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Jim Ross

Principal UX Researcher at AnswerLab
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Jim Ross Jim has spent most of the 21st Century researching and designing intuitive and satisfying user experiences. As a UX consultant, he has worked on Web sites, mobile apps, intranets, Web applications, software, and business applications for financial, pharmaceutical, medical, entertainment, retail, technology, and government clients. He has a Masters of Science degree in Human-Computer Interaction from DePaul University.

You can read more of Jim’s thoughts on usability, user research, and user experience on his blog, Another UX Guy.

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Jim’s Column on UXmatters

Practical Usability

Moving toward a more usable world

A column by Jim Ross
Updating My Career Advice for User Researchers
November 2022
Wrangling Difficult Usability Testing Participants, Part 2
September 2021
Learning Complex Subject Matter
June 2021
Advice for Conducting International UX Research, Part 2
April 2021
Advice for Conducting International UX Research, Part 1
March 2021
Conducting Remote UX Research from Home
December 2020
Remote UX Research: Advantages and Disadvantages, Part 2
October 2020
Remote UX Research: Advantages and Disadvantages, Part 1
September 2020
Remote User Research: The Time Is Now
June 2020
Retaining Your Sanity as a User Researcher
March 2020
The Perils of Client Recruiting
December 2019
Fears About User Research
October 2019
The Worst Ideas I’ve Heard for User Research
August 2019
The Show Must Go On
May 2019
The Biggest Mistakes in User Research, Part 2
February 2019
The Biggest Mistakes in User Research, Part 1
January 2019
Scoping User Research
November 2018
The Role of Observation in User Research
September 2018
Providing Better UX Recommendations
July 2018
Avoiding Half-Assed User Research
May 2018
Avoiding Common Prototyping Mistakes
March 2018
Your Baby is Ugly
January 2018
Qualities of Effective User Researchers
November 2017
Wrangling Difficult Usability Test Participants
September 2017
Five Degrees of User Assistance
July 2017
Prototyping: Paper Versus Digital
May 2017
Conducting Qualitative, Comparative Usability Testing
March 2017
Avoiding Hard-to-Answer Questions in User Interviews
January 2017
Testing Your Own Designs
November 2016
Handling the Competing Demands of Field Studies
August 2016
Why So Many UX Analogies?
July 2016
What Could Possibly Go Wrong? The Biggest Mistakes in Usability Testing
May 2016
Excuses, Excuses! Why Companies Don’t Conduct User Research
March 2016
What to Consider When Choosing a UX Job
January 2016
10 User Research Myths and Misconceptions
November 2015
UX Generalists or Specialists?
September 2015
Analysis Isn’t Cool
July 2015
Understanding Stakeholders Through Research
May 2015
Winning Over Wary Participants
March 2015
17 Usability Testing Myths and Misconceptions
January 2015
Recruiting User Research Participants by Email
November 2014
Conducting Large-Scale User Research
September 2014
Information Displays That Change Driver Behavior
July 2014
Designing Solutions for Unpleasant Tasks
May 2014
Better UX Internships
March 2014
Participatory Observation
January 2014
Becoming a Spy: Covert Naturalistic Observation
November 2013
Learning from Board Games
September 2013
Creating Better UX Research Videos
July 2013
User Research Methods: Has-beens and Stars
May 2013
What Is the Client’s Role in User Research?
March 2013
Publishing and Presenting, Part 3: Presenting
January 2013
Publishing and Presenting, Part 1: Yes, You Can!
November 2012
Tips on Prototyping for Usability Testing
October 2012
Observing User Research
August 2012
Why Are Contextual Inquiries So Difficult?
June 2012
Capturing User Research
April 2012
Communicating User Research Findings
February 2012
Career Advice for User Researchers
December 2011
The Ghost Hunter’s Guide to User Research
October 2011
Client Reactions to User Research Findings
August 2011
Comparing User Research Methods for Information Architecture
June 2011
User Research Is Unnatural, Part II: Making User Research More Natural
April 2011
User Research Is Unnatural (But That’s Okay), Part I
April 2011
Why Don’t Usability Problems Get Fixed?
February 2011
It’s Not a Training Issue
December 2010
Recruiting Participants for Unmoderated, Remote User Research
September 2010
Recruiting Better Research Participants
July 2010
Doing User Research Faster and Cheaper
May 2010
Sustainable User Research
March 2010

Jim’s Articles on UXmatters

Review of Information Architecture Evaluation Tools: Chalkmark and Treejack
February 2010
Eyetracking: Is It Worth It?
October 2009

Jim’s Contributions to Ask UXmatters

Integrating User-Research Findings into Strategy
November 2018
What UX Designers Really Want from User Research
October 2017
Testing Products People Will Use in a Variety of Environments
September 2017
What to Do When You’re the Only UX Designer on a Project?
July 2017
Books That Have Influenced Our UX Careers, Part 2: Applied UX Research
March 2017
Books That Have Influenced Our UX Careers, Part 1: Design
February 2017
The Purpose of Site Maps and Other Design Deliverables
January 2016
Learning About and Modeling Users
August 2014
Conducting Expert Reviews: What Works Best?
January 2014
Doing User Research at an eCommerce Startup
November 2013
UX Concepts and Practices That We Wish Would Just Go Away!
August 2013
Finding Your Favorite UX Conference
May 2012
How Important Are UX Degrees and Certifications?
January 2012
The Integration of User Experience into Software Development
August 2011
Designing an Office Space That Encourages Great Design
February 2011
Analyzing Data from Field Studies | Wiki Design
September 2010
Using Visuals in Presentations for a Technical Audience
August 2010
Career Alternatives to Management | Best Design Practices for Blogs
July 2010
Putting a Paper Form Online | Avoiding Dropouts and False Information | Applying Aesthetics
April 2010
Pagination in Web Forms | Evaluating the Effectiveness of Web Forms
March 2010
Label Alignment in Long Forms | Paper Prototyping for Engineers
January 2010
Usability Testing with Time Constraints | Remote Usability Testing
December 2009
Usability Testing on a Budget
November 2009
Usability Testing Versus Expert Reviews
October 2009

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