Practice research synthesis vocabulary: affinity mapping, thematic analysis, insight vs observation, triangulation, and saturation in qualitative research.
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What is 'affinity mapping' (also called an affinity diagram) in UX research synthesis?
Affinity mapping (developed by Jiro Kawakita — also called the KJ method) externalises research data onto individual notes, then teams collaboratively cluster similar notes to emerge themes. It's inductive: themes arise from the data rather than being imposed. Works on a physical wall or digitally (Miro, FigJam). Typical flow: download all notes → silent clustering → name clusters → identify insights → prioritise.
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In research synthesis, what is the difference between an 'observation' and an 'insight'?
Observation: 'Three out of five participants clicked the wrong button on the confirmation screen.' Insight: 'Users expect the primary action to be on the right side; placing Cancel on the right caused repeated errors, suggesting our button order violates established convention and user mental models.' The insight adds the 'so what' — it frames the finding as a design implication.
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What does 'triangulation' mean in the context of UX research?
Triangulation reduces the risk that a finding is an artefact of one method's blind spots. Types: data triangulation (multiple data sources — interviews + analytics + support tickets), methodological triangulation (multiple methods — survey + diary study), investigator triangulation (multiple researchers analyse the same data). If three different sources all point to the same problem, confidence in the finding increases substantially.
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In qualitative research, what is 'saturation'?
Theoretical saturation (Glaser & Strauss) is the criterion for stopping data collection in qualitative research: once new participants are no longer surfacing new themes, you have a sufficient sample. In practice, UX researchers often see saturation after 5–8 interviews for a well-scoped question (Nielsen's '5 users' rule applies to usability testing specifically). Saturation depends on participant diversity and research breadth.
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A researcher says: 'I'm doing thematic analysis on the interview transcripts.' What does this involve?
Thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke) has six phases: (1) familiarise with data, (2) generate initial codes (label meaningful segments), (3) search for themes (group codes), (4) review themes, (5) define and name themes, (6) produce the report. It can be inductive (themes emerge from data) or deductive (themes test a pre-existing framework). One of the most widely used qualitative analysis methods in UX.