Back to Understanding User Needs
University of Michigan

Understanding User Needs

Designing effective interactive systems requires understanding the needs and capabilities of the people who will be using them. In this UX course we will focus on how to interact with users (or potential users) to understand what they need, what they currently do, what they love and hate, and examine human capabilities and behavior as they relate to UX design. Learners will be introduced to numerous techniques to gather data from and about users. This course is part of the User Experience (UX) Research and Design specialization offered on Coursera. What you'll learn: Find out what user needs assessments are, what qualitative research is, and how the two are related. Learn an end-to-end methodology for qualitative research that is suited for understanding user needs. The methodology includes knowledge of semi-structured interviews, in-situ observation, and affinity walls. Be exposed to good practices for conducting semi-structured interviews, in-situ observation, and affinity walls. Gain some experience with semi-structured interviews, in-situ observations, and affinity walls.

Status: Qualitative Research
Status: Data Collection
BeginnerCourse11 hours

Featured reviews

JG

5.0Reviewed Apr 6, 2020

Great class; really learned about interviewing and qualitative research! Great instructor and helpful videos.

WA

5.0Reviewed Jul 16, 2019

I really like this lecturer, he gives lots of good examples and analogies for the principles taught in this course. Well done.

VV

5.0Reviewed May 2, 2020

The structure of the course was really good. The hands-on activity at every stage let us understand the ideas provided during the course. Overall, it a great learning experience!

LM

5.0Reviewed May 16, 2020

A very good course in building the idea to a person regarding how the process of the building an product should go starting from user needs .

BM

5.0Reviewed Feb 16, 2020

Excellent course. I really learned a lot about evaluating UX design through information acquired by interviewing users.

IS

5.0Reviewed Apr 5, 2020

I absolutely recommend this course. Brilliant professor and excellent exercises, the right mixture between theory and practice!

BM

5.0Reviewed Nov 6, 2020

Awesome course. The lectures provide great information and the assignments really help you understand the concepts and how to apply them to 'real-life' scenarios.

AS

5.0Reviewed Feb 12, 2019

Although it's quite intensive, the course is super important for anybody who wants to get better in this area of knowledge. 100% Recommendable.

TJ

5.0Reviewed Jul 9, 2020

I really enjoyed this class and felt it was a great start to learning how to conduct user research. The professor, Kentaro Toyama, is also a fantastic teacher even with teaching via recorded video.

JC

5.0Reviewed Oct 28, 2019

Interesting lectures and fun projects. I feel I learned a lot of useful info about conducting preliminary UX research with users.

VK

5.0Reviewed May 24, 2020

It was a very engaging course. I honed my interviewing and observation skills through this course and its assignments. I highly recommend it.

SP

5.0Reviewed Jun 7, 2020

The teacher is great. The hands on practical assignment are a must do it really helps in deeper understanding.

All reviews

Showing: 20 of 118

Daniel Morillo Cuadrado
1.0
Reviewed Sep 24, 2019
Gloria Wu
2.0
Reviewed Jan 31, 2021
Amirali Yousefli
1.0
Reviewed Jun 6, 2022
Kevin Hains
2.0
Reviewed May 28, 2020
Amber Williams
5.0
Reviewed Apr 3, 2019
Tabitha Jamerson
5.0
Reviewed Jul 9, 2020
Anelia Stoyanova
5.0
Reviewed Feb 13, 2019
Ari Rahmati
4.0
Reviewed Apr 20, 2019
Ahmed Samir
3.0
Reviewed Apr 26, 2019
Diana Guevarra
2.0
Reviewed Apr 29, 2021
Celestino Flores Reynaga
1.0
Reviewed Dec 1, 2025
Cyril Brunet
1.0
Reviewed Nov 17, 2024
Marian Gravel
5.0
Reviewed Dec 14, 2020
Amalchi
5.0
Reviewed Oct 24, 2019
Iris Le
5.0
Reviewed Dec 18, 2019
Rejean Borgonia-Manjares
5.0
Reviewed Sep 5, 2020
Lee McCoy
5.0
Reviewed Feb 14, 2020
Juangui Jordán Aldasoro
5.0
Reviewed Jan 10, 2019
Karim Awad
5.0
Reviewed Mar 16, 2021
S.M. Jahirul Islam
5.0
Reviewed Jul 28, 2020