Hi there! Kevin here.

I'm going to list out almost everything I personally used during my own learning journey to get to where I am. Some have links to them, and others I was a bit lazy to include, but a quick web search will turn them up.

You'll notice that I did not only learn about UX research topics, but a lot about business, design, consulting, and the sciences.

I can't teach everything under the sun, but I want you to know that every single one of these resources have helped develop me into a better UX researcher, even if it wasn't UX research-related.

Recommendation:

Dedicate your time to completing the Zero to UX Research masterclass. Outside of class, allocate some time, perhaps 1 hour per week, to learn other concepts in parallel.

Pick a resource from any of the below, a book, a course, a training, or even a new podcast.

MOOC Courses

• COURSERA
  • Gamification - UPenn by Kevin Werbach
  • Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies: The First Step in Entrepreneurship - Uni of Maryland
    
  • Unethical Decision Making in Organizations
  • The Data Scientist's Toolbox
  • Questionnaire Design for Social Surveys ** one of the better courses on survey design, a good supplement to Module 8
  • Advanced Competitive Business Strategies - LMU Munich
• Interaction Design Foundation
  • Intro to UX Design, Research, Analysis
  • I have a link for you to get 3 months free to IDF: https://www.interaction-design.org/learn-ux-design?ep=zerotoux
• UDEMY
  • The Ultimate Guide to Usability and UX - David Travis on Udemy

Professional Training:

• BCG and Mckinsey Consulting Case Studies
  • This playlist from Victor Cheng: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxwQJwyjBOlqwFVdxgXTKK-nphUX4u8P
• Behavioral Economics Bootcamp - Irrational Labs
• Stanford d.school Workshop
• Magnetic Speaking (public speaking workshop based in San Francisco)
• Toastmasters (Free public speaking and leadership training)
• **Client-centered therapy (when I was training to become a counselor, and interning at a mental health hospital). I recommend looking into free introductory trainings on talk therapy and how to use different techniques, to really know how to handle difficult situations (e.g. participants start crying because of sensitive topics)

UNIVERSITY COURSES

Undergraduate Courses (UC Berkeley):

• Introduction to Psychology PSYCH2
• Social psychology PSYCH160
• Clinical psychology PSYCH131
• Personality psychology psych 150
• Cognitive neuroscience COGSCI 1
• Psychology of Sleep PSYCH 133
• UGBA 100 (UC Berkeley) Business Communication
• Statistics Introduction
• Linear Algebra
• Differential Equations
• Evolution of Human Social Behavior

Masters Courses (Bentley University Masters in Human Factors in Information Design):

• HF700 Foundations in Human Factors Psychology
• HF715 Human Factors Innovation
• HF725 UX Leadership & Management
• HF780 Field Methods in Human Computer Interaction
• HF795 Research Methods for Human Factors
  • No, I did not finish the program (by choice) because I didn't have $$$ to pay $8000 per class, and the remaining classes were prototyping and stuff. I did not need those and could care less about a piece of paper (and don't care if hiring managers cared either).
  • Don't get me wrong, I think Bentley has one of the strongest UX programs out there, and if my company paid for it, I would've finished it. Maybe one day I'll go back to school, but if I went back to school, it would probably be for physics or astrophysics haha.

BOOKS

You can find my consolidated list on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4dMViiA

(this is an affiliate link! I may earn commission if you use this link).

CORE KNOWLEDGE:

• Don't Make Me Think - Steve Krug
• Predictably Irrational - Dan Ariely
• Quantifying the User Experience - Jeff Sauro
• Measuring the User Experience - Tom Tullis
• Presentation Zen - Garr Reynolds
• Think Like a UX Researcher - David Travis
• Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman
• Born to be Good - Dacher Keltner (my professor from UC Berkeley)
• 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People
• Psychology - Wegner (best psychology textbook)
• Biomimicry
• The Demon Haunted World - Carl Sagan
• The Craft of Research

LEADERSHIP, COMMUNICATION, & INFLUENCE:

• Multipliers - Liz Wiseman & Greg McKeown
• Quiet (also self-improvement) - Susan Cain
• Getting to Yes
• Pre-Suasion
• How to Win Friends & Influence People
• Difficult Conversations
• Dare to Lead
• Nudge
• Radical Candor
• Conflict Resolution Survival Kit

BUSINESS:

• The Voltage Effect - John A. List** One of the BEST books I've read about business.
• Inspired - Marty Cagan
• Bottlenecks
• Blue Ocean Strategy
• Lean Startup
• Spin Selling [a short, thin, easy read on selling, BUT...definitely read it, because it gives many tips on learning about your customer authentically through psychology]
  

SELF IMPROVEMENT

• Psycho-cybernetics
• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
• Grit Factor

PODCASTS:

• How I Built This
• Entrepreneur Media
• Marketing School
• The Indicator (Planet Money)
• Planet Money
  

EMPIRICISM AND SCIENTIFIC METHOD

• Feymann Lectures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYPapE-3FRw
• Cosmos (1980 Television series) - Carl Sagan
• The Elegant Universe - Brian Greene
• Astrophysics (failed the class in university haha)
• Physics, Quantum Mechanics (failed also)
• Earth and Planetary Geoscience
• Biology, Molecular and Cell Biology
• Ecology, Population biology
• Genetics
• Integrative Biology
• Human Physiology and Anatomy
• German R5B at UC Berkeley - Argumentation, philosophy, literature, cultural and intellectual currents
• Energy and Society