My framework to scope UX Research Projects (Part 2/3)
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This article is the second of a series of 3 articles on how to scope a UX Research project before starting it. If you liked this article, stay tuned for the next one.
When should you do it?
The answer is pretty straightforward: as early as possible, meaning when you receive your research request from the stakeholder.
The earlier you scope your UX research project and the more you strive to have the scope clear, the less time you will waste later down the road. You will also dramatically reduce the risks of misunderstandings between you and your stakeholders.
Naturally, you might not have all the answers to your questions from the very beginning. That is why my framework is intended to be used as a multiple step process: by first determining if research should be used at all, followed by determining the size that the research project should have and ending with the specifics you need for you to run your research project.
Ideally, a research project should start when all the questions are answered. In practice though, this is oftentimes not the case but I would advise against starting any project without the first 2 sections answered: “Should any research be conducted at all” and “How big should the research be”.
How should you do it?
The format is actually not that important. What matters is to go through the process of wondering 1. if research can and should be conducted, 2. how heavy the research should be and 3. what you should know before kicking off.
Naturally, the answers to these questions will mostly be provided to you through stakeholders ‘interviews’. Interviews is not the only way though. Do what fits your ways of working and what would fit most to the workload of everyone. You can integrate this framework to the tool you are mostly using (Miro, google sheets), what matters is that you have as many questions answered as possible by the end of the scoping stage.
In the past, and depending on the company I was working at, I would either have a meeting with stakeholders and simply going through the questions together, sending them the questions over email or even through a workshop!
As I said it several times already, the framework consists in several parts:
Determining if research should be conducted or not
Sizing the research need
Researching the research request
The objective of this framework is to provide you with a list of questions from which you can pick the ones you need depending on the circumstances. The list of questions is by not means exhaustive nor it is intended to be used entirely every time. Please do not bombard your stakeholders — as a researcher, you are also expected to try to look for the answers by yourself if you know it will be easier than asking your stakeholders. Finally, it needs to be adapted to the needs of every scenario and company.
Follow me on Medium and on my Substack for more articles and stay tuned for the part 3on my framework to scope UX Research projects, coming soon 👀