About

Research

How research supports USWDS decisions

Research supports at least two USWDS design principles: Start with real user needs and Listen. To make effective design system decisions, we need to know how government digital teams use the design system itself, and how end users interact with what we build using the design system. Our research practice helps us better understand both.

Research focus

Our research program focuses on:

• The needs of the USWDS community. We are always looking for ways to improve our components and our guidance to better meet the needs of designers, developers, and other practitioners.
• The needs of people with disabilities. These participants help us recognize and address accessibility and usability issues.

Research methods

We use a variety of research methods to gain insights at all stages of the design process. Find more information about different research methods we use in 18F Methods.

Examples of methods we use

Methods that can generate new knowledge about needs or a certain problem, such as:

• User interviews
• Surveys
• Card sorting
• Top Tasks analysis
• Landscape analysis

Methods that can help us evaluate an existing idea, prototype, or product, such as:

• Usability testing
• Manual accessibility testing
• Analytics
• Content testing
• Tree testing

How often we do research

We do regular, ongoing research, such as usability testing of our components. Our research practice is still developing, but we intend to conduct at least one round of usability testing per quarter.

Other more ad hoc research helps us answer specific questions or solve certain problems. Our research strategy is intentional but flexible.

Key research and research operations

Explore some of our past research work:

• Usability testing (August and September 2023): Testing components with visually impaired participants. We also discussed this research at the October 2023 USWDS monthly call.
• Usability testing day checklist: Steps to follow on the day of testing. This checklist also prepares researchers to account for assistive technology like screen readers.
• Top Tasks (March 2023): Finding out what matters most to USWDS users.
• Inclusive Design Patterns research (November 2022): Reducing barriers to participation in common government interactions.
• Transforming the American digital experience (March 2021): Supporting emergency response efforts related to the COVID-19 and identifying strategies for advancing the design system through agency collaboration.

Research ethics

We use ethical research practices to avoid harming participants. This includes:

• Protecting participants’ privacy
• Securely storing data
• Giving participants the information they need in order to comfortably consent to research
• Allowing participants to opt out at any time, for any reason, without penalty

Learn more about research ethics and privacy protocols we follow:

• Ethics guidance from the 18F User Experience Design Guide
• Privacy guidance from the 18F User Experience Design Guide

Latest updates

Meaningful code and guidance updates are listed in the following table:

Date	Description
2023-11-15	Replaced page content. More information: uswds-site#2355
2023-07-14	Removed broken link. More information: uswds-site#2185