Question PyramidBuilder

Goal

Turn vague objectives (“improve onboarding”) into a structured set of primary, secondary, and probe questions.

What you’ll need?

• Research brief or problem statement
• Stakeholder/business goals
• Space to cluster (FigJam, Miro, sticky notes)

Steps

1. Define the apex question
   • Ask: “If the study could answer only one question, what should it be?”
   • Write 1–2 primary questions (e.g., “How do new users make sense of our onboarding flow?”).
2. Generate supporting questions
   • For each primary question, add secondary questions about behavior, motivations, and context (e.g., “What information do they look for first?”).
   • Check each with: “What will this question tell me that helps design or product decisions?”; delete those that fail.
3. Create probes and follow-ups
   • For each secondary question, add 2–3 open-ended probes (“Can you walk me through a recent example?”, “What made that confusing?”).
   • Mark which probes are for generative (explore needs), evaluative (test flows), or formative (improve a concept).