Researching UX user research great design begins with deep empathy

Safety Area: All Text, Logos & Barcode should remain inside the Pink Dotted LinesGREAT DESIGN BEGINS WITH DEEP EMPATHY Advocate best practice techniques Lead you through practical exam

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GREAT DESIGN BEGINS WITH DEEP EMPATHY

Advocate best practice techniques

Lead you through practical examples

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You’re beginning a user research project You want it to go well

You want it to be interesting, to learn something new and to

generate ideas Most importantly, you want your project to make

a difference This book will show you how to achieve all of that

This book is about the craft, the technique and the processes

involved in running a design research project Research is at the

heart of user-centered design Because it’s so central, we believe

that research should be an activity that the whole team gets to

participate in and feel ownership of

Design research can sometimes seem a daunting, confusing

world unto itself With its own codes and jargon, it can feel like

the domain of specialists, forbidden to outsiders who haven’t

been trained in the rules If you’ve ever felt out of your depth on

a research project, been unsure what to do next, or wondered

whether you’re “doing it wrong”, then this book is for you

• Discover how to choose the right research methodology for your project

• Recruit people to take part in your research

• Get smart interviewing tips to help you obtain the data you need

• Learn how to analyze your data and present results

THE KEY TO SUCCESSFUL DIGITAL PROJECTS

YOUR AUTHOR

JAMES LANG

James has worked in research for 20 years, for organizations including Google, British Airways, the BBC, eBay and the Alzheimer’s Society

He is currently Head of Research at cxpartners.

USER RESEARCH

Emma Howell is a User Experience Consultant at cxpartners She has been a research specialist for 10 years, beginning her career in academia before moving into UX

Emma loves designing products and services that are intuitive and enjoyable to use.

Researching UX: User Research

by James Lang and Emma Howell

Copyright © 2017 SitePoint Pty Ltd.

Product Manager: Simon Mackie

Series Editor: Joe Leech

English Editor: Katie Monk

Technical Editor: Kate Towsey Cover Designer: Alex Walker Illustrator: Natalia BalskaNotice of Rights

All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the

publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Notice of Liability

The author and publisher have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information herein However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied Neither the authors and SitePoint Pty Ltd., nor its dealers or

distributors will be held liable for any damages to be caused either directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book, or by the software or hardware products described herein.

Trademark Notice

Rather than indicating every occurrence of a trademarked name as such, this book uses the names only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner with no

intention of infringement of the trademark.

Published by SitePoint Pty Ltd.

48 Cambridge Street Collingwood VIC Australia 3066 Web: www.sitepoint.com Email: books@sitepoint.com ISBN 978-0-9953826-3-3 (print) ISBN 978-0-9953827-9-4 (ebook) Printed and bound in the United States of America

About James Lang

James has worked in research for 20 years, for organizations including Google,British Airways, the BBC, eBay and the Alzheimer’s Society He is currently Head

of Research at cxpartners

About Emma Howell

Emma Howell is a User Experience Consultant at cxpartners She has been aresearch specialist for 10 years, beginning her career in academia before movinginto UX Emma loves designing products and services that are intuitive andenjoyable to use

About SitePoint

SitePoint specializes in publishing fun, practical, and easy-to-understand contentfor web professionals Visit http://www.sitepoint.com/ to access our blogs, books,newsletters, articles, and community forums You’ll find a stack of information onJavaScript, PHP, Ruby, mobile development, design, and more

James: To my mum and dad, Sally and Joseph, for giving me their curiosity,

patience and kindness.

Emma: For raising an analytical and inquisitive creature, my fabulous parents Pauline and Leigh My gyaldem: twerking and tequila makes deadlines feel less painful Laura-Lea: you’ve been amazingly encouraging and patient Thank you.

