Insight Generation Methods

Why do some qualitative studies generate groundbreaking insights while others barely scratch the surface? The secret is not in the data collected, but in matching your methodology to your research goals. The 5 qualitative research methods nobody talks about: 1. Phenomenology • Perfect for understanding perceptions • Uses deep interview analysis • Captures lived experiences 2. Ethnography • Based on extended fieldwork • Documents cultural patterns • Gives insider perspective 3. Narrative Inquiry • Uses conversations & artifacts • Finds patterns in experiences • Tells people's stories 4. Case Study • Answers specific questions • Uses multiple data sources • Creates rich context 5. Grounded Theory • Perfect for unexplored topics • Analyzes data continuously • Builds new theories Pick your method based on your goal: → Want experiences? Use phenomenology → Need cultural insights? Try ethnography → Looking for stories? Go narrative → Seeking answers? Case study works → Building theory? Grounded theory fits Most researchers fail because they pick the wrong method for their research question. The right method = better research. 🗞️ Join 7,278+ researchers on my weekly newsletter: https://lnkd.in/e4HfhmrH P.S. Do you check method-research-question fit?

Uncovering the Real Problems: A Tech Leader's Guide In the labyrinth of IT challenges, we often find ourselves chasing shadows. 93% of IT project failures stem from solving the wrong problem. It's a sobering statistic that demands reflection. As technology leaders, our true value lies not in firefighting, but in prevention. Here are five methods to show the way: 𝟭. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗜𝗻𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝘆 - Ask probing questions. - Seek understanding, not just answers. - The "5 Whys" technique can reveal surprising truths. 𝟮. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝘆 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 - Step into your users' world. - Observe, listen, feel. - True solutions emerge from genuine understanding. 𝟯. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗟𝗲𝗻𝘀 - Let numbers tell the story. - Patterns hide in plain sight. - 40% of IT time is spent treating symptoms. Don't be part of that statistic. 𝟰. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 - Test theories in safe space. - Create a mock environment, experiment freely. - Break stuff (on purpose). 𝟱. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗽 - Deploy, measure, learn, improve. - Repeat. - Progress is a journey, not a destination. These methods aren't just tools; they're mindsets. They transform reactive problem-solving into proactive leadership. Companies prioritizing root cause analysis see a 35% higher project success rate. It's not just about efficiency—it's about impact. The challenge: Choose one method. Apply it this week. What hidden truth did you uncover? How did it shift your perspective? Share your insights. Let's learn from each other's journeys. After all, in the world of technology, the most powerful upgrades often happen between our ears.

I had a call with a YC founder building a billion-dollar company in an AI-native way, and he phrased the new world pretty well. The simplest path to building a $1B+ company? It's not fundraising. It's not team building. It's not even product. It's collecting insights before you need capital. Here's what most founders miss: 1/ The biggest mistake founders make: Raising millions before understanding their market. A YC founder who's building a unicorn told me: "The only thing lacking from building a large company isn't money - it's insights." Here's why this matters: 2/ The landscape has changed dramatically: • AWS made infrastructure cheap • No-code tools reduced dev costs • AI accelerated development • Remote work lowered overhead Result? You need 90% less capital than 10 years ago to start. 3/ But here's what hasn't changed: You still need deep market insights to win. Look at the most successful founders: • Brian Chesky (Airbnb) - Lived the problem • Patrick Collison (Stripe) - Felt the pain firsthand • Tobi Lütke (Shopify) - Built for his own needs 4/ The modern playbook is backwards: ❌ Raise millions ❌ Hire a team ❌ Then figure it out ✅ Gather insights ✅ Test assumptions ✅ Build minimal solution ✅ Let customers pull you forward 5/ How to become an insight-gathering machine: • Talk to 100 potential customers • Join industry Discord servers • Attend niche conferences • Follow practitioners, not influencers • Build side projects in your space 6/ The math of insights: • Every conversation = 1 new insight • Every insight = 10% better product • Every improvement = 2x easier sale • Every sale = 3 more conversations It compounds rapidly. 7/ Signs you have enough insights: • You can predict customer objections • You know the market size firsthand • You understand why others failed • You have customers asking to pay 8/ The secret most founders miss: Money amplifies execution. But insights determine direction. Without insights, more money just helps you go in the wrong direction faster. 9/ Your first job as a founder: Become the most knowledgeable person in your space. Not through: • Reading blogs • Watching videos • Following trends But through: • Direct conversations • Real experiments • Hands-on experience The answer to the "What's your insight" question is worth millions.

