for W3c validation
Friday Faves is our weekly blog series highlighting a few select pieces from the REG team’s reading lists. You can catch up on past Friday Faves on the archive.
Saturation Theory – The trick to knowing when you’re done with research
Source: Anne Bartlett-Bragg
Anne says: In User Research projects, we’re frequently asked how many workshops will we run, how many interviews should we conduct, is that enough? How can you be sure? When is enough, well, enough?
This article really sums up the dilemma! The author, Clive Thompson, shares his experiences of research from a journalist’s perspective, but the underpinning principles are the same.
There are a couple of valuable insights: 1) look for patterns, and 2) when you’re no longer hearing new information. At this point, you’re encountering Saturation Theory.
“Theoretical saturation is the point … where collecting and analyzing additional data does not teach you more about your topic.”
There will always be additional information, you may always feel that you’ve missed something but User Research is not an exact science. It’s about patterns, not individual data points.
Sometimes, additional workshops or interviews may be included to demonstrate a broad range of engagement. This is not about collecting a broader data set, this is engagement. And it can be equally as important.
A final word of advice: How much data you collect, will impact how much analysis will be required. More is not always better – it can just be a large mound of the same patterns.
Four tips on creating and sustaining a community
Source: Dylan Gillis | Unsplash
Jakkii says: This is a relatively brief read, but the tips it shares are worth reviewing for anyone who’s trying to build and sustain a community – whether or not you think of yourself as a community manager! If you’re an old hat at communities, it’ll reinforce what you already know; if you’re new to the community game, it will give you some useful things to think about.
All four tips are valuable, but I particularly appreciate the call out of the first tip (“Community is more than a Slack channel”):
Community isn’t just throwing people together in Slack—it’s what happens after you do that. In fact, if it’s easy to do, it probably isn’t a community yet: Community has friction because human relationships have friction.
Indeed. The author then goes on to list three key questions you need to consider, which are really all about have a community goal and a strategy to meet it, like ‘why would people join this community’ and ‘what does the community stand for’. To support these questions and how you might answer them, consider this definition of the sense of community:
“A feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members’ needs will be met through their commitment to be together.” – McMillan and Chavis
Now, if you’re working on employee-based internal communities, you might frame your questions slightly differently – people might ‘join’ your employee community simply because IT sets them up with an account! But the whys still matter – why would they use it? What is its purpose and how does it help them meet their goals, in turn helping the business meet its goals?
Community management isn’t easy, whether you’re working in customer-facing or employee-facing communities, but it’s important work and should be done strategically in support of your ultimate aims. If you didn’t develop a community strategy before you started, that’s okay – it’s never too late to develop a strategy! After all, existing strategies should be revisited and revised as you go along, as well. As you grow, develop and change, so too should your strategy, but no matter where you are in the journey and what your ultimate business goals are, your strategy should always have people – the community – as its core focus.
Read: https://www.morningbrew.com/daily/stories/2022/02/04/tips-creating-sustaining-community
Friday Five
Five things we think you might find interesting this week:
-
Online abuse targeting footballers to be tackled by ‘world first’ AI software
-
Scientists settled a century-old family drama using DNA from postcards
Sydney Business Insights – The Unlearn Project Podcast
From our colleagues at the University of Sydney Business School, in this episode podcast hosts Dr Sandra Peter and Professor Kai Riemer focus on TikTok as they discuss how the way we engage with music is fundamentally changing – from something we just listen to, to something with which we create.
Listen: https://sbi.sydney.edu.au/why-music-is-no-longer-just-for-listening-unlearn-music/
