User Experience (UX) and Design Research

What is UX or Design Research?

Do you feel passionate about design, understanding markets and users, AI, and finding and designing products and experiences that people around you and the larger world need and desire? This career path is User Experience (UX) or Design Research. Many professionals in User Experience or Design Research studied anthropology in college.

Do I need an advanced degree?

Many UX/Design Research positions only require a BA in anthropology, through an anthropology major. They do not require a master's degree. However, if your career goal is a head position at Google or any other major corporation, you may eventually need to complete a PhD. You can get started in this career path with a BA degree in anthropology.

How does AMEC prepare you for this career?

At Mississippi State University in the Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures (AMEC), students take classes in cultural anthropology, language, and linguistic anthropology to build foundational knowledge in preparation for this career. Many students also pick up a minor in Art or Psychology.

In their junior and senior years, students take two capstone courses for the major: AN 3563 (Data Analytics for Anthropology) and AN 4143 (Ethnographic Methods). In Ethnographic Methods, students learn research tools for collecting data from individuals and their communities, including the perspective of both the researcher (outsider) and the community members (insider). These tools, like structured interviews and surveys, employ observation, documentation, and analysis to reveal what individuals and their communities want and need, and therefore what to recommend and design as improved products and experiences for them. Why do people behave, feel, and make decisions in their environments? Students learn how to apply these skills by designing and conducting their own hands-on ethnographic research project over the course of the semester.

In Data Analytics, students learn how to translate qualitative data, such as from interviews and observations, into quantitative data, and how to design, construct, analyze, and maintain datasets spanning human behavior, actions, and experiences. Among other applications, these classes teach students skills vital for applying their insights and crafting accessible and valuable products and experiences for communities, building the portfolio they will need for a career in UX design.

Where can I find more resources?

These sites provide information, answers to FAQs, job readiness resources (like how to put together a resume and cover letter for applying to a UX position), as well as boards where UX experience job openings and internships are listed. Many positions also allow remote work.

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