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When it comes to taking notes, everyone seems to work out their own favorite method over time. Some take longhand notes in a journal, some prefer to red-pen hard-copy output, and so on. Below, we describe some methods that have worked well for us in past studies. Feel free to mix and adapt them as you see fit.Whichever method you use, make sure

What makes an effective "finding"?

A finding is a conclusion we come to after observing patterns in our data. When compiling our findings, we must keep in mind that:

• Each finding comes from the results of one or more tasks, not your our own personal opinion of a given tree.
  
  
• Each finding that you we record describes a success or an issue, but does not jump to a solution just yet. (Those come later – see below.)
  
  
• Each finding applies to a specific part or characteristic of the tree.
  
  For example, findings such as “This tree confused users” are not too vague to be useful. We should be able to get more specific, as in “New customers had trouble navigating the top-level headings”.
  
  
  

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