Creating user research plan that deliver results: A ChatGPT-powered approach

Background

As UX researchers, creating a user interview plan and guide is crucial to gather valuable insights from users. However, it can be challenging to come up with the right questions and topics that will elicit useful information. This is where ChatGPT comes in handy. In this article, we will explore how ChatGPT can assist in creating a user interview plan, guide, and questions.

What is research plan?

User research plan is document that give everyone involved in a research project a clear picture of what it's all about. The best research plans cover the who, what, when, why, and how of a given project, and they're super helpful for getting stakeholders on board and keeping everyone aligned. As the project progresses, the plan serves as a kind of anchor, keeping you focused on the questions you set out to answer at the beginning. And when you're done, your research plan can help you communicate your findings in a way that really speaks to the needs of your stakeholders.

Why is this important?

Let's dive into why having a solid research plan is super important when you're doing user research. To help make things clearer, let's use an example. Let's say you're working on a home automation app company, which gives users the power to control all of their smart devices - whether it's turning off the lights or adjusting the thermostat - from one convenient location.

Your boss comes to you with a new project: figuring out how to encourage more frequent usage of the app through some good ol' fashioned discovery research. The company wants to make sure customers keep coming back and are happy with the app, so it's up to you to dig deep and figure out what's preventing them from using it more often, and what factors go into their decision-making process. About two weeks into the project, you might realize that you've been focusing on the wrong questions and need to pivot your approach. Your job as a researcher is to uncover what keeps customers loyal to the app and what challenges prevent them from sticking around for the long haul.

To do this project right, you need to have a solid research plan in place. Not only does it help get everyone on the same page about what you're trying to do, but it also makes it easier to get support from stakeholders and set reasonable expectations. A good research plan should tie into specific business objectives and explain the methods and logistics you're using. It also helps you stay focused on your goals and avoid getting lost in the weeds.

Research plans keep everyone focused on the big picture and help us answer the questions we set out to answer in the most effective way possible. They make sure we're actually achieving our goals and not getting distracted by random details.

Putting a plan together might seem like a hassle, but it's much better than trying to rush through the process or skip planning altogether. Skipping planning can lead to problems like participants not showing up or data that isn't organized well.

So, whether you're working alone or with a team, make sure you create a research plan that works for you. It doesn't need to be super complex or long, but having some kind of plan is crucial to making sure your research is a success. With a research plan, you can be sure that you're meeting your business objectives, staying on track, and avoiding common research mistakes.

How to create user research plan?

To gather all this information, we'll need to talk to others involved in the project, like product owners, developers, or designers to make sure we're all on the same page before we start. Sometimes, I'll even turn their questions into more objective alternatives to make sure we're not biased in our research.

Let's break it down into some simple steps to get your research project off the ground and ensure success:

1. Start with a quick introduction. Hop on a video call with your team or stakeholders and remind everyone of the project goals. Remember, research is most effective when it focuses on a single objective.

2. Define the user and business problems that your research needs to address. The default sticky notes can be edited to suit your context. If you want to keep everyone focused on this area, select the "problem" frame and click the "hide frame" icon.

3. Set your research goals. Brainstorm with your team to come up with the top three research goals or priorities. Remember, the best research sessions have a single objective in mind, so narrow it down to your top choices and use the Voting Plugin in Miro to help make a final decision.

4. Draft your research questions. Work with your team or stakeholders to identify three to five key questions that are most important to your research. Keep it focused and avoid going overboard with too many questions.

5. Share relevant supporting information. Keep the research plan simple and to the point to get buy-in from stakeholders. However, if someone needs more detail, you can always link to previous research results, relevant studies, or embed tables and charts on your Miro Board

By following these steps, you'll be well on your way to a successful research project that delivers actionable insights.

What are the components of a user research plan

Let's explore the structure of a user research plan

• Background: A quick intro to what we're researching and why we're doing it. This helps everyone get on the same page and understand what we're hoping to achieve.

• Stakeholders: Who's involved and who will be impacted by this research.

• Research objectives: What we hope to learn or achieve from the research. We'll make sure we have clear objectives so we can get the answers we need.

• Methods: The research methods we'll use to answer our objectives. Depending on the project, we might use generative methods to uncover insights or usability testing to evaluate a product or prototype.

• Business objectives: If relevant, we'll discuss what business goals we hope to achieve through the research.

• Participants: Who we're targeting for the research, such as specific demographics or user groups.

• Interview guide: A cheat sheet of topics and questions for the interview.

• UX metrics (if applicable): How we'll measure success for usability tests.

• Timeline: A rough estimate of how long the research will take.

How can ChatGPT create a user research plan?

Step 1: refining research objectives

Imagine that a UX researcher is conducting a study on the user experience of a mobile app. They want to gather insights on how users navigate through the app and identify any pain points or areas of confusion. With ChatGPT, the researcher can generate a series of questions that are specifically tailored to their research objectives. Some examples of questions that ChatGPT might generate include:

• What are some common issues that users face when navigating through the app?

• How does the app's design affect user behavior and interactions?

• Are there any features that users frequently overlook or have difficulty accessing?