Table of Contents

Preface xiii

If You Feel Unsure, Then Read On xiii

What We’ll Cover in this Book xiv

The Gist of the Book xv

Acknowledgments xviii

Conventions Used xviii

Supplementary Materials xix

Chapter 1 Begin the Project 1

Get Started 2

1 Define Your Research 3

2 Define Hypotheses 3

3 Timeline & Resources 4

4 Engage Stakeholders 4

5 Identify Risks 5

Tools You Can Use 5

Use Desk Research to Generate Hypotheses 5

Hold a Kickoff Workshop 6

Talk to Your Stakeholders 9

Create a Research Canvas 10

Project Plan 12

Make a Plan to Engage People 13

4 Decide How You Will Communicate With Your Team 15

Work Through Risks to the Project 16

Summary 18

Chapter 2 Choose an Approach 20

The Core Concepts 21

What is Data? 21

Qualitative vs Quantitative 22

Discovery vs Validation 23

Insight, Evidence and Ideas 23

Validity 24

Scaling Your Investment 26

Multi-Method Approaches 26

In-The-Moment Research 27

Taking Care 28

Research as a Team Sport 29

Research Methods 29

How to Choose Research Methods 34

How Many People? 35

Summary 36

Chapter 3 Finding Participants 37

Who To Recruit 38

Defining Your Sample 39

Creating a Recruitment Brief 41

Getting The Right People 44

Creating a Screener 45

Methods of Accessing People 49

1 Recruitment Agencies 49

2 Guerrilla Recruitment 51

Finding Participants for Guerrilla Testing 51

3 DIY Recruitment 52

4 Gatekeepers 53

Persuading People to Take Part 54

Why Offer an Incentive? 54

Offering an Appropriate Incentive 55

Arranging Sessions 56

Running Order 56

Avoiding No-shows 57

Data Protection 58

Informed Consent 58

Summary 60

Chapter 4 Writing a Discussion Guide 61

What’s the Discussion Guide For? 62

What’s a Discussion Guide Not For? 62

Elements of a Discussion Guide 63

Different Kinds of Session 71

Questions, Tasks, and Activities 71

Types of Content 73

How to Write a Discussion Guide 77

Use Your Imagination 78

Summary 79

Chapter 5 Set Up Your Sessions 80

Getting Prepared for Research in the Lab 81

Monday: Three Days Before Your Session 82

Tuesday: Two Days before your session 84

Wednesday: The Day Before Your Session 87

Thursday: The Day of Your Session 90

Getting Prepared for Research in the Field 91

Tuesday: Two Days Before Your Session 84

Wednesday: The Day Before Your Session 87

Thursday: The Day of Your Session 90

Getting Prepared For Remote Research 94

Monday: Three Days Before Your Session 82

Tuesday: Two Days Before Your Session 84

Wednesday: The Day Before Your Session 87

Thursday: The Day of Your Session 97

Summary 97

Chapter 6 Running Your Sessions 98

Roles 99

The Interviewer 99

The Host 99

Note-taker 102

Taking Notes 103

Post-It Notes 103

Taking Notes in a Spreadsheet or Trello 105

Taking Typed or Written Notes 106

Taking Notes in Guerrilla/Field Research 108

Taking Notes after the Interview 109

Tools For Recording 109

Top Tips For Recording Your Sessions 111

The Practicalities of Using Different Devices 113

Remote Testing When Using Different Devices 114

Guerrilla Testing With Different Devices 114

Summary 114

Chapter 7 Interviewing 115

Show Participants How to Help You 116

Observing vs Asking 118

Paying Deep Attention 118

Starting the Session 119

Make Sure You Get Consent 120

Starting Guerrilla Testing Sessions 121

How to Ask a Question 121

How To Get Out Of Trouble 127

Summary 129

Chapter 8 Analyzing Your Data 130

Why Bother? 131

Phases of Analysis 132

Cherry-picking Analysis Activities 132

How Much Time Do I Need? 136

Phase 1: Make a Plan 137

Activities 137

Phase 2: Absorb the Data 139

Create a Space 139

Collate Sources 141

Reformat 141

Rejecting Bad Data 141

Prioritize 142

Review Recordings 143

Transcribe 143

What to Watch Out For 144

Phase 3: Finding Patterns 145

Review Objectives or Rolling Hypotheses 145

Brain Dump 146

Who Were the People? 146

Conceptual Diagrams 148

Maps & Sketches 149

Tablecloth 150

Affinity Sort 150

What to Watch Out For 153

Phase 4: Working With Patterns 153

Thought Experiments 154

Extension 155

Think By Making 155

Metaphor 155

What to Watch Out For 156

Phase 5: Creating a Narrative 156

Analysis as a Team Sport 158

Summary 159

Chapter 9 Turning Research Into Action 160

Making Your Research Relevant 161

Engaging Stakeholders Throughout the Project 161

Attending Research Sessions 161

Show and Tell (AKA Pizza Sessions) 162

Topline Findings 163

Project Blog / Websites 163

Documenting What You’ve Learned 164

Report Deck 168

List Reporting 170

Journey Map 170

Experience Map 172

Personas 174

Showreel 177

Debrief Session 178

Summary 182

I was on stage at UX Manchester and I made a flippant comment about how all

focus groups were a waste of time when it came to researching the user

experience When questions came at the end of my talk, a hand shot up “I don’t

agree with your comment about focus groups They have their uses All research

methods have their strengths and weaknesses.” That hand belonged to James

Lang He came and found me afterwards and we debated the merits of user

research methods At the end of the conversation, I asked if he was looking for a

job

Emma brings 10 years of formal research experience in psychology, cognition,

medicine, biology and, of course, user experience Emma and James are two of

the best researchers I’ve ever worked with I’ve learned so much from working

with them on many UX research projects over the years

This book represents Emma and James’s many years of research experience Theirpractical advice on how to run an insightful, successful research project is the

