Why?
Research is a great tool to inform business decisions. By identifying your users' motivations and needs, and studying how they interact with your products or services, you will be able to create and design better experiences.
One of the most important steps in any research process is working together with all team members to determine the main objectives, what should be investigated, and how the required information could be obtained considering the available time and resources. Defining the research framework collaboratively will ensure that all stakeholders are aligned with the general objectives and understand what will be gained from the research actions.
What?
A good research framework should not only define the research questions, but also the type of information needed to answer them and the methods that will be used to collect this data.
At Pixel Research Lab, we know that making decisions based on unreliable or outdated data is just as risky as making uninformed decisions. Using just one research method can increase the chances of getting incomplete or biased information. For example, a survey could help you identify characteristics, attitudes, or preferences of a large volume of users, but it would tell you little about the reasons behind their responses. On the other hand, interviews may be useful to understand users' motivations and needs, but they are often conducted only on a small sample, which could not be representative of all user groups. Do you see where we are going?
To inform decision-making with relevant and robust data, we recommend designing research frameworks that combine quantitative and qualitative methods. This allows identifying what users think and do, as well as understanding the reasons behind their attitudes and behaviour.
âIf I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.â â Albert Einstein
How?
Developing a good research framework is not easy. But don't worry, we are here to share our secret weapon with you. Following these 2 steps, you will be able to align your team and define together the research actions:
đ Align
The first step is to determine with all team members what questions need to be answered about your users in order to achieve the general objectives of your project. Remember: less is more! Don't aim to solve all your doubts with a single action; it's best to focus on concrete questions and execute short, iterative research actions with your users.
đ Define
Once the research objectives have been determined, prioritize which questions should be targeted first and identity the type of data that you'll need to collect to answer them.
Select the appropriate methods and tools to collect the data. We recommend Landscape of User Research Methods de Chris Rohner as a guide to choose the research methods according to the type of information you need about the users.
Try to include both quantitative and qualitative methods to assess your users' behaviours and attitudes. This allows to obtain a more comprehensive picture of your users. By triangulating the findings from the different methods, you will be able to identify patterns and obtain robust insights.
Finally, make sure that the planned research actions are feasible and identify the resources you will need to execute them.
It does not matter if it is UX research, design research, market research, you can always start by aligning and defining your research actions with this Miro team workshop. đ
Conclusion
âRemember: the most important step in any research process is to clearly determine what we want to solve, answer or validate. Define a research framework with your team that includes both quantitative and qualitative methods to identify patterns in your users' attitudes and behaviours.
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