User Research & Need Identification Questions

How do you identify and validate real user needs before committing design or product effort? Cover the research mindset: forming explicit assumptions up front, choosing between generative research (open-ended discovery of needs) and evaluative research (testing a specific solution), and picking qualitative versus quantitative methods based on the time and access you have. Include practical skills such as writing sharp research questions, designing screeners and recruitment criteria for representative participants, running rapid or time-boxed research (guerrilla testing, hallway tests, unmoderated remote studies) when timelines are tight, and distinguishing a user's stated need from their underlying goal or a solution they've proposed. Applies across interview formats: live time-constrained exercises, behavioral questions about past research work, and case-style discussions of how research should shape a roadmap or design decision.