What is cognitive science, and who cares?
Cognitive science is an interdisciplinary field that studies the mind. It seeks to understand why us crazy living creatures do the things we do, think the way we think, and perceive the world around us. It includes a HUGE variety of research sciences and principles, including education, philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, and anthropology. Within anthropology, there is also ethnography, which happens to have inspired our name 😎.
But for those of us that didn’t happen to take cog sci in college or have a Masters in HCI / social psychology, this may seem like new territory. But it's crucial for understanding how people engage with technology. (Trust me, I didn’t know this either—until now!)
Let’s get even more niche with Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).
A subset of Cog Sci is HCI or Human Computer Interaction. If cognitive science is the foundational underpinning, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) started in practice in the 1970’s and 1980’s to get even closer to what we think of as UXR today.
The CHI conference loves to put the C first, but both the conference and field of HCI are all about putting people first in the designing systems like user interfaces. Generations of researchers presented their work at that conference and shared knowledge between academia and industry.
The basic idea that started in academia and human factors is this: how do we create systems that align with humans?
This helps us design accessible products and systems that provide better experiences. Companies have taken a lot of those academic underpinnings, and while they land in tons of places through commercial research, our focus is how they end up in things like:
user research
design research
product research
insights
ux research
millions of other industry terms
Whether we’re looking at social media algorithms that grab our attention or a poorly designed interface that evokes frustration, understanding human cognition is key to designing better user experiences. When we understand how users engage with products, we can design products that feel intuitive, seamless, and—hopefully—enjoyable.
So, how does this connect to ResearchOps?
We’re so glad you asked. At first glance, cognitive science and ResearchOps seem unrelated, but there are quite a few connections between the two:
As the need to have human conversations with customers and prospects has grown, ResearchOps has grown to support this need. ReOps is all about efficiency and processes, but ultimately it’s in service of designing and building better products through understanding people.
So if cognitive science offers insights into human attention, decision-making, and perception - ReOps supports the application of those principles through more efficient participant recruitment, management, and all the other processes needed to scale up research.
The intersection of Cog Sci and ReOps
Cognitive science and ResearchOps intersect in three key ways:
History. The tldr: Cognitive Science > HCI > Ethnography > UXR > Re Ops.
Efficiency. Helping the application of academic research become more efficient in a commercial environment.
Systems. Both ReOps and Cog Sci are about improving systems through understanding human behavior.
If we align the systems we use for recruitment and participant engagement with our understanding of human cognition, we can build more effective human-centered research processes. After all, when participants feel that the research process is in tune with how they think and behave, we see better results—we can make research less taxing on the participants and more effective for researchers with higher-quality research and better user insights.
At Ethnio, we integrate cognitive science and obviously ethnography to guide our user-centric design and features, reducing friction in participant recruitment and engagement, which leads to more accurate insights, higher satisfaction, and better research outcomes.
From cognitive science to ResearchOps
Our founder, Nate Bolt, returns to his alma mater, UC San Diego, almost every year. He talks with cog sci students there about different ways they might be able to use cog sci in their careers, and his path from UXR agency Bolt | Peters, to Instagram, and now as the founder of the world’s first ReOps platform, Ethnio.
Making sure real humans are part of the design process at large organizations is central to Cog Sci, UXR, and ReOps. Ethnio loves supporting those connections by empowering more research insights that drive user-centric product development and design.
Huge thanks to UCSD Cognitive Science ✨
Nate has the great honor of talking to the students of Dr. James Hollan, along with Ed Langstroth from Apple. Nate and Ed have spoken to dozens of Professor Hollan’s classes around Cognitive Engineering and they basically give a crash course and discussion for UCSD students to learn about how they can work in fields like UXR, design, and of course Research Operations 🤣.
At UCSD, Nate learned the fundamentals of human-computer interaction (HCI) and cognitive psychology. These areas of study influence how Ethnio help manage recruitment, scheduling, and incentives. Here are the key principles from cognitive science that continue to shape Ethnio’s design philosophy:
User-Centered Design prioritizes user needs, preferences, and experiences. This principle has shaped Ethnio’s mission to build every feature to meet real-world research needs and improve the participant experience.
