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What is UX Research: The Ultimate Guide for UX Researchers

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Essential elements of an effective UX research plan (examples + templates)

Conducting UX research without a plan is like moving to another country without knowing the language—confusing and exhausting.

To avoid wasting time and resources, it’s crucial to set achievable research goals and work on developing a research plan that’s clear, comprehensive, and aligned with your overarching business goals and research strategy.

A good UX research plan sets out the parameters for your research, and guides how you’ll gather insights to inform product development. In this chapter, we share a step-by-step guide to creating a research plan, including templates and tactics for you to try. You’ll also find expert tips from Paige Bennett, Senior User Research Manager at Affirm, and Sinéad Davis Cochrane, Research Manager at Workday.

What is a UX research plan?

A UX research plan—not to be confused with a UX research strategy or research design—is a plan to guide individual user experience (UX) research projects.

It's a living document that includes a detailed explanation of tactics, methods, timeline, scope, and task owners. It should be co-created and shared with key stakeholders, so everyone is familiar with the project plan, and product teams can meet strategic goals.

A UX research plan is different to a research strategy and research design in both its purpose and contents. Let’s take a look.

Research plan vs. research design vs. research strategy: What’s the difference?

While your UX research plan should be based on strategy, it’s not the same thing. Your UX strategy is a high-level document that contains goals, budget, vision, and expectations. Meanwhile, a plan is a detailed document explaining how the team will achieve those strategic goals. Research design is the form your research itself takes.

In short, a strategy is a guide, a plan is what drives action, and design is the action itself.

What are the benefits of using a UX research plan?

Conducting research without goals and parameters is aimless. A UX research plan is beneficial for your product, user, and business—by building a plan for conducting UX research, you can:

Streamline processes and add structure

Work toward specific, measurable goals, align and engage stakeholders, save time by avoiding rework.

The structure of a research plan allows you to set timelines, expectations, and task owners, so everyone on your team is aligned and empowered to make decisions. Since there’s no second guessing what to do next or which methods to use, you’ll find your process becomes simpler and more efficient. It’s also worth standardizing your process to turn your plan into a template that you can reuse for future projects.

When you set research goals based on strategy, you’ll find it easier to track your team’s progress and keep the project in scope, on time, and on budget. With a solid, strategy-based UX research plan you can also track metrics at different stages of the project and adjust future tactics to get better research findings.

“It’s important to make sure your stakeholders are on the same page with regards to scope, timeline, and goals before you start," explains Paige Bennett, Senior User Research Manager at Affirm. That's because, when stakeholders are aligned, they're much more likely to sign off on product changes that result from UX research.

A written plan is a collaborative way to involve stakeholders in your research and turn them into active participants rather than passive observers. As they get involved, they'll make useful contributions and get a better understanding of your goals.

A UX research plan helps you save time and money quite simply because it’s easier and less expensive to make design or prototype changes than it is to fix usability issues once the product is coded or fully launched. Additionally, having a plan gives your team direction, which means they won’t be conducting research and talking to users without motive, and you’ll be making better use of your resources. What’s more, when everyone is aligned on goals, they’re empowered to make informed decisions instead of waiting for their managers’ approval.

What should a UX research plan include?

In French cuisine, the concept of mise en place—putting in place—allows chefs to plan and set up their workspace with all the required ingredients before cooking. Think of your research plan like this—laying out the key steps you need to go through during research, to help you run a successful and more efficient study.

Here’s what you should include in a UX research plan:

• A brief reminder of the strategy and goals
• An outline of the research objectives
• The purpose of the plan and studies
• A short description of the target audience, sample size, scope, and demographics
• A detailed list of expectations including deliverables, timings, and type of results
• An overview of the test methods and a short explanation of why you chose them
• The test set up or guidelines to outline everything that needs to happen before the study: scenarios, screening questions, and duration of pilot tests
• Your test scripts, questions to ask, or samples to follow
• When and how you’ll present the results
• Cost estimations or requests to go over budget

Collect all UX research findings in one place

Use Maze to run quantitative and qualitative research, influence product design, and shape user-centered products.

How to create a UX research plan

Now we’ve talked through why you need a research plan, let’s get into the how. Here’s a short step-by-step guide on how to write a research plan that will drive results.

• Define the problem statement
• Get stakeholders’ buy-in
• Identify your objectives
• Choose the right research method
• Recruit participants
• Prepare the brief
• Establish the timeline
• Decide how you’ll present your findings

1. Define the problem statement

One of the most important purposes of a research plan is to identify what you’re trying to achieve with the research, and clarify the problem statement. For Paige Bennett , Senior User Research Manager at Affirm, this process begins by sitting together with stakeholders and looking at the problem space.

