How To Run a Rapid Research Program

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Unsurprisingly, rapid research is gaining popularity and momentum in UX design and research, given its value in supporting traditionally longer, more complex studies and the volume of quick research insights gathered through the rapid research process.

When it comes to running a rapid research program, we included this basic example of a rapid research timeline in our recent introduction to rapid UX research:

  • Day 1: Define the problem, research objectives, and research questions
  • Day 2: Gather prototypes and necessary elements. Test the study and iterate until you have an ideal version
  • Day 3: Carry out the rapid research study
  • Day 4: Analyse the data
  • Day 5: Present the findings, sharing research insights

Today, we’ll expand on what that could and should include and also discuss the pros and cons of setting up rapid research programs in-house, using a research platform, or handing over the reins to a specialist research agency.

The fundamentals of a rapid research framework

As its title dictates, rapid research needs to operate significantly faster than the usual UX studies, typically matching those of agile processes and keeping up with the most rapid research cycles.

To do this, we standardize the process wherever possible, creating templates to gather valuable insights quickly and efficiently. A tight schedule ensures that user research teams know when each stage is happening and that all materials and participants are ready.

The key to a well-oiled rapid research program is consistency and clarity. To maintain the necessary high level of consistency, all elements must be readily available and instantly recognisable, including documentation, timing, research methodologies, participant recruitment, guides, policies, and more. This is where creating a vast bank of accessible templates is crucial.

Setting up your rapid research project

There’s a lot to consider when setting up a rapid research framework. Given that speed and efficiency are at the heart of everything you’re about to do, everything has to be rapid: rapid evaluation methods, rapid feedback evaluations, rapid-cycle evaluations, and a rapid version of everything in between. Yet you still need to ensure significant findings from efficient processes, delivering the same high-quality insights associated with much deeper analysis.

Let’s look at the individual, group, and core elements that you’ll need to develop and ensure are part of your process however you choose to design and deliver your framework.

Do you actually need one?

It seems crazy to ask, but does your organisation or UX department actually need a rapid research program? UX research comes in all shapes and sizes, and a quality UX research team can cater to all kinds of requests. UX researchers are incredibly adaptable animals—if an agile sprint can cover your project or enquiry as part of a bigger project, is it worth the budget, staff, and other resources to set up another resource-heavy program?

  • Will a rapid research program add value to your UX research?
  • Will it be faster than your current research process?
  • Can it uncover quick research insights from smaller test pools, simpler studies, and shorter interviews?
  • Can you sustain the rapid recruitment required of ongoing research sessions?

The scope of your research sessions

The scope will drive how much you have to compact how your usual research sessions operate to deliver the necessary results in a fraction of the time. It will also include almost everything in the process to ensure the ideal speed, scale, and impact of each study.

Budget

We don’t have to tell you how important the budget is to any UX research program; it will likely be the key factor determining how you choose to grow your new rapid research frameworks and teams and how many methods and participants you can include in your studies.

Timing and cadence

Each rapid research project should take less time than a standard study, typically one or two weeks. How often you perform them depends on your resources, how many teams you can spare, and the research requests you receive.

Participant profiles

Gathering a handful of appropriate participants is far more valuable than a bottomless pool of those who aren’t. High-quality participant recruitment plays a huge part in rapid research, as with fewer test subjects and shorter, half-hour sessions, every opinion, interaction, and input needs to offer real insight into what you’re testing for.

Rapid research methods

Half-hour sessions won’t allow for many of the standard long-term or long-form research methods (you can forget those longitudinal diary studies, that’s for sure), so you need to employ tactical research methods that gather insights from quick feedback. Usability testing, user interviews, and more compact methodologies lend themselves far better to rapid research, as they’re easier to carry out in those quick half-hour bitesize sessions.

Infrastructure, policies, and templates

As with the project infrastructure, your rapid research timeline needs to be planned and delivered efficiently. Creating templates for everything will make life easier for everyone, from policies, introductory speeches, and guidance formats to how you gather feedback, carry out tests, and present findings. It will also keep everyone on the same page, utilising formats everyone recognises immediately, and adds a structured and methodical flow to every study you perform.

