There are numerous kinds of positions in the tech industry. Two of the most sought-after are data science and UX research. While both require a profound knowledge of technologies, the two are characterized by distinct goals. Data Analytics primarily focus on analyzing data, while UX researchers concentrate on how users interact with services and products.
The article will compare the jobs of Data Analytics and UX researchers. We examine the major distinctions between them.
What is a Data Scientist?
Data Analytics analyzes and interprets the vast amount of digital data to help businesses to make more informed business choices. They employ their data science, programming, or machine learning expertise to cleanse up, organize, and mine data to gain insight. Data Analytics often work with massive amounts of data; therefore, they have to be efficient in their work to extract actionable data quickly. They report their findings to executives of companies with reports and graphs to aid them in making well-informed decisions regarding strategic plans, marketing campaigns, and the development of products. Data Analytics usually have backgrounds in math, computer science, or other related disciplines.
What do Data Analysts do?
In the simplest terms, and as mentioned earlier, the main purpose is to improve a company’s business decisions, and, in the modern world, it is usually conducted online. Still, it is possible to do it using offline methods also. This process can be somewhat more difficult because it is much more straightforward to collect data on platforms online. Apart from simply analyzing data, let’s look at a data analyst’s tasks every day.
Collaboration with teams: If an organization makes bad decisions internally, it will be apparent through data, and the analyst explains it. If a product is sold in the outside market through partnerships analysts may look at ways to improve its sales for their item.
Create visual aids: Not everyone they collaborate with is an analyst like theirs. Therefore, having a spreadsheet with numbers is different from what they see in the data compared to others. Therefore, they must develop innovative methods to make their data understandable and reflect its importance.
Sort and organize information sets: Not all of the information on a sheet is what an analyst is searching for; therefore, they need to look for patterns in the data that could be captured in graphs. The trends make data useful and valuable and trigger the idea of change.
What is a UX Researcher?
UX Researchers work to understand how users interact using items and products. They employ a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods to gather the information that they can use to improve user experience. UX Researchers conduct user interviews, surveys, focus groups, and usability tests to collect information. They analyze this information to find patterns and insights which can be utilized to guide design decisions. UX Researchers collaborate closely with UX Designers, Product Managers, and other users to ensure that their feedback is taken into consideration during the process of developing products.
What do UX Researchers do?
Like an analyst of data similar to a data analyst, a UX researcher utilizes the trends to improve a product’s quality but keeps the user’s needs in mind longer than the business. The company can certainly improve, but the user’s patterns are triggering these changes, and these changes are designed to provide a better user experience for the user. Similar to data analytics, it could affect sales or subscribers, but the goal is to make the user’s experience more enjoyable and thus improve the business’s overall performance. Like data analysts, let’s delve into UX Researchers’ responsibilities.
Making research plans: They create plans that outline the goals they intend to achieve. This is done to enhance the company’s medium and enhance users’ experience when interacting with the product.
Learn about the user’s needs: Using different methods such as user testing or collecting keystrokes and data; UX researchers can understand the user’s requirements when using an interface. They also can aid in improving the user experience by gaining an understanding of.
Recruitment of targeted users: This is done to conduct research. It is not a good idea for a business to release an item and then conduct tests with users because it could create a negative image of the company in users’ eyes. Instead, before a product is released, it is the responsibility of a UX researcher will find specific users and then invite them to interact with the product and conduct tests on them to gather feedback.
Create surveys: They are conducted after a launch to comprehend the requirements of users and determine if their needs are being met, and should they not be, what could be improved. There’s always a chance to expand, even after testing with users and launching a new product.
Offer suggestions: Once the research is completed and interesting information has been discovered, the researchers provide suggestions to the team responsible for the product.
UX Researcher vs. Data Scientist
Here is the most significant difference between a UX researcher and a data scientist’s work.
Job Tasks
Data Analytics perform various tasks based on the requirements of their organization. They can create algorithms, research the behavior of users or study huge amounts of data to discover patterns that could aid in solving problems. Data Analytics also collaborate alongside others on their team to present their findings and create solutions based on their results.
Market researchers typically focus on a specific particular project within a company. They conduct interviews and surveys to gather data on an issue and deliver a thorough analysis and suggestions. A researcher’s responsibilities in the field can vary based on the particular organization and the research issue.
Job Requirements
To be a UX researcher, you must have a bachelor’s degree in human factors, psychology, sociology, anthropology, or a related discipline. Some employers will also require applicants with a master’s degree or more. In addition, numerous UX researchers seek certifications from the User Experience Professionals Association (UXPA) to demonstrate their expertise in their field. To earn a certification through the UXPA, researchers need to pass an examination and possess at least two years of experience in the field.
Data Analytics usually requires a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, computer science or statistics, or a related discipline. But, many data analysts hold at least a master’s or advanced degree. Data Analytics may also seek certifications from organizations such as the Institute for Certified Computing Professionals (ICCP) or the American Statistical Association (ASA). These certifications will aid data Analytics in standing out in the eyes of potential employers and demonstrate they’re skilled in the field.
Work Environment
UX researchers generally work in a workplace. However, they can be on the road to meet customers and observe users. They frequently work with other UX experts, designers, and developers to develop an application that can meet the requirements of their customers. Data Analysts generally work in a lab or office space, where they can access huge amounts of data to analyze. They might also go to meetings or conferences to share the results with their colleagues.
Skills
UX researchers and data Analytics employ the skills of analytical thinking and problem-solving skills in their work. Both must be capable of effectively communicating the results to other people when they present their findings to a team or client or put them together in a written report.
UX researchers usually employ qualitative research methods like surveys, interviews, and focus groups to collect data on user needs and preferences. Data Analytics typically employ quantitative techniques, like statistical analysis, to study huge data sets to uncover patterns and trends. Both jobs are dependent on the capability to analyze and comprehend the data. However, data Analytics usually require more advanced math and programming abilities.
Salary
UX researchers get a salary of $112,899 annually, and data Analytics earn an average of $118,822 annually. The salaries of both differ based on the kind of firm you work for, the degree of experience, and also your place of work.
Conclusion
At FunctionUp, we help candidates to learn these frameworks and a lot more and get them placed in top companies across the globe. We run a pay after placement bootcamp in which we make learning easy. Join our advanced bootcamp course. To know more visit us here
