[Sigia-l] Re-using research

[PeterV]

Hi all,
I am looking for tips on re-using research from previous projects, and how 
to present your research so it can be easily re-used later on.

Most web projects are more and more redesigns, or expansions of existing 
sites. The user research that was initially done may often be lost, or not 
very well used. The few times I was lucky enough to have some pre-existing 
research, it was wrapped up in such inaccessible (long, hard to understand) 
reports that it wasn't particularly useful. I remember one particular 
report that took me an entire day to struggle through. It consisted of a 
lot of tables and graphs, and I didn't feel I had learned a lot afterwards.

Do you have experience with this, re-using research done previously, or 
formatting your research findings so they can be re-used? Is actual *data* 
(not interpretations) sometimes formatted in such a way it can be re-used 
later on easily (I'm thinking of an ethnographic-style report with little 
interpretations (although there of course is no such thing as research 
without interpretation))? Which research do you think is useful to re-use, 
and which research is really a one-off thing?

Any experiences with this or examples (confidential) would be greatly 
appreciated.
Thanks,
PeterV
http://petervandijck.net
http://poorbuthappy.com/ease