“We do an exercise called FOG, which stands for ‘Fact, Observation, Guess’, to identify large gaps in knowledge,” says Paige. “Evaluating what you know illuminates questions you still have, which then serves as the foundation of the UX research project.”

You can use different techniques to identify the problem statement, such as stakeholder interviews, team sessions, or analysis of customer feedback. The problem statement should explain what the project is about—helping to define the research scope with clear deliverables and objectives.

2. Identify your objectives

Research objectives need to align with the UX strategy and broader business goals, but you also need to define specific targets to achieve within the research itself—whether that’s understanding a specific problem, or measuring usability metrics . So, before you get into a room with your users and customers, “Think about the research objectives: what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and what you expect from the UX research process ,” explains Sinéad Davis Cochrane , Research Manager at Workday.

Examples of research objectives might be:

• Learn at what times users interact with your product
• Understand why users return (or not) to your website/app
• Discover what competitor products your users are using
• Uncover any pain points or challenges users find when navigating with your product
• Gauge user interest in and prioritize potential new features

A valuable purpose of setting objectives is ensuring your project doesn't suffer from scope creep. This can happen when stakeholders see your research as an opportunity to ask any question. As a researcher , Sinéad believes your objectives can guide the type of research questions you ask and give your research more focus. Otherwise, anything and everything becomes a research question—which will confuse your findings and be overwhelming to manage.

Sinéad shares a list of questions you should ask yourself and the research team to help set objectives:

• What are you going to do with this information?
• What decisions is it going to inform?
• How are you going to leverage these insights?

Another useful exercise to help identify research objectives is by asking questions that help you get to the core of a problem. Ask these types of questions before starting the planning process:

• Who are the users you’re designing this for?
• What problems and needs do they have?
• What are the pain points of using the product?
• Why are they not using a product like yours?

3. Get stakeholders buy-in

It’s good practice to involve stakeholders at early stages of plan creation to get everyone on board. Sharing your UX research plan with relevant stakeholders means you can gather context, adjust based on comments, and gauge what’s truly important to them. When you present the research plan to key stakeholders, remember to align on the scope of research, and how and when you’ll get back to them with results.

Stakeholders usually have a unique vision of the product, and it’s crucial that you’re able to capture it early on—this doesn’t mean saying yes to everything, but listening to their ideas and having a conversation. Seeing the UX research plan as a living document makes it much easier to edit based on team comments. Plus, the more you listen to other ideas, the easier it will be to evangelize research and get stakeholder buy-in by helping them see the value behind it.

I expect my stakeholders to be participants, and I outline how I expect that to happen. That includes observing interviews, participating in synthesis exercises, or co-presenting research recommendations.

Paige Bennett , Senior User Research Manager at Affirm

4. Choose the right research method

Choose between the different UX research methods to capture different insights from users.

To define the research methods you’ll use, circle back to your research objectives, what stage of the product development process you’re in, and the constraints, resources, and timeline of the project. It’s good research practice to use a mix of different methods to get a more complete perspective of users’ struggles.

For example, if you’re at the start of the design process, a generative research method such as user interviews or field studies will help you generate new insights about the target audience. Or, if you need to evaluate how a new design performs with users, you can run usability tests to get actionable feedback.

It’s also good practice to mix methods that drive quantitative and qualitative results so you can understand context, and catch the user sentiment behind a metric. For instance, if during a remote usability test, you hear a user go ‘Ugh! Where’s the sign up button?’ you’ll get a broader perspective than if you were just reviewing the number of clicks on the same test task.

Examples of UX research methods to consider include:

• Five-second testing
• User interviews
• Field studies
• Card sorting
• Tree testing
• Focus groups
• Usability testing
• Diary studies
• Live website testing

Check out our top UX research templates . Use them as a shortcut to get started on your research.

5. Determine how to recruit participants

Every research plan should include information about the participants you need for your study, and how you’ll recruit them. To identify your perfect candidate, revisit your goals and the questions that need answering, then build a target user persona including key demographics and use cases. Consider the resources you have available already, by asking yourself:

• Do you have a user base you can tap into to collect customer insights ?
• Do you need to hire external participants?
• What’s your budget to recruit users?
• How many users do you need to interact with?

When selecting participants, make sure they represent all your target personas. If different types of people will be using a certain product, you need to make sure that the people you research represent these personas. This means not just being inclusive in your recruitment, but considering secondary personas—the people who may not be your target user base, but interact with your product incidentally.

You should also consider recruiting research participants to test the product on different devices. Paige explains: “If prior research has shown that behavior differs greatly between those who use a product on their phone versus their tablet, I need to better understand those differences—so I’m going to make sure my participants include people who have used a product on both devices.”

