(Heather) Hyerin Im



Selected Research1. Cultural Tacit Knowledge
2. AI Creativity
3. Remote Togetherness
Industry

About
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CV




AnswerLab (Google) (2025.07 - )





 AnswerLab is a US research firm specializing in user experience (UX) research, experience strategy, and digital product testing. 
As a UX Researcher at AnswerLab, I was embedded in Google’s YouTube Rapid Research team as an extended workforce (xWF) researcher.



My Role End-to-End Research
Research planning, study design, recruiting, moderation, synthesis, reporting

Mixed Methods
IDI · UT · Surveys · FGI · Diary Studies · Longitudinal Studies
Cross-functional Collaboration
PM · Design · Data Science · Engineering


Global Research
Korea, US, and APAC markets


Products & ProjectsYouTube Music 🎵
: Sharing in YouTube music Korea (KR)

YouTube Shorts 📱
: CUJ testing: Unmoderated validation (US/IN)
YouTube Live Fan Funding 🎁
: Gifts - KR Asset testing with viewers / Hype with jewels buyflow usability test / Gifts UXR with lighthouse creators 2026 / Google KR Creator insights - Top fan leaderboard /  Hype Monetization with viewers

YouTube Captions ✍️
: Captions rolling studies Gen Pop (US/KR)

YouTube Recap 2025 🧬
: DNA Recap for Korea

ETC: Literature review, KR Google UXR workshops, AI UXR integration brainstorming




What I learnedWorking at Google’s YouTube Rapid Research team gave me the opportunity to study millions of users through fast-paced product research. Beyond learning how to design and execute end-to-end studies, I became increasingly interested in how cultural context shapes product experiences across markets. This experience strengthened my desire to bridge industry-scale research with academic inquiry into cross-cultural human-centered AI and design.







©2026 Hyerin Im