What is a discussion guide?
A discussion guide is a structured document that helps researchers navigate conversations with participants during research sessions. The best UX research discussion guide template acts as both a conversation roadmap and a practical tool, ensuring you gather all necessary insights while maintaining natural dialogue flow.
What is a discussion guide in user research?
In user research, a discussion guide template serves as your strategic framework for conducting interviews and research sessions. Unlike casual conversations, research discussions need to fulfill specific objectives while making participants feel comfortable and heard. Your research discussion guide template helps achieve both goals by providing a flexible structure that keeps sessions on track without feeling rigid or robotic.
Why you need a user research discussion guide
A UX research discussion guide template is essential for conducting effective design research.
- First, a discussion guide helps you connect research to design decisions. Product teams often need specific insights to move forward with design choices. For example, when researching a checkout flow, your guide ensures you explore key friction points like form fields, payment methods, and error messages that directly impact the user experience.
- It helps manage cognitive bias in your research. Without a guide, it's easy to ask leading questions or focus only on topics that confirm your existing assumptions about the user experience. A well-structured discussion guide template for user research keeps you honest by planning neutral questions that explore both positive and negative experiences.
- Discussion guides make stakeholder management smoother. UX researchers often work with product managers, designers, and developers who have different questions about user behavior. Your market research discussion guide template helps align these stakeholders by incorporating their research needs while maintaining a coherent conversation flow.
- Guides support pattern recognition across multiple sessions. When studying complex interfaces or workflows, consistent questioning helps you identify common pain points, mental models, and user expectations. This structured approach makes it easier to identify UX patterns that inform design recommendations.
- A research discussion guide template helps you manage time effectively during sessions. UX research often involves watching users interact with prototypes or completing specific tasks. Your guide helps balance direct observation time with discussion, ensuring you capture both behavioral insights and user feedback.
What should you include in your user research discussion guide?
A discussion guide template for user research should include several key components:
- Introduction - A warm welcome and clear explanation of the session's purpose
- Background questions - Easy conversation starters that provide valuable context
- Core research questions - The main topics you need to explore
- Activities or exercises - When relevant to your research goals
- Closing questions - Space for final thoughts and wrap-up
How long should a discussion guide be?
The length of your UX discussion guide template should align with your scheduled session time. For a 60-minute interview, plan content for about 45 minutes, leaving buffer time for deeper discussion of unexpected but valuable topics. A focus group discussion guide template typically needs more time allocated for each section to accommodate multiple participants.
How do you format a discussion guide?
Your interview discussion guide template should be easy to scan during live sessions.
Use clear headings to separate sections, include time estimates, and highlight essential questions. The format should support quick reference while you're focused on actively listening to participants.
How do you write a discussion guide?
Here's how to build a discussion guide that delivers valuable insights while keeping conversations natural and engaging.
Step 1: Define Your Research Objectives
Start by writing down your main research goals. What decisions will this research inform? What do stakeholders need to learn? For example, if you're researching a new feature, your objectives might include understanding current user workflows, pain points, and feature preferences. Your research discussion guide template should map directly to these goals.
Step 2: Structure Your Topics
Organize your discussion guide template for user research into clear sections. Begin with easy warm-up questions, then move through your core topics in a logical order. For a marketplace app, you might start with general shopping habits, move to search and discovery experiences, then explore checkout processes. Each section should build on the previous one.
Step 3: Craft Your Questions
Write questions that encourage detailed responses. Instead of "Do you like this feature?" ask "Tell me about the last time you used this feature." Your market research discussion guide template should include a mix of:
- Behavioral questions about what users actually do
- Attitudinal questions about what users think and feel
- Contextual questions about when and why users take certain actions
Step 4: Add Follow-up Prompts
Include probe questions to dig deeper into interesting responses. Your focus group discussion guide template should anticipate different conversation directions. Common follow-ups include:
- "Can you tell me more about that?"
- "What makes you say that?"
- "How did that affect your experience?"
- "What did you do next?"
Step 5: Test and Refine
Run a pilot session using your interview discussion guide template. Notice which questions work well and which need adjustment. Pay attention to:
- Question clarity: Do participants understand what you're asking?
- Time management: Does each section fit within your planned schedule?
- Flow: Do topics transition naturally?
- Coverage: Are you getting the insights you need?
Refine your guide based on these pilot sessions. A discussion guide template for focus group or individual interviews should evolve as you learn what works best for your research goals.
What is a discussion guide example?
Here's a detailed example from a market research discussion guide template for a study about mobile banking experiences:
Introduction (5 minutes): "Thank you for joining us today. I'm Sarah, a researcher working to improve mobile banking experiences. Before we begin, I want to confirm it's okay to record our session for note-taking purposes. Everything you share will remain confidential and your name won't be connected to any specific feedback.
During our conversation, I'd love to hear your honest thoughts about mobile banking - both good and bad. There are no right or wrong answers. Your experiences will help us understand how to make banking apps more useful for everyone."
Background Questions (10 minutes):
- Tell me about how you typically handle your day-to-day banking. What tools or methods do you use?