User Research Methods, including user interviews, surveys, usability testing, and A/B testing, laid the foundation for how Ethnio supports research in practice and helps teams execute studies effectively.
Data Analysis, with courses on statistics and research methods, is essential for interpreting user research findings.
Interaction Design principles focus on creating intuitive and effective user interfaces, which is why Ethnio minimizes friction and cognitive load, making it easier for teams to focus on the research itself.
Cognitive Science knowledge of human perception and how users think has directly influenced how Ethnio designs tools that feel natural, intuitive, and aligned with how users process information.
Fast forward to Ethnio
These skills inspired Nate to tackle the messiest part of user research: recruiting and managing participants (no wonder he gets invited to talk to a Cognitive Engineering class about how much Cog Sci means to him in his professional life because shocker: it’s a lot).
We get to help researchers and designers around the world recruit, schedule, and pay participants for online and in-person studies all in one place.
How it shapes our mission, user-centric design and features?
Who knew that combining a deep understanding of human cognition with technical skills could prepare you to shape the future of technology? Thanks for being so studious, Nate.
At Ethnio, we’ve used these principles to make recruitment, scheduling, and participant engagement smarter and more scalable. It’s why our founder, Nate Bolt, brought his background in cognitive science to the heart of everything we build.
His deep understanding of human cognition informs the design of every feature, from how participants are recruited to how they engage with surveys, scheduling, and incentives.
The result? A tool built specifically with researchers in mind, optimized to reduce friction and make the entire research process more human-centric. Here’s how his journey shapes Ethnio’s mission to make user research more human—and how we’ve embedded cognitive principles into the tools you use every day:
Prioritizing user needs and preferences in the design process.
Understanding the nuances of human-computer interaction to create intuitive and efficient interfaces.
Applying cognitive science principles to design accessible technologies for users with diverse needs.
Privacy and Security explore the ethical implications of collecting and analyzing user data.
Designing systems that are fair and unbiased, minimizing any inherent biases in algorithms and data.
Understanding the impact of technology on mental health and well-being for designing features that promote positive user experiences.
Here’s how cognitive science transforms the way Ethnio empowers research operations:
Streamlined Recruitment: Ethnio minimizes cognitive load by using intercept recruiting via web and app, engaging participants at the right moment to maximize attention span
Intuitive Interface: Our platform's user-friendly interface minimizes learning curves and enhances user experience.
Centralized dashboard: Our CRM provides a centralized hubthat safely stores participants and their data, streamlines the research process, and elevates the impact of User Research.
Customizable screeners: Craft screener templates or custom links to draw in the right participants. Reduce fatigue, dial up engagement, and level up data quality with precision-targeted screening.
Scheduling integrations: Scheduling can often be a frustrating process, but Ethnio’s tool allows participants to select interview times that fit their schedule, reducing the cognitive load involved in scheduling and increasing overall convenience for both researchers and participants.
Panel Management and Participant Pool: Diversity drives better research. Build and manage your participant panel, recruiting participants that reflect the cognitive diversity needed for robust, bias-free findings.
Ethical Considerations: We place a high priority on user privacy and data security, fully aligning with ethical research principles. Our integration with DocuSign streamlines consent processes, making sure that participants are well-informed and their consent is properly captured.
Incentive management: Understanding human motivation is key to participant engagement. By offering customizable incentives in any currency, Ethnio taps into the cognitive science of motivation to ensure participants are encouraged to stay engaged and complete studies.
Final words
Just as a computer works more efficiently when its applications don’t overload its memory, the human brain functions better when tasks are clear and intuitive. Ethnio leverages cognitive science principles to create a more efficient, user-centered research operations function. By embedding these principles, Ethnio’s platform empowers researchers to make more meaningful connections with participants and gain insights that drive user-centric product development.
As we continue to explore the intersection of cognitive science and research operations, one critical question remains: what can we implement to make sure that every interaction with our platform aligns with users’ cognitive needs and maximizes their engagement?
Visit the Cognitive Science department at UCSD to explore similar topics and dive deeper into the intersection of cognitive science and tech.
