Research Ops

Resume : The Research Operations (ResearchOps) practice focuses on the processes and metrics that help researchers plan, conduct, and apply quality research at scale.

Definition: ResearchOps refers to the orchestration and optimization of people, process, and craft to amplify the value and impact of research at scale.

ResearchOps is a specialized area of DesignOps which focuses specifically on components concerning user research practices. It is a collective term for efforts to support researchers in planning, conducting, and applying quality user research, such as:

  • Standardization of research methods and supporting documents (e.g. scripts, templates and consent forms) to save time and enable consistent application across teams.
  • Recruit and manage research participants in all studies
  • Ensure that research ethics are understood and adhered to by individual researchers in all studies.
  • Educate research team partners and management on the value of research to users.
  • Manage user research results and make data accessible across the team and organization.
  • Publicize successes and ensure that the overall impact of research on users is known.

Why ResearchOps Matters Now ?

The exponential growth of the UX profession means that more companies are realizing the value of UX and the demand for UX and user research is increasing. This is excellent news: the value of our work is known and deemed necessary much more than it was in the recent past.

However, the practical task of adapting research practices to meet this increased demand often falls to existing UX research staff, with little guidance or additional resources. Principal investigators or research supervisors must take on the responsibility and challenge of developing processes to adapt their practices to demand, while continuing to plan and facilitate research sessions.

If a company is doing 10 times more user research than before, the cost shouldn't be 11 times the old budget, which is all too likely if more projects mean more bureaucracy, coordination, and complexity. other overheads. The new cost is expected to be 9 times due to economies of scale and reuse of preparatory work between studies. In fact, the target cost of ResearchOps should be 8 times or less.

ResearchOps can provide relief, with dedicated roles (or at least focused efforts, if dedicated roles are not feasible) to create and compile intentional strategies and tools to manage the operational aspects of research, so that researchers can focus on conducting studies and applying research lessons.

ResearchOps is not just about recruiting participants

Many people equate ResearchOps with participant management (for example, selecting and scheduling participants for research studies) because this aspect is often an immediately obvious pain point for researchers and time-consuming. While participant management is certainly an important part of ResearchOps, it's not the only one. The full landscape of operational elements necessary for the creation and development of a research practice is much broader.

As a former ResearchOps contract specialist at Uber aptly explained to me during a series of interviews I conducted with DesignOps and ResearchOps professionals: “The value that ResearchOps can bring is not just about to call and get a participant, but to build a program and establish consistent quality for communications and research methods.”

ResearchOps addresses a tapestry of interlocking operational aspects of user research, where each element affects and is affected by the other elements.

Common components of ResearchOps

The ResearchOps model described below was created by identifying key areas of interest from our interviews with DesignOps and ResearchOps professionals. It highlights 6 common ResearchOps areas of interest:

  • Participants: Recruitment, selection, planning and remuneration of participants.
  • Governance: Processes and guidelines for consent, confidentiality and storage of information.
  • Knowledge: Processes and platforms for collecting, synthesizing and sharing knowledge from research.
  • Tools: Enable search efficiencies through consistent toolsets and platforms
  • Skills: Assist, educate and train others to perform research activities.
  • Advocacy: Define, share, and communicate the value of user research across the organization.

As the cyclic design of the model indicates, these are not isolated elements, but interrelated factors that determine the need and influence each other.

 

Image: Our ResearchOps model includes six elements of common interest: participants, governance, knowledge, tools, skills and advocacy.

Participant management

The first component of ResearchOps – but not the only one – is participant management. This area includes creating processes to find, recruit, screen, schedule and compensate participants for research studies. This is often an easy task, as it is usually the most apparent and immediate need of overworked research teams.

Common ResearchOps activities and efforts in participant management include:

  • The creation of a database or a panel of potential study participants or the search and selection of external recruitment platforms.
  • Selection and validation of participants
  • Management of communication with participants
  • Developing schemes for fair and consistent levels of rewards, based on participants' expertise and time commitment.

Governance

Governance guidelines are a necessity for any study involving participants. For example, consent templates should comply with existing data privacy regulations, such as GDPR, and written in clear and transparent language. In addition, since personally identifiable information (PII) of participants is collected, the organization must follow legal regulations and ethical standards regarding where this information is stored, for how long it is stored, how it is protected , and how their storage is made transparent to the participant. (PII means any data that could be used to identify a person, such as full name, date of birth, or email address).

Common ResearchOps activities and efforts under governance include:

  • Research and understand the application of data privacy regulations, such as GDPR, to the UX research process.
  • Establish ethically sound processes and communications
  • Drafting and standardization of compliant and transparent consent forms for various types of studies and formats of data collected.
  • Manage the proper maintenance and disposal of IPRs and study artifacts, such as interview scripts or audio and video session recordings.

Knowledge management 

As study data begins to accumulate, the need for knowledge management becomes increasingly important. This element of ResearchOps is focused on collecting and synthesizing data from research studies and ensuring that it is findable and accessible to others. Not only can knowledge compiled and managed efficiently help research teams share results and avoid repetitive studies, but it can also be used to train people outside the team.

