Dealing with Resistance to UX Research [Report]

Although UX maturity has grown in recent years, research teams still face significant resistance. Some stakeholders believe research is unnecessary, others cite tight budgets, and some fear it will delay projects.

Due to these challenges, resistance to UX research remains a common issue globally.

To address this, we surveyed UX professionals to find out why stakeholders resist investing in research and what strategies help to win them over.

In this report, you’ll find:

• Quantitative insights from our survey about the state of resistance to research among different UX roles and companies
• Statistics about what stakeholders’ objections to research teams encounter the most
• Community-sourced advice for dealing with each specific objection to research
• Tips and strategies from UX professionals for dealing with stakeholders’ resistance to research
• A downloadable UXR Cheat-Sheet to support your next battle with stakeholders’ resistance

The State of Resistance to Research

Our study aimed to gather insights on how experienced UX professionals handle stakeholders’ objections to research. We also wanted to collect statistics on who raises these objections and why.

Additionally, we share our experiences working with companies at different stages of research investment and analyze discussions in major UX communities.

Questions we asked UX professionals experiencing objections to research

Here’s what we asked about:

• If so, and how frequently do they encounter resistance to UX research, 
• Which objections from stakeholders they face most often,
• Who raises these objections,
• According to their experience, what are the main reasons for these objections,
• Which of these objections do they find to be the hardest to overcome. 

Most common stakeholders’ objections to UX research

Respondents also noted objections about the value and necessity of user research.

Some stakeholders believe usability isn’t the issue—users just need to learn the system. Others think only highly involved stakeholders have valid opinions, ignoring broader research.

Some resist changing established workflows or feel they already know user needs, relying on marketing insights instead of UX research.

Objections faced by years of experience in the UX industry

Early-career professionals (less than 2 years) struggle most with stakeholder engagement (66.67%).

Those with 2-5 years experience face challenges with timelines (76.67%) and funding (56.67%).

After 5 years, budget constraints (63.16%) and schedule impacts (57.89%) remain, but resistance to change grows (57.89%).

For UX veterans (10+ years), resistance to change (68.75%) and schedule issues (62.50%) persist, with rising stakeholder disinterest (62.50%).

Objections faced by type of organization

Startups and corporations frequently struggle with the impact of research on timelines.

However, budget constraints are particularly pressing in agencies and freelance settings, while resistance to change is most significant in nonprofits and corporations, highlighting the difficulty in altering stakeholder opinions in these types of organizations.

Objections faced based on the size of organization

In smaller organizations (under 10 employees), resistance to change (80%) and budget constraints (60%) dominate due to limited resources. As companies grow (10 to 50 employees), product schedule impact (68.42%) becomes the main issue, reflecting tighter timelines.

Mid-sized organizations (51 to 200 employees) still face schedule impact (83.33%) and budget constraints (58.33%), but stakeholder misalignment (41.67%) emerges.

In large corporations (1000+ employees), stakeholder disinterest (68.75%), along with schedule (62.50%) and budget challenges (56.25%), are the primary obstacles, signaling the difficulty of managing engagement and resources effectively.

Reasons for research objections

Hardest to overcome objections to UX research

Now let’s break it down into more specific data. We’ve analyzed how hardest to overcome objections differ, depending on the type of organization, its size and years of experience of UX professionals ⬇️

Hardest to overcome objections by years of experience

Early-career professionals (less than 2 years) face equal challenges with budget constraints and schedule impacts (33.33%).

Mid-level professionals (2-5 years) continue to struggle with budget constraints (23.33%) and encounter more resistance to change (23.33%).

For senior professionals (5-10 years) and veterans (10+ years), resistance to change becomes the main issue (26.32% and 31.25%), reflecting greater difficulty in influencing established stakeholders and altering processes with increased experience.

Further in this article, we share the strategies to help you effectively address that specific issue.

Hardest to overcome objections by type of organization

In startups, the primary challenge turned out to be the impact of research on product schedules (29.41%), reflecting the pressure to maintain rapid development cycles. 

Corporations and nonprofits both struggle most with stakeholders’ resistance to change (32.14% and 75.00% respectively). 

Agencies and freelancers face substantial budget constraints (54.55% and 25.00% respectively), underscoring the financial limitations often inherent in these environments. 

