The aim of the paper is to indicate the categories of results that can be obtained in the course of social sciences inspired user studies and to discuss their potential for further development of human-centered XAI. The paper reviews selected qualitative methods and techniques, including: in-depth interviews, focus groups, Delphi method, usability tests with the TAP protocol, UX techniques and observations with the guided tour module as examples of research focused on diagnosing users’ opinions, behaviors or experiences. A case study of the implementation of selected methods and techniques in an interdisciplinary research project in the field of XAI was discussed, showing in practice the value of methods driven from social science in the context of AI research. As a result, preliminary conclusions were formulated regarding a new approach to the evaluation of XAI methods, as well as prospects for further research.