Problem Framing and Research Questions

Covers the end to end practice of uncovering, defining, and validating the true problem before designing solutions. Includes techniques for framing ambiguous challenges, performing root cause analysis, and translating business needs into clear problem statements and research objectives. Covers designing and prioritizing research activities including stakeholder and contextual interviews, user interviews, surveys, field research, observational studies, analytics review, competitive and market analysis, and selecting appropriate qualitative and quantitative methods and sample considerations. Emphasizes hypothesis driven research, rapid prototypes and experiments, ethical practice, and using analytics to validate insights. Describes how to set clear success criteria and key performance indicators, surface stakeholder assumptions and constraints, convert vague needs into testable research questions and hypotheses, and produce deliverables such as research plans, personas, user journeys, empathy maps, prioritized findings, and actionable recommendations that inform decisions and design goals.

HardTechnical

35 practiced

A senior PM pushes to launch a redesigned checkout tomorrow; your quick three interviews with customers suggest the redesign reduces perceived trust. Draft an influence and escalation plan for the next 72 hours: include short experiments or prototypes you would run, decision criteria to pause or proceed, data you need, and a stakeholder communication strategy to reach a resolution.

EasyTechnical

33 practiced

List essential ethical practices you always apply in design research studies. Provide a short example consent script (2–3 sentences) you would read before recording an interview, and explain how you would handle a participant request to withdraw their data after an analysis has been performed.

EasyTechnical

57 practiced

Describe best practices for interview note-taking and recordings: what to capture during the session (structure), how to tag and timestamp important quotes, and a lightweight template you would use to ensure consistent notes across multiple researchers. Also state how you ensure consent and secure storage of recordings.

MediumTechnical

56 practiced

Describe how to run a contextual inquiry in a workplace setting. Cover pre-visit preparation, researcher roles during observation (e.g., apprentice vs observer), types of artifacts you would collect, how to gain permission/access, and practical techniques to reduce observer influence on behavior.

HardTechnical

37 practiced

You plan an A/B experiment where baseline signup conversion is 8% and you want to detect a 5% relative lift (i.e., to 8.4%) with 90% power and alpha=0.05. Estimate the required sample size per variant (round appropriately) and describe your assumptions, how multiple-testing corrections would change the calculation, and what pre-registration elements you would include.

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