Research Planning

I was reading "Professional Practice in Design Consultancy - A Design Business Association Guide" by Lydia Lydiate ((1992) The Design Council) and thought she gave some very good suggestions about research planning.  It is so easy to endlessly carry on researching so here are her tips for research planning:

"...research must be through and systematic and must not stunt its effect by subscribing to false premises.  It is also important to remember that negative information can be valuable, and useful conclusions can be reached through a process of elimination.

A basic plan for addressing and using research could be as follows:-

• assemble, review and assess existing information, e.g. collect all available data relating
  
• establish the proposal to be investigate
  
• acquire necessary additional data - e.g. undertake primary and secondary research on relevance of proposed idea to target client groups
  
• collage and analyse data in relevant ways
  
• make decisions on the basis of information gathered
  
• decide upon required degree of accuracy in results
  
• ensure that the brief does not prejudice the selection of research techniques and procedures."