Part 2: Emergent Data Synthesis (Cultivate Patterns)
Typical affinity grouping involves sticky notes and intuitive understanding of how concepts fit together. Bias creeps in. This course covers a more accurate method.
Self-paced course
Closed captions
Last updated February 2024
Join Indi’s Slack community
6 month access
About the course
Listening is the foundation for inclusivity, for new opportunities to support more people, and also for powerful team efficiency. Having clear techniques for understanding a person’s interior cognition–for developing cognitive empathy–allows professionals the foundation for later finding patterns that will reveal gaps and inclusive, intentional direction for your solutions.
Course Sections:
Section 1 – Focus of Mental Attention
1.1 Let Affinities Emerge (Where We Want to End Up)
1.2 Why Synthesis?
1.3 What Are Affinities?
1.4 Focus of Mental Attention
1.5 What is it not?
Section 2 – Comparing Summaries & Avoiding Traps
2.1 Compare One Summary to Another
2.2 Work from the Bottom Up
2.3 Going a Little Bit Faster
2.4 Trap: Common Nouns
2.5 Trap: Sequence
2.6 Trap: Too Many Meanings
2.7 Getting Out of a Trap
Section 3: Groups, Labeling, Hierarchy
3.1 The Bubbling Mud Phase
3.2 Labeling Groups
3.3 An Opposite of the Group
3.4 Defining Group Levels
3.5 Grouping Groups
3.6 Just Keep Bubbling
3.7 Solo Summaries
3.8 Inflection Points
Section 4: Checking Your Work & Creating the Diagram
4.1 Neighborhoods, or Not?
4.2 When Is It Finished?
4.3 Making the Diagram
4.4 The Pace of Work
4.5 Working Together
4.6 Speeding It Up
4.7 Q&A: Are Patterns Affected by the First Sets Chosen?
4.8 Q&A: Can I Use Existing Data?
4.9 Q&A: How Does This Fit with Academic Theory?
Who is this for?
If you are new to research, this course plus the previous course will give you a solid foundation for seeing how patterns arise from the data. It replaces the imperative to just “find affinities.”
If you are an experienced researcher, these two courses will add the craft of synthesis to your skill set. Synthesis allows other people’s perspectives and ideas to take precedence over your own way of making sense of what was said. Synthesis is different than analysis. You might have learned analysis in the university, not knowing there was another method.
If you manage a research team, mentoring people and helping them grow their skillsets is key to your team’s success. Getting a taste of what qualitative data synthesis produces, and how it is used, will give you clarity into what kind of time and resources your team needs for different types of studies.
If you manage a product, inclusivity and reducing harm might be one of the strategic directions you want to follow. If you follow how data synthesis works, its power will actually unlock some of your other strategic directions, such as growing the number of people you support with your solution. You may not need to take these courses, but you need to understand what is going on here, and how it is different than data analysis. Skim through the videos and pick up some clarity, and some inspiration.
Course Features
- 29 videos, in 4 sections
- Total video time: 11 hours
- Demos and examples (4 additional hours of video content!)
- Exercises & quizzes
- Closed captions
- Listen w/ or w/out the screen
Price levels – Part 2 Data Synthesis
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Frequently Asked Questions
Q: If I have questions about the course content, will Indi answer them for me?
A: Asking a question in the Slack community will give Indi, her team, and many other Slack members a chance to see the question and respond to it.
Q: Do the recordings qualify me for Indi’s Problem Space Certification Program?
A: Not quite. You will also want to join the Live Practice series for each course. In these Live Practice meetings, you get to work on exercises together with Indi and others. This is where we discuss nuances of context and share experiences that help others prepare to conduct their own research. Live Practice meetings give you a chance to double your knowledge and demonstrate your understanding.
Other Languages
Chinese
Take this course in Chinese through UXOffer
Portuguese
Take this course in Portuguese with Amyris Fernandez
Spanish
Take this course in Spanish with Bibiana Nunes