Thanks for your kind words, Sam. I’m glad you enjoyed it!

To answer your questions:

If ideas come up during synthesis I group them on the side so I can refer to them during brainstorming (some people refer to this as a “parking lot”). Parking lots are also beneficial if you’re synthesizing with others because it allows their ideas to be heard but keeps the group focused.

I always prefer to transcribe direct quotes. The one situation which I wouldn’t use direct quotes is if the point an interviewee was trying to make spanned more than a couple of sentences. In this case I would write down a quick summary of their talking points.