User Research Plan Sample  

 
Descriptive Title About the Project 
 
Business Objectives: 
Why is the business interested (or why should they be interested) in running this research 
project? What is the problem you are trying to understand? What financial KPIs could this impact 
(think acquisition, revenue, retention)? 
 
Stakeholders Involved:​ ​List the stakeholders involved in this particular project and their 
associated role 
 
Research Goals/Objectives: 
You should have about 3-5 research objectives that are both specific and broad - if you get to 
five or more research objectives, you are probably trying to accomplish too much in one project 
or you don’t have enough focus on what the project is 
● Each objective should have a question you are trying to uncover 
● Or a hypothesis you are trying to validate/disprove 
● Or a certain flow you are trying to better understand (ex: checkout flow) 
 
Background: 
Why is this research initiative important from the user’s perspective? Will it help us uncover new 
mental models or journeys? Or pain points that lead to a more satisfactory user experience? Will 
it teach us how to iterate on current designs? 
 
Methodology: 
Based on the goals/objectives, what methods are you going to use? Is this project more 
generative, calling for 1x1 research interviews? Or more evaluative-focused, which would move 
towards usability testing? 
How long will the sessions be? Will they be remote or in-person? What tools will you use? 
 
Sample: 
Qualifications: are there any participant qualifications that need to be met? For example, do they 
need to be a certain type of user? Is it necessary that they have browsed your website or never 
have used your app? 
Sample information: 
● How many interviews are you doing? 
● Is there a demographic mix (gender, location, income, age)? 
● Were some conducted in-person versus remote? 
● Were some conducted on different devices? 
 
 
Interview guide: 
The following is where you put an introduction, the overarching questions you anticipate asking 
(or a checklist) and a wrap-up. 
 
 
Introduction: 
This is where you are friendly and introduce yourself and your company. You thank the 
participants for participating and say how much you value their feedback, and why it is important 
for them to give you feedback. A high-level explanation of what will take place is great as well as 
asking them permission to record the session and if they have any questions. I’ll give a sample: 
 
Hi there, I’m Nikki, the user experience researcher at Dog City. First off, thank you so much for 
being willing to participate. At Dog City, we use your feedback within our product team to make 
decisions about how to best improve our products and prioritize our roadmap. 
 
For the next 60 minutes, we are going to be doing a few exercises so we can understand how 
you think about dogs. I want this to be more of a conversation and less of an interview, so feel 
free to act as natural as possible and interrupt with any questions or comments. As we go 
through the exercises, it would be great if you could think out loud when doing things, so we can 
understand your thought process behind your actions. Remember - there are no right or wrong 
answers! 
 
You can stop this session at any time if you feel uncomfortable. All of your answers will be kept 
confidential and anonymous. Before we begin, do you mind if I record this session? It will be 
confidential and just used for internal purposes. Do you have any questions before we begin? 
 
Interview questions 
I like to start more broad and general and then work into more specific question based on what 
the user brings up. I will generally have a checklist of information I want to cover, based on what I 
am interested in understanding and also what other internal stakeholders (product managers, 
designers, developers, etc) want to get out of the interview. This list is ordered in a flow that 
makes the most sense for what the participant and I are going through. All of the questions tend 
to be high-level and are open-ended to allow the participant flexibility to respond in a way that is 
more significant and meaningful to them. When thinking of creating question, I used the TEDW 
method (Tell, Explain, Describe, Walkthrough) I will share some examples below: 
 
General questions: 
1. Tell me a story about the last time you interacted with a dog 
a. If you can remember, when was it? 
b. What was it like? 
i. Describe the environment, time of day, feelings or thoughts 
2. What are your feelings towards dogs? 
a. More negative or positive? 
 b. Why do you feel that way? 
3. What is your favorite pet? Why? 
 
More specifics: 
1. Describe what comes to your mind when you think of the company “Dog City?” 
a. Why do you think that? 
2. Walk me through your last experience was with Dog City? 
a. What in particular made that experience good/bad? 
b. What was the impact of that experience? 
3. Tell me about when you signed up for dog city - what was that like? 
a. Explain what you mean by confusing 
b. Can you give me an example of what was confusing? 
 
Wrap-up: 
This is where you wrap-up, thank the participant again, talk about compensation or follow-up and 
leave time for additional questions from the participant. Here’s another example below: 
Thank you so much for participating today, we really appreciate your time and this session was 
extremely helpful for us. Again, all of your answers will be kept completely confidential and 
anonymous. I will be sending your $100 gift card to Dog City through email by the end of this 
week. If possible, would it be okay to contact you again, in the future, to participate in another 
research session? Any other questions for me? 
Thank you again! 
 
Hypotheses/Biases: 
An optional placeholder to write down any hypotheses or biases the team holds - this can help 
make sure you keep track of different ideas you are looking to validate/disprove as well as get 
you out of an assumptive headspace 
 
Project timeline: 
Great place to put an estimated timeline that includes the step, who is responsible and estimated 
completion date 
 
Resources: 
Any relevant links such as prototypes, previous research, participant database, research 
schedule, deliverables (once finished)