- A research brief describes the decision and the information needed, not the method: the method is the agency's responsibility and is justified in the proposal.
- Objectives are formulated as measurable results, not general wishes, and every objective must have a concrete use in the decision.
- The target population, the deadline and the budget range are the elements without which no proposal can be sized correctly.
- A research proposal is evaluated on ten elements, and price is only one of them; the sample and quality control usually explain the price differences.
- The questions asked when the proposal is presented quickly show whether the agency understood the problem or merely sent a standard document.
1. Why the brief accounts for half of a study's quality
A research brief is the document through which the person commissioning a study explains to the agency which decision must be supported, what information is missing and under what conditions it must be obtained. It is a short document, two to four pages, but it determines almost everything that follows: which method will be proposed, how much it will cost, how long it will take and, above all, whether the final report will be used or left in a drawer.
Without a written brief, agencies receive a five-line e-mail and each fills the gaps in its own way. The proposals received cannot be compared, because they answer different questions. The cheapest wins, and the price difference usually reflects a smaller sample or weaker quality control, not greater efficiency. A good research brief reverses this logic: all proposals respond to the same problem, and comparison becomes possible.
A brief is usually followed by a conversation. A serious agency will ask questions, challenge a formulation or propose measuring something other than what you asked for. Those questions are not a sign of weakness but of competence. A research brief is a starting point, not a rigid specification, and the clearer it is, the more useful the conversation that follows. If you have not yet established which type of study fits the problem, the guide Which type of research solves your problem is the previous step.
2. The structure of a research brief: nine sections
The structure below works equally for a company preparing a launch and for an organisation preparing a programme. Each section has a role, and the absence of one shows in the proposal.
- Context. Who you are, what you do, what has changed recently in the market or the organisation. Three to five sentences. The agency should not have to guess why now.
- The decision. What you will do differently depending on the results. "We will choose between three packaging options", "we will decide whether to extend the programme to three more districts", "we will set the launch price". This is the most important sentence in the brief.
- Research objectives. Three to five measurable objectives, each tied to the decision. The next section shows how they are formulated.
- Research questions. The list of questions the report must answer, formulated from the perspective of the decision, not as questionnaire items.
- Target population. Who has to answer: the general population aged 18+, customers from the last 12 months, urban women aged 25-45, entrepreneurs with fewer than 10 employees, the beneficiaries of a programme. The more precise it is, the more correctly the sample can be sized.
- What is already known. Previous studies, internal data, the team's hypotheses. This prevents paying for information you already have.
- Constraints. The date by which the results must exist, the budget range, the languages required, confidentiality requirements.
- Deliverables. Report, presentation, data set, tables, interpretation workshop. The format and language of each.
- Evaluation criteria and timetable. How you will compare proposals, when they are due, when the decision is taken.
3. Research objectives, not wishes
Most briefs fail at the objectives. "We want to understand the consumer better" is not a research objective, it is a wish, and no method can be sized against it. A good research objective states what is measured, among whom, and what the result is for.
| Weak formulation | Usable formulation | What it allows the agency to do |
|---|---|---|
| Understand perceptions of the brand | Measure spontaneous and aided awareness of the brand and three competitors among the urban population aged 18-55, and the image attributes associated with each | Size a CATI or CAWI survey with standard awareness questions and an attribute battery |
| Find out why the product is not working | Identify the barriers to purchase and repurchase among customers who tried the product only once in the last 6 months | Propose in-depth interviews or focus groups with precise screening |
| Evaluate the programme | Measure the change in knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding X among beneficiaries, against the 2025 baseline, and the difference from a non-exposed group | Build an endline design with a comparison group, on the same instrument as the baseline |
| Find out what price customers would accept | Estimate the acceptable price range and the threshold at which the product is perceived as too expensive, in the target segment, for two product variants | Choose a suitable pricing technique and size the sample per variant |
The simple test for each objective: can you describe what you will do if the result is high and what you will do if it is low? If the answer is the same in both cases, the objective supports no decision and can be removed from the brief, which also reduces the cost.
4. What a research brief should not contain
- The prescribed method. "We want an online survey with 500 respondents" closes the discussion before it starts. Describe the population and the precision required; let the agency propose the method and justify it. If you have a preference, phrase it as a question: "is CAWI suitable for this population?".
- A ready-written questionnaire. A questionnaire written by the marketing department usually contains leading and double-barrelled questions. Pass on the research questions; the instrument is built together, once the design is settled.
