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Collaborative Synthesis

An approach to analysing data and identifying insights with a stakeholder group.

Stats

Suggested Time

60 Minutes

Level of Difficulty

Easy

Materials Needed

Pens, paper, Post-its

Participants

Design team and participants


Process Phase

Inviting co-designers or others stakeholders into the research synthesis process is an awesome way to accurately surface key themes and to identify the most critical and novel insights and opportunities. Bringing community co-designers into the synthesis process helps to raise the the voice and expertise of those closest to the problem. Use the steps below to guide this collaborative process and elevate lived expertise.

Steps

  1. Start with some download sessions with anyone who has been conducting interviews or other data gathering activities.
  2. From these initial downloads, do a quick synthesis by yourself or with another team mate to get to a first rough draft of themes.
  3. At this point, bring your wider stakeholder or codesigner group together to build upon this synthesis. Treat these participants like advisors and experts who are taking the final set of themes and key quotes across the finish line.
  4. Some sample questions might include: Do these themes resonate? What about the language used? Do the themes accurately reflect what you shared? What’s missing? What’s most surprising or interesting about what we learned? What’s obvious and does not need to be included?
  5. Once you’ve collectively aligned on the key themes and important quotes, move to Creating Insight Statements. It will be more efficient to do this with 1-2 others, but bring your wider participants back in to review the drafts and finalize.

Learn More

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