Participation

When to use it?

Use when you want to understand what people truly care about in a product or service. By asking them to design their own “box,” you reveal the benefits, emotions, and priorities that matter most. In their own words and drawings. Great for building empathy and uncovering hidden needs before jumping into solutions.

💡 What It Is
Turn ideas into products people can “buy.” Product Box asks participants to design packaging for a product or service they’d love. By deciding what to put on the box (features, benefits, slogans, images) they reveal what truly matters to them.

✨ Why Use This Tool?
Reveals priorities and hidden value.
When people “sell” you a product in their own words, you learn which features, benefits, and messages resonate most. It’s a playful, hands-on way to co-create with users and spark fresh ideas.

📌 What You Should Know

• Start With: A defined product or concept space
• End With: Visual artifacts showing user priorities and language
• Time Needed: 45–60 minutes
• Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆ (2 out of 5 – creative but easy to run)

🛠️ Quick Guide to Get Started

1. Provide blank “boxes” (paper templates or actual cardboard).
2. Explain the task: design packaging that makes others want this product.
3. Encourage participants to add slogans, features, drawings, and benefits.
4. Have them “pitch” their box to the group.
5. Capture what they emphasize: words, visuals, features.

💡 Helpful Tips

• Use real packaging as inspiration to get participants going.
• Encourage creativity: words, sketches, stickers, even doodles work.
• Focus on the why behind the choices (e.g., “Why did you put that on the front?”).

When to use it?

Use when you need quick, broad input from many people, especially early in a project to gather stories, perceptions, and first signals. Perfect for reaching a large group at once.

💡 What It Is
Ask the right questions, get real stories. Discovery Surveys are short, open-ended questionnaires designed to capture personal experiences, perceptions, and needs directly from participants. Unlike standard surveys, they focus on qualitative depth rather than big numbers.

✨ Why Use This Tool?
Uncovers authentic voices at scale.
Surveys give you access to many perspectives quickly, helping you spot patterns in needs, frustrations, and desires. They’re especially useful early on when you’re exploring a broad topic and want to collect diverse input.

📌 What You Should Know

• Start With: A clear topic and a few powerful, open questions
• End With: A collection of stories, perceptions, and raw insights
• Time Needed: 15–20 minutes per participant
• Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆ (2 out of 5 – simple but needs thoughtful design)

🛠️ Quick Guide to Get Started

1. Define your focus. What do you want to explore or learn?
2. Draft 5–8 open-ended questions (avoid yes/no).
3. Keep the format simple: online form, email, or printed handout.
4. Distribute broadly to your target participants.
5. Collect responses and cluster them for themes, patterns, and surprises.

💡 Helpful Tips

• Expect a 10–20% response rate, invite more people than you need.
• Balance “what” and “why” questions (e.g., “What do you do?” + “Why do you do it that way?”).
• Follow up with 1–2 interviews to deepen interesting responses.

When to use it?

Use when you want ongoing, conversational input. Ideal for spotting unmet needs, everyday frustrations, or creative workarounds through group exchange. Works well if you want community-style dialogue.

💡 What It Is
Go where conversations already happen. Internet Forums use existing digital spaces (like WhatsApp groups, Slack channels, or Facebook communities) to spark or observe discussions around your topic. Instead of pulling people into your process, you step into their natural setting.

✨ Why Use This Tool?
Reveals unfiltered needs and opinions.
Forums let people share in their own words, often more openly than in formal research settings. They’re great for spotting pain points, workarounds, and emotional cues that surveys or interviews might miss.

📌 What You Should Know

• Start With: A clear theme and a digital space where your participants already are
• End With: Candid discussions, quotes, and emerging themes
• Time Needed: A few days to a week of guided or observed discussion
• Difficulty: ★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5 – requires facilitation and synthesis)

🛠️ Quick Guide to Get Started

1. Identify the right forum, an existing group or create a dedicated one.
2. Share a clear purpose and simple ground rules.
3. Seed the conversation with prompts or questions.
4. Let participants discuss naturally; step in lightly to keep momentum.
5. Capture quotes, themes, and emotional signals for analysis.

💡 Helpful Tips

• Look for workarounds and frustrations, they signal unmet needs.
• Don’t overload with questions; 1–2 prompts per day works best.
• Respect community norms, be transparent about why you’re there.

