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Research methodCraft conventionFoundational

Affinity Mapping

Group individual observations until themes emerge from the data instead of from the categories you brought with you.

Definition

Affinity mapping is bottom-up clustering: write each observation on its own note, group related notes, then name the groups. Naming last is the whole method, because naming first turns the exercise into sorting into expectations.

Craft convention. True because the industry converged on it. Breaking it costs familiarity, not correctness.

On this page
  1. Definition
  2. The method
  3. Keeping it honest
  4. Continue from here

The method

  1. 1

    One observation per note

    A note that contains two ideas will be filed under one and lose the other. Keep the participant reference on every note.

  2. 2

    Group in silence first

    Discussion during grouping produces consensus with the loudest voice rather than with the data.

  3. 3

    Name the groups afterwards

    The name has to describe what is in the group, not the category you hoped to fill.

  4. 4

    Split anything unwieldy

    A group of thirty notes is usually three themes that have not been separated yet.

  5. 5

    Count, then look for absence

    How many participants, not how many notes, support each theme. Then ask what you expected to see and did not.

Keeping it honest

Do

  • Keep observations and interpretations on visibly different notes.
  • Keep a group of outliers rather than forcing every note into a theme.
  • Report how many participants a theme came from, not just the theme.
  • Photograph the intermediate state, so the path from raw notes to conclusion can be reviewed.

Do not

  • Do not start with predefined categories.
  • Do not let one talkative participant's quotes dominate through sheer volume of notes.
  • Do not throw away the notes that contradict the emerging story. Those are the interesting ones.

Continue from here

Each link says what the connection is, so you can tell a principle from an alternative from a thing people mix this up with.

Principles behind this

The reasoning this solution is an application of.

Related concept

Connected closely enough to change how you apply this.