7 questions every UX researcher should be asking when planning research

Question 1 — Who is the target of my research?

Who are the users? which demographic am I going after? Be specific.
What motivates our users or potential users?
What devices do they use?
Which products are they currently using?
If you met a user how would you describe them? What adjectives would you use?

Question 2 — What are my teams questions and assumptions for the product we’re building?

See stakeholder workshop for questions.
Gather team in room, give them post its and ask them to write down everything that they know about the user & what questions that they have? (n.b. earlier in the product development process there will be more assumptions rather than questions).
Group the assumptions together to see what themes emerge, then as a team prioritise the themes.
What customer pains/problems do we believe that the product or service help to solve?
Who do we believe are our main competition?
How do we believe we create value and distinguish ourselves from our competitors?
What customer needs do we think we are currently meeting with out the product or service?
Why should our products and services matter to the customers?
How do we currently make money from our customers?
How do we currently make money from partners?
How do customers currently pay?
What do customers pay for at the moment?
How does each channel currently contributes to our overall revenue
What do we believe is the total value that the customer is willing to pay for the product?
What are the biggest risks to the success of the project? What keeps you awake at night?
What information could help you make decisions or prioritise your efforts?
What does success look like for the product? Does the whole team agree with this?
Why is this project important to the business? Why was it initiated?
Who currently uses the product?
Who do you want to use the product?
Who are your target users (or user groups)? What distinguishes them? (e.g. demographics, usage patterns, geographies, new vs. old, verticals, mobile vs. web, needs, expectations, pain points, etc.)
Which users are currently top priority for you? Why?
How do/will you measure performance and success of this product?
Do you have data that need explanation or that have highlighted possible issues in the existing user experience?
What are the closest competitors to this idea or product?
How does this compare to competitors?
What behaviors, conventions, or expectations might users bring to this product based on their experiences with other products?
Imagine the most useful, actionable research results possible. What would they tell you? How would you use them?
What will you do with the research results?
What timeframes are you working with for requiring this data?
What data are you currently collecting (e.g. analytics, A/B, customer support, surveys, usability)?
What have you learned from the data/feedback you’re collecting?
What kinds of research efforts have been most/least valuable to you in the past? Why?

Question 3 — How will I convert my teams assumptions into research questions?

The question needs to be specific and restrictive in scope. We’re not aiming to solve the worlds problems. Make it clear and concise.
The questions should explore the relationship between two variables i.e you’re trying to test if a relationship exists.
The question should be testable i.e. you’re able to collect data to answer the question.
It shouldn’t pose an ethical or moral problem for implementation.
A well formed research questions defines the scope of the research and set boundaries around what is going to be researched.

Question 4 — How will I research my teams assumptions?

Figure out whether your going to do exploratory research to understand user needs and explore product ideas, or to refine product ideas and check usability?
Useful Research methods like 1-to-1 interviews, focus groups, diary studies, and ethnography are ideal for teams in earlier stages of development. These techniques help you step back, remove any attachments that you might have to your ideas, and listen or observe your users.
Qualitative research is inductive, it means we’re working from the ground up. The goal is to get a deeper understanding of your user and the pains they are experiencing. You can use to create more specific hypothesis that you can validate or invalidate with a quantitative research method. With qualitative research, you work in a natural setting (not controlled or experimental — we’re interested in features of the natural environment). Sampling approaches are purposeful (in contrast to random sampling), so we tend to create a screener of specific people that we want. You collect data through interview guides and you interpret the data, i.e. you iteratively interpret and analyse as you go along. This is in contrast to a quant study where you first collect all the data and then analyse.
Usability testing whether remote or in person helps you refine product ideas. Creating tasks for your users to complete using your product helps you identify usability issues early in the process.

Question 5 — How will I find my users?

To find users you can try various techniques:

Market research agencies.
Intercept users as they use your product if you have live traffic.
Use advertising sites such as Craigslist or Gumtree.
CRM system, Sales or Marketing data (ensure users have opted in for research).
Groups on social media (e.g. LinkedIn Groups).
Guerrilla style research in cafe’s ect.

Question 6 — What will be the output of my research?

Trends or recurrent themes. These help us identify and characterise patterns and behaviours, group interactions, and individual perceptions. Themes also help us develop testable hypothesis by identifying what actually matters to a given question, or help inform predictions to certain relationships.
A prioritised list of user needs.
The insight from qualitative research can be used to design a quant study such as survey. This will then give you a better idea of the scale of some of the problems or needs.
Conceptual models or theories (these are frameworks that help us explain particular phenomenons

Question 7 — What pitfalls should I be looking out for?

Don’t reinvent the wheel — there may be a lot of research already conducted in the area your working in so look at what’s already been done already.
Share everything and share early. The quicker you bring developer, designers, product managers and stakeholders on board the more likely they are to implement your recommendations.
Facilitate. The best user researchers I have observed facilitate a shared understanding within the team. Work to build empathy and collaboration within the team, remember research is 1/3 research and 2/3 communication!