My last two projects Integra11y and Ma Voix couldn't have been possible without thorough user research.
My favourite methods are:
Observation/immersion
Photo-elicitation - interview with visual support like photos
Observation helps me to go beyond empathy and understand users, their needs, their tasks in their context/environment - an ethnographic study truly open the doors for a UX researcher.
Photo-elicitation - during interviews without visual support, it's often difficult to obtain data on the true motivations and pain points especially of a target audience that is differently challenged ie)visual/hearing disability. A chronological photo collage helped me to understand the real fear or truly bad experience they had with inaccessible online classes and digital platforms.

My experience in game development, specially table top games, have taught me to keep the process users/players centered. Testing every new game mechanics is the norm. The tunnel effect is a dreaded commodity and a very expensive hazard.
Example: In Pirate Partage we incorported use of chopsticks as a game mechanic not testing it with the target audience ie)low to middle level corporate employees in India. When we went to run few workshops in India, we realised they have never used chopsticks, so the learning curve for the game became insurmountable. I consider it a UX design failure on our part. A lesson learnt.

Knowing that emotion is so vital to how we think makes it more important to create not just a functional and usable experience, but to seek and make a meaningful connection.
According to Carl Jung, we are all born with a subconscious idea of what a “hero”, a “mentor”, and a “quest” should be.
Stories help to create an emotional connection. It can help us move towards Reflective Design, where we associate products on a personal level and associate meaning and value to them. By centering around a specific theme or character, various unconnected parts of an experience can be brought together to give a wholesome picture.
Example: In the project Sonar, I developed a narrative using John Campbell's mono myth and the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz. The theme "call to adventure" for the IGEM participants helped us to create a narrative which the users can relate to, create a mascot “a friend” who helps them for onboarding and various tutorials in the application.