Method vs. Methodology: What’s the Difference?

Often, companies spend a lot of money to get that perfect UX without clear R&D guidelines about their method and methodology.

Keeping that in mind, how much research you should take into account before running an A/B test or launching a marketing campaign? And most importantly, who gets to have the final say when it comes to your website redesign?

It is true, the difference sometimes can be subtle, but you can cut out most of the complications when you view both with the open and closed approach.

Your decision shouldn’t solely be about profitability. Instead, proven research will compliment your strategy. In simple terms, your method and methodology play a vital role throughout the research. In fact, it can make all the difference to figure out what your visitors “need” and “want.”

Learn to Distinguish: Method and Methodology

The method refers to collecting measurable data points.

Well, the method is how you collect and observe the insightful information that allows you to understand the motivations of the users. You can, for instance, view Google Analytics as a way to accumulate data entry points for your website.

However, what strategy you implement to assess numbers and leads is up to you.

Moreover, an open-ended survey can tell you about the common entry points related to product features on your site. And these entry points provide you the information as to whether or not there is optimal UX.

The answer does not lie in frustration, but your desire to focus on the target audience.

Can You Combine Method and Methodology?

Your method complements your methodology.

However, your center of attention should be “what” rather than “why.” Without the right method in place, you practically risk the creative narrative of your UX. It is one of the reasons a lot of sites experience bounce rates.

Sometimes, the images are interesting, but there is so much confusion within data that does not garner perfect user experience.

Also, do not make preconceived assumptions based on your method and methodology. Your intuition alone can resolve certain testing issues and help you save time and money.

What are the Common Methods?

Here are some of the most standardized methods web designers’ play around with:

Mouse Tracking

Mouse tracking helps web designers keep an eye on user movements on a site.

The same segmented movements on top of each other enable you to read a heatmap. The red spots highlight the maximum amount of activity while the blue spots outline what parts of the website users ignored.

Digital Analytics

Apart from identifying the most significant sections of your website, digital analytics allow you to track conversions on a large scale.

Sure, you can ignore some of the metrics, but analyzing faulty data always turns out a waste of time.

Technical Analysis

The objective of a technical analysis method is to inherently determine behind-the-scenes actions of your website’s problems that are affecting the UX.

With this method, you might notice that your product pages are not as fast as you thought, and some images are either too large or small.

What about User Testing?

This method enables real individuals to give feedback about your site, which, as a result, allows you to collect more qualitative and quantitative data.

Ordinarily, you offer the users activity and capture their screen movements as they finish each activity.

For instance, if the new design takes more time to load than the previous one, the design changes might not be intuitive at all. The point is that you get the chance to fix those problems before your site goes live.

Methodology: It All Comes Down to Research

The foundation of your methodology is research.

The same research will help you conduct endless testing. No one understands more than designers that it is a backbone for making a multitude of important business decisions.

Whether its UX choices, website functionality, relaunch strategy, or launching ad campaigns, research can become your savior.

Site Redesign

For businesses, website redesign often comes across as massive risk.

And that is because design decisions often do not consider how it might affect other areas of the site. Data-backed modifications to your website minimize that risk and even allows you to experiment with the redesign.

The iterative and radical design changes sometimes overlap each other. The change you think is minor might leave a huge impact on UX and vice-versa.

Naturally, no one wants to spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on website design that results in performance issues.

The redesign can be tricky for designers because companies mostly do not want to divert from their original brand or product image. Maybe you exhausted all your choices, but that does not mean there is no room for more design tests.

Thinking of redesigning your website soon? Here are our 10 essential tips for website redesign.

Why is it So Important?

Here is the thing; the best UX research is more than just testing a website design.

You can use the same research to find out about your site’s segmentation. From product features to blog topics, you can make the design more likable and capture the interest of the users.

And research is vital to both method and methodology. It is also a perfect approach to safeguard your website when you want to carry out a radical design.

Believe in data, and it will help you justify your design choices that most likely make users happy.

Final Thoughts

User Experience is undoubtedly fundamental to extraordinary web design and web designers should be aware of the subtle technicalities that might impact their future clients.

A new website design improvement or solution always surpasses the expectations of the existing one.

Your objectives should not just be design-oriented, but user-centric at the same time. It is vital to understand that your secret does not lie in finding solutions without a clear path.

Instead, it is about solving issues with the correct order. In fact, it will help you reach beyond your limitations.

Besides, it is an excellent strategy where you would not play the blame game. However, for starters, it is always a wise move to seek the guidance of a professional web designer who can help you figure out the process.

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