Time to insight calculator

1. Estimate the brief

   Include agreeing the question with stakeholders, not only writing it down. A brief that is rushed often costs time later.

2. Estimate recruitment

   Count the working hours from starting recruitment to having enough participants scheduled, which depends on how niche the audience is.

3. Estimate fieldwork

   Count the working hours from the first session to the last. Sessions that run in parallel finish sooner than sessions scheduled one after another.

4. Estimate analysis and reporting

   Include reviewing transcripts, building themes and writing up findings in a form the decision makers can use.

Time to insight = brief + recruitment + fieldwork + analysis + reporting, in hours, and in working days of 8 hours.

Example inputs, not a benchmark.

Writing the brief

4 hours

Recruitment

48 hours

Fieldwork

24 hours

Analysis

16 hours

Reporting

8 hours

Time from brief to insight

100 hours, 12.5 working days

A sum of stages has no useful table of common values: every study's stages differ, and a table of totals would say nothing a reader could use. Enter your own stage estimates above to see your study's time to insight.

• Recruitment and fieldwork are usually the longest stages, and they are where running work in parallel saves the most time.
• Analysis grows with the number of conversations, so a study that doubles its interviews needs more analysis time as well as more fieldwork.
• Comparing time to insight with the date a decision is due shows whether a study will inform it or arrive too late.
• Pulse runs AI-moderated interviews from a team's brief and returns transcripts and themes with every quote traced to its source, which shortens fieldwork and analysis.

• It adds stages one after another. Some stages overlap in practice, such as analysis starting while fieldwork continues.
• It counts working hours in days of eight. Recruitment and fieldwork can also run through evenings and weekends, so the calendar time can be shorter than the working days suggest.
• It leaves out waiting time, such as approvals, stakeholder reviews and scheduling a readout.
• It measures speed, not quality. A faster study is only better if its findings are as reliable and as useful.

• Agile
• Case study
• Research method

• Cost per insight calculator Pair the timeline with the full cost of the study.
• Research ROI calculator Weigh the study against the decision it informs.
• Incentive calculator Budget participant incentives for the same study.
• Sample size calculator Size a survey before planning its fieldwork.