Discovery concepts guide

Before

Step 1: Plan your project and build your team

Create a project brief to explain the initial issue or situation you will study. Use the “How Might We…” prompt to identify and frame your area of inquiry. Identify the skills you’ll need and recruit your team.

Step 2: Recruit research participants

Work within your network (both inside and outside of your agency) to find research participants who meet your criteria. Look for participants whose life circumstances and experiences align with your frame of inquiry.

Step 3: Plan your research

With your participants lined up, plan out the rest of the research logistics. Reserve a space (physical or virtual), gather the tools, draft questions, and clarify roles and responsibilities for the team.

During

Step 4: Do your research

As participants move through your frame of inquiry in their own way, remember that their perceptions and approaches are valid reflections of their reality. That is what you want to understand.

After

Step 5: Synthesize your findings

After your team has finished the interviews, all team members come together and collectively review and analyze the information they’ve gathered. Now is the time to step back, take stock, and tease out common themes and patterns.

Insights will emerge during synthesis. The best and most relevant ideas, quotes, and observations will rise to the top. These can become fields of opportunity for further exploration.

Step 6: Find opportunities

Identify real needs expressed by participants during the research phase, which present opportunities for improvement.

Step 7: Present your findings

Communicate your findings and opportunities to stakeholders and leadership. Know your audience and tailor your presentation accordingly.

Step 8: Identify next steps

You may be ready to move to the design phase, but sometimes, after your first round of research and synthesis, you realize how much you didn’t know about what you didn’t know, and you may need to do more research. Though it may not feel like progress, it is. Sometimes, at this stage, you also decide to adjust your “How might we…” question to one that more accurately captures your findings from the initial phase of research.