key to making your digital products even better

Series editor Joe Leech (@mrjoe) Bristol, UK, October 2017 PS I was right about

focus groups – see Chapter 2.

If You Feel Unsure, Then Read On

You’re beginning a user research project You want it to go well You want it to beinteresting, to learn something new and to generate ideas Most importantly, you

want your project to make a difference This book will show you how to achieve

all of that

This book is about the craft, the technique and the processes involved in running

a design research project Whether you’re in discovery or evaluation mode,

whether your project is agile or waterfall, research is at the heart of user-centereddesign Because it’s so central, we believe that research should be an activity thatthe whole team gets to participate in and feel ownership of

At the same time, design research can sometimes seem a daunting, confusingworld unto itself With its own codes and jargon, it can feel like the domain ofspecialists, forbidden to outsiders who haven’t been trained in the rules If you’veever felt out of your depth on a research project, been unsure what to do next, orwondered whether you’re “doing it wrong”, then this book is for you.

What We’ll Cover in this Book

Over the next nine chapters, we’ll pass through the stages of a qualitative designresearch project The primary focus is on the practicalities: our intention is toshare a step-by-step guide so you know what do to at each point… especially ifyou’re stuck! Alongside that, though, we’ve provided a rationale, not least

because being able to understand and justify your approach is pretty useful initself

The structure of the book follows the sequence of a research project:

0-1 The research cycle

Design

Chapter 1 shows how to scope and kick off your project, involving stakeholders

to ensure you’re working to the right objectives

Chapter 2 walks through the process of choosing a methodology, and the differentconsiderations which play a part in your decision

Setup

Chapter 3 covers the different methods for recruiting people to take part in yourresearch, and how to ensure you get the right participants

Chapter 4 outlines the role of a discussion guide (aka session plan, aka script) andshows you how to piece it together part-by part.

Chapter 5 looks at the runup to your research sessions, and the preparation

involved with lab-based, remote and contextual studies

Fieldwork

Chapter 6 shows you how to manage a research session, and how to be successful

in the roles of observer, note-taker or moderator

Chapter 7 focuses on the detail of interviewing, exploring the anatomy of

questions and the role of observation

Analysis

Chapter 8 lays out a system of analysis, describing each of the main phases and

showing you which activities to deploy to achieve your specific purpose

Impact

Chapter 9 shows how to bring the project to a successful conclusion, using

deliverables and engagement techniques to maximise the impact of your work

Unless you’re completely new to research, you’re probably more familiar with

some of these aspects of the process than others You should be able to dip into

the book as required, rather than reading from front to back, with a couple of

The Gist of the Book

As we’ve already mentioned, this book is more interested in the practicalities ofresearch than the theory That said, if you read on you’ll see several ideas surfacerepeatedly Let’s introduce them:

Research is a team sport We believe research projects are most effective when

the whole team’s involved, not when one or two specialists are tasked with goingaway to ‘do research’ and come back with an answer Working as a team - sharingthe hypothesising, interviewing and analysis - brings the designers, developers,content owners and others much closer to the actual user experience, rather thanhaving it fed back to them via a report or presentation It’s a better, more

rewarding experience for everyone, but more importantly it makes the researchmore likely to have an impact You may not always be able to get the whole teaminvolved throughout, but we’ll share the workarounds you can use to achievenearly the same result

When you’re making decisions about your project, think about the end point and work backwards Whether it’s to generate new ideas, build empathy for users,

understand a problem better, or inform decision-making, your project has an endgoal In most cases, this’ll be a combination of overt, stated objectives and moreobscure aims that you’ll have to figure out from talking to stakeholders Don’t losesight of the end goal, because it should inform your decisions at every point Forexample, if your end point is to build empathy with users among disengagedstakeholders, then that will inform your choice of methodology and sample, thetypes of data you collect, and the approach you use to analyse and report it It’llalso determine the way you involve stakeholders throughout the project We’llshow you why you need to stay aware of those choices and consciously directyour approach with the end goal in mind, rather than just hoping for the best