However, a common thread across these cases is the challenge of limited budgets. It’s important to highlight that even with the best efforts in persuasion and strategy, the lack of financial resources can be a impossible-to-overcome barrier, making it difficult to implement desired changes. 

For such cases, however, there are still alternative ways of how you can implement research into the process. You’ll find advice from UX professionals on how to do that further in the article ⬇️

Hardest to overcome objections by the size of organization

The analysis shows that budget constraints is the hardest-to-overcome objection in the smallest organizations. 

In organizations with 10 to 200 employees, resistance to change becomes increasingly challenging, peaking at 36.36% for mid-sized companies (201 to 1000 employees). 

Larger organizations (more than 1000 employees) continue to struggle with resistance to change (25%), along with product schedule impacts (25%) and stakeholder disinterest (18.75%). 

🔥 Advice from UX experts: How to deal with stakeholders’ objections to research?

For each of the objections voted to be the hardest to overcome we asked our respondents to share how they dealt with this specific objection and what strategies have previously worked for them. 

Below, you’ll find a summary of the main strategies to combat each of the following objections:

• Resistance to change
• Budget constraints
• Product schedule impact
• Stakeholder disinterest
• Participant recruitment
• Stakeholder misalignment
• Methodological disputes
• Bonus tips

Don’t have time to read it all?

Watch this short video summary 🎥 or download our UXR Resistance Cheat-Sheet with 8 practical strategies for your next battle with stakeholders:

Now, let’s dive deeper into each specific objection.

1. Resistance to change

26,1% of respondents voted for this as a research objection that is the hardest to overcome and deal with. 

This quote from our survey, from a UX or Product Designer with 2-5 years of experience, perfectly describes the frustration associated with the hurdle of trying to battle stakeholders’ resistance to change:

When stakeholders ignore research and resist change, it can feel frustrating and unmovable. This resistance, whether passive or active, makes implementing findings or conducting research difficult, sometimes leaving walking away as the only option.

However, the UX professionals from our survey shared a bunch of actionable advice from their experience that helped them combat the issue successfully. 

Involving stakeholders 👥

One effective way to combat this resistance is by directly involving stakeholders in the research process. 

As Respondent 393 highlights, having stakeholders observe usability testing can shift their perspective.

And there is a bunch of evidence that this method actually tends to work. 

In our conversation with Lead User Researcher and Social Psychologist, Konstantin Esher, in UXR Geeks episode on breaking down communication barriers, he explains how this approach worked wonders in his own practice:

Konstantin explains that there are multiple ways to do this.

Another respondent highlights a critical challenge when UX research data clashes with other data sources like market research, convincing stakeholders can be particularly tough. 

In such cases, if stakeholders are at least somewhat open to the results, the key is to engage in open discussions.

By clearly outlining how the proposed changes can lead to positive outcomes and what the potential drawbacks of inaction are, you can help stakeholders see the value in embracing the change:

Further down the article, we’ll share additional tips on how to make your discussions with stakeholders more effective by providing relevant evidence to prove your points.

Case studies and ROI 💸

“Talking in numbers” (CFOs will appreciate it) can be far more persuasive for certain stakeholders, rather than qualitative insights.

Case studies reveal how assumptions can be wrong and highlight the true needs of users. Use examples from past clients, competitors, or any relevant case to make your point.

or

Another way to approach this is by presenting a detailed cost-benefit analysis that quantitatively illustrates the financial implications of conducting research versus the risks of not doing so. 

This will help you appeal to stakeholders’ financial sensibilities by showing how research can prevent costly mistakes and ensure resources are used effectively:

Success stories from the past can also help to support your claims about the value of research. 

Another respondent recommends this method as a way to show the value and effectiveness of your work. 

Starting slow and scaling gradually 📈

One strategic approach to overcoming stakeholders’ resistance to change is to start with small, incremental studies and gradually demonstrate the value of research over time. 

This strategy aims to show how even small research efforts can lead to improved project outcomes and cost savings. However, it’s important to keep in mind that this method is not suitable for every case due to its slow pace and the prevailing “move fast and break things” mentality in some organizations.

2. Budget constraints

It’s no secret that stakeholders often prefer to complete the project faster rather than invest the needed time and resources in research. 

