Discover phase

Hunches & Hypotheses

Surface team assumptions and biases before research so you can listen with a genuinely open mind.

What it is

A way to bring out any biases the team may have so that research can be done with an open mind.

When to use it

Verbalising our hunches and hypotheses before research helps us be aware of assumptions we are making. We deliberately park these to really listen and empathise with our users' experience.

How to run it

Each participant takes 2 minutes to write down their hunches (what you think you will find) and hypotheses (ideas about solutions). Participants share with the group, make them visible on butchers paper, and group similar thoughts into clusters.

A hunch is something you think you're going to find out when you talk to the user or what you think the problem is (e.g., lack of education for parents around healthy eating).

A hypothesis is any kind of solutions that you have, ideas of how to solve the problem (e.g., an adult class to educate parents around healthy eating).

We will all have our own assumptions based on our personal life experience – we need to be able to park these, so they don't influence what we find during the research phase.

Related tools

Pairs well with these other methods from the discover phase.

Discover

Hunches & Hypotheses

What it is

When to use it

How to run it

Tips

Related tools

What We Know, Think We Know & Want to Know

Five Whys

Research Plan