Understand people: Planning behavioural research
4.8
SELF-PACED COURSE
Pull behaviour into your research activities.
Do you wonder why people do the things they do? This course helps you figure that out by teaching you how to plan and carry out research that looks into what influences people’s actions. It’s perfect for anyone who wants to get better at spotting these hidden reasons.
Learn to plan effective behavioural research and ask the right questions to understand the often hidden reasons behind people's actions.
Who is this module for?
Ideal for designers, researchers, and strategists, this course is a must-have if you're involved in planning and conducting research with a behavioural focus. Whether you're aiming to understand the nuances of why people act or don't act in certain ways, this module equips you with the necessary tools and insights.
During this module, you will learn to:
✓ Develop tailored research plans that specifically address people’s behaviour.
✓ Use insightful tactics to uncover deep-seated influences, preventing oversights in behavioural analysis.
✓ Identify hidden drivers behind behaviours to prevent missteps in your projects and target new opportunities.
✓ Choose the most suitable research methods for each scenario, avoiding the pitfalls of inefficient data collection and the worry of where to start.
This module includes:
5 Video lessons
3 work ready tools
Lifetime access to course material
Access to the instructor
Tool spotlight:
This module covers 3 new research tools:
The Drive Detector Tool
To quickly identify the potential reasons why people do or don’t do things.
Module highlights
Behavioural Research Planning
Learn how to set up and prioritise your research to make sure you discover useful and impactful things about human behaviour.
Discovering Deep Insights
Use Insight Tactics to see beyond the obvious and learn the real reasons behind people’s actions.
Choosing Research Methods
Discover various ways to study behaviour and how to pick the best one for what you want to find out.
What students say:
“I have always been intimidated by the task of doing research but this course overall helped me develop a structured way to start my research and ask the right impactful questions.”
Naomi Sara Raji
Junior Product Designer
Vaayu
“The Behaviour Research Planner spreadsheet was really helpful to bring focus on key areas we needed to research within a project. I found the 'My Responses' tab particularly useful because it displayed all the insights clearly. The questions linked to these insights also triggered ideas about how to apply what we learned to the user or their environment. I'm looking forward to using it again within our own work.”
Jess McKenna
Head of Product Design and Research
Etc.Health at BT Group
Behavioral Research Planner
To explore drivers, capture insights and automatically set a list of priorities for research.
Insight Tactics
26 drivers of behaviour curated into 26 Insight Tactics… all anchored in behavioural science.
Course syllabus
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Uncover why people act as they do using basic behavioural drivers.
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Explore internal drivers and how they push people to act.
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We Drivers: Drive comes from others
Learn how relationships and social settings influence behaviour.
Learn how relationships and social settings influence behaviour.
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Oversee Drivers: Drive comes from context
See how physical environments and context affect what we do.
See how physical environments and context affect what we do.
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Pinpoint the specific behaviour you want to understand.
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Identify which factors might be influencing the behaviour.
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Dive deeper into each driver to see how it operates.
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Step 4: Drive prioritisation
Decide which drivers are most important to focus on using the rating system.
Decide which drivers are most important to focus on using the rating system.
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Craft research questions that cut to the heart of what drives behaviour.
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The tool components
Get familiar with the 4 key components of the Behaviour Research Planner and how they revealing new insights and crafting questions.
Get familiar with the 4 key components of the Behaviour Research Planner and how they revealing new insights and crafting questions.
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Define what you aim to achieve with your research.
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Step 2: Driver familiarisation
Get to know the drivers you'll be studying by exploring each Insight Tactic in more detail.
Get to know the drivers you'll be studying by exploring each Insight Tactic in more detail.
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Step 3: Insight harvesting
Collect and refine insights from team conversations, existing data and other research pools.
Collect and refine insights from team conversations, existing data and other research pools.
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The tool will curate your insights into areas for your attention.
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Research: Not as simple as it seems
People aren’t exactly accurate when it comes to their own behaviour. This makes researching it a little tricky.
People aren’t exactly accurate when it comes to their own behaviour. This makes researching it a little tricky.
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Why you probably have more data on behaviour that you think
Find out how to spot and use the behavior data you already have but might not be aware of.
Find out how to spot and use the behavior data you already have but might not be aware of.
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Tools for capturing real behaviour
Explore tools that let you see and record how people actually behave in everyday situations.
Explore tools that let you see and record how people actually behave in everyday situations.
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The first question you should ask
Kick-off your research right by asking, “Do I want to test if a solution works?”
Kick-off your research right by asking, “Do I want to test if a solution works?”
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Should I think global or local?
Figure out whether to look at towards bigger trends or focus on what's happening locally in your research.
Figure out whether to look at towards bigger trends or focus on what's happening locally in your research.
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Would it help me to compare one group to another?
Find out how comparing different groups can help you see what affects their behaviour differently.
Find out how comparing different groups can help you see what affects their behaviour differently.
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Do I want to track how things change over time?
Learn why it's important to watch how behaviours change over time and what causes these changes.
Learn why it's important to watch how behaviours change over time and what causes these changes.
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How do I know if my idea actually changed behaviour?
Discover ways to check if your efforts have really made a difference in how people act… or whether something else is at play.
Discover ways to check if your efforts have really made a difference in how people act… or whether something else is at play.
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More ways to select a research method
Explore more methods based on the behaviour and your project needs.
Explore more methods based on the behaviour and your project needs.
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Mix & match modules
Learn to plan effective behavioural research and ask the right questions to understand the often hidden reasons behind people's actions.
All modules
What past students say
From day one, the course was designed with an application lens, making it stand out for me. This didn't just enhance my skill set; it kick-started my journey in Behaviour Thinking, a skill I now find invaluable. Engaging with this course has moulded my approach, equipping me to apply these insights in my future work. A heartfelt thanks for sparking this knowledge in me!
Diwakar Srinath Azhagesan
Product Strategist, ThoughtWorks
I've done several behavioural science courses and I can say with 100% confidence, that the Strategic Behavioural Design course is the best I've been on! The learning material, methodologies, tools and processes used all provide a structured approach to understand behaviour and behaviour change. The teaching is engaging and the best thing about it is that you get work with a real client! Lauren is an amazing facilitator and of course is a behavioural scientist by background so we get first hand account of application of the theories you learn. Highly recommend!
Irfaan Arif
Director, Develop Minds
The Strategic Behavioural Design course is packed full of insights, methods, and very useful tools that can be applied immediately to a wide range of behaviour change situations. The flow from research to design to strategy to action was well crafted and integration of a real life client scenario helped to embed the learning. I am already using what I have learned in my work.
Tamara Eberle
Founder & Managing Partner, Traction Strategy