During this step, make sure to include information about the required number of participants, how you’ll get them to participate, and how much time you need per user. The main ways to recruit testers are:

• Using an online participant recruitment tool like Maze Panel
• Putting out physical or digital adverts in spaces that are relevant to your product and user
• Reaching out to existing users
• Using participants from previous research
• Recruiting directly from your website or app with a tool like In-Product Prompts

5.1. Determine how you’ll pay them

You should always reward your test participants for their time and insights. Not only because it’s the right thing to do, but also because if they have an incentive they’re more likely to give you complete and insightful answers. If you’re hosting the studies in person, you’ll also need to cover your participants' travel expenses and secure a research space. Running remote moderated or unmoderated research is often considered to be less expensive and faster to complete.

If you’re testing an international audience, remember to check your proposed payment system works worldwide—this might be an Amazon gift card or prepaid Visa cards.

6. Prepare the brief

The next component of a research plan is to create a brief or guide for your research sessions. The kind of brief you need will vary depending on your research method, but for moderated methods like user interviews, field studies, or focus groups, you’ll need a detailed guide and script. The brief is there to remind you which questions to ask and keep the sessions on track.

Your script should cover:

• Introduction: A short message you’ll say to participants before the session begins. This works as a starting point for conversations and helps set the tone for the meeting. If you’re testing without a moderator, you should also include an introductory message to explain what the research is about and the type of answers they should give (in terms of length and specificity).
• Interview questions: Include your list of questions you’ll ask participants during the sessions. These could be examples to help guide the interviews, specific pre-planned questions, or test tasks you’ll ask participants to perform during unmoderated sessions.
• Outro message: Outline what you'll say at the end of the session, including the next steps, asking participants if they are open to future research, and thanking them for their time. This can be a form you share at the end of asynchronous sessions.

It’s crucial you remember to ask participants for their consent. You should do this at the beginning of the test by asking if they’re okay with you recording the session. Use this space to lay out any compensation agreements as well. Then, ask again at the end of the session if they agree with you keeping the results and using the data for research purposes. If possible, explain exactly what you’ll do with their data. Double check and get your legal team’s sign-off on these forms.

7. Establish the timeline

Next in your plan, estimate how long the research project will take and when you should expect to review the findings. Even if not exact, determining an approximate timeline (e.g., two-three weeks) will enable you to manage stakeholders’ expectations of the process and results.

Many people believe UX research is a lengthy process, so they skip it. When you set up a timeline and get stakeholders aligned with it, you can debunk assumptions and put stakeholders’ minds at ease. Plus, if you’re using a product discovery tool like Maze, you can get answers to your tests within days.

8. Decide how you’ll present your findings

When it comes to sharing your findings with your team, presentation matters. You need to make a clear presentation and demonstrate how user insights will influence design and development. If you’ve conducted UX research in the past, share data that proves how implementing user insights has improved product adoption.

Examples of ways you can present your results include:

• A physical or digital PDF report with key statistics and takeaways
• An interactive online report of the individual research questions and their results
• A presentation explaining the results and your findings
• A digital whiteboard, like Miro, to display the results

In your plan, mention how you’ll share insights with the product team. For example, if you’re using Maze, you can start by emailing everyone the ready-to-share report and setting up a meeting with the team to identify how to bring those insights to life. This is key, because your research should be the guiding light for new products or updates, if you want to keep development user-centric. Taking care over how you present your findings will impact whether they’re taken seriously and implemented by other stakeholders.

Your UX research plan template: Free template + example

Whether you’re creating the plan yourself or delegating to your team, a clear UX research plan template cuts your prep time in half.

Find our customizable free UX research plan template here , and keep reading for a filled-in example.

Example: Improving user adoption of a project management tool called Flows

Now, let’s go through how to fill out this template and create a UX research plan with an example.

Executive summary:

Flows aims to increase user adoption and tool engagement by 30% within the next 12 months. Our B2B project management software has been on the market for 3 years and has 25,000 active users across various industries.

By researching the current product experience with existing users, we’ll learn what works and what doesn’t in order to make adjustments to the product and experience.

Research objectives:

Purpose of the plan and studies:.

The purpose is to gather actionable insights into user needs, behaviors, and challenges to inform updates that will drive increased adoption and engagement of 30% for the B2B project management tool within 12 months.

Target audience, sample size, scope, and demographics:

Expectations, deliverables, timings, and type of results:, research methodologies:.

*Some teams will take part in more than one research session.

Research analysis methods:

We are doing a mixed methods study.

User interviews are our primary method for gathering qualitative data, and will be analyzed using thematic analysis .

• Quantitative data will be pulled from usability tests to evaluate the effectiveness of our current design.
• Research set up and guidelines:
• Create baselines surveys to gauge current usage and pain points
• Develop interview/discussion guides and usability testing scenarios
• Pilot test materials with two teams
• User interviews: 60 mins, semi-structured; usability tests: 90 mins
• Findings will be presented in a research report for all stakeholders

Research scripts, questions, and samples:

User interview questions:

• What’s your experience with Flows?
• How does Flows fit into your workflow?
• What is your understanding of Flows’ features?
• What do you wish Flows could do that it currently doesn’t?

