Template

Applied Research & Experiment Design Template

A practical, interactive template teams can complete and save to design small applied experiments. Prompts help teams state a clear question and measurable hypothesis, describe population and procedure, name primary and secondary metrics, identify risks and mitigations, and specify reporting and decision rules. Includes a brief example and guidance to keep experiments small, interpretable, and actionable.

Interactive Tool

Applied Research & Experiment Design

Use this form to design a small, interpretable experiment or pilot. Aim for a clear question, a measurable hypothesis, and a simple analysis plan that supports a decision. Fill required fields and save the design so your team can run the trial, collect data, and capture learnings.

Short example: Experiment to test a new meeting format. Question: Will switching to a 45-minute focused agenda with a pre-read reduce meeting length while maintaining perceived usefulness? Hypothesis: Average meeting duration will fall by 20% and participant usefulness rating will remain >= 4/5 after four weeks. Metrics: average meeting duration (minutes), post-meeting usefulness score (1–5). Population: weekly product-team meetings. Duration: 4 weeks.

Short descriptive name for the experiment (e.g., '45-min meeting pilot').
State the question and a specific, testable hypothesis including direction and measurable outcome (e.g., 'Switching to X will increase Y by Z% within N weeks').
Brief context: why this question matters, prior observations or data that motivated the experiment.
Who will be included? Define inclusion/exclusion criteria and any relevant segments.
Describe the approach: randomized, A/B, before-after, pilot group, prototype testing, etc. Keep it simple and feasible.
Concrete step list for running the experiment, roles, materials, scripts, and cadence for execution.
How long will the experiment run? Use the minimum duration needed to observe the primary metric.
Estimated number of observations/participants needed. Leave blank when not applicable to your design.
Select yes if you will compare against a control or baseline.
Describe the control or baseline condition (leave blank if not applicable).
Name the single primary outcome you will use to judge success (e.g., 'avg meeting duration', 'task completion rate').
Define exactly how the metric is measured, the units, calculation, and data source. Include frequency of measurement.
Other metrics you will monitor to detect side effects or supporting evidence.
Where data will come from and who is responsible for collecting or providing it.
How often will you collect/record the metric data?
Describe how you will analyze the data, comparisons to make, basic stats or visualizations, and who will perform the analysis.
State the decision rule in advance. What result will count as success, and what actions will follow (e.g., scale, iterate, stop)?
Identify main risks (technical, people, data, ethical) and how you'll mitigate them.
Note any consent, privacy, regulatory, or safety issues and how you'll address them.
People, tools, time, and costs needed to run the experiment.
Name or role responsible for running the experiment and delivering results.
Use ISO date format. This platform currently accepts text; sync with your calendar as needed.
Use ISO date format.
How the results will be reported to stakeholders.
Actions to scale or integrate a positive result.
Actions to iterate, pivot, or stop based on negative or ambiguous results.
To be filled after running the experiment: surprises, what worked, what didn't, and suggested improvements.
Attach files in your team space and paste links here (this form stores links/notes, not the files).
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