​Want to move beyond assumptions and build products grounded in real user insight?

​Alison will break down how to run effective research and testing as a product designer even if you don’t have a dedicated research team.

​Key outcomes

​🧪 Choose the right research method for the problem

​Learn how to decide between qualitative interviews, prototype testing, A/B testing, surveys, and service design research based on your product stage, business goals, and validation needs.

​🧭 Define your core customer
Understand how to clearly define inclusionary and exclusionary criteria, identify target user characteristics, and avoid running research with the wrong audience.

🔄 Match research to product stage
Structure research differently for discovery vs optimisation. Learn what to run when validating new product ideas versus improving an existing feature or enterprise product.

📝 Write solid research scripts
Create simple, structured interview and testing scripts that produce consistent, usable qualitative data — so you can compare responses and extract patterns confidently.

🛠️ What research tools to use
Explore practical tools like Dovetail and lightweight analysis methods to organise research data, identify themes, and turn insights into actionable product decisions.

📊 Present Research to Influence Stakeholders
Learn how to communicate findings clearly, tie insights to business impact, and present research in a way that builds credibility and drives decision-making inside startups and product teams.

​About Alison

​Alison Howard is a Principal Product and Service Designer with over 13 years’ experience delivering research-led digital products across finance, travel, energy and SaaS. She has worked with organisations including HSBC, BP Pulse and Trainline, helping teams turn complex problems into measurable outcomes. Alison specialises in pragmatic, real-world research approaches that empower designers to lead discovery confidently and translate insight into commercially meaningful product decisions.

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