By Kosta Bolgov
The secret recipe for speeding up research
Kate Fisher
When it comes to sharing insights, timing is everything. Teams want to move quickly. Research holds the greatest chance of influencing direction and making an impact when it keeps up with the pace of business.
But what if you could execute research faster without sacrificing quality simply by changing how you organize study materials?
That’s what happened when we started using a research study template as a launchpad for all of our study assets.
Challenges with research projects
In research, your materials tend to be spread across tools, from videos in a user interview platform, to notes in a word processor, and results shared through Slack or email. Hours disappear finding and forwarding files and getting the right people looking in the right place. That was certainly our experience at InVision. So we asked ourselves, what would it look like to run a hassle-free research study?
Dreaming up an ideal solution
We knew we needed a central location for all our study materials. Even better if we could replicate the structure and use it over and over again. Individual freehand templates were already saving us time, so we decided to build on the concept.
We set out to templatize an entire research study from start to finish. We needed something with enough structure to scaffold a study, but the flexibility to adapt to different needs and styles of working.
Setting up a research space
Below is a list of the sections and contents we have in our research space. If you’d like to set up your own, inspired by ours, here’s how!
First, create a dedicated space and name it to reflect your research project. Within that space, create a sidebar section for each project phase. Then create and organize all the resources you need to run your study in sequence within each sidebar section.
Here are the documents to include:
Planning
- Stakeholder alignment workshop: use this framework to collaboratively decide key questions and align on research goals with your team
- Study plan: document the project objectives, methodology, and timeline
- Project tasks kanban board: track next steps and project logistics so no details fall through the cracks
Testing materials
- Embedded prototype: upload your prototype along with your research materials for easier feedback gathering
- Session framework: outline the technique and process needed to gather feedback so each session is consistent
Interviews
- Video library: store and tag videos from your user interviews for later viewing
- Session notes: document the quotes and observations for each participant alongside their session video and transcript
Findings
- Themes rolling list: record themes and insights continuously in a table throughout the project as ideas emerge
- Research synthesis template: use AI to cut through the noise and uncover insights to make your first pass at synthesis quick and easy
- Presentation template: arrange your findings into a presentation to tell a compelling story about your insights
Index
- Bonus! Use this section to store project support and reference materials.
No template is a one-size-fits-all solution. But we love how easy it is to duplicate this template to suit the scope and needs of any research study.
Pro Tip: Once you’ve created your research space, easily re-use it by duplicating the space.