Boring reports are often caused by weak synthesis. Boring reports tend to be glorified lists of single data points, filled with dull statements like, “25% of people reported X, and 35% reported Y.” Or how about, “3 out of 5 customers prefer A, and 2 out of 5 prefer B.” Boring. But boring reports are fast to write, and given the pressure most researchers are under to write reports fast, it’s an understandable conundrum. So, what’s the cure?
Don’t be the researcher who relies on their personal recall to bang out a report in a couple of hours—that researcher is not leveraging this wonderful resource, and is likely injecting their own biases into the process. Indeed, researcher bias is a very real phenomenon….
Structured analysis also minimizes the risk of researcher bias. Don’t think it exists? There are actually several known forms of researcher bias, including Positive Bias and Inattentional Blindness.
Our recommendation is to use both approaches. Using both an unstructured and a structured approach…
