[nomadking]

Here's an example of the "evil things" the User Research get up to.

People who are aged between 16 and 64 and have less than 6 months to live can apply for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) under special rules. This means that the claim is treated as high priority, is processed without a face to face assessment, and the payments are made weekly. To do this they need to provide a DS1500 form, a report completed by a doctor or nurse containing medical information about their condition.
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Previously, a DS1500 form could only be sent to DWP via post and the average time for it to be received was 10 days. However, I learnt quickly that it can take much longer than this.
Now, our service allows healthcare professionals to submit a DS1500 form electronically which is received by DWP instantly and securely.
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We conducted user research with doctors and Macmillan nurses, visiting their hospitals and surgeries to understand how they work. I gained insight into their working day and they helped us understand the complex lives of their patients and the expenses patients can face. This includes the cost of heating their home after the impact of chemotherapy. The DS1500 enables patients to get access to motability schemes and blue badges, which makes it clear how valuable our service could be.
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We’re continuing to introduce our service to more doctors and Macmillan nurses, getting feedback and asking them to use the service for real patients. So far, we’ve received the digital DS1500 forms in a matter of seconds, not days or weeks, meaning the claim can be processed more efficiently. Our service is about helping people in their final months, when time is precious. As a user researcher, seeing work being done to improve the lives of some our most vulnerable customers is incredibly rewarding.

Some of the rules for User Research

1. Make sure you know who said what

Label your observations so you can identify the people taking part in your research. An easy approach is to give each person you speak to a number, then label each observation you write down with the corresponding number.

1. Personal data

Finally, don’t capture personal information, which could allow someone to be identified. Names, national insurance numbers, addresses, etc., shouldn’t be recorded. You need to think: “If I lost this, could someone identify who this person is?”

User research gives your team the understanding it needs to design a good user experience. It also enables you to test your service and evaluate how successful you’ve been at meeting your users’ needs.
Without it, you won’t know what to build, how to build it or what problems you’re trying to solve.

From 2012 DWP report on Universal credit. Just to show that user research has been going on for years and is a good idea.

This report summarises the key findings of a programme of user-centred design testing work carried out between March and October 2011, to determine what is required to encourage desired behavioural changes, how users and staff have responded to the Universal Credit design so far, and suggestions for further attention.
In total, 160 users and approximately 30 staff were involved during the user-centred design phase so far. The majority of the user-centred design work took place in and around Manchester in order to enable the nearby Agile design team to view the sessions.