Reading time: 5 min
Imagine starting a vacation without having defined what we will do, without having previously looked for information about the availability and cost of transportation and lodging and without having any notion of how much money we have available. Undoubtedly, adventure travel can be a way to do it, but we had better be willing to experience setbacks and endure the uncertainty, not to mention the possibility of getting stuck halfway because of lack of money. Surely most of us don't travel that way. We make these trips taking care to optimize two key resources: time and money. That is, planning.
Good planning ensures efficiency and control throughout the process, whether for travel or to carry out a project. That is why at UX Research (UXR) we plan and then schedule the activities to be carried out in projects that aim to understand users or evaluate how they interact with technology.
In this article we explain how to create a UX Research Plan to achieve the best results.
Why do you need a UX Research Plan?
A UX Research Plan is the document that consolidates dates, ideas and resources to start the project. It is a crucial part of the digital product design process because it allows us to corroborate user desires and needs.
A UX Research Plan consists of four main parts:
- Objectives: what we do research for
- Activities: what will be done and when
- Timeline: how much time we devote to each stage
- Budget: how much does it cost us
Let's go back to the travel analogy: do I want to do cultural tourism or do I want to know how the locals live? Do I want to visit museums or go to bars? Do I have a week or a month? How much money do I have?
In our case this "journey" is called "UX Project" and more specifically, it is necessary:
1. Set the objectives to be achieved by the investigation
2. Turn the objectives into the big questions you are trying to answer.
3. Identify specific research questions
4. Choose the techniques to be used to answer these questions.
5. Determine the necessary resources (money, people, suppliers, logistics).
6. Set a schedule for its completion (task, date, person in charge).
This research plan structure is broad and flexible enough to adapt to the needs of each project and company. Let's take it one step at a time.
1. Set objectives
The broad objectives we want to achieve are the basis of our plan. We can ask ourselves what we want to know or what aspects we should research to guide us. It is important to involve all parts of the organization that are in some way involved, since the user experience affects different aspects of the product. Previously produced information (surveys, complaint records, in general any comments or feedback from customers) and any data that internal stakeholders can provide us with is very valuable.
It is very likely that, as we list them, we will find a large number of objectives to fulfill. Let's not despair! It is impossible for us to meet them all, so we have to prioritize them. As a general rule, we recommend being able to number the objectives on the fingers of one hand. Of course, they may be six or four but ten is a lot while one is conspicuously few.
We see that an objective is always formulated by starting with an action verb in the infinitive: to inquire, to know, to determine, etc.
2. Turn the objectives into the big questions you are trying to answer.
The next step in the construction of our Research Plan is to reformulate the objectives in the form of general questions:
Attention! Research questions should not be answered with "Yes" or "No". For example, it would be wrong to formulate as a research question "Would you use an app to make trips?" Dichotomous yes/no questions prevent the deepening that allows us to better understand the problem and find its solution.
3. Identify specific research questions
Once the general research question has been defined, we can move on to the specific questions. A practical way of constructing them is with the WH Questions (those beginning with "Wh" or "H"):
Using the WH Questions as triggers we can incorporate some additional questions:
There are multiple possibilities to formulate questions and it is not necessary to use all of them. This depends on the general research objective and consequently on the general research question.
4. Choose the techniques to be used to answer these questions.
Methodologies:
It is essential to choose methodologies and techniques according to our objectives and possibilities. Qualitative is exploratory: it allows us to discover the motives (for example, what leads a person to download an app) while quantitative is descriptive (it can indicate how often it is used). Despite their usefulness, both have certain limitations. Faced with this situation, there is a resource called Triangulation which consists of applying to a problem under study various techniques articulated to achieve greater credibility. Through this method we can look at the same phenomenon from different points of view. For example, if in the analysis of the travel app we discover few uses after downloading it, we can resort to another perspective by conducting interviews with users to understand the reasons for this behavior.
Techniques:
Each methodology proposes a set of techniques. We will devote another article to identifying which techniques are most appropriate depending on the stage of the project we are at and the purpose we have. In general terms, this may have to do with getting to know the user better or understanding how the user interacts with the interface.
But before selecting the techniques, we must decide on the data sources we will use.
Primary sources: Intentionally self-generated data. E.g. an interview.
Secondary sources: data that is already available and that only remains to be analyzed and processed to convert it into information. E.g. register of complaints.
5. Determine the necessary resources
Throughout the process, we must keep in mind the budget we have available to carry out the operations and think about the logistics of the research (interviews, location, requirements, etc.) to avoid unforeseen events or wasted time. In addition, it is important that everyone involved in the project is involved in order to ensure that we obtain all the data we need.
6. Establish a timetable for its realization
The creation of a schedule of activities allows the simplification of resources as well as a global visualization of the project. It also facilitates the preparation of the necessary materials and a greater margin of action in case of any eventuality, and will help the whole team to communicate and be clear about the time frame for each objective. Last but not least, it is not only what and when, but also who, because without a formally designated person in charge, it is very likely that things will not happen.
Research Plan is not written on marble
A plan is not a rigid instrument but rather the opposite. If one variable moves, I can more easily reconfigure the others. Let's take a couple of typical examples: we have less money or less time than desired: we will have to adjust the set of techniques to be used and the project schedule, and even the scope or, in other words, the research objectives, will probably be affected. But it will be an orderly adjustment, always optimizing in a rational way the use of resources.
In conclusion
Traveling on an adventure is not the most advisable when others depend on our decisions. Planning research activities is not a waste of time. On the contrary, it is a way to ensure a controlled, effective and efficient process.
With the construction of a Research Plan, we can have a clear idea of the objectives we wish to achieve and the techniques and methodologies required to achieve them, in order to ensure the optimization of our (few or many) resources and thus guarantee the best possible results.