Tools
Ballpark
https://ballparkhq.com/
UX Methods
Usability Testing, User Interviews, Contextual Inquiry, Prototype Evaluation, Cardsorting
Overview
Ballpark is a user testing platform that supports both remote and live research sessions. You can create studies using scripted tasks and questions, and test against prototypes, live websites, apps, or static assets.
It combines usability testing with lightweight survey functionality, allowing you to ask follow-up questions after tasks. Sessions can include screen, audio, and webcam recording, making it suitable for think-aloud protocols and observational research.
Ballpark also supports open, closed, and hybrid card sorting, along with built-in dashboards that provide light analysis and AI-assisted insights.
Key Features:
- Open, closed, and hybrid card sorting
- First-click testing
- Five-second tests
- Task-based or exploratory testing
- Survey-style follow-up questions
- Image and video support
- Transcription
- Screen, mic, and webcam recording
- Live session observation (observer mode)
- Mobile testing
- Figma integration
- AI moderator
How to get access
Contact Kyree Holmes the Lead UX Researcher to be added to the UX team’s account. Please note we have limited project credits under our license and may need you to purchase additional credits if we are nearing capacity.
JISC Online Surveys
https://www.onlinesurveys.ac.uk
UX Methods
Survey Design, Survey Distribution, Survey Analysis
Overview
Jisc Online Surveys is an online survey tool designed for secure, compliant data collection.It is particularly well suited for research that involves sensitive data, academic studies, or projects that require adherence to data protection and ethical standards. It allows you to design, distribute, and manage surveys, with strong support for data handling and export. Survey data can be exported (e.g. Excel, CSV) for deeper analysis using external tools.
Key Features
- Logic and branching
- Supported question types:
- Text (single-line, multi-line)
- Multiple choice (single/multiple select)
- Scales and ratings
- Ranking
- Dropdowns
- Grid/matrix questions
- Date/time
- File upload (up to 10MB)
- Survey logic and branching
- Data export (Excel, CSV)
How to get access
Follow IT Services guidance to request access: https://www.it.ox.ac.uk/article/applications-advocates-jisc-surveys
lookback
https://www.lookback.com
UX Methods
User Interviews, Usability Testing, Contextual Inquiry, Prototype Evaluation
Overview
Lookback is a research platform designed for moderated and unmoderated user research. It supports live interviews, usability testing sessions, and remote observation.
It provides strong collaboration features, allowing team members to observe sessions live, take timestamped notes, and tag key moments for later analysis. You can also upload externally recorded sessions (i.e., from Microsoft Teams) for transcription and analysis within the platform.
Key Features
- Moderated and unmoderated sessions
- Live observation with stakeholder access
- Timestamped notes and video highlights
- Collaborative tagging and analysis
- Transcription
- Screen, mic, and webcam recording
- Mobile and desktop testing
- Task-based or interview formats
How to get access
You can sign up for an account on their website and will be granted 5 free sessions.
https://forms.office.com
Survey Design, Survey Distribution, Survey Analysis
Microsoft Forms is a simple survey and questionnaire tool integrated within the Microsoft ecosystem. It is useful for quick feedback collection, lightweight surveys, and internal data gathering. Results can be viewed in a dashboard or exported to Excel for further analysis.
- Integration with Microsoft 365
- Image and video support
- Supported question types:
- Text (short/long)
- Multiple choice (single/multiple select)
- Ranking
- Likert scale
- NPS
- Date
- File upload (up to 1GB, depending on tenant settings)
Microsoft Forms can be accessed by all members of Oxford by signing in with your Oxford SSO credentials.
Microsoft Forms
https://clarity.microsoft.com/
UX Methods
User Behavior Analysis, Session Replay, Heatmap Analysis, Conversion Optimization
Overview
Microsoft Clarity is a free, GDPR-compliant user behavior analytics tool that helps you understand how visitors interact with your website. By capturing session recordings and visual heatmaps, it allows UX researchers and web developers to identify friction points, "rage clicks," and usability issues without slowing down site performance.
Key Features
- Instant Heatmaps: Visual representations of where users click, scroll, and spend time.
- Session Recordings: Anonymous replays of actual user sessions to watch how people navigate your pages.
- Smart Insights & Frustration Metrics: Automatically flags user friction, such as "rage clicks," "dead clicks," and excessive scrolling.
- Google Analytics Integration: Seamlessly connects with GA to bridge the gap between quantitative traffic data and qualitative user behavior.
- Deep Filtering: Filter data by device, browser, operating system, country, and specific user actions.
How to get access
Microsoft Clarity is a free tool available to anyone. You can sign up using your university Microsoft account (via your Oxford SSO credentials). To use it on a university website, you or your site administrator will need to add a small JavaScript tracking code to your website's HTML.
Templates
