Data Synthesis 1: Concepts and Summaries

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Develop the skills to deeply understand your communities through a bottom-up approach to qualitative data synthesis. Uncover nuanced insights to create more inclusive, empathetic, and impactful museum experiences. This course by Indi Young combines over 11 hours of video content with hands-on practice, certification, and lifetime access at a discounted rate for museum professionals.

Course Overview

Overview

This course teaches a bottom-up approach to qualitative data synthesis that can help museum professionals better understand the motivations and goals of the people their organizations support. Unlike traditional top-down analysis that can be influenced by cognitive biases, this method focuses on identifying key concepts and summarizing perspectives directly from the data.

The course covers techniques for finding meaningful concepts in interview transcripts, writing clear and representative summaries, and managing the synthesis process efficiently. This can be particularly valuable for museum professionals who need to understand diverse experiences and perspectives to inform exhibit design, programming, and strategic decisions.

By learning these data synthesis skills, museum teams can uncover patterns and nuances among visitors and non-visitors that may not be apparent through standard analysis. This can lead to more inclusive, empathetic, and impactful experiences for museum audiences.

Included with registration:

  • 25 video lessons (total time: 11.75 hours), demos and examples, reflection worksheets, and quizzes. The videos include closed captions and are recorded to make it easy for participants to listen to them with or without the screen.

  • Learning with other museum professionals. Live practice sessions “translate” course material to your museum context.

  • Path to certification. Taking these courses through MaP will count toward Indi’s certification program and certification from MaP. Learn more about certification.

  • Discounted rate. Indi’s courses cost $500 each (or $250 for those paying out of pocket); live practice sessions are sold separately. Registering through MaP allows museum professionals to take advantage of the special discount Indi has generously extended to MaP Community members.

  • Lifetime access. Course materials are hosted on the MaP Community website, so members can revisit them anytime. (You do not need to maintain a paid membership to access course content.)

Who the course is for

The course is designed for both new and experienced researchers. The material is a valuable addition to the professional development of museum professionals looking to elevate their qualitative research practices.

Prerequisite: Familiarity with the material in the 1st course, Listening Deeply.

Eligibility

This course is open to all cultural professionals. You’re welcome to register if you are:

  • employed by a nonprofit cultural institution (e.g., museum, historic site, aquarium, public garden)

  • a consultant or freelancer focused on supporting nonprofit cultural institutions (yes, independent museum professionals are welcome!)

  • a student or emerging museum professional

All others, including those who work at for-profit institutions, can register for this course through Indi Young’s website. If you’re unsure whether you can enroll, email community(at)museumprogress.com.

  • 1.1 Data Synthesis for Everyone
    1.2 Synthesis - Build Trust in Qual Data
    1.3 Synthesis - Resist Assumptions
    1.4 Concepts
    1.5 Summaries
    1.6 Brainstorm Verbs
    1.7 Brainstorm Emotions

  • 2.1 The Role of Transcripts
    2.2 Quote as Concept
    2.3 Repeated Concepts
    2.4 Tangled Concepts
    2.5 Implied Concepts
    2.6 Prune The Quote
    2.7 Example

  • 3.1 Determine The Key Point
    3.2 Add Supporting Details
    3.3 Use Their Words
    3.4 Tame Your Verbs
    3.5 Nuances of Emotion
    3.6 Review for Clarity

  • 4.1 Confidence in Your Work
    4.2 Pace of Work
    4.3 Working Together
    4.4 Speeding It Up
    4.5 Preview of Cultivate Emergent Patterns

Course Content

About the Instructor

Indi Young is a solution strategist who uses purpose-focused qualitative data science. She created her method over a 30-year span, and teaches that method in courses, coaching, workshops, books, talks, and through working with teams on research studies.

Indi’s method is focused on people, not users. She pioneered opportunity maps, which are mental model diagrams of people’s approach to a purpose aligned with the support a solution provides–or doesn’t. She helps teams map thinking styles with careful attention to resisting assumptions and representing the interior cognition of people in their own context. Teams can then measure the level of harm they cause to approaches that are outside the org’s assumptions.

Indi has written three books, Time to Listen, Practical Empathy and Mental Models. She is at work on another book in the series, Assumptions Aside, that will cover thinking styles.

Take the Quiz

Self-Assessment

Are these quiz questions unfamiliar?

This is the second course in a series. The first course is Listening Deeply in Museums.

Live Practice

Live Practice

All course participants are invited to live practice sessions in the MaP Community. These sessions are included with registration. You’ll get hands-on experience synthesizing data from transcripts of listening sessions and discuss how these techniques can be applied in your museum.

We typically host several practice sessions each season.

Registration Options

Registration

Course

✓ Access all course materials
✓ Participate in MaP Academy live practice sessions

$150

Course + Supporting Membership

Access the course and practice sessions, plus:

✓ $51 discount on the course ($99)
✓ 1 year of Supporting Membership to the MaP Community ($88/year, cancel anytime) Supporting Members can:

$187

Already a Supporting or Museum Member?

Use your code during checkout to get $50 off the course.

FAQ

FAQs

  • Videos, resources, and quizzes are all hosted on the MaP Community website. Once you’ve registered for the course, the course will be unlocked, and you’ll be able to access lessons here.

  • You can request a full refund for any course within 7 days of purchase. Email community(at)museumprogress.com.

  • Supporting Members are eligible for a discount on this course. Once your free trial is over and you've made a payment for your membership (one month or one year), email community(at)museumprogress.com. Include the name of the course(s) you're interested in.

  • Museum Members are eligible for a discount on this course. Once the free trial is over and your institution has made payment (one quarter or one year), email community(at)museumprogress.com. Include the name of the course(s) you're interested in.

  • In addition to access to course videos and materials, registrants participate in live practice sessions in the Museums as Progress community. These sessions help translate course content to the context of museum work and help participants apply what they’ve learned to their museum practice. Live practice sessions are led by Kyle Bowen, who is certified in Indi’s methodology. We regularly host practice sessions for courses in the community (around 4 sessions each season). You can view upcoming events here.

Ask a Question

Email us: community(at)museumprogress.com