Affinity Mapping

Definición Rápida

Affinity Mapping (or Affinity Diagramming) is a method used to organize a large amount of data (brainstorming ideas, interview observations, etc.) by grouping them into themes or categories based on their relationship or “affinity.” It is a collaborative way to find patterns in unstructured qualitative data.

What Is Affinity Mapping?

Imagine you have just done a month’s grocery shopping and you empty all the bags on the kitchen floor. You have a chaos of products. To put them away, you start creating groups: vegetables together, cleaning products in another pile, canned goods in another. You did not have predefined categories – you simply group things that “go together.”

That is an Affinity Map. It is one of the best techniques for making sense of a large volume of unstructured qualitative data, such as the notes from a dozen [[User Interviews|interviews]] or the ideas from a brainstorming session.

Why Is It Important?

• Finds patterns in the chaos: It is the primary tool for qualitative research synthesis. It helps you go from hundreds of individual observations to 4 or 5 key themes.
• It is collaborative and democratic: By doing it as a team, everyone participates in interpreting the data, which generates a shared understanding and greater support for the findings.
• Visualizes thinking: It converts a mass of text into a visual artifact that clearly shows the most important themes and their relationships.
• Generates actionable insights: The groups that emerge often become the main “insights” or findings that will guide design decisions.

How Is It Done?

1. Prepare the data (the Sticky Notes): Write each observation, idea, or user quote on an individual sticky note (or a digital card in Miro/FigJam).
2. Silent Grouping (Bottom-up):
   • The entire team gathers in front of a wall or a digital board.
   • In silence, each person starts reading the sticky notes and grouping the ones that seem similar. There is no discussion, just moving.
   • If you see a group that another person created and you agree, you can add your sticky notes to that group. If you disagree, you can move it elsewhere. This process of moving and re-grouping continues until the team feels there is a stable structure.
3. Name the Groups:
   • Once the groups are formed, the team discusses each one.
   • A label or name is created for each group that summarizes the main theme. This name should be written by the team, not by a single person.
4. Look for Relationships and Vote (Optional):
   • The team can discuss the relationships between the different groups.
   • Dot voting is often used to identify which of the discovered themes are the most important or urgent to address.

Mentor Tips

• One idea per sticky note: This is the golden rule. If a sticky note contains two ideas, it is impossible to group. Be rigorous about this.
• Silence is powerful: The silent grouping phase is crucial. It prevents the more extroverted people from dominating the conversation and allows everyone to participate equally in the interpretation.
• There are no “right” or “wrong” groups: The goal is to reach a structure that makes sense to the team and is supported by the data. The debate about naming the groups is as valuable as the groups themselves.
• Take a photo: At the end, you will have a wall full of knowledge. Make sure to photograph it and digitize the results so they are not lost.

Resources and Tools

• Resources:
  • Affinity Diagramming for Collaboratively Sorting UX Findings and Design Ideas - Nielsen Norman Group
• Digital Tools:
  • Miro
  • FigJam