Desk Research vs Surveys

Developers should learn desk research to quickly validate ideas, assess technology adoption, or understand user needs before investing in development meets developers should learn and use surveys when conducting user research to validate assumptions, gather feedback on prototypes, or understand user needs for software products. Here's our take.

Desk Research

Nice Pick

Developers should learn desk research to quickly validate ideas, assess technology adoption, or understand user needs before investing in development

Pros

• It is crucial during project planning, competitive analysis, or when exploring new tools and frameworks to avoid reinventing solutions
• Related to: data-analysis, competitive-analysis

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Surveys

Developers should learn and use surveys when conducting user research to validate assumptions, gather feedback on prototypes, or understand user needs for software products

Pros

• This is particularly valuable in agile development cycles, A/B testing scenarios, and customer discovery phases to ensure data-driven decision-making and enhance product-market fit
• Related to: user-research, data-analysis

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

Use Desk Research if: You want it is crucial during project planning, competitive analysis, or when exploring new tools and frameworks to avoid reinventing solutions and can live with specific tradeoffs depend on your use case.

Use Surveys if: You prioritize this is particularly valuable in agile development cycles, a/b testing scenarios, and customer discovery phases to ensure data-driven decision-making and enhance product-market fit over what Desk Research offers.

The Bottom Line

Desk Research wins

Developers should learn desk research to quickly validate ideas, assess technology adoption, or understand user needs before investing in development