After you got all the answers for that you can now improve your current objectives with the answers. For example, if you're trying to design an fashion app that provide personalization, you could use the following prompt:

Generate research objectives for the fashion app that provides personalized outfit recommendations based on user preferences and body type by identifying common user navigation issues, analyzing how app design influences user behavior and interactions, and identifying overlooked or difficult-to-access features. The research objectives should address what we want to learn and how we are going to study the problem statement. It must set a direction or boundaries. It’s important to be specific. It must be practical and actionable, meaning that you can answer them within the scope of the study and act on the findings once the research is complete.

This is the result example

Step 2: generate interview questions

Using ChatGPT, you can generate interview questions that will help you gather the information you need from users. For example, if your research goal is to understand user pain points, ChatGPT can generate questions

These questions can be refined to make them more specific and relevant to your research goals.

Create 5 user interview questions for the fashion app that provides personalized outfit recommendations based on user preferences and body type by identifying common user navigation issues, analyzing how app design influences user behavior and interactions, and identifying overlooked or difficult-to-access features. The questions should be open-ended and avoid research biases. The research objective is to analyze how the design of the fashion app influences user behavior and interactions, and provide recommendations for improving the design.

By incorporating this prompt into their research study, the UX researcher can gain valuable insights into the user experience of the app and identify areas for improvement.

Step 3: define UX metrics

In the world of UX research, defining and measuring UX metrics is crucial for designing and improving user experiences. With its advanced NLP capabilities, ChatGPT can be an invaluable resource for UX researchers to help them define UX metrics.

Imagine that you're a UX researcher for a company that sells home workout equipment. You want to identify the key factors that are driving user engagement and satisfaction with your company's website. To do this, you decide to analyze user feedback from social media and online reviews using ChatGPT.

First, you would gather a large sample of user feedback from various sources, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Amazon reviews. You could then input this feedback into ChatGPT and ask it to analyze the language and sentiments used by users to describe their experiences.

ChatGPT would then use its NLP capabilities to identify key phrases and words that are associated with positive or negative sentiment. For example, it might identify that users who are satisfied with the website often use phrases like "easy to navigate," "helpful customer service," and "fast shipping." On the other hand, users who are dissatisfied might use phrases like "difficult to find what I'm looking for," "poor quality products," and "slow website."

By analyzing this feedback with ChatGPT, you can identify the most common positive and negative factors that are driving user engagement and satisfaction. This information can help you define key UX metrics that you need to measure, such as website usability, product quality, and customer service.

Define three meaningful metrics based on this insight [your context here] with detailed intervals and specific values to serve as indicators of good outcomes. How long should these metrics be monitored? How many total numbers should be measured for each metric?

Step 4: make an initial research timeline

Let's say you are a product designer for a transportation startup, and you want to create a user research timeline to ensure that all necessary research is conducted before the app launch.

Here's an example of how ChatGPT could help you create this timeline:

1. Input your research questions: First, you would input your research questions into ChatGPT. These could include questions like: "What features do users want to see in our app?" and "What pain points do users currently experience when using similar apps?"

2. Analyze the data: ChatGPT would then analyze data from various sources, such as social media, app reviews, and user surveys, to identify trends and patterns related to your research questions. For example, ChatGPT might find that users frequently complain about slow load times in similar apps, or that they express a desire for more customization options.

3. Determine research methods and timeline: Based on the insights gathered by ChatGPT, you could then determine which research methods would be most effective in addressing your research questions, and create a timeline for conducting this research. For example, if ChatGPT identifies slow load times as a pain point for users, you might decide to conduct usability testing to identify specific areas where load times can be improved. You could then create a timeline for conducting this usability testing, such as conducting two rounds of testing over a two-week period.

4. Refine the timeline: Once you have created a preliminary timeline, you could input this into ChatGPT and ask it to provide feedback based on the data it has analyzed. ChatGPT could help you refine the timeline by suggesting additional research methods or highlighting areas where more research is needed.

Create a timeline with specific date and actionable items for conducting this usability testing for startup in expansion with 3 members of designers in 1 product team. Define how long should UX research be. When planning your research activities, you must take into account the necessary time for data collection and analysis, the number of team members you can assign to user interviews and other research activities, as well as the time needed for recruitment. Additionally, you must be mindful of the human factor – people may be late, absent, or simply not available for an interview at any given time.

Step 5: refine the results

After conducting the user interviews, you can refine the prompts and results using ChatGPT. By analyzing the responses, you can identify patterns and themes that will help you refine your interview questions for future research.

For example, if many users mentioned a particular pain point, you can refine your questions to dig deeper into that topic. ChatGPT can also assist in generating follow-up questions that will help you clarify the responses and gather more information.

1. Identifying patterns and themes: Let's say you conducted user interviews about a new product feature, and you received a range of responses from users. You can use ChatGPT to analyze the responses and identify common themes or patterns that emerged. For instance, if a majority of users mentioned a certain issue or concern, you can refine your prompts to probe deeper into that area

2. Generating follow-up questions: If you receive a response that requires further clarification, ChatGPT can help generate follow-up questions to gain more insight. For example, if a user mentions they find a particular feature confusing, you can use ChatGPT to generate follow-up questions that explore why they find it confusing, how it impacts their experience, and what improvements they would suggest

Conclusion

In conclusion, ChatGPT can be an invaluable tool for UX researchers in creating user interview plans, guides, and questions. By generating prompts and refining the results, ChatGPT can assist in gathering valuable insights from users that will inform your design decisions. With ChatGPT, you can conduct more efficient and effective user interviews that will improve the user experience of your product or service.