Product Owner sign-off  ___

Key Stakeholder sign-off  ___

Research Plan

Plan Purpose

• Share in understanding of research plan/activities in total 

• How to repeat study - its goals, methods, and logistics

• Ensure human-centered practices in development

Pre-research

1. Individual, internal stakeholder interviews (managers of client services and CS development leads) to determine what they have heard from clients, assess Client Services tickets, JIRA IDEAS, and establish key priorities and participant contacts without influence of groupthink. 

2. Group stakeholder and development discussion to bounce thoughts off of each other and further refine priorities - which match? which go against each other? New participant contacts emerge? Land on a consensus, and preliminary ideas about what success could be, with guidance from product-centered thinking (efficient, scalable, etc) to human-centered (honors user’s time, doesn’t cause unpaid/unaccounted for labor, respects philosophy around subject-matter, etc). 

3. Development and other internal stakeholders collaborate on assumptions mapping to establish if the root of stated solutions/ideas are based on opinions/assumptions or up-to-date, valid, and reliable evidence. This will be used to inform interview questions.

4. Review Lab modules new capabilities and UX research insights thus far.

5. Review genetics basics with in-house subject matter expert (SME).

Research

Purpose and Goals of Research 

Generative/Foundational research to uncover oncology product opportunities to effectively support oncologists’ uses of genetic testing/data. Reduce risks in decision-making - what could lead the oncology product to success in this space? 

As new capabilities in the Lab module have been developed around ordering genetic tests/panels and storing genetic results for pharmacogenomic purposes, leadership wants to know how we can leverage this work in oncology and determined this as a business priority. 

Method

1. Literature review

1. Review oncologist professional association artifacts (conference videos, podcasts, articles) - what are they putting out there about genetic data? What are oncologists talking about to each other about this? 

2. Review NCN protocols/guidance

3. Review other literature from National Institute of Health’s National Center for Biotechnology Information

2. User interviews: anticipate critical use technique partnered with funnel technique - may alter after assumptions map findings

3. Contextual interviews: to account for user interview shortcomings (reliance on recall), I recommend a follow-up of a few shadowing sessions with oncologists as they order/use genetic data to uncover any insights misremembered or otherwise misconstrued during the interview process.  

Participant Profile

Start with US medical oncologists - general and those with a focused cancer field

Vary medical oncologists from small to medium to large clinics, including research hospitals. 

Deliverables (approximate - dependent on what is learned)

• User journey(s)

• Persona(s)

• User need statement(s)

Expectations

Approximate Timeline*

*Subject to change due to participant availability and complexity of data uncovered

Week 1

Pre-research

Team

Role

Lead Researcher

Lead research activities including planning, testing, employing best research methods, synthesizing data without bias, creating actionable insights, collaborating with key roles, departments, and users. 

Maintain human-centered approach and ethical conduct throughout the process. 

Connect business and development counterparts to user insights. Translate insights into product strategy, product roadmaps, and/or development requirements.

At least ONE developer

Follow orgs UX user interview observer guidelines

• Read or review guideline

• Share availability

• Attend dry-run

• Remove distractions during interview and attend interview

At least ONE rep from CS

Follow orgs UX user interview observer guidelines

• Read or review guideline

• Share availability

• Attend dry-run

• Remove distractions during interview and attend interview

At least ONE project management rep

Follow orgs UX user interview observer guidelines

• Read or review guideline

• Share availability

• Attend dry-run

• Remove distractions during interview and attend interview

Schedule

Internal interviews

–

Date; time

Room or zoom link

Assumptions mapping

–

Date; time

Room or zoom link

Stand in participant

Dry Run Clinic

Date; time

Zoom link

Participant A

Clinic Z

Date; time

Zoom link

Participant B

Clinic Y

Date; time

Zoom link

Location

Virtual via zoom; interviewer’s room

Set-up

Tools Needed

• Calendly 

• Computer with stable internet

• Interviewer’s own zoom profile and usable room

• Recording capabilities available in zoom

• Note taking template

Dry Run

Date/time:

Who: 

• Stand-in participant: 

• Note-taker: 

• Observers: 

Changes needed, if any:

Re-run or sign-off:

Script

Invitation and consent: 

Hello Dr. __,

My name is Pati, the lead researcher for MEDITECH’s Oncology product teams. A CS Rep has highly recommended you as someone who can provide us with valuable insights to help shape the future of our Oncology application.

We are interested in interviewing oncologists like yourself about the testing and use of genetic data in your work. We estimate the discussion will last about 45 minutes. Would you be able to assist us with this? Rest assured, all interviewees remain completely anonymous, all data access is secure, and all data is deleted after [a specified period].

If you are interested and consent to this interview, please share some suitable dates and times for you. We are more than willing to accommodate your schedule.

If you have any questions about this work, please don't hesitate to ask.

Thank you for your consideration. I hope to hear from you soon!

Best regards, Pati Hibbard Chavez, MLIS

Interview guide: link to other document