Empathise Stage: 7 Proven Research Methods for Deeper User Understanding
Great solutions begin with understanding the people they are designed for. Yet businesses often rush into developing products or improving services before fully understanding what customers actually need.
The Empathise stage in Design Thinking helps teams move beyond assumptions by exploring users' behaviours, motivations and challenges.
Through structured research, organisations can uncover unmet needs, identify meaningful opportunities and develop solutions grounded in real user experiences.
What Is the Empathise Stage in Design Thinking?
Empathise is the first stage of the commonly taught five-stage Design Thinking process, followed by Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test.
Its purpose is to understand users within the context of their everyday experiences. Rather than immediately asking how to solve a problem, teams first investigate what people experience, why certain behaviours occur and which challenges matter most.
This human-centred approach helps reduce assumptions, reveal overlooked needs and align stakeholders around a clearer understanding of the problem.
Empathy research is not simply about asking users what they want. It is about understanding what they do, think, feel and experience.
7 Research Methods for the Empathise Stage
Different research methods reveal different aspects of user behaviour. Combining approaches can provide a more complete understanding than relying on a single source of information.
1. User Interviews: Understanding Motivations
User interviews involve direct conversations with participants to explore their experiences, frustrations and expectations.
Open-ended questions such as "Can you walk me through your last experience?" encourage detailed responses rather than simple yes-or-no answers.
Researchers should use a flexible discussion guide, ask follow-up questions and avoid leading participants towards preferred responses. With permission, recording sessions can help preserve important details.
Best for: Understanding user motivations, perceptions and underlying needs.
2. Observation and Ethnographic Research: Seeing Real Behaviour
Observation involves studying users in their natural environments to understand how they interact with products, services or everyday tasks. Unlike interviews, which capture what people say, observation reveals what they actually do. This can uncover workarounds, frustrations and behaviours users may not consciously recognise.
For example, observing customers at a self-service kiosk might reveal hesitation or repeated navigation errors that interviews alone would miss. Researchers can observe passively or use contextual inquiry, combining observation with questions during the activity.
Best for: Identifying behavioural patterns, environmental influences and unspoken needs.
3. Surveys and Questionnaires: Identifying Broader Patterns
Surveys collect structured feedback from larger groups of participants, helping researchers identify patterns across different user segments. They are particularly useful for exploring how frequently challenges occur, comparing experiences or examining trends suggested by earlier qualitative research.
Effective surveys use neutral wording, clear questions and appropriate response formats. Testing the questionnaire with a small group before distribution can help identify confusing or biased questions. However, survey findings depend on the quality and representativeness of responses, and may not fully explain why certain behaviours occur.
Best for: Identifying broader trends and comparing user experiences.
4. Empathy Mapping: Organising User Insights
Empathy mapping is a collaborative tool that helps teams organise research findings into what users Say, Think, Do and Feel. It brings together interview findings, observations and other evidence to develop a shared understanding of users.
For example, a customer might say an online service is convenient but repeatedly seek assistance when completing a transaction. This difference between expressed opinions and observed behaviour could reveal usability challenges. Empathy maps should be grounded in research, with assumptions clearly distinguished from evidence.
Best for: Synthesising qualitative insights and aligning teams around user needs.
5. Customer Journey Mapping: Understanding the Complete Experience
Customer journey mapping visualises the stages a person goes through when interacting with a product or service. A journey map typically captures user actions, touchpoints, emotions, pain points and opportunities for improvement.
For example, a healthcare provider might discover that patient frustration begins during appointment scheduling rather than during the consultation itself. Mapping the current experience helps organisations identify where problems occur. A future-state journey map can then illustrate how the experience might be improved.
Best for: Understanding end-to-end experiences and identifying service improvement opportunities.
6. Shadowing: Exploring Everyday Context
Shadowing involves following participants through relevant activities to understand their routines, decisions and surrounding environment. While general observation may focus on a particular interaction, shadowing often examines a longer sequence of activities.
For instance, shadowing an employee throughout a workday could reveal how interruptions, manual processes and competing responsibilities affect productivity. Researchers should obtain informed consent, avoid interfering with normal activities and document observations systematically.
Best for: Understanding workflows, routines and contextual challenges over time.
7. Diary Studies: Capturing Experiences Over Time
Diary studies ask participants to document relevant activities, experiences and emotions over an extended period. Participants may record entries through written notes, photographs, voice recordings or digital tools.
This method is particularly useful when experiences vary over time or happen too infrequently for a single observation session. For example, a diary study could help researchers understand how customers use a financial management application throughout a month, revealing changing needs and recurring frustrations. Clear prompts, convenient recording methods and periodic check-ins can improve participation.
Best for: Identifying longitudinal patterns and experiences across different situations.
How to Choose the Right Research Method
Selecting a research method depends on the questions being investigated, available resources and the type of evidence required. Interviews help explain motivations, while observation reveals actual behaviour. Surveys provide broader quantitative patterns, whereas diary studies and shadowing offer deeper contextual understanding.
Empathy maps and journey maps help organise and communicate findings gathered through these methods. For stronger insights, teams can combine complementary approaches. For instance, interviews may reveal a recurring frustration, observation can show when it occurs, and surveys can help estimate how widespread it is.
The objective is not to use all seven methods, but to select those that provide the most relevant evidence.
Turning Empathy Research into Actionable Insights
Collecting research data is only the beginning. Teams must translate observations into meaningful insights that can guide design decisions. Affinity mapping can help group related findings into themes, while insight statements clarify important user needs.
These findings can then be reframed into "How might we" questions, creating a bridge between the Empathise and Define stages.
For example, repeated difficulty navigating a service could lead to the question: "How might we help first-time users complete the process with greater confidence?"
Common research mistakes include asking leading questions, recruiting participants with overly similar backgrounds and drawing conclusions too quickly. Keeping observations separate from assumptions helps maintain research quality.
Developing Empathy Research Skills with Emerge Creatives
Effective empathy research requires curiosity, structured inquiry and the ability to translate findings into meaningful design opportunities.
Emerge Creatives' WSQ Design Thinking Certification Course introduces human-centred problem-solving approaches, helping professionals understand user needs and apply Design Thinking principles to real-world challenges.
Through practical learning, professionals can strengthen their ability to investigate problems, challenge assumptions and develop more user-centred solutions.
Conclusion
The Empathise stage establishes the foundation for meaningful Design Thinking by helping teams understand people before developing solutions.
User interviews, observation, surveys, empathy mapping, journey mapping, shadowing and diary studies each provide a different perspective on user experiences.
By choosing the right methods and translating research into clear insights, organisations can move into the Define stage with a stronger understanding of the problems worth solving.
Last Words
I will be adding more articles on Design Thinking, Strategy and Innovation throughout the year. Articles of these 5 Step Action Plan and Modern Soft Skills will be added periodically to give my readers a broader insights to how to crush complex problems, overcome future challenges and spot AI opportunities.
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About the Author
Daniel Ling is a regional ex-Design Leader turned educator, and business owner of Emerge Creatives, an registered SSG training provider (RTP) to deliver modern soft skills to professionals through Design Thinking, Business Strategy, and AI Innovation.
With over 15 years of experience in the financial and e-commerce tech industries- including key leadership roles at Lazada, NTUC Income, OCBC, and DBS- Daniel has led cross-regional design teams, built design functions from the ground up, and spearheaded large-scale transformation initiatives. But beyond industry success,
Daniel has reinvented himself as a “designer in a business suit”- equally fluent in creative strategy and commercial impact.
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