How Is User Research Essential in Making e-Government Accessible to All?

It becomes important that today's governments include user research in the development of their digital platforms. Taking into consideration users, their needs and the context, has to be at the centre of their approach. User research uses several research methods coming from ergonomics, HCI, human behaviour, cognitive sciences and human interaction. The evidences provided from user research enable to improve and make digital platform accessible to all. This paper will start with an account of User research, its origins, its benefits, and when it should be applied in the product development process. A case study "the Universal Credit Digital Service" (UK) will be presented. 23 participants took part in face-to-face user testing sessions using mobile devices (iPhone, Samsung and iPad). The full user journey from registration to the claim submission was tested. Every step of the journey was analysed screen by screen. Issues in terms of usability, layout and content that could have impacts on the general user journey were identified and will be discussed.