Our Guide to

Research

Our Guides

Our guides are here to help you understand a topic or to provide support for a particular task you might already be working on. Inside you’ll find lots of information to help you plan and make better

decisions. We’re not saying we have all the answers but we believe the stuff inside this guide will help get you started. If you think we’ve missed anything, or you want to join in the debate then please get in touch.

Inside you’ll find

• What is Research?• A Research process?• Who else is involved?• Service Design techniques • Some important things to remember• How we can help

What is Research?In a nutshell

It’s a massive topic and it’s changing all of the time. So this guide will only cover the things we think you really ought to consider when you need research findings as a business or individual within the customer experience field.

The information included in this guide is based primarily on our personal experience of undertaking our own research projects, managing research projects in-house and commissioning agencies to complete work on our behalf.

It’s about

• Being familiar with the simple steps you need to take for research to be a valuable exercise

• Being clear about exactly what you need to find out and why

• Understanding the difference between flimsy and robust research findings

• Using findings that already exist (secondary) vs. going out to get your own (primary) research

• Undertaking your own research project or commissioning a research agency to complete it for you

• Gaining an understanding of some research methodologies (a few of the main ways research is carried

out)

• Ensuring that the effort and budget put into the research project will give you the right information to

achieve your objectives

• Finding ways to continually refresh your research findings.

Research processFrom start to finish

Research Purpose:

Defining your research objectives. Knowing

exactly what you need to find out and WHY

Research Audience:

Defining your research target audience

Research Methodology:

Defining which research approach is best for

getting the insights you need

Research Recruitment:

Recruiting research participants, developing content and screeners

Research Fieldwork:

Engaging with research participants in live

environments

Research Dipstick:

Assessing early research progress and early

findings

Research Findings:

Formulation of results and presentation of findings

and insights

Practical Application:

Guided use of research insights

Research Re-fresh:

Future research events to monitor change and

update insight

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UsingDoingThinking

Research purpose The questions to ask yourself

Guiding research decisions

Asking yourself the following questions will really help you identify the validity of undertaking any

research project. It’s always a good idea to question thoroughly at this stage to ensure you

don’t get yourself into difficulties later. Questions such as these will help you identify the people

you need to work with, the type of methodology to use and whether it is something you can do

yourselves or with external support.

What do we need to know?

Do we already know it?

Who needs to be involved?

What will we do

with the results?

Can we do it

ourselves?

What are our

business

objectives? Where

can research help

us and how?

Do we have a

clear idea of how

results might be

used?

What research

findings do we

have already?

Has another team

already done

some research we

could use?

Who do we need

to involve in the

research? Who

are we targeting?

What internal

support do we

need? Do we

need permission

from some

quarters?

Once the results

are in then what?

How will we use

the data and

insight gathered

to support our

objectives?

Is this something

we could do

ourselves in-

house?

Do we need

external support

to help us with

this?

Research audience Defining your research target audience

Understanding your research

audience is critical. It will help you

decide the approach you take,

the methodologies you choose,

the format of any research

techniques and even the tone of

the questions you ask. Thorough

work here will make later decisions

easier and quicker to make

Some of the questions you need to ask include:

• Who are we researching?

• Where do they live?

• What is their relationship with us?

• Are they customers? Or prospects?

• How would we approach them?

• How easy are they to reach and engage with?

• How big is our segment?

Research methodology Defining your approach

Once you know why you need to

undertake research and who

you’re looking to research the next

question is to assess how to

complete the research. The

choice of methodologies is

endless, as are the formats and

tools available. We’ve outlined

some of the key considerations

you need to be thinking about.

Research is split into roughly two areas: Primary and Secondary

Primary is when you undertake your own research, often

because there is nothing out there on the topic you want to

know about or you can’t find anything relevant or robust

enough. It might be that you just want a more up to date view.

Within Primary research there are two main methods called

qualitative and quantitative – we’ll talk about these later.

