Scope
The Scope pillar defines the boundaries of research work, request intake, prioritisation, risk classification, method choice and support model.
SCOPE 1.0.0
Scope operating model
How the organisation defines what counts as research work, who can do it and what level of operating support it needs.
SCOPE 1.1.1
Research scope is an operating decision
Research scope should connect organisational priorities, decision needs, participant risk, available capability and the operating support needed to run the work well.
SCOPE 1.1.2
Define the boundary between research and adjacent activity
The practice must define which activities are governed as user research, which are adjacent discovery or engagement activities and which require research leadership review before proceeding.
SCOPE 1.1.3
Use scope to choose the operating model
Scope decisions should identify whether work is best supported through self-service, coaching, full-service research, specialist governance or a mixed model.
SCOPE 1.1.4
Do not relabel weak research to avoid governance
Teams must not describe research as feedback, validation, engagement or discovery to avoid required review, participant protections or evidence standards.
SCOPE 2.0.0
Research intake and problem framing
How research demand enters the system and is shaped into a clear decision need.
SCOPE 2.1.1
Record a research rationale before work starts
Every research activity must have a recorded problem, decision need, user group, method rationale and expected use of findings before recruitment or fieldwork starts.
SCOPE 2.1.2
Name the decision the research will inform
Research requests must state the decision, risk, policy question, service assumption or design choice that evidence is expected to inform.
SCOPE 2.1.3
Separate symptoms from researchable questions
When an intake request describes a solution, complaint or vague learning goal, reframe it into the decision, user group, uncertainty and evidence need before accepting it as research work.
SCOPE 3.0.0
Prioritisation and capacity
How research effort is matched to strategy, risk, value and available capability.
SCOPE 3.1.1
Research capacity is a strategic resource
Research effort should be directed to decisions where user evidence can reduce material risk, improve outcomes or change what the organisation does.
SCOPE 3.1.2
Prioritise demand using visible criteria
Research demand must be prioritised using recorded criteria such as user risk, service impact, legal or policy dependency, learning value, urgency, effort and strategic fit.
SCOPE 3.1.3
Make trade-offs explicit when deprioritising work
When research is deferred or declined, record the reason, the risk accepted, the alternative evidence available and the point at which the decision should be revisited.
SCOPE 4.0.0
Risk, review and support levels
How the scope of work determines governance, ResearchOps support and delivery controls.
SCOPE 4.1.1
Classify support level before delivery starts
A study must be classified for support level before delivery starts, using risk, method complexity, participant sensitivity, capability and operational dependency.
SCOPE 4.1.2
Use a hybrid support model
Provide self-service templates for low-risk routine work and full-service ResearchOps support for high-risk, high-priority or specialist studies.
SCOPE 4.1.3
Escalate when scope grows beyond approval
People running research must pause and recheck scope when participants, topics, methods, data collection, incentives or intended use expand beyond the approved plan.
SCOPE 5.0.0
Method boundaries and evidence standards
How method choice, evidence quality and research claims stay within scope.
SCOPE 5.1.1
Match method to decision risk
The selected method must be proportionate to the decision risk and capable of producing evidence strong enough for the intended use.
SCOPE 5.1.2
Scope should protect evidence from overreach
Research claims should stay within the population, context, method, sample and confidence level covered by the study.
SCOPE 5.1.3
Use method playbooks as guardrails, not scripts
Method playbooks should help teams choose and run suitable approaches while still requiring researchers to adapt responsibly to context and risk.
SCOPE 6.0.0
Self-service, coaching and non-researcher activity
How low-risk research-adjacent work is enabled without weakening standards.
SCOPE 6.1.1
Limit self-service research to approved low-risk patterns
Self-service research or research-adjacent activity must stay within approved methods, participant groups, data handling rules and review thresholds.
SCOPE 6.1.2
Ask for help before quality or safety is compromised
People using self-service patterns must seek research or governance support when the work becomes sensitive, ambiguous, high-impact or beyond their competence.
SCOPE 6.1.3
Use coaching to grow capability without hiding risk
Coaching should help teams frame questions, choose safe methods and understand limits, while keeping accountability for high-risk research with qualified researchers.
SCOPE 7.0.0
Roadmap, portfolio and scope learning
How scope decisions are reviewed across the portfolio and used to improve the research operating system.
SCOPE 7.1.1
Maintain a visible research backlog or roadmap
Priority research demand, accepted work, deferred work and known evidence gaps must be visible in a backlog or roadmap that research and delivery leaders can review.
SCOPE 7.1.2
Review demand patterns as operating-system evidence
Repeated requests, unclear scope, rejected studies, unsupported self-service work and recurring method gaps should feed operating improvements.
SCOPE 7.1.3
Good scope increases focus and trust
A mature scope system should help teams ask better questions, use research capacity deliberately and understand why some work proceeds, changes or stops.
Glossary
- Research scope
- The agreed boundary of a research activity, including question, participants, method, intended use, evidence standard and support level.
- Decision need
- The decision, risk or uncertainty that research evidence is expected to inform.
- Support level
- The degree of ResearchOps, research leadership or governance involvement needed for a piece of work.
- Self-service pattern
- An approved low-risk approach that enables non-researchers or teams to collect limited evidence within defined guardrails.
Change history
-
2026-07-02
Expanded SCOPE into an end-to-end scope lifecycle covering operating model, intake, prioritisation, support levels, method boundaries, self-service and portfolio learning.