Usability test sample with Maze:

Cost estimations or budget requests/pricing:

Total estimated budget: $8,000

More free customizable templates for UX research

Whether you’re creating the plan yourself or are delegating this responsibility to your team, here are six research templates to get started:

• UX research plan template : This editable Miro research project plan example helps you brainstorm user and business-facing problems, objectives, and questions
• UX research brief : You need a clear brief before you conduct UX research—Milanote shares a template that will help you simplify the writing process
• User testing synthesis : Trello put together a sample board to organize user testing notes—you can use this as a guide, but change the titles to fit your UX research purposes
• Usability testing templates : At Maze, we’ve created multiple templates for conducting specific UX research methods—this list will help you create different remote usability tests
• Information architecture (IA) tests template : The way you organize the information in your website or app can improve or damage the user experience—use this template to run IA tests easily
• Feedback survey templates : Ask users anything through a survey, and use these templates to get creative and simplify creation

Everything you need to know about UX research plans

We all know that a robust plan is essential for conducting successful UX research. But, in case you want a quick refresher on what we’ve covered:

• Using a UX research strategy as a starting point will make your plan more likely to succeed
• Determine your research objectives before anything else
• Use a mix of qualitative and quantitative research methods
• Come up with clear personas so you can recruit and test a group of individuals that’s representative of your real end users
• Involve stakeholders from the beginning to get buy-in
• Be vocal about timelines, budget, and expected research findings
• Use the insights to power your product decisions and wow your users; building the solution they genuinely want and need

UX research can happen at any stage of the development lifecycle. When you build products with and for users, you need to include them continuously at various stages of the process.

It’s helpful to explore the need for continuous discovery in your UX research plan and look for a tool like Maze that simplifies the process for you. We’ll cover more about the different research methods and UX research tools in the upcoming chapters—ready to go?

Elevate your UX research workflow

Discover how Maze can streamline and operationalize your research plans to drive real product innovation while saving on costs.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between a UX research plan and a UX research strategy?

The difference between a UX research plan and a UX research strategy is that they cover different levels of scope and detail. A UX research plan is a document that guides individual user experience (UX) research projects. UX research plans are shared documents that everyone on the product team can and should be familiar with. A UX research strategy, on the other hand, outlines the high-level goals, expectations, and demographics of the organization’s approach to research.

What should you include in a user research plan?

Here’s what to include in a user research plan:

• Problem statement
• Research objectives
• Research methods
• Participants' demographics
• Recruitment plan
• User research brief
• Expected timeline
• How to present findings

How do you write a research plan for UX design?

Creating a research plan for user experience (UX) requires a clear problem statement and objectives, choosing the right research method, recruiting participants and briefing them, and establishing a timeline for your project. You'll also need to plan how you'll analyze and present your findings.

How do you plan a UX research roadmap?

To plan a UX research roadmap, start by identifying key business goals and user needs. Align research activities with product milestones to ensure timely insights. Prioritize research methods—like surveys, interviews, and usability tests—based on the project phase and objectives. Set clear timelines and allocate resources accordingly. Regularly update stakeholders on progress and integrate feedback to refine the roadmap continuously.

Generative Research: Definition, Methods, and Examples

New NPM integration: design with fully interactive components from top libraries!

Creating A User Research Plan (with Examples)

UX research helps to test hypothesis you have about users prior to design. Sadly, not every UX design project starts with user research, and that’s because it takes a lot of time to recruit participants, run UX research projects, and sumamrize findings.

Good research, nevertheless, ensures that your product team doesn’t build the wrong functionality that would cost you valuable resources and make you vulnerable to losing customers.

In this article, you’ll see how you can use UX research plan to get stakeholder’s buy-in and create research reports that’s full of valuable advice for product design. Let’s go.

At the end, when you have your research complete, launch the right tool for your design process. For that, try UXPin, an end-to-end design tool for interactive prototyping that brings design and product development together.

Designers can create a powerful prototypes, show them to product managers who can interact with the design instead of just looking at it. Then, they give the design to engineers who can get all the specs and some code to kickstart front-end design with.

Since with UXPin you work faster, you have ample time for UX research before UX design. Try it for free .

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What is a UX Research Plan?

A UX research plan helps to set expectations and document the essentials you need to communicate to stakeholders and clients. Your company needs a strong business case for every user research session, complete with research objectives, goals, methods, and logistical needs for the study.

UX Research Plan Elements

Every UX research plan should start with a solid outline. That’s where templates come in handy. They help you structure your UX research project in a way that team members and stakeholders see value in completing research process.

