How to choose useful information in research synthesis
When we’re presented with so much information from our research and workshops, how do we pick out the important ones to highlight?
As designers, researchers, and strategists, a huge part of our work is conducting discovery sessions and research with users, clients, and other stakeholders. Whether we’re in interviews, ideation sessions, or workshops, conversations naturally tend to go in multiple directions, which sometimes leave us with more information than we needed and expected. At the end of the research phase, we would find ourselves with recordings, notes, a bunch of Post-its, and even some workshop boards — all of which contain a wealth of information which would guide us to the next phase of the project.
But the question is, how do we pick out the important information in this treasure trove of knowledge? How do we know which ones are the nuggets of wisdom?
It is easy to get stuck and overwhelmed at this stage of the process. Over the years, I’ve noticed that there are 5 qualities that make a piece of information important during the synthesis phase of research. These qualities are: Relevant, Recurring, Contradicting, Unique, and Striking.
Relevant
First and foremost, information is important if it is relevant. By relevant, it means that it should answer to either of the following: 1) the questions that we intend to answer with the research; 2) the goal/s of the project or the specific project phase; or 3) the concerns of our clients or stakeholders.
Relevance by answering the questions that we intend to answer in research
Before we started the research phase — whether that involves doing a workshop, conducting a survey, or doing interviews, we’ve already decided on the questions that we want to get answers for. Research goals should always be the North Star of analysis and should help us choose useful information. Simply put, we’ll know information is relevant simply because these are the answers that we need.
Relevance by addressing the goals of the project or a specific project phase
Like the statement above, the goals of the project or a specific project phase should already have been determined prior to the discovery sessions. Information is relevant if it feeds into these goals or if it provides context to better understand or fulfill the goals of the project or the topic at hand. This Gitlab article nicely distinguishes information relevance into three categories: equivalence, association, and hierarchy.
Relevance by addressing the concerns of users, clients, or stakeholders
In meetings or previous engagements, our users, clients, or stakeholders may have some concerns or are especially curious about something. These concerns or skepticism often come from lack of information or evidence about a specific topic. Aurelius Lab suggests that information is useful if it answers pertinent questions from project stakeholders. As such, when we encounter information that directly addresses these concerns, it is definitely critical to pull out this information and share it back to the individuals or groups concerned.
Recurring
As we do more workshops or talk to more people in the discovery part of our project, we may eventually notice that some ideas are recurring or kept being mentioned. This article on dscout suggests that something is typically a trend if ⅓ (round up) of the total sample size (e.g. people you talked to) said something similar. This is, of course, not an exact science but we would usually get a feel if something is a pattern as we sift through our notes. Recurrence is usually a good indicator that something is important and needs to be highlighted. This article details affinity mapping and how to group and sort related ideas.
Contradicting
As with seeing a pattern in the ideas or concepts brought about by people in the workshops or engagements, there will also be instances where an unpopular or contradicting idea comes to the surface. Instead of disregarding this information or putting this to the side, bring it up and highlight it because there is often a reason why this came to mind. This process is also related to the concept of Negative Case Analysis, which is an analytic strategy to ensure validity and establish points of comparison. Contradicting ideas and statements either provide further context or complementary evidence (as termed by Aurelius Lab) to the “popular” ideas, or open up a new perspective about the topic in question. University of Toronto provides an example of the use of negative cases and unexpected findings.
Unique
Oftentimes, conversations within an interview or workshop would go in different directions. When this happens, we’d often get information that we didn’t expect to get or learn about another concept that we haven’t heard before. It is also essential that these standout learnings are emphasized and shared because they provide a different dimension to the topic at hand. I often consider these learnings as floodgates — they need to be probed much further as they can uncover a whole new story. I echo this article from Impactio saying that we don’t know how accidental and unique results will play out in the long-term and that the most important thing to do is to document everything.
Striking
Much like picking out the contradicting and unique ideas, we’ll often encounter a participant statement that is striking and memorable. This statement either fully captures a scenario or situation, evokes a certain emotion, or is just plainly comical. I’d often use some of these quotes in a presentation to add more substance or humanness. Moreover, pulling out a standout quote can make our research findings memorable and can make it compelling for project stakeholders.
Conclusion
It can be overwhelming to read and process all the information we’ve gathered from the discovery phase of our project. However, keeping these five qualities in mind when evaluating which information to pick out can make the synthesis process less overwhelming. Once we’ve picked out the important information, it is much easier for us to weave the story or build a case because we know that we’ve gone through all the notes and picked the ones that will pique the curiosity and attention of the individuals or groups that we will be sharing back to.
👋 Hi, I’m Aryanna. I’m a design researcher and strategist with deep experience working in large corporations, tech startups, and consulting firms. I combine analytical thinking and creativity to create compelling products and services. I’ve also written about:
