering insights as quickly as possible. A visual example in storyboard form is included with each method. Readers will quickly find a wide range of methods they can apply in numerous situations. Methods cover situations like user testing, discovering user preferences and…

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Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner's Guide to User Research

Filled with real-world experience and a wealth of practical information, this book presents a complete toolbox of techniques to help designers and developers see through the eyes of their users. It provides in-depth coverage of 13 user experience research techniques that will provide a basis for developing better products, whether they're Web, software or mobile based. In addition, it's writte…

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Interviewing Users: How to Uncover Compelling Insights

Interviewing is a foundational user research tool that people assume they already possess. Everyone can ask questions, right? Unfortunately, that's not the case. Interviewing Users provides invaluable interviewing techniques and tools that enable you to conduct informative interviews with anyone. You'll move from simply gathering data to uncovering powerful insights about people.

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Quantifying the User Experience: Practical Statistics for User Research

Quantifying the User Experience: Practical Statistics for User Research offers a practical guide for using statistics to solve quantitative problems in user research. Many designers and researchers view usability and design as qualitative activities, which do not require attention to formulas and numbers. However, usability practitioners and user researchers are increasingly expected to quanti…

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UX Research: Practical Techniques for Designing Better Products

One key responsibility of product designers and UX practitioners is to conduct formal and informal research to clarify design decisions and business needs. But there’s often mystery around product research, with the feeling that you need to be a research Zen master to gather anything useful. Fact is, anyone can conduct product research. With this quick reference guide, you’ll learn a common la…

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Additional UX Research Reading

These books are not required for you to learn UX Research, but they are highly recommended for you to deepen your knowledge.

User Research: Improve Product and Service Design

User experience research, also known as UX research, focuses on understanding user behaviours, needs and motivations through a range of observational techniques, task analysis and other methodologies. User Research is a practical guide that shows readers how to use the vast array of user research methods available. Written by one of the UK's leading UX research professionals, readers can benef…

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Just Enough Research

Good research is about asking more and better questions, and thinking critically about the answers. Done well, it will save your team time and money by reducing unknowns and creating a solid foundation to build the right thing, in the most effective way.

Erika Hall distills her experience into a guidebook of trusted research methods you can implement right away, no matter what size tea…

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Think Like a UX Researcher

Think Like a UX Researcher will challenge your preconceptions about user experience (UX) research and encourage you to think beyond the obvious. You’ll discover how to plan and conduct UX research, analyze data, persuade teams to take action on the results and build a career in UX. The book will help you take a more strategic view of product design so you can focus on optimizing the user’s exp…

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Specializations and Deeper UX Research Knowledge

You've got your basics in order – time to move on to some advanced and specialized concepts. UX Research is evolving every day, these books can help you master it.

Research Practice: Perspectives from UX researchers in a changing field ( Advanced )

While other research books offer standard operating procedures, this book provides something more durable in the real world. It’s a practical field guide that will give you the encouragement to get started, no matter what your background. Research Practice captures the day-to-day of the practice of user research—what it looks like to work with peers and stakeholders, to raise awareness of rese…

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Building User Research Teams ( Advanced )

Starting or growing a research team? Upgrade your UX Research and make successful products. Successful products require good decisions. Good decisions need good information. User researchers run robust and repeatable studies to find that information, but they need some tools and support to get started.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

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