Research Project Plan

Example
When you work on a user research project, it’s a good idea to create a project plan document. The
document will help you and the people you work with keep track of the purpose and practicalities of
your project. Here, we show you an example of what a research plan document should contain.

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to find out how our target group listens to music. When, where and
how does music listening fit into their daily lives? We need to get an understanding of this so that
we know what new features would be most relevant and helpful to our target group.

Method
We will do 8-10 contextual interviews with people from our target group and have them show us
how and where they listen to music.

Participants
Participants will be people aged 18-35, who use a music service and listens to music at least 3
times a week. Since we only have two weeks to carry out the study we will recruit from the local
area through our network and postings on social media.

Location
We will do the interviews in the participants’ home. That way the participants feel at ease and they
can show us where they listen to music in their home and what equipment they use.

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[Continued from previous page]

Script
Introduction
Hi. As you know my name is Ditte and I work on the user experience team in Awesome Music
Service Company. We are really interested in learning more about the role that music plays in
people’s everyday life, so that’s what I want to talk to you about today.

Interview Guide
• How often do you listen to music?

• How do you normally listen to music?

• Where do you normally listen to music?

• Can you describe the last time you listened to music?

• Etc.

Data and Analysis

We will record video during the interviews using a GoPro Hero 5 camera and an iPhone (as a
backup).

We will do a thematic analysis identifying the main themes in the interviews.

Consent & NDA

We will send an email to the participants explaining the purpose of the study before the interviews.
In the beginning of the interview session we will repeat the same information to ensure that the
participant has understood and consents to participating.

[Continued on next page]

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Creative Commons BY-SA license: You are free to edit and redistribute this template, even for commercial use, as long as you give credit to the Interaction Design Foundation. Also, if you remix,
transform, or build upon this template, you must distribute it under the same CC BY-SA license.
[Continued from previous page]

Email: Hi John. Thank you so much for participating in our study. The purpose of our visit is for
Awesome Music Service Company learn more about the role that music plays in people’s everyday
life. With your permission, we would like to record video of the interview. Only people on the
Awesome Music Service Company’s user experience team will see the video material. We also
want you to know that you can quit the interview at any time if you feel like it, no hard feelings.

Communication
We plan to bring a member of the design or project management team to observe each interview.
At the end of the project we will host a workshop for the team to identify design opportunities
based on the research. We will also write a report documenting the research process and the
results.

Time plan
We will plan the study and recruit participants in week 11. The interview sessions will run in week
12 and we will carry out the analysis in week 13. We expect to do a workshop by the end of week
13.

INTERACTION-DESIGN.ORG

Creative Commons BY-SA license: You are free to edit and redistribute this template, even for commercial use, as long as you give credit to the Interaction Design Foundation. Also, if you remix,
transform, or build upon this template, you must distribute it under the same CC BY-SA license.
Do you want to learn more?
Learn how to use this template to your best advantage in our online course User Research –
Methods and Best Practices. Sign up for it today and learn how you can gain and apply user
insights through qualitative research if you haven’t already started the course.

User Research – Methods and Best Practices

Beginner course
User experience (UX) design requires you to understand the pains and pleasures of your users—and
user research is the way in which to do just that. In that sense, it’s actually the largest part of the
field... meaning it’s essential for you to have the relevant skills and knowledge if you want to be
competing with the best. In our course User Research – Methods and Best Practices, you’ll learn
the best practices for getting first-hand knowledge of your users, thus enabling you to design the
optimal product—one that’s truly relevant for your users and, subsequently, outperforms your
competitors’. In the course you’ll be equipped with templates that will give you pointers on how to
effectively interview your users, conduct observations, and best present your findings to
stakeholders. You’ve already downloaded one template, now take the next step and master the full
range of user research techniques!

Learn more about this course

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Creative Commons BY-SA license: You are free to edit and redistribute this template, even for commercial use, as long as you give credit to the Interaction Design Foundation. Also, if you remix,
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Creative Commons BY-SA license: You are free to edit and redistribute this template, even for commercial use, as long as you give credit to the Interaction Design Foundation. Also, if you remix,
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