Collaboration cycle
Collaboration cycle
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Research review

Last Updated: July 9, 2026

If you're doing research with Veterans, a Research Review is required. Follow these guidelines to get started.

This touchpoint is only for teams building products for Veterans, their caregivers, families, survivors, and representatives. Teams building products for organizations (e.g., VA employees, contractors, representatives working in an organizational capacity, etc) should not schedule this touchpoint.

Don’t have a GitHub ticket yet? You may need to start the Collab Cycle with a kickoff.

Generate a Collab Cycle Kickoff Ticket on GitHub

Owner

OCTO Research Lead

Timing

Request this touchpoint 1 - 2 weeks before you plan to conduct user research.

Format

Asynchronous review

Objective

Defer to the Research Overview section of Platform Website for additional details.

Request

Follow the research review directions

Artifacts

VFS provides:

Outcome

OCTO-DE’s research expert provides feedback on your research plan and once approved, recruitment will begin. 

How to document a waiver justification for a Design touchpoint

Although rare, some work may not require a Design Intent, Midpoint Review, and Research Review. We recommend first discussing this at Gov Leads Sync.

If you believe your team should skip one of these touchpoints, please comment on your Collaboration Cycle Github Ticket and briefly provide a justification, for example:

  • Experienced team that already has expertise in VA.gov accessibility, design, content, and information architecture standards and design system components and pattern updates

  • Existing product that has already been researched, tested, and is making minor or no user experience changes or interactions

  • Team already attended one design touchpoint and we discussed not needing another

  • Team accepts the risks of more delays, compliance documentation, and launch-blocking findings at Staging Review

Once you comment, we will respond via your Collab Cycle Github Ticket to confirm or request additional details.

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