Example Research Plan 

Study 1: Semi-Structured Interview 

Foreign language learners and what they need 

Background 
Digital learning has become a trend. Our market research shows that there are 10 million digital 
learners in the US and 1/10 of them are learning foreign languages. Our team is interested in 
creating a digital product (desktop or mobile app) for adult learners who study languages in 
their leisure time for fun. Since adult learners usually have a busy schedule, our platform aims at 
optimizing study plans for busy adult learners.  

Research Goal 
Our team wants to learn about how adult learners use digital tools to learn languages, including 
what goals they try to achieve when using these tools. We want to determine what opportunities 
and needs might exist for new language-learning products, so that we can use these findings to 
help us shape the direction we take in developing our product. 

Research Questions 
● [Needs] What is essential for language learning? 
○ What are users' current pain points? 
● [Behaviors] How do language learners currently study languages? 
○ How do they interact with existing digital products? 
● Do users really need another language learning product? 
○ How do users feel about existing products? 

Method 
● 30-minute in-person or video semi-structured interview to gather in-depth qualitative 
data 
● The researcher will use the interview script as a guide and ask follow-up questions 
based on answers from the users 

Recruiting 
● 5 participants 
 ● Adults with a full-time job who: 
○ Use digital language-learning products at least once a week 
○ Have been using digital language-learning products for at least 3 months 
● To recruit participants, we will send emails to full-time employees at Company X’s 
foreign languages study group 
 

Screening Questions 
 
1. What is the primary reason for you to study foreign languages? 
a. For my current job (screened out) 
b. For leisure 
c. For a career change (screened out) 
d. Other (screened out) 
 
2. What is your primary way to learn languages?  
a. Take in-person, instructor-led courses (screened out) 
b. Use digital products 
c. Other (screened out) 
d. Currently, I am not learning languages (screened out) 
 
3. How long have you been using digital products to study foreign languages? 
a. Less than 3 months (screened out) 
b. 3 months to a year 
c. Over a year 
 
4. When was the most recent time you have used these digital products? 
a. Within a week 
b. Within a month 
c. Over a month ago (screened out) 
 
5. How often do you use these language-learning digital products? 
a. A few times a week 
b. About once a week 
c. 2-3 times a month (screened out) 
d. About once a month (screened out) 
e. Fewer than once a month (screened out) 

Timeline 
● Design proposal: August 1—3, 2019 
● Recruiting: August 6—8, 2019 
● Sessions: August 12—15, 2019 
 ● Readout: August 18, 2019 
 

Script 
 
Notes: ​[italicized brackets] ​are used to document what we wish to learn from each question 

Introduction 
My name is [name]. Thank you very much for participating in this study. I am currently working 
on a project related to learning foreign languages. I would love to learn more about your 
experience with language-learning digital products. This interview will take about 30 minutes. If 
you want to leave the session or take a break at any point, please let me know. Do you have any 
questions before we start? 
 
Do you mind if I record this session for note-taking purposes? The recording won’t be shared 
with anyone outside of our team.   
 
Warm-up Questions ​[Build rapport. Start with easy questions to get to know the participant] 
1. Could you tell us more about yourself. 
2. Which languages are you currently learning? 
3. Which apps or websites are you currently using for learning languages? Have you tried 
other apps before?  
 
Probe into needs and behaviors 
4. How did you get started using digital language-learning products?​ [Motivation​: ​what did 
participants hope to achieve?] 
Follow-up questions: 
○ When did this happen? 
○ What was the trigger? 
○ How was the learning experience? 
○ What was the learning outcome? Did you reach your learning goal? 
 
5. How long have you been learning languages? 
○ Where did you take your very first lesson?  
○ (If not digital) Why did you decide to switch to using digital products? ​[Which 
needs did digital products meet that other types of learning failed to meet?] 
 
6. How often do you study? What motivates you to continue to study on a daily/weekly/etc. 
basis? ​[There might be internal motivation “I want to be able to speak French fluently” and 
external motivation “I want to keep my streak on Duolingo’s top leaderboard”.] 
○ What are your major achievements?​ [What makes users feel proud and excited?] 
 ○ How do you track your progress? [​ Do users care about progress? Do existing apps 
do a good job at celebrating progress?] 
 
7. How do you decide what to study? Why? [​ Do participant build their own learning plan or 
follow the app?] 
○ Do you set up learning goals? ​[Do participants set up learning goals in the app?] 
 