Master templates are the best way to create a successful and effective UX research plan. Using a template as a starting point makes planning and writing easier and helps you and your team stay focused on the who, what, why, and when of research. Read on for tips and examples for how you can build a user research plan that works.

UX Research Plan Background

The background section should offer your clients and stakeholders a few sentences on why you are creating a user research plan and what it will accomplish. It should orient readers to the needs and expectations behind the purpose of the study. It should also include a problem statement, which is the primary question you’re setting out to answer with your research findings. 

Example Background

The purpose of this study is to understand the major pain points users experience in using our website/app and how these contribute to issues such as cart abandonment, returned items, and low customer loyalty. 

We will be using usability testing to follow the user’s experience of our website/app and the obstacles they encounter leading up to the point of purchase. We will also be using generative research techniques to better understand the customer’s experience of our brand and the challenges and needs they face in making a purchase. 

UX Research Plan Objectives

Before getting into the nitty-gritty of your user research plan, you first want to focus on your research objectives. This step outlines the reasons you are conducting a UX research plan in the first place. Why are you carrying out this research? What are the end goals you have after completing all the work?

Seeking out answers to these questions should be a collaborative effort between you and your stakeholders. It’s also helpful to consider discussions and learnings from past clients and projects to create metrics for your UX research plan. 

Objectives and Success Metrics

Research objectives will be different for every project, but they should always be actionable and specific. 

Example Objectives

• Understand how users currently go about tracking orders on our website
• Understand what actions customers take when they consider buying a new [product we offer]
• Learn about competitor websites/apps customers are using to buy [product we offer]
• Evaluate pain points customers are experiencing in using our website/app

And here are some examples to help you determine the success of your UX research plan.

Example Success Metrics

• What information are we trying to collect about users?
• What scales/documents/statistics do we intend to create?
• What decisions will these materials help to make? 

UX Research Plan Methodology

This step should be a short and sweet description of the research methods you will use to answer the research objectives. It should include both secondary and primary methods. Generative methods, such as user interviews and open-ended questions, help uncover motivations or more general insights, while UX testing helps to evaluate the usability and experience of your product. 

Research Scope & Focus Areas

Clearly outlining the research scope and focus areas helps to facilitate efficient user research planning. The more you’re able to hone in on the specifics of what information you are wanting to collect, the less overwhelmed you will be in the process. It also helps avoid inundating your clients with unnecessary information. 

To keep research-focused, this section should include:

• 3-6 question topics (e.g. How do users spend their time on a website?)
• Design Focus Components, including interface qualities (e.g. Usability, Training, Efficiency, Satisfaction)
• Primary User Scenarios (e.g. Scenarios in which pain points are most problematic; scenarios you have the least information about, etc.)

Example Methodology

For this study, we’re conducting a 30-minute usability test to evaluate our user’s experience of our app/website. A secondary method will be to conduct one-on-one generative research interviews to better understand our customers and empathize with their needs. 

UX Research Plan Participant Profiles

Once you’ve defined objectives methodology and focus areas, it’s time to outline the participants you’ll need to get the required insights. Participant profiles help you determine who you want to recruit, or an approximation of your users, to optimize recruiting efforts. Here are a few examples of how to ensure you’ll get the best participants for your study. 

Define your target user by collaborating with internal stakeholders, marketing, sales, and customer support. With their help, you can create approximations about who your users are. This is a great starting point for finding the right participants for your study. 

Compare yourself to your competitors and create participant profiles based on their audiences. Recruiting people who use a competitor’s product can be an excellent way to glean insights into how to further improve your product. 

Outline a screening process. Participant profiles should include any relevant information concerning your target audience, including behaviors, needs, demographics, geography, etc. Including the right criteria will help you evaluate whether or not to include certain individuals in your user research plan. 

This Nielsen Norman article offers some great information about defining and recruiting the right participants for your study. 

UX Research Plan Timeline

This is optional, but many UX research plans include a timeline that offers clients and stakeholders a general overview of how long the research will take. It helps to set expectations for the final results as well as allowing you to create a schedule for research sessions, debriefing, follow-up, and deliverables. 

Timeline Example: 

Approximately 6-8 weeks for identifying objectives, creating participant profiles, recruitment, in-person meetings, qualitative research, and analysis. 

Try an End-to-End Design Solution

UX research plan templates are essential tools for executing a successful project. Having a master template helps you to remember what the process entails, communicate essential information to the right people, and stay on track throughout the user research plan.

UXPin, besides being a great prototyping tool, makes creating such research templates fast and easy. Especially since each project will be a little different and plans will need tweaking in terms of structure and content. Try UXPin for free .

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• How to Create a UX Research Plan in 6 Steps (with Example)

Master the essentials of UX research planning with a clear, six-step guide and practical example.

