Research Plan
Last updated
Last updated
A research plan generally consists of more or less 7 parts; Why, Objective, Research Questions, Methodology, Participants & Recruitment, Script (if relevant), and Timeline. The purpose of doing a research plan is to understand and assess the need before jumping straight into it and to assure the quality of the research. Use this template to create your research plan 👇
👀 Access all method templates here 👇
Think about why you are doing research in the first place, this is the overall motivation or description of the need.
Example: We want to understand why we are seeing decreasing opt-in rates to the push notifications.
Stating your objective(s) is basically capturing what you desire to understand with the research you're planning. Objectives are broad and your research questions will be connected to these objectives.
Example: (1) Understand customers attitudes towards push notifications, (2) Understand in what circumstances opted in customers are choosing to opt out, (3) Understand what's driving customers to opt out. ... etc
Once you've got the objective(s) in place, it's time to define research questions for each objective. These are not questions that should be asked to participants, it's broad questions that you should be able to answer once your study or programme is completed. Try to keep it around 1-3 research questions per objective, if you need more than that, consider if you should split any of your objectives in two.
Example: Objective 1 - Understand customers attitudes towards push notifications; (1) How do customers get introduced to push notifications in the app and how do they experience it? Are there any type of notifications customers are more open to than others?... etc
Now it's time to consider what methods to use to answer your research question(s) and thereby reach your objective(s). Think about if you can combine different types of methods to verify your insights and thereby get higher confidence. I like to consider the research method matrix to define what methods to use 👇 here I've mapped some example methods in the matrix for reference.
Who participates in the research is important in terms of its relevance. Do you need to target any specific part of the population or any users/customers that exhibit a specific behaviour? Do you need certain demographics? People with specific backgrounds? Specific competences?
Once you've defined your different target groups for the research you need to consider sample size. This differs if it's qualitative or quantitative, behavioural or attitudinal. For interviews or usability testing it might be enough with around five participants per target group, for quantitative surveys however you need to consider statistical significance.
There are many ways to recruit for research and it different from company to company. Some offer compensation and some don't, some use recruiting firms, and some use research platforms like User Zoom. Remember that when there's a monetary incentive for the participants recruitment is often quicker, but you may also get people who are in it for the money and thereby the quality of the research might be impacted.
If you're handling the recruitment yourself, remember to start on time as it can take quite some time to find the right participants.
Consider if and how you should screen your participants in the recruitment and during the research. You might need to ask some questions to understand if it's worth to continue with the research even through they've made it through the initial screening.
If the research method requires a script, or questions of any kind, make sure to prepare them.
Remember that it’s all in the ask. How you ask depicts the outcome of the research, what insights you get, and ultimately the quality of your research. Therefore, it's important to think about if you're influencing the outcome of the research in any way with how you ask. Here are some tips and tricks to consider when trying to master the art of asking questions.
Map out the hypothesis(es) you have going into the research and what your desired outcome is in order to be aware of- and to visualise your biases.
Review your research plan and question while keeping the mapping in mind to try to identify if your own biases and personal opinions have influenced your research approach - and thereby also the outcome of the research.
It’s all in how and what you ask. Think about if you’re being leading in the way you ask questions and if you’re imposing an answer to the user.
Review your survey or interview questions and ask yourself; Are you expecting a specific answer? Are you biased in your phrasing? Are you suggesting one answer is better than another? Are you making any assumptions within your questions?
When researching we want to get to the why. However, the word ‘why’ can in some situations and cultures be perceived as accusing, therefore it’s good to learn techniques to get to the why without actually saying ‘why’.
We always have some sort of timeline to adhere to. Make sure to map it out and what is delivered when. This is a good way to communicate to stakeholders when they can expect results, and moreover it's a great way for you to review if the time you have to complete the research is reasonable and enough for you to deliver quality insights and value. If not you might need to ask for more time, or review your approach to the research.
🔗 ‘’ by Chris Voss is a book I recommend to learn techniques on how ask why without saying ‘why’. You can also analyse your everyday conversations and see if you can identify some techniques for this - some of these comes natural to us so we might not be aware of them.
