Research Basics & Primary Questionnaire

Study: UX Foundations - Discovery Phase | Version: v1.0 | Date: Jan 2023 | Researcher: Shivang Joshi, Head of Design - Bigyellowsfish

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The main goal of this research study is to gain actionable and testable insights into users' needs, goals and motivations. To get a fairly honest picture of what we are solving at the core, what is happening in the field and identify real gaps for product opportunities.

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Research Objectives

What we are trying to learn and why.

Primary Understand the unmet needs of dashboard users (fleet managers, captains, HR leads) around crew wellbeing visibility and management.

Secondary Identify gaps in how the industry currently handles crew mental health, safety correlation, and reporting.

Tertiary Validate or challenge the assumptions that shaped the V1 product, and surface new directions for the next iteration.

Key principles guiding this research:

• Facts and evidence over assumptions and guesses.
• Uncover the bigger picture without anchoring to the current solution.
• Bring together user knowledge, business goals and technical possibilities to form testable hypotheses. </aside>

📋 Methodology

A) Method: Semi-structured interviews (qualitative, generative)

We chose semi-structured interviews because we are in early-stage discovery. The goal is to surface rich contextual data, not validate a hypothesis. This method gives us the flexibility to follow threads that matter while keeping the conversation anchored to our research objectives.

What this is not:

• Not a usability test. There is no prototype or interface to evaluate at this stage.
• Not a survey. We need depth and context, not volume.
• Not a validation exercise. We are here to listen, not confirm.

B) Participant Criteria

Segment 1: Internal Team

• Founders and SME’s with direct knowledge of V1 product decisions.
• Goal: Surface the assumptions baked into the current product and understand the business context.

Segment 2: Dashboard Users (Primary)

• Fleet managers, HR leads, and captains at maritime organisations.
• Responsible for crew welfare, performance, or operational safety.
• Target sample: 5 to 8 participants (qualitative saturation point for generative research).