Research methods
Defra user researchers:
- use a wide range of methods and combine them where needed
- choose methods that align with the research goals, service phase, and user needs
- adapt their approach to constraints such as time, budget, and access
Choosing and using research methods
Research methods and techniques
- Desk research guidance
- In-depth interview guidance
- Usability testing guidance
- Contextual enquiry guidance
- Diary study guidance
- Focus group guidance
- Co-design workshop guidance
- Guerrilla and pop-up research guidance
- Card sort and tree test guidance
- Survey guidance
- Guidance for using support ticket and service desk data for user research
Research templates
- Desk research template
- In-depth interview discussion guide template
- Usability testing discussion guide template
- Contextual enquiry discussion guide and data capture template
- Diary study data collection template
- Focus group discussion guide template
- Workshop toolkit (Mural) - to copy the template, select the link, then select 'New mural from template' in the top left and save.
- Guerrilla and pop-up discussion guide template
- Card sort discussion guide template
- Card sort question bank (Optimal Workshop)
- Tree test discussion guide template
- Tree test question bank (Optimal Workshop)
- Survey question bank
Get support
Contact the user research operations team for further support.