Checklist

To determine your approach to answering a question, you go through each of the 4 steps of the research cycle. Briefly consider the following two questions:

  1. Are you doing the right thing?
    What are the different options for this step? Does this really answer the question you started with? In research terms we also call this validity.
    For example, if you want to know if people like your game, you could show them a video of people playing the game and ask them if they would like to play it themselves. If they say "yes", you assume that they really like your game. But can they determine if a game is fun by just watching a movie? And maybe it's just a courtesy yes? Especially if you ask family and friends, they might just want to be nice. Can you think of another way to answer this question?
     
  2. Are you doing it right?
    Even if you have chosen a certain approach that in itself fits well with your question, many things can still go right or wrong in the implementation. You can take this into account as much as possible when determining your approach. If you were to do the same research again, would you get similar results, or could it yield a completely different answer? In research terms we call this reliability.
    To answer your question of whether people like to play your game, you have decided that you are going to let people play the game themselves. You also emphasize that you want to hear honest feedback so that you can improve the game. Additionally, you look at the reactions of the testers while playing. Your 8-year-old nephew and 10-year-old niece love your game. Good news! One of your teammates also runs a test, letting his grandpa and grandma play the game, but they didn't like the game at all. What now?

Are you doing the right thing? and Are you doing it right? give you a quick check to critically look at your approach. You can also try the following questions: Does this really answer your question? And would you dare to bet your smartphone on whether of your answer is correct?