Common ResearchOps activities and efforts within knowledge management include:

  • Development of standardized templates for data collection during studies.
  • The creation of a common database of research results (sometimes called a research repository) where the results of studies conducted throughout the organization can be stored. 
  • The organization of regular meetings or other means to share and update the organization on the knowledge of users.
  • Coordination with other teams conducting studies (e.g. marketing or business intelligence) to create a very comprehensive source of information.

Tools

Most of the activities discussed so far require tools or platforms. For example: What platform will be used to recruit and select participants? What applications will be used to manage participants' PII? What programs will be used to host all research results? In addition, tools that facilitate the actual research, such as usability testing platforms (remote usability testing), analysis or survey platforms (survey), or even video editing and audio transcription, must be taken into account. While autonomy in choice can be valuable, auditing the research toolset to create some level of consistency within the team speeds up sharing and collaboration. 

Common ResearchOps activities and efforts within the tools include:

  • Researching and comparing suitable platforms for recruiting and managing participant information.
  • The selection of research tools for usability testing, surveys, remote interviews or any other type of research.
  • Management of access privileges and places on the platforms for user researchers and teams.
  • Auditing of all research tools to ensure that all platforms and applications used comply with data protection regulations.
  • Although buildings and facilities are not generally considered "tools", research departments must also manage laboratories and non-laboratory test rooms, including subcontracts.

skills

As the demand for and the amount of research performed continue to grow, it becomes essential to also increase the research capabilities and skills of the organization. The “skills” component aims to enable more people to understand and do research. This effort often involves providing resources and training both (1) to researchers, so that they can continue to develop their skills, and (2) to non-researchers, so that they can integrate research activities. fundamentals in their work when researchers are not available (and knowing when to ask for help instead of initiating their own study).

Common ResearchOps activities and efforts within the competency include:

  • Develop standardized and consistent professional development opportunities for researchers who wish to deepen or broaden their expertise.
  • The establishment of mentorship programs to integrate new researchers and help them learn and develop new research skills.
  • Creation of a guide or database on research methods in order to integrate new researchers or to train others outside the team.
  • Develop training or formal curricula to train non-researchers and expose them to user-centered approaches and activities, so that basic research can be incorporated into work when researchers cannot respond on demand.

Advocacy

The last component, advocacy, concerns how the value of UX research is defined and communicated to the rest of the organization. In other words, what is being done to ensure that the rest of the organization is aware of the value and impact of research? For example, does the team socialize success stories and demonstrate the impact of user research? To close the loop on the cyclical nature of the model, proper advocacy helps secure fuel and resources for all other areas of interest and ensure that the ResearchOps approach can continue to grow effectively.

Common ResearchOps advocacy activities and efforts include:

  • Creating a UX research team mission or statement of purpose that can be used to talk about the team's goal with other colleagues.
  • Develop case studies that demonstrate the impact of properly applied search results on business metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs).
  • Develop a process to regularly share ideas and success stories with the rest of the organization (eg lunch-and-learn, email newsletters, posters, etc.).

Note: This model is not exhaustive

The six components of this model are specialized elements that research practices must take into account in order to create coherent and quality research efforts within teams. However, there are other elements that must be considered and intentionally designed that are essential to the health of any research team or practice.

One of these elements is the documented career path. Documentation and use of career paths in general is sparse. (In our recent DesignOps research, only 11% of respondents said they had a documented and shared growth journey – an abysmal percentage). But, especially in relatively nascent fields, such as ResearchOps, where there is no decisive legacy and publicly available successful team structures or models of roles and responsibilities, it is both critical and difficult to create and document such journeys.

To ensure that you include additional elements that are not represented in this ResearchOps template, refer to our DesignOps framework. It offers a comprehensive overview of potential areas of interest for the operationalization of design in general; many of these elements also apply to building a robust and well-focused ResearchOps practice. Team structure and definition of roles, consistent recruiting and onboarding practices for new members, methods of communication and collaboration within the team, and balance and planning of workflow. work are just a few more things to consider.

How to get started in ResearchOps

As mentioned, ResearchOps is a whole made up of many parts that are best viewed holistically, as each component affects and is affected by the other factors. However, when setting up a ResearchOps approach, not all aspects can be addressed at the same time.

The first step in knowing where to start is to understand where the main sticking points are. Are researchers overwhelmed with the logistics of recruiting and planning participants? Participant management is perhaps the best starting point for the team. Is research data scattered and inaccessible to new team members, leading to duplication of research efforts and poor research retention? Perhaps the team should focus on knowledge management.

Start by identifying current issues that require ResearchOps. Do internal research to understand where the main pain points are for research teams and for partners. For example, you can send out a survey or organize focus groups with researchers to gather information on whether current processes are enabling them to be efficient and what is blocking them the most. Additionally, conduct interviews with internal stakeholders to uncover the most pain points for partners in the search process. This knowledge will help you define a clear role for ResearchOps.

Remember, when it comes to broadening the search, balance your focus between the item you have chosen to address and the overall tapestry of considerations. Evolve and expand your scope of action as needs change to maintain a balanced approach.

 

Article translated on 11/02/2022 from https://www.nngroup.com/articles/research-ops-101/

Walid Merrad, UX-UI Researcher & Designer @UX-Republic

 

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