Create a research plan to meet research goals
UX research is the foundation of any design process. It helps in decision-making and also backs up the design decisions with qualitative and quantitative data.
To conduct successful research it’s important to plan it first. Planning a research project will help you run the research in a particular direction as per your project goals and keep the team familiar with the goals, timeline, and scope of the project.
What is User Research Plan?
In simple terms, the user research plan is a document that defines the who, what, when, why, and how of the research project.
The document can be referred by the team members and the stakeholders at any time to know the objective, timeline, and expectations of the research project. It also helps in keeping all the members on the same page.
The research plan might differ for different projects based on its goal. There are 9 basic steps that are there in most of the research plan:
- Purpose or objective
- Research method
- Participants
- Location of the interview
- Discussion guide
- Data & analysis
- Consent
- Communication
- Timeline
The steps are defined in detail below:
1. Purpose or objective
The first step is to define the purpose of the research project i.e. what is the goal of the research and why that goal is set.
To understand the purpose of the project you can talk to the stakeholders, have discussions with the product managers, look into the already existing data so that you can figure out what data you already have and what you need to get from the research project.
2. Research method
Choosing the right research method is very important as the data you will get depends on the research method you choose. Also, consider the timeline, financial constraints, or any other technical constraints. The research method will help you to do the expected analysis at the later stage of the project. Also, mention the reason for selecting a particular research method.
For example, if you are doing some research at the start of the project then you can go with the contextual inquiry, and if you want to validate your design you can do usability testing to get valuable feedback on your designs.
Also, define the number of participants required for the interview or surveys you want to conduct.
3. Participants
In this step, define the details of your participants, whom you want to interview. The participant details should include the characteristics that will be considered to recruit them, like demography, technical capabilities, etc. Recruiting the right participants is very critical in the research process as they will represent your target audience.
Also, mention the process to recruit the participants and the compensation that will be provided to them.
4. Location of the interview
You need to define the location where the research will be conducted and the reason behind it. Also, mention if you have any specific requirements related to the interview space setup like wifi, furniture, etc. Also, include other equipment that you will need during the interview process like a video camera, audio recorder, stationery, etc.
5. Discussion guide
The interviewer can refer to this section during the interview, it will help the interviewer to keep the interview on track and check the list of questions he needs to ask. It will give clarity that how the interview process will run and what will be communicated to the participants.
This section should include:
- Introduction:
To begin with, you can give a brief introduction about yourself and the company. Mention the purpose of the interview and how it will help the company, along with the duration of the interview.
2. List of questionnaires:
This will include the list of questions you want to ask, and the tasks you want the participant to perform. The sequence of the questions/tasks might change depending on the answers of the participant but listing them down will help you cover all the areas you want to.
6. Data & analysis
In this section mention the type of data you are planning to collect, for example, video recording, voice recording, survey data, etc.
And then, how will that data be analyzed, like thematic analysis is one of the methods to analyze qualitative data.
7. Consent
The consent helps to ensure that both you and the participant are on the same page regarding the sharing and usage of the data collected from the research.
Before starting the interview you need to get consent from the participants, preferably in writing. The consent form should include the following information, like the overall purpose of the project, the type of data that will be collected, and with whom all the data will be shared. Also, mention that the participant can quit the interview anytime.
You can also repeat the same information verbally, before starting the interview, to be sure that the participant has not missed anything.
8. Communication
It’s good to inform the members involved that how are you planning to communicate about the results of the research, for example, you can give a presentation on the research results or you can create a report and share it, and so on. Mentioning it here will help you to figure out if you need to have any discussion before or during the research process.
9. Timeline
The last thing to define in the research plan is the timeline. Mentioning the tentative duration of the research project will keep the stakeholders and the team members informed about the expected date of the results for the research project.
Conclusion
The main aim of the research project is to achieve the defined UX goals, and a good research plan helps the UX team to stay focused and keep track of time as well as the progress of the project.
