Abstract
User Experience (UX) is critical to the success of interactive media products. Successful product development depends on deeply understanding users in order to ensure product utility, usability, and desirability. By putting users at the center of the product development process, UX research establishes who the user is, the context they in which will use the product, and what they want from the product. UX research is also used to evaluate the user experience to confirm that users can interact with product features efficiently, effectively, and satisfactorily. Overall, UX research improves our understanding, informs design, and validates design decisions. This chapter describes several methods employed in UX research to define and evaluate the user experience of interactive media.