Affinity Diagram Helped Me A Lot
Are you still confused about translating your data from your research?
After I conducted research, especially during user interviews to gather data from users, I’m unsure about translating the data, and how to analyze the data I collected.
I must present this data to stakeholders, so they can gain insights and issues from the users while indirectly telling them of the importance of researching beforehand.
I have tried various ways to make the data easy to read and understand by using fewer methods or tools. I thought that I couldn’t present data from research results by just telling the audience in the room how I met the users and how I interviewed them.
I need something to make it easier for me to translate data after I conduct a user interview. That’s when I found “Just Enough Research” a book written by Erika Hall. Until I reached the 8th chapter of the book, which was about Analysis and Models, I had found what I was looking for and I solved my problems. Can you guess what it is?
Yap! Affinity Diagram!
What was written in the book suited very well to my needs.
“The act of creating an affinity diagram will allow you to distill the patterns and useful insights from the many individual quotes and data points you gather through interviews and observation” (Just Enough Research, Analysis Model)
Let me tell you how I use the Affinity Diagram to analyze the data that I have gathered when conducting user interviews.
1. Write Down Observations
When I ask the users my questions, I always record our conversations, so that I can review the insights, problems, or any other things faced by the users. Additionally, you can write anything else that you observed while you were asking questions to the user.
Make a direct quote or objective description of what users did or said. Take as many quotes you think is interesting. At the same time, you can analyze everything that users mentioned to represent their problem and goal.
2. Create Groups
It’s time to group the notes that you have quoted. Try to think and look for patterns to sort the quotes based on a goal or problem. Name the patterns and then identify the user needs.
3. Identify The Final Step
In this part, you will need to analyze and identify the actionable design mandates, and decide what your next steps should be.
So far, the Affinity Diagram has helped me decide what features should be prioritized and what designs need to be modified. This can be your reference for your next team discussion.
