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Conduct UX Research and Test Early Concepts

4.8(11,000) on Coursera·480K enrolled
Beginner 20 hours English Course Certificate
SkillsUX researchUsability testingResearch planningInterviewsSynthesising findingsIteration

Is this course right for you?

Our take
A practical single course on planning and running UX research, useful on its own if research is the part of UX you want to strengthen. It is free to audit.

Good for: beginners who want to focus specifically on UX research and usability testing.

Skip if: you want the full UX design programme, or you already run research studies.

It stays close to how research actually happens on a real project — writing a plan, recruiting participants, moderating usability tests, synthesising findings and sharing them with the team — rather than deep methodology theory. Michigan's research course goes deeper on method if that is what you want.

It is one course from Google's UX certificate, so it does not cover the wider process, and someone who already runs research studies will find it basic. It works standalone or as part of that certificate. Google keeps it updated.

Comparison · LBS

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About this course

This is the fourth course in Google's UX Design Professional Certificate, covering the research phase of a UX project: planning a research study, recruiting participants, writing a research plan, moderating usability tests, taking observation notes, synthesizing findings into themes, and communicating insights to the team and stakeholders.

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Instructor

GU
Google UX Design Team
Coursera instructor
480K+ learners7 courses4.8 instructor rating

Delivered by current Google UX designers and researchers, providing first-person practitioner perspective on how UX research is conducted inside a technology company.

Frequently asked questions

You can take it alone, but there is a practical catch: it assumes you already have a design to test. It is the fourth course in Google's seven-part UX Design certificate, and the earlier courses are where you build the wireframes and prototype that this one teaches you to research. Without something to put in front of users, parts of it will feel abstract.

How to run a usability study from start to finish. You learn to set research goals and questions, write a study script, recruit participants, and handle their data and privacy responsibly. Then it covers conducting the sessions and taking notes, grouping findings into affinity diagrams to spot patterns, and presenting the resulting insights persuasively — the full loop from planning a study to acting on what it tells you.

A moderated study has a facilitator guiding participants live, which is ideal when you want to probe the reasoning behind what people do and ask follow-up questions in the moment. An unmoderated study lets people work through tasks alone in their own time, which scales more easily and costs less, but gives you no chance to dig deeper when something surprising happens. The course covers when each fits.

No, though it is a solid foundation. It gives you the vocabulary and a repeatable process, which is genuinely valuable, but dedicated UX research roles expect deeper method knowledge — more study types, statistical literacy, and a portfolio of real research you have run and acted on. Treat it as one strong component within a broader design skill set rather than a complete route into research on its own.

Yes, by auditing the lessons on Coursera, which covers the video teaching at no cost. The graded activities, the shareable certificate, and the wider Google UX program require a subscription, with financial aid available if you apply and qualify. If you only want to understand the research process rather than earn the credential, auditing is perfectly sufficient.
Paid
Free to audit; included in Google UX Design Certificate
Enroll now