Illustrating Qualitative User Research Findings for Optimal Impact
In the realm of healthcare design, understanding the needs and emotions of the users is paramount. One powerful technique to achieve this is through the use of information visualization, which includes tools such as empathy maps, user journey maps, and affinity diagrams.
Empathy maps, for instance, provide an overview of four relevant areas of user understanding: what people say, do, think, and feel. They are a great way to create a clear overview of the major areas that designers should focus on to gain empathy for their target group. In the case of healthcare, this could mean overworked and worried informal caregivers of seniors with early signs of dementia.
User journey maps, on the other hand, introduce user flow over time. They show a period of one day, but can be adjusted to fit the project's needs, such as a week or a month. The user journey map aims to communicate the flow of a user through different touchpoints across a day and their feelings about each interaction.
Affinity diagrams, a visualization method that uses Post-it notes to make sense of data, can be effective in identifying main fears or themes from qualitative user research. They resemble data analysis outcomes but need to be reworked for clarity.
The combination of these three visualizations can elicit a deep feeling of empathy for the design project. However, it's important to remember that the number of participants is usually too low to create meaningful graphs in qualitative user research. Instead, word clouds, thematic maps, timelines, and heat maps can be more effective in highlighting frequent themes, geographically contextualizing insights, showing user journey or experience evolution, and depicting density or focus areas of user sentiments or behaviors, respectively.
To visualize qualitative user research results effectively, it's essential to know your audience and tailor the visualization format to their needs and familiarity with data. Creating varied deliverables for different stakeholder groups, such as executive summaries, video highlight reels, live presentations, detailed reports, or wikis, can also help ensure everyone is on the same page and continues the design process with the same level of empathy for the fragile target group.
Leveraging qualitative data analysis software and visualization tools like Tableau, NVivo, Dedoose, or Voyant Tools can produce interactive and visually appealing output that can be shared and explored further. Additionally, making insights accessible and persistent by creating shared spaces where findings and raw user quotes remain visible and integrated into ongoing work, fosters sustained empathy and a customer-centric culture.
By following these best practices, qualitative findings are not only understood but felt, guiding better-informed decisions with empathy for users. For more information on these techniques, refer to the resources provided.
- In the field of education-and-self-development, learning about interaction design, UX design, and UI design can help designers create empathetic solutions, as they focus on understanding user needs, emotions, and experiences.
- For healthcare design, tools such as empathy maps, user journey maps, and affinity diagrams are crucial in the user research phase, aiding designers in gaining a profound understanding of users' feelings, thoughts, and behaviors, which is essential for creating emotionally intelligent designs.
- constant learning and skill development are vital for designers that aspire to excel in their craft, as they can master various visualization methods and software to communicate and present qualitative user research findings effectively, inspiring a lasting customer-centric culture.