- The desired result. "We wish to demonstrate that the programme had an impact" turns research into confirmation. Serious agencies decline; the others deliver what you asked for, and the report will not survive the donor's first question.
- A hidden budget. Without a budget range, proposals will cover the whole spectrum from a three-day online survey to a national CAPI study, and none will be what you need. The range reveals nothing strategic; it sizes the solution.
- Twenty objectives. A study that measures everything measures nothing well, and the resulting questionnaire lasts 50 minutes and loses respondents. Three to five objectives are enough; the rest go into a second wave.
5. How to read a research proposal: the ten elements
A complete research proposal answers the elements in the table without being asked. A missing element does not disqualify the proposal, but it calls for a question before the decision.
| Element | What it looks like when done well | Warning sign |
|---|---|---|
| Understanding of the problem | The problem is restated in the agency's words and, where needed, corrected | The brief's text is copied without comment |
| Proposed design | Exploratory, descriptive or causal, with the reason for the choice | "A survey" is proposed outright, without justification |
| Population and sampling frame | A precise definition and the source from which respondents will be selected | "The general population" with no detail on coverage |
| Sample | Size, type of sampling, margin of error in total and for the reported subgroups | A single number, no margin, no subgroups |
| Data collection method | Justified by the population: why CAPI or CATI, why not online | The cheapest method, unrelated to the population |
| Instrument | Structure, estimated length, a pilot planned, who validates it | No mention of a pilot |
| Quality control in the field | GPS, audio recordings, re-contacting a defined percentage, consistency checks | "Strict quality control" with no details |
| Analysis | Weighting, significance tests, types of analysis, who performs them | Raw tables are delivered; interpretation is the client's job |
| Deliverables and timetable | A dated list, including the cleaned data set and the methodological report | The deadline is a single date, "final delivery" |
| Team | Who designs, who coordinates fieldwork, who analyses, with each person's experience | Only the company name |
6. Comparing proposals: price is the consequence, not the criterion
Two research proposals for the same brief can differ two- or three-fold in price. Almost always, the difference is explained by three things: the size and type of the sample, the data collection method and the quality control. A CAPI survey of 1,100 respondents with probability sampling, GPS checks and re-contacting costs much more than an online survey of 500 panel members, and it delivers something different: a result that can be generalised to the population, with a known margin of error.
Compare proposals on the same basis: cost per valid interview, not total cost; the margin of error on the subgroups you will report, not just the total; the percentage of interviews verified. Then ask yourself what you lose if you choose the cheaper option. If the answer is "representativeness" or "the ability to report by region", the low price is expensive. If the answer is "nothing relevant to the decision", the cheaper option is the right one.
7. Questions to ask when the proposal is presented
- What would you change in our brief, and why?
- What is the margin of error for the smallest subgroup we will report?
- How do you select respondents, and what do you do when a selected respondent refuses?
- What percentage of interviews do you verify, and how?
- Who writes the questionnaire, who pilots it, and on how many respondents?
- How do you weight the data, and against which reference sources?
- What happens to the timetable if the response rate is lower than estimated?
- What will remain unknown after this study?
The last question is the most useful. An agency that answers "nothing" has not understood the limits of its own method. One that states clearly what the study will not be able to measure, and why, has understood both the problem and the design.
8. After signing: the three moments that save a study
A good research brief does not end when the contract is signed. Three later moments determine whether the result will be used.
The kick-off meeting. The decision is reviewed, the objectives confirmed, and it is agreed who approves the questionnaire and within what time. The most frequent delays do not come from the field but from internal approvals that take three weeks.
The pilot. The questionnaire is tested on 20-30 respondents from the target population before fieldwork. Duration, question comprehension and the functioning of the filters are checked. A skipped pilot is paid for in unusable data.
The interim report. Halfway through fieldwork, the agency presents the distribution of the achieved sample against the planned one and the first frequencies. This is the moment when a coverage problem can still be corrected. After fieldwork, it cannot.
With these three moments in the calendar, the final report reaches a team that already knows what it will read in it and how it will use it. Without them, the report reaches a team that has forgotten why it commissioned the study, and a good research brief, written months earlier, is the only document that reminds them.
See also: Quantitative research Qualitative research CAPI and CATI Decision support Which type of research solves your problem Methodology FAQ
Do you have a decision to take?
Tell us the problem, not the method. We propose the right research design and explain what it can and cannot deliver.