This happens so often that 21.7% of our respondents voted for “Budget constraints” as the second hardest objection to overcome.

Stakeholders often prioritize fast, seemingly cheaper solutions over research. The challenge is reframing research as an investment, not an expense, that leads to more effective, user-focused results.

Let’s take a look at some strategies that can help to achieve this.

Alternative methods 🌱

When securing a research budget isn’t possible, even after advocating for it, using less resource-intensive research methods can still get you valuable insights.

For example, guerrilla research methods, such as quick intercept interviews or informal user testing, can be highly effective for gathering initial insights and validating hypotheses with minimal investment:

Start small 💫

Starting with small research projects can help build stakeholder trust. If they’re hesitant to fund larger efforts, show the value through quick wins and small-scale results.

Over time, this can encourage more investment in bigger research initiatives.

Business case and ROI 💰

Stakeholders often respond best to concrete examples of how research impacts business results.

Using data and numbers can help secure buy-in, especially when facing budget constraints. Present case studies showing how research has improved performance—such as increased revenue or cost savings—so stakeholders can clearly see the value of your findings in real-world terms.

For example, you can show how in a previous project user research led to a 20% increase in customer satisfaction and a 15% boost in sales.

Quantifying the financial benefits of research initiatives and comparing them to the costs has proved to work for multiple respondents as well. 

For example, if a research project cost $50,000 but led to product improvements that generated an additional $200,000 in revenue, the ROI calculation would highlight a 300% return on investment. Such numbers can be very persuasive to stakeholders focused on the bottom line.

Clearly communicating how research speeds up problem identification and resolution can help teams argue that it accelerates project timelines.

For example, proving that user testing can quickly reveal critical usability issues that, if left unchecked, could cause delays later in the development process. 

In one of the discussions on Reddit a user explains it with a great example:

3. Product schedule impact

Stakeholders often think research will delay projects, leading them to skip it. However, there are fast research methods that fit tight timelines.

The challenge is balancing speed with quality—ensuring deadlines aren’t affected while still gathering valuable insights.

Let’s take a look at what other professionals suggest.

Early inclusion and planning 🗓️

The first and biggest tip here is to plan ahead when possible.

Jason A. Hubbart’s latest research on “Maximizing Research Impact in Higher Education” names early identification, categorization, and engagement of stakeholders throughout the research process as one of the most effective strategies for getting buy-in.

Start research early in the project timeline to ensure there’s enough time to properly explore user needs without causing delays.

Highlighting the risks ❗️

Another strategy here is to explain the potential risks of not conducting research. This can be a powerful motivator for stakeholders.

Explain them how research can help to prevent costly mistakes:

Debbie Levitt, CXO of Delta CX, describes it well in one of our podcast episodes The current state of UX/CX, start-up & business management. Research is the tool for de-risking. And that’s exactly what we need to explain to stakeholders in order to demonstrate its value.

Vitaly Friedman, UX designer, speaker, and co-founder of Smashing Magazine, further supports this point in one of his latest talks:

In another episode of UX Research Geeks, Aurelia Alston, a Product Researcher with extensive B2C and B2B experience, shares how this approach worked in her experience. 

In a story she shares the research results presentation helped to shift leaders and avoid making a risky investment that would potentially make a wrong impact on the organization.

Organizations with different levels of UX maturity handle research objections differently.

One of our respondents shares that their company likes to create an MVP and then iterate based on feedback and new insights:

Others prefer to take a flexible and reactive approach, not planning the research ahead, but rather introducing it as a solution to stakeholders’ concerns throughout the development process:

4. Stakeholder disinterest

Stakeholder disinterest often stems from a lack of understanding about the value of UX research. They may not oppose research directly but prioritize short-term goals, deadlines, and budgets.

11.6% of respondents find this objection hard to overcome. But there are still ways to educate stakeholders and build trust, showing the importance of user insights.

Building trust and demonstrating value ⚡️

To persuade stakeholders, focus on providing clear, tangible proof of how your ideas will help. Instead of just explaining research benefits, show them quick, impactful results that directly benefit the project.

Respondent 86 emphasizes that building relationships is also crucial:

Examples of quick wins could include simplifying a complicated workflow based on user feedback, or conducting a brief usability test that identifies and resolves a critical usability issue.

