Research brief generator

By the Gather team · Published August 18, 2026 · Last updated August 18, 2026 · Free, no signup, nothing stored

Most research briefs start with the questions. Good ones start with the decision. This walks you through the decision, the audience, the method, and the success criteria, and it will tell you if your brief has no decision in it.

Start from the decision

The first line of a research brief should name a decision and the person who owns it. If you cannot, the study will produce interesting findings that change nothing, which is the most common failure mode in commercial research.

The test: finish this sentence. If the answer is A we will do X, and if the answer is B we will do Y. If both branches lead to the same action, you do not need the research.

State what would change your mind

Write down, before fielding, the result that would make you abandon your current hypothesis. This is the single highest-leverage line in a brief and almost nobody includes it.

Without it, teams reliably interpret ambiguous data as confirming what they already believed. With it, you have pre-committed to a threshold and the debate afterwards is much shorter.

Screening is the study

Sample quality beats sample size. A hundred verified in-market buyers will tell you more than a thousand people who matched a loose demographic filter. Be specific about role, seniority, company profile, and recency of relevant behaviour.

Also decide in advance what disqualifies someone, and check for professional respondents, speeders, and straight-liners. Our own screening covers profile verification and spam scoring on every wave, described in the research FAQ.

Common brief mistakes

• Too many questions. Twenty questions produces twenty shallow answers. Pick the three that matter.
• Leading wording. If the question implies the answer, you will get it.
• No timeline back from the decision. Research that lands after the decision was made is a receipt, not an input.
• No plan for the output. Decide up front who turns findings into action, and when.

Once the brief is written, Gather takes it from there: design, screening, fielding, analysis, and the assets that come out of it.

Frequently asked questions

What is a research brief?

A short document that defines the decision the research must inform, who owns that decision, the audience, the method, the questions, and what result would change your mind.

What should a research brief include?

The decision and its owner, the deadline, screening criteria, three to five focused questions, your hypotheses, the evidence that would disprove them, target sample size, and who acts on the output.

How long should a research brief be?

One page. If it runs longer you probably have several studies bundled together, which usually means all of them get done badly.

Why start with the decision?

Because research that does not change a decision is expensive entertainment. If both possible answers lead to the same action, you do not need the study.

How many questions should a study have?

Three to five that genuinely matter. Twenty questions produces twenty shallow answers and a much lower completion rate.

Is this generator free?

Yes. No signup, nothing stored, and you can download the brief as markdown.