/user-research-synthesis

name: user-research-synthesis
description: "Synthesize user interviews, survey results, feedback, and support tickets into structured insights. Identifies themes, pain points, and opportunities. Generates research reports ready for stakeholders."
argument-hint: "[paste interview notes, survey data, or describe what you have]"

User Research Synthesis Skill

Turn raw user research data (interviews, surveys, feedback, support tickets) into structured, actionable insights.

When to Use

• User has interview notes and needs to synthesize findings
• User has survey results to analyze
• User wants to identify patterns across user feedback
• User says `/user-research-synthesis` followed by research data
• Any time qualitative or quantitative user data needs structure

Framework: Research Synthesis (5 Steps)

Step 1: Organize Raw Data

• **Source type**: Interviews / Surveys / Support tickets / App reviews / Usage data
• **Sample size**: How many data points?
• **User segments**: Who was included? Any notable gaps?
• **Timeframe**: When was this data collected?

Step 2: Code & Theme

Identify recurring themes across the data:

| Theme | Frequency | Sentiment | Example Quote | |-------|-----------|-----------|---------------| | [Theme 1] | X of Y participants | Positive/Negative/Mixed | "..." | | [Theme 2] | X of Y participants | | "..." |

Group themes into categories:

• **Pain Points**: What's frustrating or broken
• **Unmet Needs**: What users want but don't have
• **Bright Spots**: What's working well (don't break these)
• **Surprises**: Unexpected findings

Step 3: Prioritize Insights

For each insight, assess:

• **Prevalence**: How many users mentioned this? (1 = rare, 5 = universal)
• **Severity**: How painful is this? (1 = minor annoyance, 5 = deal-breaker)
• **Actionability**: Can we do something about this? (1 = hard, 5 = clear path)

**Priority Score = Prevalence x Severity x Actionability**

Step 4: Generate Recommendations

For the top 3-5 insights:

• **Insight**: Clear statement of what we learned
• **Evidence**: Supporting data points and quotes
• **Implication**: What this means for the product
• **Recommendation**: Specific next step (build, test, investigate further)
• **Confidence**: High / Medium / Low (based on data quality)

Step 5: Research Report

**Executive Summary** (2-3 sentences): What we studied, what we found, what we should do.

**Key Findings** (3-5 bullet points): The most important insights with supporting data.

**Detailed Findings**: Each theme with quotes, data, and implications.

**Recommendations**: Prioritized action items.

**Methodology & Limitations**: How research was done, sample biases, confidence level.

Input Formats Supported

• **Raw interview notes**: Paste them in, the skill will code and theme them
• **Survey results**: Paste summary stats or raw responses
• **Support tickets**: Paste representative tickets for pattern analysis
• **App store reviews**: Paste reviews for sentiment and theme analysis
• **Mixed**: Combine multiple sources for triangulated insights

Output Format

Generate a clean research report in markdown. Use tables for theme coding. Include direct quotes as evidence. Be specific about confidence levels and limitations.

Tips for Better Synthesis

• Look for contradictions — users who say opposite things often reveal a segmentation opportunity
• Pay attention to workarounds — what users hack together reveals unmet needs
• Note what users do vs. what they say — behavioral data trumps stated preferences
• Flag sample bias — if you only talked to power users, say so