Secondary is when you look at the work of others through an

approach called ‘desk research.’ The web is a powerful tool. Be

sure to ask search engines a range of differently worded

questions to discover the best information. A helpful tip is to

draw a word spider diagram playing on some of the most

common words to do with your research topic. It can really help

accelerate the type of information you find online.

Qualitative and quantitative research Be clear on the differences

This is when you examine, analyse and interpret observations. It’s used to discover the underlying meaning and patterns of relationships people have with things.

You can gain an insider’s view of the world. The researcher can find issues and opportunities that are often missed by the scientific, quantitative approach. Qualitative verbatim can generate insights the research sponsor may not be aware of.

Focus groups are a good example of a qualitative research method.

Drawbacks

Validity and reliability is a major criticism of this approach. It’s subjective.

The context, events, situations and interactions cannot be replicated to any extent. Small samples are sometimes seen as invalid by other stakeholders.

Qualitative Observational research

Mostly expressed in numbers. It’s about researching with a bigger number of participants. Often follows on from a qualitative piece of research. The bigger number makes it more robust. You can compare data sets and participants answers across many more variables.

Surveys conducted either face to face in structured interviews, administered by a researcher or self-completion where someone completes the survey without support from a researcher.

Drawbacks

This approach will tell you what is happening and not why. Research like this can often struggle with identifying root causes. On occasion the findings can be banal and trivial due to the restriction on the controlling variables.

Quantitative Mass involvement research

Research recruitmentInviting participants to get involved and rewarding them

Defining your research audience will help answer those really important questions around the type of research methodology you need to use and how easy it will be to engage with them.

Once the audience has been defined you need to start thinking about engagement and recruitment. Some audiences might be hard to reach (i.e. individuals who are isolated in society) and this will have an impact on the type of research and field work you might want to undertake.

Writing an engagement plan should be your first step. This will outline how you intend to approach, contact, explain and conduct the research with the required participants. On top of this you’ll need to consider a research screener. This tool will help ensure you’re recruiting the right people.

It’s also important at this stage to consider incentives for participation. Rewarding participants is a great way to say

thanks and your project could benefit from more engaged participants as a result.

Audience definition and recruitment

Research fieldworkGathering data, finding insights, listening, watching

Whether you’re conducting qualitative or quantitative research this is often the most exciting and exacting phase of your research project.

Fieldwork often takes a few weeks, so it’s best not to rush it. Participants are human, after all, and even when incentivised they still have their own busy lives to lead. It’s always worth building some time into your plan to take this into account. Many research projects deliver poor results due to having a small window of opportunity for fieldwork.

The techniques you choose for your fieldwork phase may differ. The word ‘fieldwork’ often confuses people: it doesn’t necessarily mean you need to venture out to speak to everyone yourself. Your fieldwork might take place using an online panel where participants log on and answer questions remotely. In other cases researchers might venture out to speak with participants and interview them recording results using a dictaphone or video camera.

Research in action

Research dipstickAssessing progress, managing intervention, first peek

Clients often want research findings and useable insights quickly. The research team or agency often wants the same. The issue for both is that rushing the fieldwork or providing a small window of opportunity in which to collect responses will only damage the validity of the work.

A happy medium is to propose a dipstick sample during the later stages of the fieldwork. The dipstick isn’t just a way of getting your hands on early results. It’s a great way of assessing progress and checking whether you’re research is going to deliver the types of information you require. You can use the dipstick event to address any recruitment issues, make changes to the remaining fieldwork activities or get a feel for the types of results that are coming in.

The good news is that both the client and research team or agency will want to do a dipstick to ensure that objectives and outcomes on both sides are likely to be delivered.

Monitoring early results

Research findingsShowcasing results, debating insights, discussing implications

Often the most attended meeting of any research project. You’ll often have meeting attendees who have never shown previous interest in the project. Those responsible for the research will have to plan the event carefully to ensure the results are showcased correctly with plenty of time allocated to questions, debates and discussion.

