Welcome to the UX Research Lab

Located in the Humanities Building (Rooms 354 & 355), the User Experience (UX) Research Lab is a collaborative, experimental space where students, instructors, and researchers from across Texas Tech University can access resources, share ideas, and jump-start collaborative research and teaching projects concerning all facets of user-centered design and UX research.

Faculty director Dr. Jason Tham (HUMA 363-D, jason.tham@ttu.edu) provides the vision and momentum for creating a welcoming, supportive, and safe learning environment for the UX community of practice. The lab offers support for faculty and student initiatives that enhance education, research, and community engagement activities.

Research

The UX Research Lab facilitates collaborative research among faculty and graduate students in the Technical Communication and Rhetoric Program, across Texas Tech University, and community partners. We host meetings, networking events, speaker series, and research showcases that lead to high-impact scholarship such as journal publications and conference presentations.

Selected Publications:

• • Shivener, R., & Tham, J. (2025). Capturing the experiences of simulated writing for novice virtual reality users. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 68(1), 118–134. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10884639
  • Tham, J. (2024). Researching with virtual reality: Exploring the methodological affordances of VR for sociotechnical research and implications for technical and professional communication. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 67(2), 192–210. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10507189
  • Tham, J., & Grace, R. (2022). Designing born digital scholarship: A study of webtext authors’ experiences and design conventions. Computers and Composition, 64, 102708. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compcom.2022.102708
  • Grace, R., & Tham, J. (2020). Designing webtext for born-digital readers: Seven dimensions of user-centered design. In J. Walwema & D. Hocutt (Eds.), Proceedings of ACM Special Interest Group on Design of Communication (SIGDOC) Conference (pp. 1–9). Association for Computing Machinery. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3380851.3416756
  • Tham, J., & Grace, W. R. (2020). Reading born-digital scholarship: A study of webtext user experience. Computers and Composition, 58, 102601. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S8755461520300621

Selected Presentations:

• • “More Than Play in Virtual Reality: The Effects of Individual and Collaborative Composing,” Computers and Writing Conference. Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX. With Rich Shivener. June 21–22, 2024.
  • “What Are You Imagining Right Now: A Qualitative Examination of Mental Models of Users in Virtual Reality Experiences,” Computers and Writing Conference. Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX. With Thomas Schnaible. June 21–22, 2024. [Thomas Schnaible was a McNair Scholar who completed a triple major in technical communication, psychology, and musical theatre.]
  • “Cultivating a Culture of Justice in Your Program: A Design Thinking Workshop,” Association for Teachers of Technical Writing. With Rob Grace. Virtual. June 22, 2022.
  • “Using Annotated Portfolio to Understand Authors’ Experience and Design Practices: A Study of Webtext Convention and Innovation,” ACM Special Interest Group on Design of Communication (SIGDOC). Hybrid Conference. With Rob Grace. Poster. October 12–14, 2021.
  • “Designing for Born-Digital Readers: Seven Dimensions of Webtext Design,” ACM Special Interest Group on Design of Communication (SIGDOC). Denton, TX. Virtual conference. October 4-6, 2020.

Services

Teaching - In collaboration with the campus community, the UX Research Lab facilitates teaching workshops and demonstrations to prepare instructors for usability or UX related topics. We are trained to assist instructors in using product testing technologies, as well as usability and user research methods. We feature speaker events that connect students and visitors to UX researchers and designers who may also offer networking opportunities. 

Design - The UX Research Lab provides UX design and evaluation resources. Anyone at Texas Tech University may take advantage of these resources to design prototypes and conduct tests. The lab is an advocate for user-centered design by showcasing design projects by TTU students and faculty.

Outreach - Engaging community partners in Lubbock and the surrounding area facilitates the research, teaching, and design priorities of the UX Research Lab. We look to include potential partners from commercial, non-profit, government, and citizens' organizations to identify projects of mutual interest that accomplish community goals while supporting research and teaching through field work, applied projects, and external funding.