Research Template
Keep all your user research in one place and collaborate with your team.
About the Research Template
Teams can document findings from usability testing sessions and customer interviews into a systematic, flexible user research template. Collecting everyone’s observations into a centralized location makes it easier to share insights company-wide and suggest new features based on user needs.
Keep reading to learn more about the Research Template.
What is a Research Template
Research templates can be adapted to work with different design methods or user research techniques. When it’s your job to ask questions, take notes, learn more about your user, and test iteratively, a Research Template can help you validate your assumptions, find similarities across different users, and articulate their mental models, needs, and goals.
User research helps teams avoid designing for themselves, and instead turn their attention to who will actually use your product, in what context they’ll be using your product or service, and what they need or expect from your brand or organization.
Research templates can be used to record two different types of data or observations:
Quantitative: numbers-based research, or anything you can count. This includes the number of users and percentage changes. It helps teams understand what is happening on a website or app.
Qualitative: opinion-based research, or anything that can take place in the form of a question-and-answer format (closed questions), or conversational exchange (open questions).
Whichever way you choose, a Research Template will help you keep your designs informed, contextual, and user-centric.
When to use Research Templates
A Research Template can be used at any stage of the product or service design life cycle.
Right now: No time like the present. The earlier you start your research, the bigger the impact your research findings will have on your product or service.
At every stage of the design process: User research can reveal important findings that can be applied to your product or service. This increases its value.
In the earliest stage of the project: Not every team can budget for research every step of the way. In that case, do the most research as early as possible in the project. Make sure to reserve some time and budget for conducting supplementary research later on in the process, too.
Create your own Research Template
Participating in user research efforts as a team is important. Everyone can get involved, better understand the user they’re designing for, and clarify why certain decisions are based on user research findings.
Get started by selecting the Research Template, to make one of your own:
Record your observations and make revisions where needed. Assemble a cross-functional team who can empathize with your users: designers, engineers, product managers, user researchers, marketers, and support team members will all have valuable input to contribute. Nominate someone in your group to facilitate. This person will lead the conversation with the user participant. Everyone else will listen and watch for potential roadblocks and epiphanies for the user.
Take notes. The user research template’s columns and rows are customizable and can be renamed to record elements such as observational goals, tester details, and emotions that emerge during the conversation. These notes can also be useful for people unable to attend the session.
Bring it all together. After the user interview sessions are done, group similar notes into themed clusters. What are the pain points for the customer? Where were the opportunities for delight? Sometimes notes will come together into logical themed clusters, but sometimes you’ll have “odd one out” observations that don’t fit anywhere. You can gather these into a “basket” or collect them into a separate area in case they may become useful later.
Adapt as needed throughout the research and design process. Ideally, this process will help you develop features side-by-side as a team, rather than go through a hand-off process with all the involved departments. The Research Template is flexible enough to be adapted to best serve your team’s needs.
Get started with this template right now.
Service Blueprinting Workshop
Works best for:
Agile
The Service Blueprinting Workshop template helps teams visualize and improve service processes. It includes ice breakers, context canvas, empathy maps, and action plans for service transitions. Use it to align teams, identify opportunities, and prototype service delivery from a macro to microscopic level, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of service orchestration and seamless collaboration. Ideal for remote and dispersed teams.
Darts Template
Works best for:
Design
It is a common mistake to assume that all ideas, tasks, or features are equally important. However, in order to achieve the best results and focus on the most critical elements, it is necessary to determine what takes priority. This approach allows you to prioritize and concentrate on what requires immediate attention while postponing the remaining aspects for later. The Darts Template is designed to limit the amount of content that can be placed in the center, forcing your team to consider priorities before taking any action.
iPhone App Template
Works best for:
UX Design, Desk Research, Wireframes
Incredible percentages of smartphone users worldwide have chosen iPhones (including some of your existing and potential customers), and those users simply love their apps. But designing and creating an iPhone app from scratch can be one seriously daunting, effort-intensive task. Not here — this template makes it easy. You’ll be able to customize designs, create interactive protocols, share with your collaborators, iterate as a team, and ultimately develop an iPhone app your customers will love.
Lean UX Canvas Template
Works best for:
Desk Research, Product Management, User Experience
What are you building, why are building it, and who are you building it for? Those are the big pictures questions that guide great companies and teams toward success — and Lean UX helps you find the answers. Especially helpful during project research, design, and planning, this tool lets you quickly make product improvements and solve business problems, leading to a more customer-centric product. This template will let you create a Lean UX canvas structured around eight key elements: Business problem, Business outcome, Users and customers, User benefits, Solution ideas, Hypothesis, Assumptions, Experimentation.
Agile Roadmap Template
Works best for:
Agile Methodology, Roadmaps, Agile Workflows
A roadmap is just as important as sprints and standups for getting Agile right. Use this template to create, revise, and communicate an Agile roadmap in collaboration with your project team.
Empathy Mapping by Atlassian
Works best for:
Market Research, Research & Design
Atlassian Empathy Mapping is designed to help teams understand user perspectives. By mapping out user experiences, you can identify pain points and opportunities for improvement. This template is ideal for collaborative workshops and user research.