Research teams and staffing your projects

Having enough staff to develop a rapid research program is one part of the problem; having the right staff is the other. Budgets probably won’t allow the plethora of experienced senior UX researchers you’d like, so utilising more affordable (but equally hard-working) junior researchers is more likely. Again, this is another essential aspect of implementing all those templates, guides, and policies. They should reduce the time project managers/leaders will need to spend monitoring and overseeing the lesser aspects of each project.

Coaching and delivery

The same goes for coaching and delivery. Templates and policies will minimise the time spent on repeat physical coaching. Once a team member is familiar with the format, they can carry that skill and pattern into future studies and also help onboard new team members into the practice.

Project pilot, iteration, and evolution

Creating an ideal study in such a short time is a tough task. Given that you only get one quick bite at the cake, everything has to be right the first time. That means running your methodologies and interviews in a project pilot that helps you iron out the bumps before you start testing for real.

Rapid research programs are great for product testing and evaluation but are also incredibly valuable as generative research sessions. What should you do with any new, unexpected, uncovered information? UX research is an iterative process, always pushing for continuous improvement, so you build those actionable insights into a future rapid research project (if it’s got real value to your product, stakeholders, and the bottom line, of course).

Data analysis, delivery, and presentation

With vastly reduced timings, data collection, analysis, delivery, and presentation must also be stripped back and minimised for ease of delivery and understanding, but also concise and inclusive of the crucial findings.

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Three typical options for setting up a rapid research framework

However you’d like to carry out your research operations, the size and resources of your organisation will likely make the biggest impact on your available options.

Depending on the availability of user research leaders and other team members, you may choose to run your own rapid research program, utilise an existing platform to assist your research teams or employ a specialist UX agency to manage every aspect of your rapid research studies.

1. Develop an in-house rapid research program and research team

If you’ve got the resources to build an in-house team, it’s a great way to contain your studies and retain ultimate control.

The advantages of using an in-house team for a rapid research program

  • You have complete control over the size and shape of it
  • It provides a good training ground for your junior researchers—depending on the type of research and quality required

The disadvantages of using an in-house team for a rapid research program

  • It can be distracting
  • It can draw in researchers not assigned to the program
  • It can create blurred budget lines
  • It can create an ‘us and them’ culture
  • It can be expensive to scale (up and down)
  • It’s harder to segment and keep isolated
  • You need senior researchers to oversee each project, especially when training or using juniors for the bulk of operations

2. Use a research platform provider

A rapid research platform can be a great ally for smaller teams. With all those extra hands ready to help, an established participant recruitment system, and the proper methods and process down to a fine, standardised art, they could be the part-time team you don’t have the budget to hire as full-time staff.

The advantages of using a platform provider for rapid research studies

  • Often have built-in participant recruitment panel
  • Good for usability testing

The disadvantages of using a platform provider for rapid research studies

  • They’re dependent on their own custom software platform, which can impact your research tech stack strategy
  • Researchers tend to be junior-level operatives
  • You need strong in-house program management

3. Use a specialist research agency

A specialist UX research agency has the experience, skills, staff, and creative minds you can bring on board to carry out the entire program or project, meticulously attending to every detail.

The advantages of using a specialist research agency for rapid research projects

  • Higher-quality researchers who tend to hold senior roles and have more experience
  • Technology/platform agnostic
  • They build a bespoke program tailored to your specific needs
  • They talk the same ‘research’ language as you do

The disadvantages of using a specialist research agency for rapid research projects

  • It can be more expensive
  • You need a dedicated program manager
  • It may not have the market coverage the SW providers have

Summary

A rapid research program can be a great asset to every organisation, product, and project. When you need one, how and who you choose to run your program will depend on your budget, accessible teams, time, and available resources. There are options for every level; all you have to do is decide which will work best for you.

Our user research experts are available to help you get closer to your customers. If you would like to arrange a no obligation call, get in touch by emailing us at hello@ux247.com or share your requirement using the form below.

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