8. What do you use to learn languages now? 
○ Have you used other products/tools?  
○ What was the very first product you were using? Why did you switch to other 
products? [​ Pain points] 
○ (If participant is using more than 1 product concurrently) What do you use each 
product for? ​[Needs]  
 
9. You mentioned you are currently using Duolingo, what time of day and where do you 
usually use Duolingo? ​[Does participant have a daily routine? Is it spontaneous?]  
Follow-up questions: 
○ Ask participants about the context [​ when and where]​: At noon every day? Are they 
on a short lunch break? When they are waiting for a bus? 
○ Ask participants why they choose to use the app in certain locations or during 
certain times 
 
10. When was the last time you opened up Duolingo? Could you walk me through how you 
were using this app? ​ [How do language learners interact with existing tools. Better to ask 
participants to show than tell] 
Observation & follow-up questions: 
○ Observe what features the participant is using and how the participant uses 
them.  
○ Ask what participants like or dislike about each feature, why they like/dislike each 
feature.  
○ Which features do participants not use and why? 
○ What’s on participants’ wishlist for the app? 
○ If participants talk about frustrations, ask why and their current workarounds 
[Unmet needs]  
 
Wrap-up 
Thank you so much for sharing your experience and insights. Your answers will help our team 
build a better product. If you have any additional thoughts and comments, I would love to hear 
about them at any time. I can be reached at [​[email protected]​]. Hope you have a wonderful 
day.   
 
Study 2: Survey 

How to build vocabulary?  

Background 
In our previous study, we learned that foreign language learners like to preview vocabulary 
during breaks throughout their work day. This is a promising opportunity we may be able to 
target with our product, but more data is needed to better understand the needs and whether 
they generalize to the larger population of language learners. 

Research Goal 
This study focuses on better understanding users needs related to building vocabulary during 
work breaks, as well as better measuring the extent to which these needs are held by the 
majority of language learners. 

Research Questions 
● How can digital products best support learners in building vocabulary, particularly during 
work breaks?  
○ Which features/functions are useful? 

Method & Recruiting 

Survey Questions 
1. Which foreign language are you currently studying? (If you are studying more than one 
language, select the one you spend more time on.) [​ Assumption: people might use 
different approaches when learning different languages] 
a. French 
b. German 
c. Spanish 
d. Chinese 
e. Japanese 
 f. Russian 
g. Other (Specify___) 
 
2. In the past month, how did you study vocabulary? (Select all that apply.) ​[learning 
method] 
a. Use mobile device(s) [if respondents do not select mobile, survey ends] 
b. Use desktop(s) 
c. Other digital devices (e.g., Kindle, tablet) 
d. Physical products (e.g., books, printouts, physical flashcards)  
e. In an instructor-led class  
 
3. In the past month, which types of mobile products did you use? (select all that apply) 
[current tools] 
a. Language-learning app(s) (e.g., Memrise, Duolingo) 
b. Podcasts 
c. Video platforms (e.g., YouTube) 
d. E-books 
e. Websites in my mobile browser 
f. Other (Specify___) 
 
4. In the past week, how often did you use a mobile app to study vocabulary? ​[Frequency] 
a. A few times per day 
b. About once per day 
c. 4-6 times per week 
d. 2-3 times per week 
e. Once per week 
f. I didn’t study vocabulary last week [survey ends] 
 
5. Which of the following best describes when you study vocabulary?​ [Do participants have 
a routine?] 
a. I study vocabulary when I have a block of time to do so [​ Spontaneous] 
b. I set aside time for studying vocabulary [​ Has a routine] 
c. The language app reminds me when to study ​[The tool does the planning work] 
d. Other (Specify__) 
 
6. In the past week, how long was your typical study session? ​[How much content should be 
fit into each session] 
a. Less than 15 minutes 
b. 15 to 30 minutes 
c. 31 minutes to 1 hour 
d. Longer than 1 hour 
 
7. In the past week, how many new words did you plan to learn? ​[Do learners have specific 
learning goals?] 
a. 1–5 words 
b. 6–10 words 
c. 11–20 words 
d. 21–50 words 
e. Above 50 
f. I didn’t make any plans  
 
8. In the past week, each time when you studied vocabulary, approximately how many new 
words did you study in each learning session? [​ What is the amount of new words learners 
can digest in each session?] 
a. 1–5 words 
b. 6–10 words 
c. 11–20 words 
d. 21–50 words 
e. Above 50 
f. I didn’t learn any new words last week 
 
9. In the past month, which of the following best describes how you review words you have 
already learned? ​[Review habits] 
a. Every time I use the mobile language product, I reviewed old vocabulary  
b. I sometimes review old vocabulary 
c. I didn’t review 
 
10. Based on your experience with the learning app(s) you are using, how essential were the 
following features? [​ What types of achievements/milestones do learners care about?] 
 
  Not  Nice to have  Must have  Does not 
necessary  apply  

Track the number of new         

Show the total number of         

Show my learning         
progress against 
requirements of official 
language tests 

Show my competency         
 level (e.g., reading level) 
 
 
Demographic Questions 
 
11. What is your first language? [​ Assumption: First language affects how people learn a new 
language. Note: Even when people are bilingual, it is rare that they can read and write 
equally well in both languages.] 
a. English 
b. Spanish 
c. Chinese 
d. French 
e. Arabic 
f. Other (please specify: _________________ ) 
 
12. What is your age? [​ Assumption: People in different age groups might have different 
learning styles.] 
a. Under 18 
b. 18–25 
c. 26–35 
d. 36–65 
e. Above 65 
 
13. What is your education level? [​ Assumption: Education level affects learning style.] 
a. Less than a high school degree 
b. High school degree or equivalent 
c. Associate’s degree 
d. Bachelor’s degree 
e. Graduate degree