Guidance library
Guidance and advice about how we plan and deliver user research in DfE.
We are currently reviewing and rewriting all of our guidance content to ensure it is up to date and to make it more usable. As we do this, this index page will be split into two sections. Updated guidance appears first on this page, with content we've not yet reviewed underneath.
Incentives
When you can and can't use incentives in DfE user research, and how to buy them.
Informed consent
How to gather and store informed consent, to ensure user research participants understand and have control over what they're agreeing to.
Personal data
How to compliantly and ethically collect, store, use and share personal data gathered in user research.
Pre-election period
How to assess risks and get approval to conduct user research in the weeks before an election.
Surveys
When you must get approval to run a survey, survey tools available to use in DfE, and gathering service feedback.
Guidance articles currently being reviewed
You should still follow the guidance in these pages, but be aware that they are under review and the guidance may change in the future. We will announce changes in the user research community DfE Teams channel as they are published.
Ethical research and safeguarding
| Guidance | Details |
|---|---|
| Participant safeguarding | Advice on keeping particpants safe during research, and what to do if you have a safeguarding concern |
| Psychological safety and researcher self-care | Keeping yourself and your colleagues psychologically safe during and after research |
| Research with children and young people | Guidance and ideas to help you plan and conduct research with children and young people successfully, safely and ethically |
| Researching with internal users | Ethical risks and considerations when researching with colleagues and other internal staff |
| Get further advice on research ethics questions | How to get answers to questions not covered on this website, from experienced DfE user researchers |
Inclusive research
| Guidance | Details |
|---|---|
| Research with people who speak limited or no English and sign language users | Considerations and practical advice to plan and conduct user research with people who speak limited or no English, including sign language users. |
Planning user research
| Guidance | Details |
|---|---|
| Writing a user research plan | How to create an effective user research plan |
Recruiting participants for research
| Guidance | Details |
|---|---|
| Recruiting participants yourself (self-recruitment) | Rules and guidance for when doing your own participant recruitment |
| Using a commercial agency to recruit participants | How to access DfE's contracted commercial supplier, and other suppliers |