What are research goals and objectives?
Your research description, objectives and targeted audiences are the core questions your survey is designed to answer. They sit at the heart of your project and give Compass the context it needs to do its best work.
You can write these yourself, paste in a research brief and let Compass suggest them, or ask Compass to extract them from survey questions you've already drafted.
Why add a research brief before you start?
When Compass knows what you're trying to learn, it can:
Draft survey questions that directly address your stated objectives
Group your results and insights by goal, so you can quickly see what the data says about each question
Highlight standout findings and demographic differences that are relevant to your specific objectives
Without goals, survey questions are drafted based on your prompt alone, and your insights appear as a general summary rather than answers to specific business questions.
How to add your research objectives
You add your objectives on the Brief tab, which appears at the start of the survey creation journey.
Option 1: Paste in a research brief
Open the Brief tab when starting a new survey.
Paste your research brief into the text field. This can be a document you've already written, a summary of your business question, or a short description of what you want to learn.
Ask Compass to create your brief. Compass will read your brief and suggest a structured list of research objectives.
Review the suggestions. Edit, remove, or add objectives until the list accurately reflects your goals.
Option 2: Let Compass extract objectives from your survey
If you've already drafted survey questions, Compass can work backwards and suggest objectives based on what your questions are designed to measure.
Draft your survey questions in the editor.
Navigate to the Review tab.
Compass will suggest objectives that map to your existing question groups.
Review the suggestions. Edit, remove, or add objectives until the list accurately reflects your goals in the Brief tab.
Option 3: Write objectives manually
If you prefer to write your own objectives without using Compass:
Open the Brief tab.
Select Add objective and type your objective directly.
Repeat for each objective. You can add up to 20 objectives per project.
Select Save when you're done.
How your goals are used in insights
Once your survey closes, Compass organises your results around the objectives you set.
Each objective gets its own summary, pulling together the most relevant findings from across your survey.
Supporting charts and data are linked to each objective so you can validate the conclusions.
Compass highlights significant differences by demographic or segment where they're relevant to a specific objective.
Editing and access
You can edit your brief and objectives at any point while your survey is in draft.
If you share a draft with someone outside Attest, they can view the brief in read-only mode.
FAQs
What makes a good research objective?
A good objective is specific and tied to a real business question. For example: "Understand how 25–34 year olds in the UK perceive our brand relative to our top three competitors" is more useful than "Learn about brand perception". The more specific your objectives, the more targeted your survey questions and insights will be.
Can Compass generate objectives if my brief is vague?
Compass will make a best-effort attempt and clearly mark any objectives it's unsure about. If your brief doesn't contain enough detail, Compass will prompt you to add more context — such as your target audience or core business question — before generating.
Can I add objectives after my survey has launched?
No, however you can add or update objectives if you launch a new wave.