User research is all about insights, which is why I’m such a fan of having strong user researchers in the organization. Mostly the insights they generate are qualitative and therefore not “statistically significant,” but don’t let that bother you — qualitative insights are often profound and can literally change the course of your company.
The user research community generally breaks down insights into two types. The first is evaluative, which essentially means, what did we learn from testing out this new product idea? Did it work or not, and if not, why not? The second type of insights are generative. This means, did we uncover any new opportunities that we aren’t pursuing, but maybe we should?
— EMPOWERED: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products (Silicon Valley Product Group) by Marty Cagan