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UX Atlas
TemplateCraft conventionFoundational

Research Plan

Defines the question, the method and the decision the research will inform, before any data is collected.

Definition

A research plan forces the useful questions up front: what you want to know, what you will do with the answer, and what result would change your mind.

Craft convention. True because the industry converged on it. Breaking it costs familiarity, not correctness.

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Purpose

If you cannot complete this section, the study is not ready to run.

One question, phrased so it can be answered. Not a topic.

What will be done differently depending on the answer. If nothing, do not run the study.

State assumptions explicitly so they can be disconfirmed rather than reinforced.

Name it in advance. This is the strongest defence against confirmation bias.

Method

Match the method to the question. Behaviour needs observation; prevalence needs a survey.

Who, how many, how recruited, and which segments. Include people who rejected the product where relevant.

Tasks are goals, not instructions. Avoid naming the interface elements.

Behavioural measures first. Satisfaction is secondary and contaminated by aesthetics.

Logistics and ethics

Dates for recruitment, sessions, analysis and readout, and who is accountable for each.

What participants are told, what is recorded, how it is stored, when it is deleted, and what may leave your systems.

Sampling limits, moderator bias, prototype fidelity, anything that constrains the conclusions.

Continue from here

Each link says what the connection is, so you can tell a principle from an alternative from a thing people mix this up with.

Often used with

These usually appear in the same screen or the same decision.