Diverse, equitable, and inclusive UX research
We believe inclusive human insights enable quality decision-making, create a positive impact in the world and meaningful business impact for brands.
Making a fundamental change to systems, process and culture
Inclusive research is not a check-box on the path to launch but rather a fundamental change to systems, process and culture. Our inclusivity research practice is continuously iterating on our approaches and educating our entire team.
What is inclusive UX research?
Inclusive UX research is standard product research run with people that standard panels underrepresent: by race and ethnicity, immigrant status and language, gender identity and sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and disability. The methods are the same. The screener, the recruitment, the accommodations and the analysis are not.
DEI UX research is research focused on individuals from a specific race or ethnic background, immigrant status, gender identity outside of male/female, LGBTQ+, religious affiliation, socioeconomic status. This also includes physical appearance (skin tone, weight, height).
DEI research specifically focuses on topics that make sure typically marginalized and underrepresented populations' thoughts and feedback are represented and respected in product development.
AnswerLab’s DEI experts regularly advise and collaborate on research.
How we run inclusive research
Intersectional research
Explore how individuals with multiple marginalized identities experience your product (e.g. Black and LGBTQ+, Asian and Non-binary). We build the sample so intersecting identities are represented in large enough numbers to analyze, not just present in the transcript.
Inclusion research
Ask about belonging or acceptance within a group or structure, ensuring the experience helps, rather than harms these individuals
Workplace research
Gather employee experiences on topics related to workplace diversity, sense of belonging within teams, or gender/pay equity. Employee research is run so responses stay unattributable to the individual, because on these topics candour depends on it.
Accessibility research
Test with participants using their own assistive technology in their own environment, so barriers surface in research rather than in support tickets.
Multicultural research
Understand how customers across cultural, ethnic and language groups actually experience your product, with in-country moderators where language and cultural context matter.
The AnswerLab difference
We help you understand how people from underrepresented populations experience your products. Our experience in recruiting diverse participants, accommodating accessibility needs, and uncovering meaningful insights, has helped clients across industries quickly and effectively identify opportunities for making their websites, online gaming platforms, and other products more inclusive. Our team of 200+ researchers, strategists, and designers has partnered with leaders across industries for over two decades, and a dedicated ResearchOps team of 50+ handles the screening and recruitment that reaching these participants depends on.
Ready to reach the customers your research keeps missing?
Let's scope a study that puts the people your panel underrepresents in front of your team.
Common questions about inclusive research
What is the difference between inclusive research and accessibility research?
Accessibility research studies how people with disabilities experience a product, usually with assistive technology. Inclusive research is broader: it covers disability alongside race and ethnicity, language, gender identity, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status. Accessibility research is one part of an inclusive research program, not a synonym for it.
How do you reach participants that standard panels underrepresent?
Through screener design, sourcing outside the standard panels, and accommodations planned before fielding rather than added on request. Our ResearchOps team handles recruiting and screening as a dedicated function, which is what makes low-incidence and intersecting criteria feasible at the sample sizes analysis needs.
Does this have to be a separate study?
No. Most of this work is applied inside studies you are already running, by revising the screener and the recruitment plan so the sample reflects the customers you actually have. A standalone study makes sense when the research question is itself about inclusion or belonging.
Which teams commission inclusive research?
Product and design teams validating that a launch works for the whole customer base, and technology and HR teams looking at workplace experience. The three study types above map to those different questions.