Some of the things that have gone wrong during research.

Research is not linear, it can get messy real quick! These are our key takeaways from those times when things went wrong in research projects.

Photo by Daria Nepriakhina on Unsplash

We appreciate that research is key and it informs innovation. It’s what helps product teams and stakeholders understand the problem better. It guides various decisions. As much as it has its highs, there are a couple lows in the actual field research execution.

In this post, we cover a few things that you should be keen to look out for before getting into research, specifically field research. This is in no way meant to scare you but rather to prepare you for likely challenges. As much as it’s fulfilling, research comes with interesting and some untold challenges. From the several research projects we have been part of, we have learnt a thing or two. As they say, experience is the best teacher!

The more prepared you are, the less messier it is. Keen to note, every research project comes with it’s own challenges and opportunities so there is no one method that fits all. Assuming you just got a new research project, the research topic is exciting and you can’t wait to get started. Here are a few things that might go wrong and some considerations you should put in place.

Planning

Not spending enough time planning for research can result in a total fail. Planning is as important as the execution. Make sure you are involving all stakeholders in the planning process. Before stepping out into the field, you need to be clear on the research goals, objectives and outcome expectations.

Some of the things that can go wrong in this phase include:

• Lack of clarity on project objectives. If you miss out on this, the whole effort can easily go to waste. If you realize that objectives are not clear mid way, it’s okay to pause and reframe the plan.We know this is already a cost to the team but it’s better than wrong research.
• Some target groups are harder to recruit than others. There is no one trick to recruiting, different projects will require you to get creative on recruiting on the go.
• Recruiting the wrong participants. This can be a huge time waster. Make sure you add a way to screen the right participants when recruiting.
• Proceeding with the wrong questions and assumptions. Some ways to get focused assumptions is doing some desk research, engaging the stakeholders in discussions to question the assumptions, reviewing, editing and testing the discussion guide before stepping out to the field.

Execution

So the d-day is here, you have the plans ready and are counting down to the field day. Field work is one of the well known and a favourite part of research to many. Conversing and getting insights from the interviewees, sitting and listening to what they have to say or just observing as they carry out their day to day activities.

Some if the things that can go wrong in this phase include:

• No shows. Sometimes, the participants don’t show up. Some may reschedule or cancel the appointment all together. One way to balance this out is to always have a backup plan e.g., recruiting some more people than needed.
• Research fatigue. Say you have a full day research moving from one place to another asking the same questions. Doing the same thing over and over again and needing to be fresh for each appointment can get tough. Make sure you are taking breaks in between, if possible spread the research across several days and avoid packing too many appointments on the same day.
• Being too inflexible. As we said, research is contextual, sometimes you will need to shift a research method in between the process. Say you notice a trend you had not thought about when planning, it’s okay to add this as an item to investigate in concurrent interviews.

Analysis

So the plan was solid, you went out to the field and are excited to draw insights from the data. It’s weird to say that things can get hectic at this final stage but trust us it does. Information can get overwhelming, and if not handled well all the data collected can end up being meaningless.

Some of the things that can go wrong in this phase include:

• Failure to document findings. Two things you need to consider, 1. Excellent data collection (Note taking and recording during the interviews), 2. Organizing data collected. You will thank yourself for profiling as you go. This makes referencing easier during analysis.
• Failure to debrief when the insights are still fresh. This is better done sooner than later. At this time, you are very well connected to the project. If you take longer, you could end up forgetting some key insights. Sometimes if you come across an outlier, you need to follow up as soon as you can, especially if the research is not complete.
• Findings bias and making conclusions too quick. Remember to map out outliers(something you came across once), coincidences(something you came across twice) and trends(something that happened thrice or more). Always be keen to vet those that need more research before a conclusion is made.

We hope this helps you in your next research project. Let us know what challenges you have faced and your learnings. What is your best advice to someone who just got a research project? Leave a comment below or engage us on twitter at https://twitter.com/QhalaHQ