Desk research checklist: scoping, execution, and synthesis steps

This checklist covers the full desk research cycle — from defining the research question through synthesizing findings into a brief. Use it for a single discovery sprint or as the backbone for recurring market scans.

Before

• Write down the specific research question the desk research should answer
• Set a deadline (typically 3–10 days for a UX project, 2–3 weeks for a market entry)
• Set a target source count (20–40 for most projects)
• Talk to each stakeholder for 30–60 minutes and capture what they already know
• Build a topic map of subtopics that affect the research question
• List the source types you will use for each subtopic
• Set up a source-tracking spreadsheet or Notion/Obsidian database

Execution

• Run AI deep research (Perplexity, ChatGPT, Claude, Elicit) to surface 20–30 cited sources
• Add the relevant ones to the source database with author, date, URL, and credibility score
• Search domain-specific databases (NN/g, Baymard, Gartner, Eurostat) for any subtopics AI missed
• Search competitor blogs, press releases, and customer reviews directly
• Search Reddit, Quora, and community forums for the user voice
• Apply a credibility check to each source and drop the ones that fail
• Extract structured findings from each kept source using direct quotes
• Note the funding source, sample size, and geography of every quantitative claim

After

• Cluster findings by subtopic and identify patterns across sources
• Flag where sources contradict each other and note possible reasons
• Verify every cited claim against the original source — no exceptions
• List the explicit gaps that desk research could not answer (input for primary research)
• Write the synthesis brief (3–10 pages) organized by research question, not by source
• Add a SWOT or competitive comparison if relevant
• Schedule a readout meeting with stakeholders and walk through the findings
• Archive the source database so the next project can reuse it