Three ways
a study can begin.

A product’s first task

A team wants to understand how a person moves from an initial screen to a meaningful first action.

Question

Can a person understand what to do, find the relevant path and complete the agreed first task?

Preparation

A testable onboarding path, a realistic starting point, task wording and participant criteria.

Activity

Moderated attempts at the task, observation of the sequence and follow-up questions.

Handover

Annotated usability issues, supporting observations and discussion of the next iteration.

A repeated household routine

A team wants to understand the circumstances around an activity that happens in different ways across the week.

Question

What changes around the routine, and how do people describe those changes?

Preparation

A bounded activity, practical participant prompts and agreed follow-up arrangements.

Activity

Diary contributions close to the activity, followed by conversations to clarify the material.

Handover

Contextual patterns, differences, limitations and questions for further investigation.

An idea before the build

A team has several early proposals and needs to understand how the intended audience makes sense of them.

Question

What do people understand, find relevant or need explained in each proposal?

Preparation

Proposals presented with comparable detail, agreed questions and a planned order of discussion.

Activity

Structured concept conversations that distinguish reactions from evidence of use.

Handover

Themes, supporting reactions and implications for the next prototype.