Analysis, Plus Synthesis: Turning Data into Insights

2. Mine the data.

Once you have conducted your research and collected and organized all the data, you can begin to mine your data for facts and findings. This step involves a lot of analysis, or identifying what you see in the data. Here’s a basic process:

1. Comb through all the files for each participant to identify findings.
2. Depending on the goals and the desired output for your research, pay attention to key points such as behaviors and attitudes or needs and goals.
3. Gather useful findings, which can come in the form of user quotations, rephrased points, or facts.
4. Color-code Post-it notes by participant, type of finding, or whatever system supports your creating the desired output.

Mining the data and visually organizing it in a common physical space lets you more clearly see what’s there and easily reframe it to identify points of synthesis.

3. Sort and cluster the data.

Once you have mined all your research files to identify findings, you can use sorting and clustering techniques to reframe the data. This leads you on a path to creating meaningful outputs and tools from the data, but also allows synthesis to occur.

There are two card-sorting techniques I have used with great success when sorting and clustering data. These techniques are often used with participants during primary research studies to help us understand how users categorize information, as Donna Spencer described in her article “Card Sorting: A Definitive Guide.” I have borrowed these card-sorting techniques and adapted them for use by internal research teams in exercises that let us categorize data for analysis and synthesis. The basic card-sorting techniques are fairly simple:

• open sorting—Group findings into undefined categories to see what connections emerge.
• closed sorting—Group findings into defined categories to organize data and build upon a determined structure. Your card sort might end up looking like what you see in Figure 4.
  

For example, you might have all of your findings for the category Goals and Needs sorted by participant on the wall. Using the closed-sorting technique, you can re-sort them by alikeness to see what goals and needs are duplicated across participants and which are most common and critical. This lets you discover patterns in your data, but what about identifying the true insights in all the patterns?

4. Identify insights.

You have organized your files, mined all the data, represented it visually in a physical space, sorted and re-sorted it. Throughout this process, you have likely found many patterns that give you a gut feeling they are important and even synthesized those patterns into some macro-patterns.

But, how do you take it to the next level and identify insights and core truths about your users from the patterns you’ve found? Follow these steps to identify insights:

1. Discuss each pattern and point of synthesis as a team. Talk about why you think each is important and what it means. Recall exact quotations from participants, facial expressions, body language, feelings, and attitudes relating to the patterns.
2. Articulate, in one simple statement, the insight that emerged out of each pattern or point of synthesis. Draft each insight on a Post-it note. But be flexible about changing them when you come back to them later.
3. Incubate the insights. Leave them for 24 hours, do some other work, remove yourself from the war room. Let them sit with you, undisturbed, for an extended period of time.
4. Return to and re-articulate the insights with the team. Think of a different way of expressing or articulating them. But if you got them right the first time, don’t change them.
5. Socialize the insights. Show them to other people who were not involved in the research or analysis + synthesis process. Give them some context, show them the insights, and get their reactions. This will tell you whether the insights resonate. Do people get them? Do they speak to people as the truth? Do the insights compel the design team to create meaningful products and services?

Wrapping Up

Using this analysis + synthesis approach can set you on a path to identifying true, core insights on which to build your research output—instead of just facts. When used together, analysis + synthesis is a powerful approach to getting down to real users’ needs and compelling design teams to create truly useful products and services.