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Articles

Kate Moran

Kate Moran is a Senior User Experience Specialist with Nielsen Norman Group. She conducts research and leads training seminars to help digital product teams expand and improve their UX practice. Her research findings and recommendations are informed by her background in information theory and design, as well as her development experience.

@kate__moran

Articles and Videos

  • Four Factors in UX Maturity

    Improving UX maturity requires growth and evolution across 4 high-level factors: strategy, culture, process, and outcomes.

  • How Many Participants for Quantitative Usability Studies: A Summary of Sample-Size Recommendations

    40 participants is an appropriate number for most quantitative studies, but there are cases where you can recruit fewer users.

  • Remote Usability Testing Costs

    We compare the budgets needed for different kinds of qualitative user research: in-person usability testing vs. remote studies run by software (unmoderated) or run by a human moderator.

  • Collecting Metrics During Qualitative Studies

    Don’t report descriptive statistics like success rates and averages unless you ran a quantitative study. Reported numbers must be qualified with statistical information such as confidence intervals or statistical significance.

  • The 6 Levels of UX Maturity

    Our UX-maturity model has 6 stages that cover processes, design, research, leadership support, and longevity of UX. Use our quiz to get an idea of your organization’s UX maturity.

  • Usability Testing for Content

    Usability testing can yield valuable insights about your content. Make sure you test with the correct users, carefully craft the tasks, and ask the right follow-up questions.

  • The Search Before the Search: Keyword Foraging

    When users don’t know what keywords they need, they must do extra work to determine what their desired item or concept is called.

  • Calculating ROI for Design Projects

    Demonstrating the value of design improvements and other UX work can be done by calculating the return-on-investment (ROI). Usually you compare before/after measures of relevant metrics, but sometimes you have to convert a user metrics into a business-oriented KPI (key performance indicator).

  • How to Test Content with Users

    When evaluating content, pay extra attention to whom you recruit. Closely tailor tasks to your participants and get comfortable with silence.

  • Quantifying UX Improvements: A Case Study

    A research-driven overhaul of a metal and woodworking machinery B2B site’s information architecture resulted in an 85% improvement of findability.