What are the most important design research considerations for government agencies?

2 Define your problem and scope

Another key consideration in design research is to define your problem and scope. What are you trying to achieve with your design project? What are the main challenges and opportunities that you face? What are the assumptions and hypotheses that you have about your users and your solutions? What are the constraints and requirements that you have to work with? These questions can help you clarify your design problem, scope, and objectives, which are essential for planning and executing your research activities. You can use tools such as problem statements, research questions, SMART goals, or logic models to articulate your problem and scope.

3 Choose your methods and tools

Once you have defined your users and your problem, you need to choose the appropriate methods and tools to conduct your design research. Depending on your objectives, budget, timeline, and resources, you can use different types of methods and tools to collect, analyze, and synthesize data. For example, you can use quantitative methods, such as surveys, analytics, or experiments, to measure and test variables, patterns, and trends. You can use qualitative methods, such as interviews, observations, or case studies, to explore and understand meanings, experiences, and stories. You can also use mixed methods, which combine both quantitative and qualitative approaches, to gain a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of your users and your problem. You can use tools such as research plans, protocols, scripts, or templates to guide and document your research process.

4 Communicate your findings and recommendations

The final and most crucial consideration in design research is to communicate your findings and recommendations to your stakeholders and decision-makers. How will you present and share your research results? What are the key insights and implications that you want to convey? How will you persuade and influence your audience to take action based on your research evidence? These questions can help you craft effective and engaging presentations, reports, or deliverables that showcase your research value and impact. You can use tools such as personas, user journeys, storyboards, infographics, or dashboards to visualize and communicate your findings and recommendations.

Design research is a powerful and rewarding process that can help you create solutions that meet the needs and expectations of your users and stakeholders. By following these design research considerations, you can ensure that your research is relevant, rigorous, and actionable, and that you can deliver better outcomes for your projects and your users.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?