Involving stakeholders in planning 🤝

To combat stakeholder disinterest, start with small, budget-friendly research studies. These provide initial insights you can use to demonstrate the value of full-scale research.

This approach is low-risk since it requires minimal investment, making it easier to win stakeholder support without demanding significant time or money upfront.

Impact of poor research 👀

If showing the benefits of research doesn’t work, highlight the risks of skipping it. Point to product failures caused by poor or absent research.

Use case studies, personal examples, or well-known failures to show the consequences of neglecting user insights. This can make the importance of research more clear.

According to our respondents, highlighting the numbers here is also a powerful strategy. 

Don’t stop on just showing the failures of other companies, show how much they lost on these failures, and calculate how much you can lose too:

Showing examples of competitors success 🏅

Lastly, show how your competitors benefit from research can also provide a strong incentive for stakeholders to invest in their own UXR efforts. Explain why you’re losing the competitive advantage by overlooking research. 

For some stakeholders, this can be particularly motivating, as it appeals to the desire to stay ahead in the market.

As Konstantin Esher beautifully puts in the UXR Geeks podcast (breaking down communication barriers), it’s important to understand the business too. Do not get caught up in silos but promote communication, educate others about the value of research, and integrate it proactively in your processes.

5. Participant recruitment

Recruiting participants for UX research can be difficult, especially for niche audiences. Stakeholders often see it as time-consuming and expensive.

However, with the right approach, even niche participants can be found. Simplifying the recruitment process and addressing concerns about cost and time can help to ease stakeholder worries.

Here’s how other researchers are dealing with this problem.

Building a participant pool 🏊‍♀️

Seems like one of the most popular and effective ways to recruit in an environment where stakeholders are skeptical about the value of research, is to recruit from your own pool of participants.

However, a pool like this can be created only when you already had some previous studies and recruited people for them. 

To make the process of building your own pool easier, a Product Discovery expert, Caitlin Sullivan suggests leveraging referrals:

For building and managing your own participant pool, a handy tool is a must! UXtweak Own Database feature is a dedicated UX Research CRM that helps you do just that.

One more great strategy is to engage your customer success team in the process of finding testing participants:

There are many ways you can recruit the right people for your studies and how you can optimize your recruiting strategy.

6. Methodological disputes

Stakeholders often disagree on research methods, with some preferring traditional approaches while others rely on basic analytics. These disputes can block UX research adoption. The solution is to be flexible and educate stakeholders about the value of different methods.

7. Stakeholder misalignment

In dynamic environments like startups, stakeholder misalignment is a common issue due to differing goals and priorities. This can create conflicts and slow down user-centered initiatives.

Respondents recommend continuous advocacy and proper documentation as key strategies to reduce misalignment and keep everyone on the same page.

Another way to address misalignment is by organizing collaborative sessions where stakeholders discuss their goals and challenges. These discussions help uncover common ground and align their objectives with user needs.

Another trick is to combat stakeholder misalignment with more research and suggesting asking users to solve their debates:

Darren Hood, a highly accomplished UX design expert, in his talk with Tina Lickova for the UXR Geeks podcast, emphasizes the importance of educating and evangelizing UX still, as research is yet to be the common practice in every project:  

BONUS TIPS

Building relationships and collaboration 🔥

Fostering strong relationships and effective collaboration with stakeholders is essential for the successful implementation of UX research long-term. 

These relationships help ensure that stakeholders see the value of research and are more likely to support and engage with the process. 

Another trick to try is canvassing – meeting stakeholders individually and talking to them in private. 

Oscar Baruffa, Analytics Manager, Blogger, Creator of BigBookofR.com, and Author or Project Management for Data Analysts, in his blog post “Dealing with difficult stakeholders” explains that in his experience it is often the only effective way to get things done:

Once again, a very popular advice was to include stakeholders in the research processes, make them join user interviews, show extracts from usability tests, etc. Just overall make users’ voices heard.

And be proactive in this. As we already mentioned above, there’s still a strong need for evangelizing research, educating other departments and proactively introducing research into the product development process.

