United States

UX Research

UX Testing

University of Kansas

Karen Christensen Buhler

User Researcher

Portfolio

Communication

Collaboration

Problem-solving

Critical-thinking

Empathy

Team player

Presentation skills

Stakeholder management

Analytical skills

Product strategy

Qualitative research

Quantitative research

Usability Testing

User research

Prototyping

Airtable

ChatGPT

Figma

Lookback

Miro

Notion

Optimal Workshop

Trello

Typeform

UserTesting

Zapier

Rippling

SurveyMonkey

Introduce yourself, define mentoring expectations and goals. Learn and grow together.

General mentorship

Making remote and globally distributed teams work for you and your needs.

Working remotely

Learn essential burnout prevention techniques and replenish physical and emotional energy.

Managing burnout

Talk to people who have learned to manage their imposter syndrome.

Dealing with imposter syndrome

Navigating micro-aggression, getting paid what you are worth and finding a community.

Being a woman in tech

Tips for transitioning into a new role or company.

Changing roles

Learn how to properly present your work and share ideas and opinions.

Presenting your work with impact

Tips on how to work and collaborate with designers.

Working with designers

How to work with team members with different skill sets but towards a common goal?

Working cross-functionally

Explore different generative and evaluative research techniques. User research synthesis and presentation.

Conducting good user research

How to conduct interviews, what to ask, and how to analyze your results? (eg. user interview)

Conducting effective customer interviews

Led end-to-end mixed-methods research across ~60 projects for 10 clients. Defined research strategy and owned the full research lifecycle, partnering with cross-functional teams including product, engineering, design, sales, and C-suite. Balanced multiple engagements simultaneously, adapting pace and methods to each client's timeline and needs.

• Drove a consumer mobile app from a 1.7-star to 4.2-star App Store rating through iterative generative and evaluative research; client extended the engagement two years to build a net-new product.
• Built a 200+ person participant panel cutting costs from ~$400 to $150/participant and timelines from 3-6 weeks to 1-2 weeks, and scaled research practice through repositories, templates, and frameworks that enabled the client to run their own independent research program.
• Mentored two research interns, coaching on study design, moderation, synthesis, and stakeholder communication.

Established UX research from scratch and defined research strategy at an early-stage consumer fintech startup, aligning stakeholders on research priorities before roadmap decisions were finalized.

• Drove a major product pivot through generative user interviews, presenting findings and video clips to align a skeptical CEO; research contributed directly to a successful seed raise and was referenced in investor materials.
• Led end-to-end evaluative research improving onboarding comprehension from 14% to 100% through iterative first-impressions testing and usability studies, shipping to the App Store within one year.
• Scaled research practice within startup resource constraints by running moderated and unmoderated studies in parallel, while partnering with cross-functional teams including CTO, CEO, and CMO to define which research questions were worth asking.

Conducted research on a HIPAA-compliant enterprise mobile platform for early intervention providers working with children ages 0-3 in homes, childcares, and preschools.

• Ran moderated usability testing and monthly focus groups with cross-functional providers, synthesizing actionable insights and delivering prioritized recommendations to the development team.
• Provided in-person onboarding and training for beta users across 4 programs, identifying adoption barriers in compliance-heavy enterprise environments.


Carried an active caseload of 20-25 children and families, conducting ethnographic observation, structured assessments, and in-depth qualitative interviews in high-stakes field contexts, building fast rapport to draw out candid, useful information in emotionally sensitive situations.

• Mentored and coached eight graduate interns over multi-month placements, adapting feedback and coaching approach to each person's development needs.
• Collaborated with a multidisciplinary team to develop joint recommendations and translated findings into actionable guidance for diverse family audiences across cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
• Developed documentation frameworks and process tools adopted organization-wide, beginning as personal tools after colleagues began requesting them.

Karen Christensen Buhler🇺🇸

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