Research Review
Research Review can play a key role during both the Discovery and Assessment phases. Design Research during Discovery typically includes internal organizational studies or other documents relevant to the project. During Assessment, secondary design research on theory, best practices, statistics, market data and other aspects that are relevant to the project are a key part the process.
Timing
Relevant design research documents are normally identified during the project initiation meeting and supplied by the client 2 -3 days later. We normally identify required secondary research at the end of the Discovery phase so that it is available during the Assessment phase.
Methodology
We generally review relevant documents before we conduct the interviews. Internal documents reviewed can include business plans, marketing plans, product development plans, product specifications, internal market research, competitive analysis, annual reports, SEC filings, prospectuses, customer feedback, use cases, technical documents, support and help documentation and product instructions. Secondary documents can include competitors' websites and publicly available marketing material, analyst reports, market research, media stories, whitepapers, product reviews and blogs and forums.
Benefits
- Lever existing knowledge
- Gain insight from all parts of the company as well as for outside parties
- Help place interviews and assessment research into a broader context
- Bring the end-user to the table earlier
Duration
Lapsed time depends on the number of documents and their length and complexity. Duration can thus take anywhere from a day to a week typically.