Field Research

Anatomy of a project

Every project is a world on itself. As a researcher I need to ask myself (and the stakeholders, of course) many questions before a kick off. Have we done some similar study in the past? If yes, how can we leverage the information gathered? Is this product validation or exploratory study? How much time do we have? What is the scope of this project? Who is involved and who should be part of this study internally?

After a quick overview, and again depending on some variables, an ideal study should have the following steps:

• Goals definition

  • We need to have a commonly agreed and clear definition of what our stakeholders want to learn, this will be the guide for the study.

• Choosing the activity/method

  • What I’ll be using to understand our users, their goals, needs, pains, and gains, or to measure the experience of users performing tasks.

• Plan the study

  • Set up a calendar, start recruiting, sending invitations,…

• Execution

  • Time to meet the users :)

• Share the data

  • And finally, find the best way to spread the word of what did we learn about the customers and make sure that this has an impact on the product.

Solera use cases

Insurers around Germany

Oh no, our users are dropping out!!!