Study Setup (Step 1a)

Study Setup is the first step of the Brief. This is where you tell vDynamiq what the study is and what you’re trying to learn. Everything downstream — the measurement framework, the personas, the scenes — is derived from what you enter here, so it’s worth getting right.

What this step is for

To capture the identity and intent of the study: a clear objective, the market context, and the specific things you need answers to. The richer and more specific this is, the better the study vDynamiq generates.

The fields

• Study Name — a short internal label for the study (e.g. “EV Scooter — Q3 Concept Test”). For your own organisation; respondents never see it.
• Industry — pick from the list, type to filter, or add a custom industry. This shapes tone, examples, and language throughout.
• Geography — the cities or regions in scope. Add them one at a time (type and press Enter). This influences context, currency, and cultural framing.
• Study Objective — the single most important field: the decision this research informs. Write it as an outcome, not a list of questions (see best practices below).
• Customer Background — brand context, market position, and history. Optional, but it helps vDynamiq ground the study in your specific situation.
• Key Information Areas — the specific topics you need to learn about, added one at a time. These steer the framework toward what matters to you.

How to do it

1. Open My Studies and choose New Study to create the study and enter the wizard.
2. Enter a Study Name you’ll recognise later.
3. Select the Industry (filter the list or add your own).
4. Add each Geography in scope, one at a time.
5. Write the Study Objective as a clear outcome statement.
6. Optionally add Customer Background for extra grounding.
7. Add your Key Information Areas, one per topic you need to cover.
8. Move on to Audience.

Best practices

• State the decision, not the questions. “Decide which two of five features to lead with for urban commuters” is far more useful than “ask about features.” vDynamiq writes the questions; you supply the goal.
• Be specific in Key Information Areas. “Purchase barriers,” “price expectations,” and “brand associations vs. competitor X” give the framework something concrete to build on. Vague areas produce vague measurement.
• Include the competitive frame in Customer Background when brand comparison matters — name the competitors you care about.
• Match geography to your real sample. The framing and examples adapt to it.

Tips

• You can revise Study Setup at any time from the step rail — but remember that later steps are generated from it, so significant changes here may mean regenerating downstream.
• Where a field supports AI expansion or voice input, use it to turn a rough note into a fuller objective, then edit the result.
• Keep the objective to a few sentences. Precision beats length.

Where to go next

• Audience — languages, screener questions, and demographics.
• Constructs & metrics — how your objective becomes a measurement plan.