Gather
Gathering information for your research process is important in two ways; It will help you ask the right questions as you move forward, and it will give you the facts and figures you need to understand the context of your design challenge.
Who's involved:
- UX Designer, Product Manager, any other stakeholders
Output
Step-by-step
1)
While the Plan stage is about understanding your design challenge, the Gather stage is about learning of the broader context of your project. Explore your field of research for recent news; Make good use of the Internet, newspapers, journals, etc.
2) Look into new apps and software in your area
- how do these companies handle your design challenge?
- What do they do well?
- What could you improve upon? How?
3)
Remember that your research will probably be very qualitative - your secondary research can help fill in the gaps here, offering data where you may need it!