Synthesize

Code the data

Tag every excerpt with a code and count how often each comes up, across all your sources.

How to do it

1. Paste your codebook, or let the draft propose one.
2. Check the excerpts under each code.
3. Use the counts to say how common something is: "9 of 12 sources".

Tip. Counts come only from excerpts that were found word for word in their source, so they hold up when someone asks.

What you need

Start from:

• At least 2 of: Interview notes, Survey results or Test report

It is better with: Desk research or Web source.

What you get: Codebook

A codebook template has these sections:

• Codes
• Excerpts by code
• Co-occurrence

Where it fits

• Define (Double Diamond): Agree the one problem worth solving, and for whom.

Usually comes after

• Run an interview
• Run usability tests

What to do next

• Write a readout
• Build a survey
• Check what new evidence changes

Templates that use it

• Evaluative study: Does this design work for the people who will use it?
• Exploratory study: We don’t know the problem well yet: why do people do what they do?
• Double Diamond: A whole project, from understanding a problem to a tested answer.
• Jobs to be done: Why do people start using, switch to or leave a product like yours?