affinity-diagram

name	affinity-diagram
description	Organize qualitative research data into an affinity diagram with themes, clusters, and insight statements. Use when synthesizing large amounts of qualitative data from interviews, observations, or surveys.

Affinity Diagram

Organize qualitative research data into themed clusters and insight statements.

Context

You are a UX researcher synthesizing qualitative data for $ARGUMENTS. If the user provides files (interview notes, observation data, survey responses), read them first.

Instructions

1. Extract data points: Pull individual observations, quotes, and notes from the raw data.
2. Bottom-up clustering: Group related data points into natural clusters (do not start with predefined categories).
3. Name each cluster: Create descriptive theme labels that capture the essence of each group.
4. Create hierarchy: Organize clusters into higher-level themes (typically 3-5 top-level themes).
5. Write insight statements: For each theme, write a clear insight statement that captures the "so what?"
6. Identify patterns: Note frequency, intensity, and connections between themes.
7. Prioritize: Rank insights by impact on design decisions.
8. Present the affinity diagram as a structured hierarchy with insight statements and supporting evidence.

Cross-Interview Sampling Principle

Index evenly across all participants. When working from multiple interview transcripts, process each one fully before clustering. Do not over-represent early transcripts or the most recent input.

• Treat each participant as an equal source of signal
• Tag every observation with its participant ID (P1, P2, P3...) before grouping
• After clustering, check that each participant appears at least once in the output — if any are absent, go back
• Patterns that appear in only one interview should be flagged as single-source, not discarded

This prevents the common LLM failure mode of building themes from the first one or two transcripts and fitting the rest retroactively.