Conducting research without a UX research plan is like forging a sword blindfolded.

Poor jokes aside, research without a plan is a recipe for disaster. It eats away at resources, costing companies precious time and money. More importantly, it can cause you to move in the wrong direction. This puts a below-par product in the user’s hands that doesn’t address their needs.

With the complexity and scale of research studies, you’re missing a step if you don’t plan properly. So, we thought we’d address this with a comprehensive guide.

Here are our two cents on creating a UX research plan. Explore the benefits of creating a plan and how to create one from scratch.

Thank us later.

What is a UX Research Plan?

A UX research plan is a structured document that outlines individual research projects. A living document, it establishes clear goals and a defined scope of a study. It details various dimensions such as tactics, methodology, timelines, and resource constraints.

UX research plans serve as roadmaps — acting as a reference point and keeping teams on track.

Initially, plans establish the purpose of the study. This aligns stakeholders with the project goals. Throughout the research process, the plans focus everyone’s attention on strategic objectives. Once research is complete, they answer key questions from the beginning of a project.

A well-crafted research plan is essential for conducting effective research.

Key Benefits of Developing a UX Research Plan

If research is exploratory, why create a plan in the first place?

Plans define and aggregate research objectives and initiatives. The more detailed a research plan, the lower the likelihood of overlooking any information. Establishing an action plan increases the efficiency and accuracy of UX research work.

Here are some benefits of having a well-crafted UX research plan:

Defines Problem

Drafting a plan helps clarify the research problem:

What question are you trying to answer? What are the project goals? What do you want to accomplish?

Establish the questions that the research will help address. Outlining study expectations at the outset provides clarity. It gives everyone specific and measurable goals to work towards. Charting the success of initiatives allows researchers to track and improve results.

Aligns Stakeholders

Good research planning involves collaboration with cross-functional teams. Together with key stakeholders, researchers establish company-wide questions that need answering. Drafting a research plan for UX keeps everyone aligned on project objectives.

Involve them in the process of addressing stakeholder needs. By engaging in initiatives, they become more invested in research outcomes. UX research plans help strengthen stakeholder buy-in and align everyone with company strategy.

Optimizes Workflow

Defining goals helps add structure and streamlines the research process. Teams use the plan to identify which research and data collection methods to use. Setting clear objectives allows teams to follow a structured and sequential approach.

UX research plans set realistic expectations around project timelines and deliverables. Teams focus on making informed decisions to achieve research goals. With a solid plan in place, everyone stays in the loop.

Saves Resources

Planning UX research enables efficient allocation of time, money, and manpower. Outlining achievable goals ensures resources aren’t wasted. Plans allow everyone to leverage the company’s existing research. This helps teams avoid silos and duplicative efforts.

Conducting research with a proper plan helps identify potential roadblocks and issues early on. Pivoting design efforts early on in the build is far less expensive. This minimizes development time and production costs. In the long run, organizations save precious resources with a research plan.

How to Choose the Right UX Research Methods

To understand more about their users, researchers collect two different types of data:

• Behavioral . Measures how users interact with and navigate through a product.
• Attitudinal. Understand how users feel and why (while they’re immersed in a product).

Data collected can either be qualitative or quantitative. Remember, combine qualitative and quantitative research to understand the context behind user actions. Learn when to use quantitative vs. qualitative research .

It’s essential to determine your needs before choosing the correct study methodology. Any research methods you choose depend on:

• Initial research question. What do you want to find out about your customers? Are you looking for feedback on a design? Or trying to understand user needs?
• Stage of product development. Generative studies such as interviews help collect deep user feedback. This helps while brainstorming new products. Testing a final prototype is more evaluative . Usability testing helps researchers identify bugs. Researchers examine how users navigate through an app.
• Product use context. Where and how is research conducted? Will you observe users in their own environment or a controlled one (lab)? Will they carry out specific tasks? Or regular use?
• Resource constraints. Establish the scope and budget of the study. Is it a small or large-scale study? What resources will you need? What tools can you use (free or paid)?
• Timelines. How much time can you afford for research efforts? When do you need certain deliverables?

Use the graphic below to identify the method that best suits your study:

How to Create a UX Research Plan

Research studies help uncover user needs, preferences, motivations, and frustrations. UX research plans must answer a study’s who, what, when, why, and how . 

Follow our 6-step process to create a bulletproof UX research plan:

Step 1: Define Research Purpose & Goals

Research begins with a question. Clearly document the underlying reason for carrying out a project. Establish WHAT you’re trying to accomplish with research. Clarify the problem statement:

What challenges are you trying to solve for customers? What is the end goal?

Establish the purpose of a study specifically and objectively. Establish a clear scope of work with objectives and deliverables to ensure focused effort. Define specific targets for research initiatives. This helps avoid confusion later when people inevitably have more questions.

