My Research Principles
Empathize with everyone
Everyone has a story to tell and a researcher needs to know them. While a research focus may be on the customer, stakeholders and designers have important stories you need to know.
Make it visceral
Don't talk in the abstract. Users stories are rich, involved and encompassing and while interesting, they become useful when you ground a story in a real situation, a mockup, a prototype or a tangible item. It's the only way to minimize bias and make sure it's valid. What they say and do can be very different - you have to watch and listen to learn.
Check your ego at the door
Research is always about the user, never about the researcher. While easy to say, it can be hard to keep ego's at bay, but it's essential to get the stories right.
Develop relationships
From the first moment you contact your users remotely or in person, you're beginning a relationship, so treat it like an important one. Care for them and they will give up the insights.
Keep Quiet
Everything you say changes their behavior and can change their frame of reference from theirs to yours. Every question, statement, instruction or comment affects how they think or what they say because it alters their attention. Interact to minimize redirecting their attention, keep them focused on their chain of thought and tasks while probing for details.
Forget the product.
Your focus should never be on the product, but always on the experience. You want to know what they do and with what and more importantly how. When you're always trying to get them engaged with a myriad of product details you can miss what they are really trying to do. Probe about the tasks and how it's supported or how it's blocked. Products come and go but user experiences are far more stable.