When to use it?

Use when you need depth over time, not just a snapshot. Perfect for uncovering routines, emotions, and evolving behaviors. Best when you want to see patterns that emerge across days or weeks.

💡 What It Is
Hand the pen (or camera) to your participants. Journaling invites people to record their own experiences over time (through notes, photos, or short videos) giving you a window into their real routines, feelings, and contexts.

✨ Why Use This Tool?
Reveals lived experiences, not just snapshots.
Journaling helps you see what happens across days or weeks, capturing details that interviews or surveys often miss. It’s especially useful for spotting patterns, emotions, and moments of friction in real life.

📌 What You Should Know

• Start With: Clear instructions and an easy format (notebook, app, photo log)
• End With: Rich stories, examples, and timelines of user behavior
• Time Needed: From a few days up to 2–3 weeks
• Difficulty: ★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5 – requires planning and follow-up)

🛠️ Quick Guide to Get Started

1. Define your focus. What do you want participants to track?
2. Choose the format: paper diary, mobile app, or photo/video log.
3. Give simple prompts (e.g., “What happened? How did it feel? Why this way?”).
4. Collect entries over time. Check in occasionally if needed.
5. Wrap up with a short exit interview to clarify and deepen insights.

💡 Helpful Tips

• Keep prompts light and open-ended.
• Encourage photos or quick sketches, easier than long text.
• Respect participants’ pace; journaling should feel simple, not like homework.

When to use it?

Use when you need to pinpoint barriers, frustrations, and risks holding back adoption or satisfaction. Works best in group settings where people can build on each other’s anchors.

💡 What It Is
A fast, visual way to uncover what’s holding you back. Participants imagine your product, service, or experience as a boat, then identify the “anchors” (frustrations, barriers, pain points) that slow it down.

✨ Why Use This Tool?
Spot barriers that matter most.
By turning problems into anchors, Speed Boat helps teams and users quickly surface obstacles, prioritize what to fix, and align on opportunities for improvement.

📌 What You Should Know

• Start With: A product, service, or idea you want feedback on
• End With: A clear list of pain points, weighted by importance
• Time Needed: 30–45 minutes
• Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆ (2 out of 5 – simple and engaging)

🛠️ Quick Guide to Get Started

1. Draw a boat on a whiteboard or canvas, label it with your product/service.
2. Ask participants: “What anchors are slowing this boat down?”
3. Have them write barriers or frustrations on sticky notes (one per note).
4. Place the anchors under the boat, heavier problems go deeper.
5. Cluster similar anchors and discuss which matter most.
6. Wrap up with priorities: Which anchors should we lift first?

💡 Helpful Tips

• Keep it fun. Use visuals or metaphors to spark creativity.
• Encourage honesty: frustrations are just fuel for improvement.
• Combine with ideation tools (e.g., brainstorming) to quickly turn problems into solutions.

When to use it?

Use when you want to prioritize features, ideas, or investments with users or stakeholders. Perfect for testing willingness to trade off between options.

💡 What It Is
A playful way to see what people truly value. Participants get a limited budget of “play money” and must spend it on the features, services, or ideas they want most from a list.

✨ Why Use This Tool?
Reveal real priorities, not just nice-to-haves.
By forcing trade-offs, Buy a Feature shows which ideas people are willing to “pay for” and which ones matter less. It’s a quick way to rank options and focus your efforts.

📌 What You Should Know

• Start With: A clear list of features, benefits, or ideas to compare
• End With: Ranked priorities and insights into why people chose them
• Time Needed: 30–45 minutes
• Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆ (2 out of 5 – simple to set up, powerful results)

🛠️ Quick Guide to Get Started

1. Create a list of features/ideas and assign each a price (reflecting effort or cost).
2. Give each participant a limited budget of play money.
3. Ask them to “buy” the features they value most.
4. Encourage discussion: Why did you spend here? What did you skip?
5. Collect results and rank features by investment level.
6. Debrief: What priorities stand out? Where are the disagreements?

💡 Helpful Tips

• Set prices carefully so not everything can be bought.
• Use small groups to spark conversation around trade-offs.
• Capture not just what they buy, but why. The reasoning is as valuable as the choice.