Successful research is about driving design decisions through engagement, not delivering documents To be most effective, research projects are about enabling

the people who make decisions about things to experience the lives of the peoplewho use those things If you can give stakeholders an in-person connection withtheir users, you'll enhance and enrich their work, and they'll thank you for it.You'll also help them make better decisions more easily, and therefore do betterwork, and they'll love you for that Good and easy decisions don't often comefrom reading research reports, often because there's no human experience

connected with the recommendations and they're therefore not followed Also,it's easy to put a report away and ignore it, especially if it doesn't fit that person’sagenda But when a stakeholder has seen users first-hand as they comment on or

do something, recommendations are much more likely to be implemented We’llshow you how to get stakeholders engaged, and keep them engaged, using

deliverables as the final call to action.

Do as much research as you need to, and then stop You need to be able to justify

the time you spend on research: there’s no point in large-scale research projects

that deliver no outcome Instead, we’d argue for sequences of bite-sized projects,

taking a slightly different focus and methodology each time Moving in this way,

and accruing insight as you go, allows you to find out just what you need and no

more, leaving your time and budget free to act on what you’ve found Erika Hall

calls this ‘just enough research’, and we think it’s a great way of balancing out therisk of ill-informed decisions against the cost of further projects We’ll share someplanning tools you can use to structure your project, and decide when enough’s

enough

Analysis starts at the beginning As you begin a research project, you’ll already

have ideas, hunches and preconceptions about the subject you’re investigating

Instead of trying to ignore them, you should get them out in the open

Confusingly, research projects have a distinct ‘analysis stage’, but in practice

analysis is something that you do throughout the project, by taking your initial

impressions and then challenging and evolving them through talking to and

observing users (a process that Roddy Glen calls ‘rolling hypotheses’) Ultimately,the purpose of research is to make better decisions The process of engaging with

users is purely to arrive at better informed, more substantiated, more inspired

decisions We’ll show you rigorous, practical tools you can use to turn your

initial thoughts into findings and recommendations at the end of the project

Research is about consent User-centered design is based on the belief that by

understanding and delivering what users need, you can achieve better outcomes

for your organisation To do this, you need empathy and respect: going beyond a

superficial understanding of people as consumers, or users, or customers, and

engaging with them deeply as real, rounded people with needs, motivations,

emotions and desires Think of your research as a collaboration between your

team, as designers, and the people who use your product or service If you’re

conscious of the reasons why they might (or might not) want to take part, the

ways that the research experience might affect them, their preconceptions and

concerns, then you’re not just being a good person, you’re being a good designer

too We’ll walk you through the steps you should take to engage with participantsand their data with respect and care

Enough theory It’s time to start your project.

at the BBC, and David Whittle at Spotify Finally, the people who laid the

foundations: Romin Tafarodi, Alison Lyon and Pete Comley

Conventions Used

You’ll notice that we’ve used certain typographic and layout styles throughoutthis book to signify different types of information Look out for the followingitems

Tips, Notes, and Warnings

Supplementary Materials

https://www.sitepoint.com/community/ are SitePoint’s forums, for help on

any tricky web problems

books@sitepoint.com is our email address, should you need to contact us to

report a problem, or for any other reason

Make Sure You Always

pay attention to these important points.

Watch Out!

Warnings highlight any gotchas that are likely to trip you up along the way.

Chapter

Begin the Project

Starting a research project can feel manic There’s lots to organise: briefs to write,objectives to agree, and stakeholders to bring on board It’s easy to feel like you’rebeing swept away on a sea of madness But with a bit of organisation, it doesn’thave to be overwhelming If you get the setup right, the rest of the process will beless stressful and more productive

In this chapter, we’ll show you:

How to start off a project effectively

What to expect at each stage of the project

How to ensure your project generates action at the end

Get Started

To make sure you’re making a good start, it’s helpful to refer to the checklist

below, and tick off the things you need It’s also a good way to structure your

activities

1-2 The research cycle: design phase

You need… How to create it How to record it…

Post-it planning Project plan

Roles & responsibilities RASCI

Communication plan

Stakeholder

buy-in

Stakeholder interviews Engagement plan swimlanes

within project plan

Risks Pre-mortem Risk register

1 Define Your Research

You will probably already know there’s a need for research, but at this stage itmight be quite vague It’s your job to get clarity about the research objectives,otherwise your work will be unfocused, and less likely to achieve anythinguseful

With your colleagues, you need to define your objectives These fall into twocategories:

Business objectives are the end goal of the project An example business

objective: increase conversion rate by 5%

Research objectives are the learning goals of the project An example research

objective: understand how customers buy shoes for their children

You should also expect some objectives to be more obvious than others: ‘overtobjectives’ are the ones talked about openly, while ‘covert objectives’ are keptquiet (but are no less important) For your project to be considered a success,you’ll need to take into account both the overt and covert objectives

Your objectives are the single most important element in your project As youproceed, you’ll continually return to them: to help choose the right methodology,

to shape your questions, to check you’re on track, and to inform your analysis

2 Define Hypotheses

When you define objectives, you’re laying out the questions you want to answer.When you define hypotheses, you’re making your best initial guess at what thoseanswers will be The rest of the project – asking users and conducting analysis –

is the process of checking, challenging and refining your initial answers untilyou’ve reached solid conclusions

We use two kinds of hypothesis in our research projects:

Formal hypotheses are statements which can be tested against the data to

determine if they’re supported or not For example: “Regular shoe-storecustomers own more pairs of shoes than occasional shoe-store customers.”This kind of hypothesis is used in quantitative research, and if you’ve

conducted experiments at university, you’ll probably be familiar with it.

Rolling hypotheses are early-stage theories or explanations that evolve

throughout the project Think of them as hunches or assumptions, which youcan evolve, add to or reject by observing and talking to users Rolling

hypotheses start off vague, and become more solid as you proceed This kind

of hypothesis is used in qualitative research, but is very similar to the process

of learning more about any subject you previously knew little about

When you start a project, it’s helpful to get all of the team’s assumptions

(hypotheses) out in the open, so you can incorporate them into your questioning

3 Timeline & Resources

In most research projects, time is of the essence Generally, you’ll be working

towards a deadline, or in a fixed cycle of sprints, and you’ll need to shape yourapproach accordingly Also, you’ll have finite resources to work with

Defining the right approach in terms of timelines and resources – and ensuringyou’re able to stick to it – is one of the main skills of running research projects.You may be lucky enough to have a dedicated project manager, but if not, you’ll

be in charge of putting together the plan, and reviewing progress each day to

check you’re on track

4 Engage Stakeholders

If you want your research to have an impact, you’ll need to make sure your

colleagues are engaged in the process To do that, you need to be communicatingand collaborating throughout the project, not just at the end The earlier you getstarted, the more stakeholders will care about your results, and want to own andact on them Therefore, you need to plan

The trick to successful communication is to think of it as an ongoing sequence,rather than one-off messages Think strategically and plan it as a campaign,

running from the beginning of the project and on past the final documentation.We’ll show you how to do this later in the chapter

on your own.

Tools You Can Use

Now that we’ve described the building blocks you need to get started, it’s time tolook at the tools you can use to create them

Use Desk Research to Generate Hypotheses

Desk research sounds dull, but it’s actually a great way to get your head into asubject right at the beginning If you approach it creatively, you can use manydifferent approaches – see below

1-3 How to generate hypotheses

Spend some time looking at the site and service that you are working on Take alook at the top competitors as well This can often give you insight into problems,directions you may want to head in or even things to avoid Look on forums,

review any analytics you can get hold of and chat to your colleagues for any

insights they may have This can all help set the direction of your research

Don’t feel like you need to take ages over desk research: you can achieve a lot bychoosing two or three of the methods above and spending a couple of hours in

total exploring them As you go along, write your hypotheses on Post-It notes

There’s no right or wrong choice of method: just go for the ones that are easiestand quickest for you to use

Hold a Kickoff Workshop

Whatever else happens, you should always hold a kickoff workshop for your

research project This can vary in length For a sprint, it may only be half an hour;for a large-scale project with a new team, it could be a whole day

Kickoff workshops follow a standard agenda:

Introductions: If the team don’t know each other, it’s a good idea to go round

the room so everyone can say their name, their role, and their relationship tothe project

Provide background: The main sponsor (ie, normally the most senior person

in the room) should provide an introduction covering the reasons why theproject needs to happen, the business, and the context Note that the mainsponsor is the starting point for understanding the project, but it’s not the onlypoint of view that matters: there will be other stakeholders and other

perspectives that need to be taken into account

Agree objectives: Ask all of the participants in the workshop to write their

objectives for the research on Post-It notes These can then be de-duped andsorted in order of importance It’s likely that your project won’t be able tocover all the objectives proposed, so this is a good opportunity for the group toagree on any that are specifically out of scope at this stage If the same

objective is suggested by several people, it’s likely to be an important one

Generate hypotheses: Once again, ask the participants to propose their

hypotheses, written on Post-It notes A good way to do this is to read out each

of the research objectives and ask people to provide their hypotheses, thenstick the Post-It notes around the relevant objective Sometimes it can be hardfor participants to think in terms of hypotheses If that’s the case, ask them tofinish a sentence that starts with ‘I reckon…’ or ‘I believe…’ You can also askthem to say which of their hypotheses are supported by data, by stickingdifferent coloured dots onto the Post-It notes – eg, a black dot for hypothesesthat are strongly supported by existing data, an orange dot for those that aresomewhat supported by existing data, and a blue dot for those that are pureguesswork at this stage