It’s important to align research objectives with broader business goals. Why conduct a particular study? What decision-making will this research inform? What business goals does it help achieve?

This answers the WHY you’re conducting research in the first place.

Step 2: Gather Stakeholder Requirements

How do you translate research objectives into business goals?

Research influences various departments, such as product, design, development, sales, and customer success. Involve these stakeholders early on in the planning process. Brainstorm with them to understand their questions and pain points.

It’s vital to gather stakeholder requirements. Given the project constraints, try to align these requirements with the proposed study. You won’t answer all their questions, but establishing a scope draws a line in the sand. How do stakeholders benefit from a study’s success?

Engaging with them helps gain stakeholder buy-in and enables you to deliver the right insights to the right people.

This addresses one-half of the WHO the research serves. It’s also important to establish who is responsible for conducting research.

Step 3: Choose a Research Method

This answers the HOW of it all. How will you answer the research questions?

Will you capture user behavior or attitudes and emotions? Will the data collected be quantitative or qualitative? A mix of both?

Based on your research goals, you have many methods to choose from. Use the diagram above to choose the right research methodology. Include a brief that details your reason for choosing a particular method.

What tools will you use?

Review your budget and the resources available for the study. Considering these factors, choose a tool best suited for research needs today and tomorrow .

Speaking of tools, why not give Marvin a spin ? A research repository that houses all your quantitative and qualitative data. Deeply analyze and understand more about the user experience. Need we say any more?

Step 4: Identify the Research Participants

Another important member of the WHO. And we’re not talking about the 60’s British rock band.

It’s your target demographic.

Who are they? What type of participants will you recruit? What characteristics are you looking for? Select participants based on demographic and psychographic factors. Also based on habits and behavioral patterns. This ensures diversity and inclusivity in your research group.

How will you recruit, screen, and compensate participants?

It’s important to use different sources to gather them. Start with your existing customers and use various channels such as email, social media or a recruitment platform. This acts as a failsafe if one channel produces low quality results.

Our friends at User Interviews have a robust and wide participant pool to choose from. Learn why they conduct continuous research with their customers.

Step 5: Establish Timelines & Allocate Resources

Timelines answer the WHEN behind a research study.

A study’s duration depends on the methodology of choice, number of participants needed, and the amount of data required. It’s also affected by the complexity of the research process.

Establish timelines for research projects. Create a schedule and set deadlines for project deliverables. Consider the time required to plan the study, recruit participants, and collect and analyze data.

Allocate resources to a study based on the availability of:

• Finances. How much money is available? What tools will you need?
• Manpower. How many team members will work on the research? Assign them tasks. Outline detailed study protocol and logistics. Include action plans to decide the next steps.

Step 6: Determine How to Analyze & Present Research Findings

Consider whether the project has met the plan’s objectives. Document the entire process. Include methodology, roadblocks encountered and study details. This overview helps inform future research at the company.

Share your findings across the organization. Revisit the WHO — how do findings affect key stakeholders and the target audience? What are the benefits of research findings? What departments can use this information?

Decide how to analyze and present your findings to different stakeholders. Demonstrate how insights will inform product development and design. Provide recommendations to act on insights upon study completion.

A quick word on assumptions — every project has its own. Identify and document the assumptions you’ve made in the research process. Reconcile these assumptions with findings to provide context for your research results.

UX Research Plan Example

A good UX research plan must include the following:

• Title. Name your project so people across the organization can easily identify it.
• Date. When did the project begin?
• Author(s) . Who’s in charge of the project? This may be multiple people. Include their contact information so readers can get in touch.
• Stakeholder Information. Which stakeholders need consulting? Include a point of contact from different teams to understand and establish their needs. 
• Project Background. Akin to an executive summary, this section includes two to three sentences on why the project is being conducted.
• Project Goal. Sums up the objective of the project in one sentence. Define metrics to measure success.
• Research Question(s). What questions will the research answer? Listing them down helps identify data collection and analysis methods.
• Research Methods. Which research methods will you use? Use our diagram above to determine which methodology suits the study best.
• Participant Information. Define the target audience for your study. Include the sample size along with demographic and psychographic information.
• Risks & Assumptions. What assumptions have you made during research? What are the inherent risks? List them all out. Be exhaustive.
• Deliverables. Establish deadlines for key deliverables. Add milestones to track project progress.
• Timelines. When does the project start and end? Estimate how long each part of the study will take.
• Budget. How much money is available for the study? Estimate overall costs to prioritize activities.

Feeling overwhelmed? Don’t know where to begin? Marvin’s here to help! 

UX Research Plan Template

Here’s a UX research plan template to get you started.

NOTE : Remember to replace this fictional information with actual data!

