research-planning

Research Planning

Research is how we replace assumptions with evidence. This skill structures what you need to learn before committing to a design direction.

When to Use

• The design brief identifies unknowns about users, context, or behaviour
• The team is making decisions based on assumptions rather than evidence
• A design is being created for a new audience or unfamiliar context
• Stakeholders disagree about user needs

Process

Step 1: Identify Knowledge Gaps

Review the design brief and list:

• What do we know about the people who will use this? (Evidence-backed)
• What do we assume? (Believed but unverified)
• What do we not know? (Acknowledged gaps)

Present this to the user. Assumptions and unknowns become research questions.

Step 2: Frame Research Questions

Convert gaps into answerable questions. Good research questions are:

• Specific — "How do users with screen readers navigate multi-step forms?" not "Is the form accessible?"
• Observable — focused on behaviour, not opinion
• Actionable — the answer will change a design decision

Aim for 3-5 research questions. More than that means you need to narrow scope.

Step 3: Select Methods

Match methods to questions:

Question Type	Recommended Methods
"What do people currently do?"	Journey mapping, diary studies, contextual inquiry
"Why do people struggle with X?"	Usability testing, think-aloud protocols
"What do people need?"	Interviews, jobs-to-be-done analysis
"Which approach works better?"	A/B testing, preference testing, card sorting
"How does our offering compare?"	Competitive analysis, heuristic evaluation
"Who are we designing for?"	Persona development, ability spectrum mapping

Step 4: Plan for Inclusion

Every research plan must address:

• Participant diversity — include people with disabilities, different ages, different technical literacy, different languages
• Method accessibility — ensure research methods themselves are accessible (e.g., interview formats that work for people with communication differences)
• Situational contexts — include scenarios of stress, distraction, low bandwidth, unfamiliar environments

Step 5: Write the Research Plan

# Research Plan: [Topic]

## Research Questions
1. [Question]
2. [Question]
3. [Question]

## Methods
| Method | Questions Addressed | Participants | Timeline |
|--------|-------------------|-------------|----------|
| [Method] | Q1, Q2 | [Who and how many] | [When] |

## Inclusion Considerations
[How participant diversity and method accessibility will be ensured]

## Expected Outputs
[What deliverables this research will produce — personas, journey maps, findings report]

## Decision Points
[Which design decisions this research will inform]

Save to: docs/designpowers/research/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-plan.md

Step 6: User Review

Present the plan. Confirm scope, methods, and timeline are realistic.

Integration

• Called by: design-discovery
• Calls: inclusive-personas (when persona development is a research output)
• Pairs with: design-strategy (research informs strategy)

What This Skill Does NOT Do

This skill plans research — it does not execute it. Execution happens with real people in the real world. The plan ensures that when research happens, it is structured, inclusive, and actionable.