“Assuming you can afford the time, a small budget isn’t necessarily a barrier to doing effective user research. While budget may constrain the quantity of high-fidelity hardware prototypes you can produce, this is of little concern when you’re in the early stages of going out to gather insights about your customers and gauging their response to concepts.
Research can be done on a shoestring budget; you just need a strategy and the courage to get out the door and talk to people.“