Best Practices for Conducting Effective UX Research

Effective UX research ensures that products address user needs. Leveraging the research, designers and developers can create easy and delightful-to-use products. 

Employ these best practices to get the most out of your research plan (and therefore research):

• Maintain a user-centric focus. To truly understand your customers, you must develop user empathy . It’s critical for designing products that they love using. Identify various user groups and personas – consult experts and naive users. What are their goals?
• Data-driven decision making. Don’t rely on gut feel – harness the power of user research to inform product decisions. Use a variety of methods and tools to collect quantitative and qualitative data. Paint a well-rounded picture of the user experience.
• Use soft launches. Pilot studies and interviews on a smaller scale to understand how they work. An important way to get feedback about your research process and make improvements or eradicate bias.
• Stay adaptable. Don’t set and then forget. Research is an ongoing practice. Continually iterate your research process. Gain better customer insights over time to refine the user experience.
• Communicate! How do you translate user needs into product choices that stakeholders understand? UX industry experts stress the importance of learning the language of business .

Make sure research applications quickly disseminate information on communication tools like Slack. Broadcast your findings across the organization with Marvin. Learn more about Marvin’s integrations .

5 Common Mistakes Every UX Researcher Should Avoid

No research study is straightforward. It’s a complex craft, requiring you to adapt to twists and turns along the way. 

Avoid these common pitfalls when planning your UX research:

• Focusing on features, not outcomes. This is the opposite of user-centricity. When researchers become enthralled with adding new features, they lose sight of what the user really needs. What problems do these new features solve?
• Not setting specific goals. It’s not enough to say you want to understand more about your users. Being vague in your objectives leads to inaccurate and unusable results. Identify specifically what you’re after. Be clear in your questioning to get the right answers that inform business strategy.
• Failure to deal with bias. Every study has bias. Leading questions or confirmation bias can skew data and results. Testing research processes helps identify and mitigate bias. It’s important to acknowledge and document any inherent biases in your approach.
• Minimal stakeholder involvement. Failing to include stakeholders in research leads to poor buy-in. Without being actively involved, they can’t contribute their questions and insights to the process. Stakeholders are a great source of user information. Moreover, they have requirements from user research that need addressing.
• Ignoring context. Researchers can over rely on quantitative data. As a result, they ignore valuable qualitative information about the user experience. Collect qualitative data to understand user preferences better. Test in natural environments to collect real-world data.

Commit any of these research faux pas, and the product suffers. And we haven’t even mentioned the poor end users.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Let’s address any lingering questions you may have about research plans:

Can I Use a Tool to Develop an Effective UX Research Plan?

You certainly can!

A UX research plan is a living document. You merely need an editable document that facilitates collaboration among stakeholders. It can be ‘view-only’ for non-contributors. A document platform that literally keeps everyone on the same page with research initiatives.

We recommend smaller teams begin with Google Docs or similar platforms. Work your way up to using complex and purpose-built research tools.

UX research tools like Marvin allow you to create helpful discussion guides. Add questions to the guide and navigate your interviews with ease. Generate insights with the one keystroke. Moreover, Marvin lets you create comprehensive interactive documents with video, audio, and text.

How Do You Manage and Record Data During UX Research?

Companies collect terabytes of data from various customer touchpoints. So where does this data go?

You need a place to store, organize, access, and analyze all this data. A research repository houses user data. Collate your quantitative and qualitative data into Marvin for analysis. It integrates with applications that designers and researchers love.

You’ll also need a tool that’s capable of recording qualitative data. This includes data from focus groups, interviews, and other participant interactions.

UX research tools (such as Marvin) now record and transcribe all your video or audio calls. Generate a verbatim transcript in minutes. This allows researchers to focus on the task at hand.

Give Marvin a test drive today!

How Do You Integrate UX Research Insights into Design?

Here’s an easy action plan to turn UX research insights into design improvements:

• Collaborate with design and product teams. Discuss how to reflect research in design work.
• Translate insights into practical and actionable ones. e.g., “Users spend way too long trying to enter their personal information. How do we improve time on task?”
• Implement design changes.
• Test & iterate.

Planning is an essential first step of the UX research process.

UX research plans give research a purpose and direction — they clarify the goals of a study.

Plans facilitate the gathering of stakeholder requirements and inputs. Clearly outlining goals and objectives, they keep everyone aligned. In the long run, research plans save the company plenty of resources (money, manpower, and time).

They define problems and help generate actionable insights that inform product decisions. By integrating insights into design, companies create products that resonate with their users.

The importance of planning research isn’t lost on us. If you’re reading this far down, you’re likely in the same boat.

Happy planning!

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• Krish Arora
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Krish Arora leverages his experience as a finance professional to turn data into insights. A passionate writer with a strong appreciation for language, Krish crafts compelling stories with numbers and words to elevate the practice of user research.

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