- When did you start using mobile banking apps? What motivated you to try them?
- Walk me through the last time you used your banking app. What were you trying to accomplish?
Core Discussion Topics (30 minutes):
Daily Banking Tasks:
- Which banking tasks do you handle through the app versus other methods?
- What makes you choose the app for certain tasks over visiting a branch or using the website?
- Tell me about a time when using the banking app made your life easier.
Pain Points and Challenges:
- What frustrates you most about mobile banking?
- Have you ever started a task in the app but had to switch to another method? What happened?
- What banking tasks still feel difficult to do through the app?
Security and Trust:
- How do you feel about the security of mobile banking?
- What helps you feel confident when making transactions through the app?
- What concerns do you have about mobile banking?
Wrap-up (15 minutes):
- If you could change one thing about mobile banking apps, what would it be?
- Is there anything else about your banking app experience that we haven't discussed?
- Do you have any questions for me?
Discussion guide template for user interviews
Here’s a detailed discussion guide template you can use as a starting point for your own!
Get the discussion guide template pdf here.
How Looppanel makes the most of your discussion guide
While having a solid discussion guide is essential, the real magic happens when you pair it with tools that enhance your research process. Your discussion guide lays the groundwork for great user research. But to transform those conversations into meaningful insights, you need the right tool to capture, analyze, and share your findings effectively.
Looppanel is a UX research analysis & repository solution for the modern UX team. Looppanel helps you analyze research data 10x faster, centralize feedback in one searchable hub, and surface insights in seconds.
Teams like PandaDoc, Thumbtack, and Beigene use Looppanel to make faster, insight-backed product decisions.
Looppanel works seamlessly with your discussion guide to streamline the entire research workflow. Our AI-powered platform automatically organizes responses around your discussion guide questions, making analysis intuitive and efficient.
Here’s how you can put your discussion guide to work with Looppanel.
- Upload your discussion guide before interviews to create an analysis framework
- Record your sessions while Looppanel automatically takes AI notes organized by your guide questions
- See all participant responses grouped by question in the Question View, making it easy to spot patterns
- Get automatic affinity mapping based on your discussion guide structure – the AI groups similar responses and suggests themes
- Generate video clips and quotes automatically organized under each question
Whether you're conducting one-on-one interviews or focus groups, Looppanel amplifies the power of your discussion guide. Focus on asking great questions and building rapport with participants – let Looppanel handle the rest.
Ready to transform your user research process? Try Looppanel today.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is a FGD guide?
A Focus Group Discussion (FGD) guide is a specialized discussion guide template for focus group sessions. It differs from individual interview guides by accounting for group dynamics and multiple participant interactions.
What is the format for a focus group discussion?
A focus group discussion guide template typically divides the session into distinct phases:
- Welcome (10 minutes) - Introductions and ground rules
- Opening discussion (15 minutes) - Easy group questions to build comfort
- Main topics (45 minutes) - Core research questions and group activities
- Closing (20 minutes) - Final thoughts and wrap-up
How do you structure a research discussion?
A research discussion guide template helps you structure conversations in layers, starting with broad topics before diving into specifics. Begin with a warm welcome and easy background questions to build rapport. Then move through your core topics in a logical flow, starting with general experience questions before exploring specific behaviors or pain points. Each section should build on previous responses, with time allocated for both planned questions and unexpected discoveries. End with summary questions that help validate your understanding and give participants a chance to share additional thoughts.
How do you write a research discussion guide?
Writing an effective ux discussion guide template starts with clearly defined research objectives. Map out what decisions your research needs to inform, then work backward to identify the questions that will uncover those insights. Structure your guide into clear sections: introduction, warm-up, main topics, and wrap-up. Include time estimates for each section and prepare follow-up questions for key topics. A market research discussion guide template typically includes both behavioral questions about what people do and attitudinal questions about what they think and feel.
What are the 7 basic questions in market research?
Every discussion guide template for focus group or individual interviews should address seven fundamental areas: user background (who they are), current behavior (what they do), pain points (challenges they face), decision factors (how they choose solutions), satisfaction drivers (what makes them happy), improvement areas (what could be better), and future needs (what they want next). These core topics help you understand both current experiences and future opportunities. A focus group discussion guide template might explore these through group activities, while individual interviews can dive deeper into personal experiences.
How to create a user interview script?
Start with a ux research discussion guide template that matches your research goals. Your script should sound natural while ensuring you cover all necessary topics. The introduction sets expectations and builds trust, warm-up questions get participants comfortable sharing, and main discussion topics flow logically from broad to specific. Include clear transitions between topics and specific prompts for follow-up questions. Your interview discussion guide template should feel like a conversation roadmap rather than a rigid script.
How to document a UX interview?
Effective documentation starts with a discussion guide template for user research that includes spaces for notes and observations. Record the session (with permission) and take notes following your guide's structure. Document both what participants say and how they say it, noting emotional responses and non-verbal cues. Include timestamps for important moments and mark key quotes that support your findings. Tools like Looppanel can help by automatically organizing notes and transcripts around your discussion guide questions, making analysis easier later.
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