In one of the episodes of UXR Geeks, Aurelia Alston, senior UX Research Manager, explains why it is important to promote research and not just sit there waiting for stakeholders to call on you:

Demonstrating value and ROI 📈

By demonstrating the numbers, showing cost savings and risk reduction, and presenting compelling success stories you can translate the benefits of UX research to stakeholders’ language. 

Here are some key insights from respondents on how to articulate the ROI of UX research and convince stakeholders of its importance.

Respondent 6 does this by showing the amount of money saved on Tech Debt, but the key here is to present those numbers to C-level stakeholders:

Other respondents recommend to showcase the ROI of research on the success stories from other companies:

Effective communication 💬

A huge emphasis in many respondents’ recommendations was specifically on the communication part of resolving stakeholders’ concerns.

These points are further supported by Konstantin Esher, who specifically mentions that in order to promote research you should connect with the stakeholders and try to understand the company as a whole, rather then just rely on the siloed structure:

Our respondents’ experience shows that while UX research adoption has grown in recent years, many stakeholders still struggle to understand its value and importance.

Significant issues remain in how they perceive UX research.

But how to deal with this? 

Mike Green, in our UXR Geeks podcast, explains that it’s important to approach this with empathy and try to understand stakeholders too:

Strategic planning 🗓️

Strategic planning for UX research involves proactive and phased approaches that ensure research activities are well-integrated into the overall project timeline. 

By anticipating research needs and structuring efforts in manageable phases, you will be able to demonstrate the value of UX research more effectively and gain stakeholder buy-in.

Understand the importance of a phased approach to integrating UX research, especially in teams with established processes.

“Taste test” approach was recommended by multiple respondents as a fairly effective method for persuading even the most stubborn stakeholders to give research a chance:

Practical tips

Lastly, here are some practical tips from our respondents that can help to make the process of addressing stakeholders’ objections to research much easier for you.

Show, don’t tell. Although it seems like you’ve heard it a million times already, most of our respondents mention this strategy as one of the most effective when it comes to proving the value of research and persuading stakeholders.  

Make your research presentations visual, include extracts from user interviews and usability tests, share quotes from the users:

Find allies in the company who will help to advocate for the value of your work and can contribute to making the change toward a higher UX maturity. 

As Chris Gielow, Head of Design at Walmart Supply Chain, beautifully puts it in the discussion on Reddit, you can always find a person who is “outcome” focused and make an ally of them:

Use guerilla testing methods to show the benefits of research with minimum investment:

Demographics

We asked all our respondents to provide some context on their background. We only asked about the details, which we believed could explicitly influence the answers provided to the questions in the core questionnaire. 

After cleaning out the data we were left with 142 respondents. The largest group of our respondents were UX or Product Designers (49.3%), with UX Researchers following closely afterward (29.6%).

The majority of respondents have between 2 and 5 years of experience in the UX field, accounting for 42.3%. Those with 5-10 years of experience make up 26.8%, while 22.5% have over 10 years of experience. Only 8.5% of respondents are relatively new to the field, with less than 2 years of experience.

Most respondents work for corporations, making up 39.4% of the total. Startups are the next most common workplace at 23.9%, followed by agencies at 15.5%. Freelancers account for 11.3%, while smaller percentages work for non-profits (5.6%) and government (2.8%). A few respondents (1.4%) indicated they work in other types of organizations.

30.2% of our respondents work in organizations with 10 to 50 employees. Larger organizations with over 1000 employees account for 25.4% of respondents. Those in companies with 51 to 200 employees make up 19.0%, while 17.5% are in organizations with 201 to 1000 employees. A smaller group, 7.9%, work in organizations with fewer than 10 employees.

UXR Cheat-Sheet 🐝 : 8 Strategies for Dealing with Research Resistance

Summing up

This survey shined the light on the challenges UX professionals face when pushing research through and the strategies they use to overcome them.

We hope that the collective wisdom above will help you engage stakeholders in your work and make research a significant part of your projects, not just a nice-to-have add-on.

And let’s finish it up with a short self-promo moment 😄

If you made it this far in this article, go check out UXtweak too! 🐝 We are an all-in-one research tool for improving usability of your digital products, from prototypes to production.

With UXtweak you can conduct user interviews, usability tests of websites, mobile apps and prototypes, card sorts and tree tests and tons of other research studies!