6/1/2021 How to combine insight and evidence to make your research findings credible

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Sarah Doody • Nov ,

Y ou finally got your boss to buy into user research. Congrats!

You selected research goals, found your ideal research participants, planned
and conducted the interviews, and now have some glaring insights you can’t wait
to share. But now what?

Sorry to break it to you—now comes the really hard part! You have to tell your
colleagues or client what you learned through the research. But you can’t just tell
them. Research is easily subject to interpretation, especially qualitative research.
Let’s face it, even quantitative research can have room for debate.

So how do you present your research findings in a way

that minimizes room for interpretation?
You have to learn to act like a lawyer. Lawyers don’t just walk into a courtroom and
make a statement about their position. They use evidence to back up a case. They
present tangible facts and findings to support everything they say, leaving no room
for debate.

“In research, your goal is to uncover

insights you can use to inform your
product decisions.”

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6/1/2021 How to combine insight and evidence to make your research findings credible

When you do research, your goal is to uncover insights you can use to inform your
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product decisions. This helps you avoid feature debates and products built from
opinion. And as a researcher, it’s your duty to not share these insights, but to back
up them up with evidence.

Related: How to develop a focused product strategy to back up your UI/UX

decisions

Think about it for a second. The people who hear about the research findings are
likely hearing it for the first time.

They don’t have as much context as you. Plus, they might be skeptical about
research to begin with. So you have to work extra hard to present your findings in a
way that makes the findings totally obvious.

After I do research, I come up with a list of the big insights. To be honest,

sometimes I keep track of insights as I’m doing the research. Many people argue
that you shouldn’t start to synthesize anything until you’re done. But I find that I
have so many ah-ha moments while I’m conducting research that I like to capture
those in the moment.

“You have to work extra hard to present your findings in a way that makes the
findings totally obvious.”

Once I have a list of insights, it’s time to find evidence.

Gather evidence to support your insights

For example, imagine you just did research on the checkout flow for an ecommerce
company. One of your insights may have been, “Shoppers use the shopping cart as
their wishlist.”

But you can’t just put that on a slide in the research presentation. You’ll have to
back this up with evidence. Examples of evidence could include:

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6/1/2021 How to combine insight and evidence to make your research findings credible

A video showing customer reactions to specific questions, such as,“If you

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wanted to remember this product for later, how would you do that?” Your
video could capture them adding the product to the cart instead of using the
“wishlist” button adjacent to the “add to cart” button.

Quotes from people as talking aloud while completing a task. Maybe they’ll
say something like, “I never use the wishlist because I know I’ll have to make
an account and I don’t want to!”

Heatmaps to show that people gravitate to “add to cart” and not the “wishlist”
button

Supporting research from other sources, like a research study that had similar
findings Hint: Baymard is great for ecommerce research

When you combine insights with evidence you bring credibility to your findings.
Evidence helps explain the all-important why behind your insights.

Present your findings the right way

If you have to present your research findings in person, try these helpful tips from
my experience.

Related: All research isn’t created equal—why you need strategy and usability
interviews

Tip : Approach your presentation as though you’re telling a story

Try to make people feel like they were in the room with you. Tell stories to help take
them there. In one presentation I gave, I even described the person’s home office in
great detail to really paint a picture and give a ton of context.

Tip : Do not read your presentation

This should go for all presentations you give—no one wants you to read it word for
word. It should be an aid. You should be armed with stories to tell, but they should

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6/1/2021 How to combine insight and evidence to make your research findings credible

be tucked in your mind.

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I use stories to emphasize the pain or pleasure that may have come out of the
research session. For example, I had a guy say, “I do more research for my dog’s
pet hotel than I do to hire a financial planner.” That quote was pure gold. And that
story really drove home a key insight when I did the findings presentation.

Tip : Always recap the whole project

You want to structure the presentation in a way that captures the original research
goals, what you did and the method used, and what you heard. Sometimes I also
include a recommendations section depending on the scope of the research
project. But remember—people may be forward the presentation later, so you want
it to have as much context as possible.

Next time you need to present your research findings, don’t forget to go beyond
insights and back your insights up with undeniable evidence. It will make all the
difference.

Want to learn more about user research?

I created a UX Research Quickstart Guide that includes questions you can ask in
a user research interview as well as a -point checklist to help you plan and
organize research projects. Since you’re an InVision reader, I’m offering you %
off my course, User Research Mastery—just request the guide to get the discount
code!

GET THE FREE RESEARCH GUIDE

BY SARAH DOODY

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