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How exactly do you find insights from qualitative user research?
Turn design research data into actionable insights in four steps.
In design research, synthesis is where the magic happens. It’s the process of distilling data into insights. Someone could have attended all research sessions and still be surprised by the insights derived from synthesis. Like the saying, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”, synthesis creates an understanding of users that go beyond all data points that have been collected.
As a user researcher, some of my most rewarding moments happened when I identified insights that can alter or guide the product strategy. Of all skills in design research, synthesis skills might be the most challenging one to teach and develop. I’m still honing my skills, but I’d love to share what I’ve learned about finding insights.
First, I’ll share the synthesis process using affinity diagramming for beginners. The second section focuses on how to go one step further and identify impactful insights.
For beginners: Synthesis using affinity diagramming
A common method used in synthesis is affinity diagramming, which can be summarized into 4 steps.
Step 1: Extract and summarize data
From note, transcript, and artifact, find key information and write them down on sticky notes. The small size of a sticky note force you to summarize information into the key takeaways.
Use one sticky note for each takeaway so that you can easily group and organize them later.
Step 2: Find patterns across participants
After extracting all information into sticky notes, cluster similar information into themes. As a starting point, you might group information based on broad categories such as demographics, workflow, pain points, etc.
