Urszula Pruchniewska, Ph.D.

Hi, I’m Urszula.

I’m a UX researcher, author, and animal lover.

For over a decade, I’ve used various research methods to understand people’s behaviors, needs, and experiences as they engage with the digital world.

My areas of expertise include:

Research with and for underrepresented and vulnerable populations
Creation, evaluation, and ethical implementation of GenAI tools
Building ResearchOps from the ground up
Working in civic tech, nonprofits, and social media areas

I’m driven by the desire to make things work well – for everyone.

About my book:

UX RESEARCH METHODS FOR MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION STUDIES

A comprehensive guide to qualitative research methods in user experience (UX), the interaction between humans and digital products, designed for media and communication students.

Angela M. Cirucci and Urszula M. Pruchniewska provide an accessible introduction to the field (including the history of UX and common UX design terminology). Readers are taken through the entire research design process, with an outline for preparing a study (including a planning template), a discussion of recruitment techniques, an exploration of ethics considerations, and a detailed breakdown of 12 essential UX research methods.

CASE STUDIES

FORMATIVE RESEARCH: Understanding Older Adults’ Experiences with Public Benefits

I led a six-month study to understand the experiences and needs of rural, older adults on their journey to public benefits access. My insights on barriers and opportunities for this particular group led to a shift in product strategy away from serving seniors directly to instead developing a screening tool for caseworkers.

CONTINUOUS DISCOVERY:
Building a SaaS Platform for a Support Center

I designed a continuous discovery process that fed insights from support center agents into our product roadmap on a weekly basis. The resulting new SaaS platform cut call times by two minutes, increased support center capacity by 8%, and dramatically reduced staff training time.

TESTING AND EVALUATION:
Piloting a GenAI Chatbot for Students

I led research, piloting, and testing for a GenAI chatbot designed to help students apply for financial aid. Post-release, I partnered with a data analyst to develop a robust AI quality model that drove continuous improvements in each product sprint. These improvements resulted in an increase in the bot response accuracy from 71% to 85% in three months.