Define resources: To complete the project, you’ll need to marshal your

resources with the help of the rest of the team Ask specifically about:

Any sources of potential participants, such as mailing lists

Who will be available to help with the research, as observer or note-taker.You may want to create a RASCI to define roles (see next section)

Any existing data sources or reports Tip: you can refer back to the blackand orange dots in the previous exercise to help nudge people to providethis

Something to test: a prototype, concept boards or existing product

Time and budget

Define roles: You’ll need to be clear about who’s doing what on the project, to

avoid overlap or mistakes There are two stages to do this:

First, create a RASCI This is a document which captures the people’s

different relationships to the project

R stands for Responsible This is the person charged with leading the

project (probably you)

A stands for Accountable This is the stakeholder who will ultimately

be judged on the project, and has signed off the budget This is likely to

be the head of your department

S stands for Supporters These are the other people who’ll support you

in getting the job done, for example by taking notes You should havemost, if not all of these people in the workshop with you

C stands for Consulted These are other stakeholders who will have an

important point of view on the project, or who will be affected by itsoutcomes

I stands for Informed This is the broader audience for the research.

They’re likely to be less engaged than those in the Consulted category.Next, write all the different jobs that will need to be done on Post-It notes.Create several columns – one for yourself, and others for each of the people

in the Supporters category of the RASCI Allocate the jobs under each ofthese columns until you’re confident that everything is covered You mayfind that you add additional supporters as part of this process, if you’ve

forgotten someone

Define the approach: You’ll probably want to define this in your own time

(see Chapter 2), but the team may have some initial preferences or

expectations for the approach

Define the sample: Again, you will define this more solidly later (see Chapter

3), but at this stage it can be useful to hear the team’s suggestions about the

kinds of people you should be approaching to interview

Arrange stakeholder interviews: Now is a good time to define the other

stakeholders you should be speaking to, and arranging times to interview

them

Define communications approach: Agree the format, frequency and

communications tools you’ll use to catch up and review work

Pre-mortem: Now you’ve got a good idea of the project objectives and

approach, the team should consider the project risks We do this using a mortem’ exercise: ask the team to project their thoughts forward to the end ofthe project, and assume it hasn’t gone well In this imaginary scenario, what

‘pre-are the elements that went wrong? How could they have been avoided? This is

a surprisingly fun activity, and extremely effective at identifying risks

Personal objectives: Finally, research projects are also a time for you and your

team to learn and grow Is there a new research technique that you want totry? Or a new piece of software that you and your team want to trial?

Challenge yourself to include something new in your plans every time yourun a research project

If you’ve got less time, another way to structure a kickoff workshop is to beginwith an empty research canvas document (see below), and fill it in as a team Thisworks well when you know each other better, or when the project is a

continuation of a previous study

Talk to Your Stakeholders

Stakeholder interviews provide a counterpart to the kickoff workshop For all ofour bigger research projects, we carry out stakeholder interviews

Stakeholders are the main people who’ll refer to your research to make decisions

in the future They be may responsible for a part of the organisation that yourresearch relates to, or they may have an interest in the results For example, if youwere working on a piece of research for an online shoe retailer, your stakeholderscould include the Head of Marketing, Copywriter, User Experience Designer, LeadDeveloper and Commercial Director

Stakeholder interviews serve four key purposes:

1 They help you define your research objectives and research hypotheses

2 They give you a chance to gain a better understanding of the organisationyou’re working with, the dynamics of the business, who’s who, and the

relationships between them It’s your way to minimise the impact of anyexisting politics on your project!

3 They’re a brilliant way of getting lots of people from many different areas ofthe business on board with your project Having them onside can be

invaluable and insightful

4 If you’re working for a client, often stakeholders will appreciate having

someone outside of the organisation to chat to It can end up being quitecathartic for them to have someone to vent at!

