Your team is divided on research findings. How do you navigate conflicting opinions to reach a consensus?

In this case, a collaborative decision-making technique will help to get an end result that everyone can agree on. When a team is divided, open communication is essential. First, I would schedule a meeting for everyone to voice their ideas. This helps to clear up any confusion and keeps us all focused on the same goals. Next, I recommend that we critically examine the research data to identify holes. If we are still unable to reach an agreement, we may have to vote. While voting is not always perfect, it allows us to go forward after considering and respecting everyone's viewpoints.

The advice in this article is quite poor. Researchers should have planned, executed, analyzed, and reported on research. We should have given them time and resources to do a good job. They should have delivered insights and actionable suggestions, not just a firehose of findings that people will fight over. Don't vote on what research meant. Where is your Researcher in all this? Bad research is worse than no research since now we don't know what it means, what to do, but we think we got somewhere because we did something we call "research." The whole point of research is to move from opinions, guesses, and assumptions to evidence, data, and knowledge. If you are still fighting over opinions, then you didn't collect the right evidence.

When navigating conflicting opinions on research findings, I create a safe space for open discussion. I review the data with my team, considering multiple perspectives and looking for patterns. I use decision-making frameworks to structure the discussion and aim to reach a decision that takes into account different opinions. I document the decision and its reasoning, staying open-minded and focused on our shared goals. This approach helps me navigate conflicts and reach a consensus that works for everyone.

Encourage a focus on the data and evidence rather than personal opinions, emphasizing how each interpretation impacts the overall user experience. Highlight common ground and areas of agreement to build consensus gradually. If necessary, bring in an unbiased third party or additional data to provide clarity.

Disagreement is an expected result, as new information can be interpreted many different ways. Another commenter has emphasized that research should be presented in an organized way, so start there. As a researcher, you should absolutely have a point of view. However, our job is to facilitate informed decision-making. Often the decision makers (PMs, designers, and others) need to clearly understand that their role is to take the information you provide and use their own expertise to make the right decision.