Sometimes, when talking with leaders, marketers, and product people, I wonder whether I’m speaking the same language. Do testing and research mean different things to teams?
How do you frame the idea of learning from users?
Sol brings up an interesting framing technique in her featured Helio article.
Hmmm.. I think showing tells you what, talking/observing tells you why, numbers tell you how much. Sol’s framing helps teams stop blurring those lines and start learning intentionally.
Great post!
I’d say they’re different. Words are vibes to me.
Testing feels like you’re taking a particular object and learning about it.
Research feels like you’re taking a concept and generally figuring out how the world works around it.
Maybe the same thing, but the means to the end when someone researches vs tests feels different.
I tend to blend them together.
To me, everything is a test, whether you call it one or not. The point is to learn something you didn’t know before. Even talking to five people who already agree with an idea still teaches you something. Maybe that’s just how my brain works. I’m always testing what I think I’ve learned.
But language matters, so curious to know how others view this.
Here’s what Gemeni brought up
Research and testing are processes of systematic inquiry to discover and understand new information, and to verify a product, theory, or idea through experimentation.
So it sorta confirms some of my thoughts, then uses fancy language to differentiate.
I’d also add that I think “Research” immediately sounds more formal to me and “testing” sounds more causal.
When I think research, my brain goes here:
Here’s some of the different models responding to that question:
Testing asks: “Does this work (for this purpose, in this context)?”
Research asks: “What is true here, and what can we learn that applies more broadly?”
Research comes first to understand the problem space
Testing comes later to validate specific solutions
If you are checking against a pre-defined, specific expectation, you are likely testing.
If you are exploring to uncover the expectations themselves, you are likely researching.
Testing: A systematic process to verify or validate whether something meets predefined criteria, expectations, or specifications. It’s often confirmatory and focused on checking known assumptions in a controlled, repeatable manner.
Research: An investigative process aimed at discovering new knowledge, solving unsolved problems, or generating novel insights. It’s exploratory, iterative, and seeks to expand understanding beyond what’s already known.
Ok, it feels like in a fluid design process, you are doing all of these… understanding or getting a sense of people requires all kinds of approaches that are valuable.
Here’s an expanded list- curious which of these people use to describe what they are doing.
Researching
Gathering information to understand a space, a problem, or a user.
Sensemaking
Organizing what you’re seeing so patterns, gaps, and meaning become clear.
Needfinding
Uncovering what people actually need versus what they say or assume.
Experimenting
Trying small, controlled changes to see what shifts.
Testing
Checking whether something works as expected in a specific context.
Assessing
Evaluating the strength, readiness, or performance of a direction or idea.
Loving the groups of definitions. Feels like an upcoming post!