Who should you include? Obviously this will depend on the time available, andthe willingness of participants However, a good guide is the RASCI If you

completed one in your stakeholder workshop, include the people listed under theAccountable and Consulted categories It’s a good idea to include a mix of the

most senior people who have a relationship to your project, and those ‘on the

ground’, who will be asked to implement any changes

It also pays to be mindful that stakeholders (especially senior ones) are often

pushed for time, so can be difficult to pin down You can increase the chances ofthem agreeing to chat to you if you keep the following in mind:

You will need to convince them that meeting with you and giving up some oftheir day is worth their while You can do this by briefly explaining your

research and how you believe this will help Try to explain the value of the

project in their terms, rather than yours

You need to have done your homework and go into the interview with a goodunderstanding of the business, the role of your research and how it can help

them

You should treat the interview like a meeting, so we recommend sending over

an agenda This gives them a good idea of what to expect, and gives them time

to prepare their thoughts

It also pays to show your enthusiasm!

Create a Research Canvas

A research canvas is a fantastic way to summarise your project on one page Putthis up on the wall of your project area and you’ll have a succinct view of your

entire project A research canvas summarises your objectives, approach and otherkey aspects of your plan in a table that’s easy to refer back to throughout the

project (see example below)

1-4 An example research canvas

Some headings may be more relevant than others, so feel free to play with theformat and change the section titles until you find a version that’s right for you

Having a research canvas will help you to:

Define the objectives of your project

Make sure you ask all the questions you need at the beginning of the project.Have something to refer back to if you are considering changes to your

approach mid-project

Help you to onboard new team members

Your research canvas should be visible Ideally, it will be printed out and posted

in your team’s working area, as the start of a research wall or project space (see

Chapter 8)

Project Plan

Running a research project involves co-ordinating a lot of resources and people:participants, stakeholders, note-takers, research facilities and recruiters, among

others Without a project plan, it would be chaos

A project plan is essentially a timeline, showing what will happen when, and

enabling you to make sure you’ve got enough to complete each activity before

your deadlines Once you’ve got a project plan, you can specify when you need

particular resources in place – for example, when you need recruitment

completed by

All research projects follow the same basic pattern:

1-5 A more detailed look at the research cycle

Within that basic framework, though, there’s a lot of variation, depending on yourtarget audience, your methodology, your recruitment method and the scale ofyour project It’s a good idea to leave a little bit of wriggle room to allow forunexpected overruns.

Make a Plan to Engage People

We’ve mentioned already that you should plan your research projects for impact,not just to deliver a report For this to happen, you’ll need to get buy-in andengagement from stakeholders This is part of a deliberate process we call

engagement planning

1 First, you should be clear about who you need to get buy-in from If you’vecreated a RASCI, this would be the people in your Accountable and Consultedcategories In some cases, the Informed category is important, too

2 Identify what each of these audiences are interested in Do they have a

business need that relates to your work? Does it have the potential to affectone of their KPIs? What are their overt and covert objectives? If you talk intheir terms, they’re more likely to take an interest and act on your findings.You can do this in your kickoff workshop and stakeholder interviews

3 Identify the key messages you’ll need each audience to take out of the

research For your main project sponsor, it might be: “I understand how best

to spend my budget to increase shoe sales.” For the people who’ll put thefindings into action, it might be: “I understand what information shoe

shoppers need in the checkout process.”

4 Identify the moments at which each audience needs to hear about the project.For senior stakeholders, and those who are less engaged, this might be ahandful of times in the process: perhaps an interview at the beginning, anupdate midway through, and a debrief at the end For others, you might have aweekly catchup session Bear in mind when you want decisions to be made:sometimes this will be at the end, but if it’s a fast-moving project, you willwant to feed information through earlier

5 Identify the communication methods that will work best for each audience ateach stage Bear in mind how interested, engaged, and motivated each

audience is to hear about the details For some, it may be best to offer a

resource they can dip into, like a project blog or pizza session For others, theymay want a short and punchy format like a 10-minute face-to-face update

Others may be happiest to wait for the full version, in a final debrief session.Best of all, though, is to encourage your audience to attend the research

sessions If you can get them to show up for the first two interviews, they maystay around for the rest, too

We find it easiest to visualise this as an additional set of swimlanes on your

project plan Once you’ve created your plan, it’s a good idea to sense-check it

with your colleagues to ensure it works for them, too As well as ensuring you’vegot the right approach, this also helps to set expectations and build anticipation

1-6 Engagement planning

If you follow this approach, you’ll find you engage your audience and bring themwith you on the journey through the project Ultimately, it’ll mean your results

are acted on, which is the whole point of doing research!

