Researching needs

One of the 3 broad questions UX research can answer is "What do people need?" Methods that can help you understand what users need include:

• Contextual inquiry and ethnography: Observing users in their natural environment allows you to see how they accomplish their tasks and what difficulties they face.
• Interviews: Face-to-face contact with users is a good way to find out what they need.
• Surveys and questionnaires: This technique can provide answers similar to what you'd get from user interviews. While you can't dive deeper into those answers, they allow for a larger volume of responses that can be analyzed easily.
• Diary studies: This method allows you to understand what users do and how they feel when using a product over a longer time frame.