Piecing it All Together: Finding Solutions from Research Conducted
While I’m not an analyst in any way, I’ve aggregated a list of my favorite methods for analyzing themes and patterns emerging from previous Qualitative and Quantitative Research gathered. These methods can help any business owner or organization feel more confident moving forward with proper design solutions in their industry.
I’ll be pulling summaries from the book Universal Methods of Design, created by Bella Martin and Bruce Hanington to properly characterize steps behind each of the Research Methods recommended.
AFFINITY DIAGRAM
Affinity Diagramming is a process used to externalize and meaningfully cluster observations and insights from research, keeping design teams grounded in data as they design.
Start by capturing research-backed insights, observations, concerns, or requirements on individual sticky notes. Cluster the notes based on affinity creating themes in the research.
When creating Affinity Diagrams for contextual inquiry, take the 50-100 observations conducted and interpret the notes to analyze and group the underlying significance of each. Notes that share a similar intent, problem, or issue are then clustered together developing a story of the people, their tasks and the nature of their problems.
Aggregate data from the “bottom-up” when conducting Affinity Diagrams. ie: Yellow notes can represent a single observation, insight, concern, or requirement from research data. Blue notes describe the aspect of an issue from clustered yellow notes. Pink notes describe specific issues within the area of concern observed in the blue notes. Green notes describe the overarching area of concern or theme within the work practice.
Conducting Affinity Diagrams in usability tests is based on observing participation of a usability test. With a sticky note color designated to each participant, researchers watch and capture observations for the diagram. After multiple observations, common issues and problems in the interface will begin to emerge clustering the usability issues from each of the participants.
BRAINSTORM GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS
Beyond creating lists of new ideas and concepts, Brainstorm Graphic Organizers help in the creation of new knowledge by visually structuring a deep dive into a problem space.
Focus on quantity over quality while providing a trusting environment that caters to an openness to all ideas and concepts.
Brainstorming Webs
Try Brainstorming Webs to develop a central concept or question and identify its characteristics, supporting facts, and related ideas. Build by either identifying the center first, then its extensions, or by identifying all of the components and then determining the central theme.
Tree Diagrams
Use Tree Diagrams to communicate a hierarchy, a classification system, or relationships between main and supporting ideas. The order may be constructed by a generalized conclusion or a more specific and factual basis.
Flow Diagrams
Flow Diagrams, or flowcharts, are used when you need to document a sequence of events, represent the actions or processes of different actors in a system, communicate a process, or show cause and effect of interrelated elements. They typically have a beginning and an end to show timelines or even cycles.
COGNITIVE MAPPING
Cognitive Mapping is a visualization of how people make sense of a particular problem space. It is most effective when used to structure complex problems and to inform design making.
Cognitive Maps are visual-thinking tools that represent a network of ideas and associations based on implications of participants. They are to be read as node x may lead to node y or node x may imply node y.
USER JOURNEY MAPS
A User Journey Map is a visualization of the experiences people have when interacting with a product or service so that each moment can be individually evaluated and improved.
User Journey Maps are ways to more effectively augment existing user behavior within their actual contexts of use. Each map should represent a journey specific to a persona, displaying an honest representation of their experience, moments of indecision, confusion, frustration, as well as delight and closure. Create multiple maps with multiple personas, each completing different tasks and goals to gather multiple summaries for these experiences.
Take the findings and hold a review session to discuss turning points for the product or service designed for.
STAKEHOLDER MAP
Stakeholder Maps help to visually consolidate and communicate the key constituents of a design project, setting the stage for user-centered research and design development.
This analysis will serve as a reference point for the design team when developing their platform. Stakeholders can be identified by general roles, specific roles, or by actual people. This organizational structure can easily manifest the key-players into a hierarchy of people and their importance to the success of the project as a participant in the design process and/or especially as an end-user.
PERSONAS
Personas consolidate archetypal descriptions of user behavior patterns into representative profiles, to humanize design focus, test scenarios, and aid design communication.
Through Qualitative and Quantitative Research, a human description that facilitates empathy for specific individuals will surface, creating a direction for the design team.
Personas typically include a name, a photograph or sketch, a narrative of their story, details behind their life, values, goals, and behaviors — providing a persuasive human reference when communicating research studies and design reasoning.
Why does all of this matter?
Because designers aren’t here to just make something “pretty.” And the solutions to design for aren’t always staring right at you. In fact, they almost never are.
In recent years, big agencies have completely restructured their teams to make a more collaborative environment for the previously isolated designer.
Design teams configured with designers that are multidisciplinary in their education and skill set as well as interdisciplinary in their team will continue to thrive amongst their counterparts. Because of this shift in research-driven and collaborative analysis, imaginations will flourish, and processes will be rethought and reframed.
With a deeper understanding of target markets, a designer's research methods to solving problems, a collaboration of multidisciplinary creatives with the user, and an implementation of quick prototypes (to offer fast and frequent failures for the best possible outcome in the quickest amount of time) — given time and proper “design thinking,” nuanced discoveries for your growing industry will develop.
Martin, Bella, and Bruce Hanington. Universal Methods of Design: 100 Ways to Research Complex Problems, Develop Innovative Ideas, and Design Effective Solutions. Rockport Publishers, 2012.
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