Signal & Noise

Skimle's resource center dedicated to high quality analysis using modern methods

Cover Image for Customer sentiment analysis: how to read the mind of customers using unstructured data

Customer sentiment analysis: how to read the mind of customers using unstructured data

Customer sentiment analysis turns unstructured feedback (interviews, reviews, support tickets, open-text surveys) into actionable insight. Here's how to move beyond positive/negative scores to real un...

Cover Image for Product feedback analysis: moving from likes and dislikes to deeper product discovery

Product feedback analysis: moving from likes and dislikes to deeper product discovery

Most product feedback analysis produces feature request buckets. This guide shows how to go deeper: uncovering the mental models, workarounds and unmet needs that actually drive product decisions.

Cover Image for Qualitative research design: maximising insights within a limited budget

Qualitative research design: maximising insights within a limited budget

Every qualitative study faces the same constraint: too little time and money for how much you want to learn. Here's how to allocate your research budget across 5 phases, and how AI is reshaping the eq...

Cover Image for Voice-of-market research: building a complete market picture beyond the numbers

Voice-of-market research: building a complete market picture beyond the numbers

Voice-of-market research combines multiple data sources (reviews, Glassdoor, expert interviews, customer feedback) into a single coherent picture of market perception. Here's how to do it.

Cover Image for Consultant's guide to summarising interviews and finding themes

Consultant's guide to summarising interviews and finding themes

How consultants can move from raw interview notes to a credible, evidence-based synthesis. Covers note-taking for later coding, issue tree thinking, thematic consolidation, and presenting qualitative ...

Cover Image for Evidence-based strategy: how to make sense of unstructured data

Evidence-based strategy: how to make sense of unstructured data

Strategy decisions are only as good as the evidence behind them. This guide shows consultants and strategy teams how to collect, structure and synthesise unstructured data into sharp strategic conclus...

Cover Image for Consultant's guide to analysing large sets of qualitative data

Consultant's guide to analysing large sets of qualitative data

How consultants can systematically analyse large volumes of qualitative data beyond interviews: industry reports, earnings calls, regulatory filings, expert papers, and customer documents. Covers work...

Cover Image for Exit interview questions: what to ask and how to analyse the results

Exit interview questions: what to ask and how to analyse the results

Exit interviews are most valuable when they go beyond the obvious. This guide covers the best questions to ask, how to structure the conversation, and how to synthesise findings across many interviews...

Cover Image for Manual interview coding is too slow: how to speed up theme analysis without losing rigour

Manual interview coding is too slow: how to speed up theme analysis without losing rigour

Bottom-up manual coding takes weeks. Top-down theme assignment is prone to bias. AI-assisted analysis offers a third path: the speed of automation with the rigour of systematic coding. Here's how it w...

Cover Image for Informal interview questions: building rapport and getting beyond the obvious

Informal interview questions: building rapport and getting beyond the obvious

Informal interviews produce richer data than formal ones when done well. This guide covers how to build rapport quickly, frame questions conversationally, and get to the insights that structured inter...

Cover Image for Interview tips: what to wear, how to introduce yourself, and how to follow up

Interview tips: what to wear, how to introduce yourself, and how to follow up

Practical guidance on interview preparation: appropriate dress by setting, introducing yourself confidently, and writing a thank-you follow-up that keeps you in the frame. Plus: tips for interviewers ...

Cover Image for Qualitative market research: overview, methods and examples

Qualitative market research: overview, methods and examples

Qualitative market research explores the 'why' behind customer behaviour. This guide covers the main methods, when to use them, real-world examples, and how AI is changing what qualitative research ca...

Cover Image for What is market research? Definition, types and examples

What is market research? Definition, types and examples

Market research is the systematic collection and analysis of information about markets, customers and competitors. This guide covers the main types, real-world examples, and how AI is opening new poss...

Cover Image for Building personas from real research data with AI: a practical guide

Building personas from real research data with AI: a practical guide

How to generate user or customer personas from real interview and survey data with AI, the persona types that exist, and how to avoid baking in bias from skewed input.

Cover Image for The Critical Incident Technique: a practical guide for UX and market research

The Critical Incident Technique: a practical guide for UX and market research

The Critical Incident Technique (CIT) asks for specific remembered events, not general opinions. What it is, how to run it, and how to analyse incidents at scale.

Cover Image for Patient experience qualitative analysis with AI: a guide for healthcare providers and health plans

Patient experience qualitative analysis with AI: a guide for healthcare providers and health plans

How to analyse patient and member free-text feedback at scale with AI, while handling health data anonymisation and care-touchpoint mapping properly.

Cover Image for Incident postmortem analysis with AI: finding themes across a year of retrospectives

Incident postmortem analysis with AI: finding themes across a year of retrospectives

How engineering leaders use AI to find recurring root-cause themes across dozens of incident postmortems, with traceability back to source.

Cover Image for Earnings call transcript analysis with AI: a guide for IR teams and analysts

Earnings call transcript analysis with AI: a guide for IR teams and analysts

How IR teams and analysts use AI for earnings call transcript analysis: management language, analyst Q&A themes, quarter-over-quarter shifts.

Cover Image for Qualitative MEL data analysis: a guide for NGO and international development teams

Qualitative MEL data analysis: a guide for NGO and international development teams

How Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) teams can analyse beneficiary interviews, FGDs, and MSC stories at scale, with donor traceability and native multi-language support.

Cover Image for FOIA document analysis with AI: finding the story in 10,000 pages of leaked or released records

FOIA document analysis with AI: finding the story in 10,000 pages of leaked or released records

How to analyse large FOIA releases and leaked documents with AI: find recurring themes and contradictions, and trace every claim to its source page.

Cover Image for Customer advisory board feedback synthesis: turning CAB notes into themes

Customer advisory board feedback synthesis: turning CAB notes into themes

How to synthesise customer advisory board feedback into recurring themes with full traceability, instead of relying on a manual spreadsheet nobody keeps updated.

Cover Image for Skip-level interview analysis: finding the themes in 40 sets of notes

Skip-level interview analysis: finding the themes in 40 sets of notes

How to analyse skip-level meeting notes at scale and tell a systemic problem from one person's complaint, with full traceability back to source.

Cover Image for AI for public comment analysis: a guide for government and policy teams

AI for public comment analysis: a guide for government and policy teams

AI for public comment analysis helps agencies in the US, EU, and elsewhere triage and code thousands of regulatory submissions with full traceability.

Cover Image for How to do customer discovery: a practical guide to interviewing before you build

How to do customer discovery: a practical guide to interviewing before you build

Customer discovery interviews reveal whether the problem you're solving is real and who it matters to most. Learn how to find participants, run interviews, and turn findings into confident product dec...