Once you've chosen your column, you need to decide what exactly you want to talk to people about.

In the case of Refinement Testing, it’s straightforward—choose based on the material you need to test.

In Ideation, there are more options. The specific research topic depends on your product’s lifecycle stage and which part of the product you can influence (what kind of ideas you are looking for). The most frequent options and basic guidelines are shown below.

| IDEATION Understanding people in order to come up with something

Subject of Research:

A. How people are currently satisfying the need you’re interested in. This should be explored in almost any situation where you're looking for growth opportunities. Especially before launching a new product or entering a new market, but not exclusively.

This can be done by talking with people about: • Category usage & perception. • Brand usage & perception (all brands). • Customer journey. • Lifestyle & values.

B. How people use and evaluate your current product, brand, and communication. This should always be studied when you already have a product in use.

This can be done by talking with people about: • Customer experience feedback. • Churn analysis. • Brand audit (your brand).

C. How people perceive and relate to a certain external phenomenon. This should be studied when you need to analyze a phenomenon in terms of its potential opportunities or threats to your business.

This can be done by talking with people about: • Concept (phenomena) comprehension & attitude. | REFINEMENT TESTING Understanding people’s reactions to your ideas

**Subject of Research:

How people understand and perceive your idea or concept.**

This can be done by presenting relevant stimuli and talking about it to your target audience:  • Insight test. • Product idea test. • Product design test. • Pack test. • Creative test. • Landing page test. • Advertising idea test. • Product placement feedback | | --- | --- |

Next: 3. Draft Your Research Guide

Table of content:

Exploratory Research Playbook | yasna.ai

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