Let's face it: most user interviews are a waste of time and resources. Teams conduct hours of interviews yet still build features nobody uses. Stakeholders sit through research readouts but continue to make decisions based on their gut instincts. Researchers themselves often struggle to extract actionable insights from their conversation transcripts. Here's why traditional user interviews so often fail to deliver value: 1. They're built on a faulty premise The conventional interview assumes users can accurately report their own behaviors, preferences, and needs. People are notoriously bad at understanding their own decision-making processes and predicting their future actions. 2. They collect opinions, not evidence "What do you think about this feature?" "Would you use this?" "How important is this to you?" These standard interview questions generate opinions, not evidence. Opinions (even from your target users) are not reliable predictors of actual behavior. 3. They're plagued by cognitive biases From social desirability bias to overweighting recent experiences to confirmation bias, interviews are a minefield of cognitive distortions. 4. They're often conducted too late Many teams turn to user interviews after the core product decisions have already been made. They become performative exercises to validate existing plans rather than tools for genuine discovery. 5. They're frequently disconnected from business metrics Even when interviews yield interesting insights, they often fail to connect directly to the metrics that drive business decisions, making it easy for stakeholders to dismiss the findings. 👉 Here's how to transform them from opinion-collection exercises into powerful insight generators: 1. Focus on behaviors, not preferences Instead of asking what users want, focus on what they actually do. Have users demonstrate their current workflows, complete tasks while thinking aloud, and walk through their existing solutions. 2. Use concrete artifacts and scenarios Abstract questions yield abstract answers. Ground your interviews in specific artifacts. Have users react to tangible options rather than imagining hypothetical features. 3. Triangulate across methods Pair qualitative insights with behavioral data, & other sources of evidence. When you find contradictions, dig deeper to understand why users' stated preferences don't match their actual behaviors. 4. Apply framework-based synthesis Move beyond simply highlighting interesting quotes. Apply structured frameworks to your analysis. 5. Directly connect findings to decisions For each research insight, explicitly identify what product decisions it should influence and how success will be measured. This makes it much harder for stakeholders to ignore your recommendations. What's your experience with user interviews? Have you found ways to make them more effective? Or have you discovered other methods that deliver deeper user insights?

In the first company we founded (and exited), we talked to thousands of users. Here at Pivot (YC S22), we just crossed our first 100. We are obsessed about speaking to users. But how do we talk to users effectively? Here are the top 4 tactics that have helped us gain valuable insights: 1/ Spend the first 5 minutes just talking about their lives. Don’t approach user conversations like a sales pitch. I know that it’s tempting to push the call towards your goals, or perhaps you are worried about wasting the other person’s time. But resist that urge! Instead, focus on genuinely getting to know them as if you’re making a new friend. First, this provides valuable context about who they are and what matters to them, helping you better make sense of their insights. Second, this deeper connection fosters genuine care for each user, which is key to building a successful company. 2/ Look for Lightbulb Moments. These rare moments provide unique insights that bring us closer to achieving Product Market Fit. For instance, Brian Chesky went down to Airbnb hosts just to realise that they needed help with photography, and Brian Armstrong phoned up all early Coinbase users just to learn from one guy the importance of a "Buy Bitcoin" button. By staying patient and attentive, a single comment from a user can spark a breakthrough idea. Even if 100 conversations don't yield Lightbulb Moments, the next one just might. It is our job to look out for them. 3/ “Huh! That’s interesting. Tell me more.” This is the go-to statement whenever a user shares something unexpected or unusual. Ask it, then pause and let them respond. While it may catch users off guard initially, it prompts them to reflect on their feelings, often resulting in a more detailed and nuanced explanation. This could just lead to a valuable Lightbulb Moment (as mentioned earlier). 4/ 5 consecutive “whys” when seeking an explanation. The 1st “why” might uncover something interesting, but it’s not until you get to the 5th “why” that you start to unearth their deepest motivations and underlying pain points. These are often things that the user themselves may not even be aware of. This technique helps us move past surface-level feedback to gain deeper insights, guiding our product development and UX from first principles. Ultimately, this helps us create something users truly want. The best founders continue to talk directly to their users even after they've reached $100M+ in ARR. It's crucial that we start making this our superpower today. I’d love to learn about other tactics that have worked for you as well, feel free to drop them in the comments below 👇