What to Watch Out For

When you’re planning engagement, there are a few pitfalls to watch out for:

Be ruthless Keep focused on the audiences that matter – ie, the ones you need

to act or make decisions Aim for efficiencies by looking for communicationmethods that will work for multiple audiences Don’t hold a feedback sessionthat’s not required In particular, avoid the temptation to save everything upfor a ‘big reveal’ at the end If you can, engage your audience sooner

Move quickly, if you can Fast findings (even if they’re not perfect) are usuallybetter than polished findings that arrive too late

If you want to get your audience involved, showing them is better than tellingthem Involving them in the process is best of all

To get maximum impact, you should expect to spend as much time

communicating the research as you do conducting it That sounds like a lot ofextra work, but in fact you can be efficient by involving your team in activitieslike note-taking and analysis Not only will you achieve greater buy-in, you’vereduced the need for extra debrief sessions or documentation

Make sure you know how and when senior stakeholders want to be keptinformed If you’re not careful, you can over-communicate with them, or usethe wrong channel, and run the risk of them tuning out Instead, ask themearly on how they’d like to be kept informed: a summary email, three-slidedeck or project blog are good methods to suggest

Tactics for Engagement

To help you make your plan, it’s worth thinking about some of the methods youcan use to engage your audience This isn’t a complete list – use it as a startingpoint to add your own ideas to:

Stakeholder interviews (see above)

Project space (see Chapter 8)

Show & tell (see Chapter 9)

Topline findings (see Chapter 9)

Project blog / website (see Chapter 9)

4 Decide How You Will Communicate With Your Team

Encouraging good communication within the team is key to the smooth running

of your research project, and happy colleagues

We use a number of different communication patterns on our projects:

Regular stand up meetings These could be daily or a couple of times per

week, and shouldn’t last more than around 15 minutes

More in-depth milestone meetings to review documents, make more complex

decisions or get signoff from stakeholders These might last up to an hour, andwill be scheduled well in advance as part of the project plan, to ensure

everyone can attend

Shared documents that the whole team can access These include the project

canvas, project plan, and others we’ve mentioned already, but also the

recruitment brief, discussion guide, analysis plan and deliverables To make

them accessible, we use software such as Google Docs and Dropbox

Collaboration tools can be incredibly helpful, especially if you’re working

with a distributed team We love Trello, Evernote, Slack and Google Hangouts

For some research projects, you may be building a prototype with your project

team Make sure you pick software with a decent sharing feature so that it’s

easy for you to share feedback with your colleagues

When you decide on your approach, it’s worth bearing in mind a few factors:

Who are the key people you’ll need to contact What are their communicationpreferences?

What software are you able to use? For example, your organisation may haverules that prohibit certain products or limit their effectiveness

It’s better to have a flawed tool or meeting setup that’s accessible to everyone,than to have multiple different setups for different people In the latter

scenario, confusion reigns We’ve experienced projects where the team have

attempted to use a mix of Google Hangouts, Skype, Slack, email and

conference calls, with the result that messages got lost and key people were

excluded from the conversation

Work Through Risks to the Project

A risk register is a list of the potential pitfalls that might affect your project, andyour team’s planned response to them Normally, you’d produce this in two

bursts: firstly as a team, and then adding in detail yourself later

A risk register has five columns:

The first column describes the risk – eg, “Prototype isn’t ready in time for

testing.”

The second column rates the probability of this problem occurring, normally

on a scale of one to five, where one means very unlikely and five means verylikely

The third column rates the impact of the problem if it does occur, again on a

scale of one to five where one means minimal impact and five means majorimpact on the business

The fourth column is the importance of the risk You generate this by

multiplying the probability and impact columns, to generate a score from 1 to25

The fifth column is response This is what you plan to do to address the risk.

You may choose a plan to mitigate it (such as “Assign additional developers tothe prototype team”), or ignore it if the importance score is low

Risk registers work best in a spreadsheet format Once you’ve completed yourtable, it’s a good idea to sort it by the fourth column, so the most important risksare at the top

1-7 A risk register

Summary

A good research project takes planning, preparation and a considered approach

Clearly define your objectives using workshops, briefs, desk research and

stakeholder interviews

Involve your colleagues in generating hypotheses

Include your stakeholders as soon as possible Be strategic about engaging

them through the project.

Figure out the best ways to keep in touch with your team

Minimise the chances of things going wrong during your project by running apre-mortem and discussing what you think could fail

Chapter

Choose an Approach

Once you’ve conducted your kickoff session, stakeholder interviews and desk

research, you’re ready to design your research methodology

2-1 The research cycle: design phase

Designing a research project is easy, if you’ve grasped a few core principles In

this chapter, we’re going to explain those principles, and show you a useful tool