Everything comes at a price. In research there are 4 major constraints we have to manage, or in other words dials we can twist. Tighten one constraint and another loosens up.
- Rigour: The robustness and reliability of the research, including methodological soundness.
Higher rigour yields better credibility, validity, and reproducibility, which in turn allows higher confidence in the decisions it influences. This tends to increases the scope, and the time needed to collect and analyse the data. - Scope: how much ground the research covers both in depth and breadth.
It could mean the number of concepts explored, or variables considered. Increasing the number of variables could increase the number of participants needed and/or the time required to collect and analyseanalyse - Cost: all monetary resources required including personnel, logistics, recruitment, and infrastructure such as software licenses.
Research projects may cut cost by reducing the number of personnel attached, participants recruited, or software licenses purchased. This would directly affect scope, rigour, and speed respectively. - Speed: how quickly do we want the results turned around.
Guerilla Testing is an example of UX research done with a quick turnaround time while accepting reduced rigour. Companies may engage professional transcribers or annotators to speed up the word which then incurs a higher cost.
So how would you adjust your priorities?