I've seen too many “analytics teams” who treat their job like a Q&A help desk—“Send me your business questions and I’ll pull some data.” Sounds good on paper, right? But here’s the blunt truth: Data questions ≠ Business insights. When you’re asked: “How much traffic came from each channel?” “What was the conversion rate for mobile vs. desktop?” …you're really being asked to run a report. And guess what? Reports are easy. Insight is hard. The Mistake: We assume our business partners have laser-focused, outcome-driven questions. In reality, they know their area inside and out and are motivated to make decisions—but they might not know the right questions to ask. Instead, they ask for data because it’s tangible. The Opportunity: Instead of just answering their “data questions,” dig deeper. Spend time understanding their business goals and the obstacles holding them back. Ask them: “What outcomes are you trying to achieve?” “What’s stopping you from hitting that target?” “What ideas do you have for overcoming these challenges?” When you translate vague “questions” into concrete business problems, your data work transforms. Suddenly, you’re not just a report generator—you’re a trusted advisor guiding impactful decisions. A Simple Shift: Stop treating requests as a checklist of reports. Start with conversations about goals, obstacles, and outcomes. Then, co-create metrics and hypotheses that truly matter. When you do that, you move from chasing numbers to driving decisions. Let’s challenge ourselves: Next time you get a “question,” ask, “What’s the underlying business problem here?” You might just uncover a goldmine of insight.

We are experimenting the new reasoning techniques from DeepSeek in IT Operations troubleshooting and found interesting methods it takes (the Aha! Moments ✨ is a genius idea): 1️⃣ Iterative Self-Questioning (Peeling the Layers) Core idea: Keep asking "Why?", "What else?", and "What if?" to refine understanding. Example: "Why is the connection failing?" → Possible cause: TCP issue on port 443 "But why specifically?" → Could be DNS, firewall, or SSL "What if it’s not just one issue but a combination?" 2️⃣ Perspective Shifting ("Wait, but…") Core idea: Step back and reconsider assumptions. Challenge initial bias. Example: "Wait, but what if the issue isn't on our side?" "Wait, but how would this look from a network engineer's perspective instead of a developer’s?" 3️⃣ Empathetic Thinking (User-Centric Debugging) Core idea: Consider what the user (or another team) needs to understand and do. Example: "The user might not know how to verify DNS or check firewall rules—should I give them clear steps?" "Would a junior engineer understand this explanation?" 4️⃣ Epiphany-Driven Reasoning ("Aha! Moments") Core idea: Sudden insights emerge when fragmented clues into a coherent pattern, often triggered by subconscious processing or unexpected connections. Example: "Aha! The script is firing before the images are injected into the DOM!" #deepseek

As sports science continues to evolve, harnessing the right insights from data is vital for performance. So, what exactly are insights, and how can we intentionally discover them? Psychologist Gary Klein's book, "Seeing What Others Don't," offers a new perspective on how insights emerge. Klein describes insights as "an unexpected shift to a better story" that enhances our understanding of the world. He breaks down insights into three main paths: 1. Contradiction – Questioning inconsistencies and challenging existing beliefs. 2. Connections – Linking new information with existing knowledge. 3. Creative Desperation – Re-examining assumptions when pushed into a corner. Understanding how these pathways lead to breakthroughs is essential for sports scientists. By adopting a mindset of curiosity, embracing anomalies, and constantly questioning assumptions, we can unlock insights that drive performance improvements. Check out the full breakdown of this theory here:

If it's done right, small samples can be hugely valuable in an ongoing insight-gathering practice. What does that mean? Here are 5 success factors that we have learned over time through wins and failures: Consistency. Make sure you know who you're talking to, and that it's consistent on the profile you're talking to. If you're talking to five different profiles, then how are you going to be able to trust anything that comes out of that? Structure. Keep a consistent structure with a script. Being consistent in your approach to the discussion with a small number of interactions is going to be invaluable to making sure that the results are actionable and have some level of integrity. Observation. We love observation, over interviews. Doing it remotely so observation where possible is hugely invaluable. Have an open perspective. Under no circumstances walk into a research session thinking that you already know the answer. You might miss a potentially big surprise that may go against everything that you know. Probe. Dig deeper until you find the root cause. Ask why. Why they're saying what they're saying, why they're behaving the way that they're behaving, why they have the attitudes they have.