Foundational research also referred to as exploratory research, is used to explore a problem space and learn more about the potential users. It helps teams generate an initial understanding, establish priorities, and define a direction for the product. This kind of research also anticipates any changes in the competitive landscape and helps the product to stay or get ahead of the competition.

Typically, foundational research is administered personally in a face-to-face environment, wherein actual behavior is derived by observation as well as probing. This kind of research is not centered around a single feature or a product, but it helps us understand complex problems and discover patterns that are much beyond.

The impact of foundational research can be enormous. A single study can derive high impact across multiple segments. It can also be a well of knowledge, from which you can draw repeatedly for a prolonged period. You can go back to the data over again to get answers for specific questions, hence saving both time and money.

When taking up foundation research, it can be quite exciting but also daunting considering the scope and complexity of the research. Here are steps to keep in mind when getting started with your next foundational research.

Engage stakeholders

Engaging the stakeholders starts much before the start of any research project. Building a rapport with stakeholders is crucial to gain their trust and build relationships.

At the start of the project, do your own research on your stakeholders and uncover what is the actual scope of inquiry. Think about incorporating questions like: What areas do we want to investigate? What are the key information gaps that we have? Out of all the research questions, what is it that we need immediately?

Desk Research

Once you have an initial discussion, look for all kinds of data that you could research. Go through any previous research based on the topic, any market research documents and papers related to the topic. Further do not leave out any product notes and documents to help you gain more clarity.
E.g. Market segmentation can help you gain the initial understanding of who are the users
Scientific papers can help you understand what the existing behaviors are in a ‘non-product specific’ sense

These artifacts will help you get your thoughts together and will help you fill out any missing gaps in research.

Derive themes and proiritize them

Based on your interactions with your stakeholders, do a quick affinity mapping to understand what are the themes that emerge. Further supplement these themes with your desk research to get an all-round understanding.

Once you have had a good understanding of the themes, do a quick mapping again to see which theme belong with each other. This will help you scope out the study. Each theme or a group of themes can be considered as one project, hence, prioritization is essential.

E.g. The larger theme can be to understand how trust works in an app

Map these themes basis value to business, effort, and impact to prioritize. Also look at your organizational OKRs to get a buy-in from the strategic point of view. Pick the themes that are on the top basis these criteria and park the rest for phase 2 of research.

Do involve your stakeholders (product, design, engineering, marketing, copy) in this step to get different perspectives from all the teams and see what is crucial for the product. It will also help you to get the sign off quicker as it will be a mutually taken decision.

Define problem statements

Once you have the key theme prioritized, do a research assessment to understand what you know so it’ll give you a sense of where to start. Collect all the desk research that you have and start building a list of questions that need to be answered.

Use data to figure out the actual gaps that need to be investigated. Keep the questions crisp and they would be the foundations to the research objectives.

Define Objectives

To define the objectives, start with the problem statements in mind. Think about the main purpose of the project and why it was prioritized in the first place. Once you have a draft in place, refine specify and redefine to make it more achievable. It is important that you ensure all the objectives are achievable.

When writing objectives, keep the outcome in mind, the outcome should be your objective checklist. Further, add structure to your objectives so that it tells a story. This can be done by considering the stages of the user journey or how the touchpoints are placed.

Finally, do have a formal sign-off on the objectives from the stakeholders. This is critical as it brings everyone on the same page regarding the research and later the outcomes will not be questioned.

Define Methodology

In foundational research, one method does on fit all. It is important to look at all the objectives to dial down on one or multiple methods to achieve the same. In this stage it is important to gauge the depth of insights you need for each of the objectives as the methodology chosen will be defined by that.

While defining the methodology do not shy away from using multiple or unconventional methods to achieve the required outcomes. Also, do try and think out of the box while deciding on the method. Feel free to borrow methods from psychology or cognitive science as they are parallel research streams.

Foundational research can seem long and tiresome, especially if you are the only researcher in the team. But it is a team sport. Your stakeholders need to be as invested in your research as you are, and it starts with you structuring your research. Hopefully, this article will help you shape your first foundational research.