It’s always a good idea to ensure that the results aren’t just in graph format and that some sort of summary and insight generation has been done. Not everyone in the room will be familiar with data clusters, so showcasing the insight generated from any data will really help.

It’s also worth sharing as much content as possible with those attending. Videos, audio clips and the like are a great way to get people involved in the findings.

Don’t forget some question anticipation. Some colleagues will come armed with questions about things from sample

sizes to audience profiles. Be prepared to answer any difficult questions.

The moment everyone has been waiting for

Practical application From graphs and charts to plans and actions

The main concern for lots of people attending the presentation of findings will be how to use these insights to change internal behaviours, address business goals and support improvements. It’s always a good idea to have some practical application ideas to offer at the end of the findings presentation. This helps stakeholders to see that this project is on-going and that you’re actively considering the next steps you need to take.

Once your findings are completed you’ll need to share these with the wider business to ensure everyone can benefit as much as possible.

Any future work based o the research should reference it where possible. This should be encouraged, especially as it supports the value of the work and demonstrates to stakeholders how the insight is having a positive business impact.

Implementing change based on insight gathering

Research re-fresh Audiences change, insight evolves

Like any research output time will have an impact on its relevance. A research project completed today will have significantly less impact in 2017. Changes in audience, research methodologies and business goals will lesson the impact of the original research.

Those responsible for the research should work hard to update and keep the research fresh. For those on a tight budget it doesn’t necessarily mean re-doing the whole piece of work again. You may want to focus on a particular area or speak to a smaller sample of research participants.

Remember to talk openly about the need for regular and continuous research. Without this you’ll struggle to get any future work signed off, especially if senior leaders view the work as robust long after its sell by date.

Research results degrade over time

Some important things to consider

People digest research results in different waysAvoid reliance on charts and graphs

Not everyone enjoys statistics

Whilst some of us love data and statistics, many more prefer small bites of information, insight and content. Remember that those using any research output or attending any findings de-brief will want to quickly see the insights relevant to them.

Any research presentation should avoid spending too much time showcasing chart artwork or presenting charts which are difficult to decipher

and understand. If charts are necessary then brief executive summaries should accompany each one with any insight clearly shown.

Before you showcase any findings assess those you need to engage or who might be attending any research meetings. From this you’ll be able to deduce the type and format of anything you need to present.

Check before commissioning research Avoid starting research without assessing existing knowledge

Avoid re-invention

Most large businesses will have experienced this problem at some point. Work is commissioned and it’s later established that there was existing material already in place.

Avoid duplication of work by checking any research work that might already exist. Another part of the business may already have completed some research which could help.

When scoping your research project speak to as many people as possible to ensure nothing has been missed. A good idea is to speak to those who may have occupied your position in the past. For those still working in the business they may have a view of work already carried out and which may be buried on some long forgotten hard drive or filing system.

Pilot and test research components Test, check, refine, mitigate

Best practice research behaviours

Having assessed and understood your target audience it should be easy to design surveys, research invites and incentives that work.

However, the key to good research is in ensuring that every component works well. Surveys are a good example of a research tool that should be tested vigorously before it is used in the real world.

Some people may not understand a certain question. It might be the style of language or even the way the question needs to be answered. You should test each element of your research project with a small group of participants. It will help you identify areas for improvement and mitigate issues quickly before they become a bigger problem.

How we can helpYou’re not alone

1Research Projects

Whether you’re looking

for us to run a research

project or help with a

particular area we’ve

got years of experience

which can help you get

the results you need

2Survey Design

You may want us to help

you design, test and

implement a survey with

your customers. We’ve

got all the necessary skills

to design a survey that

gives you the answers

you need

3Guidance

You may be looking for

some support in making

some research decisions.

Whether it’s sample size

or screener build we can

help you address your

needs quickly and

efficiently