Our course assigned textbook Interaction Design discusses in depth the details of requirements, date gathering techniques, task analysis, and how to get a simple description from our research.
At my current job, user tested feedback is reported after modifications to our system. Primarily, research processes have come in a handful of the formats discussed in chapter 10: questionnaires, and interviews. We have three predominant persona's that represent our primary target audience, as well as two secondary, less active users.
I found this chapter very interesting as it presented the value of creating detail persona's for the overall design process and generating terms for the requirements. Building a "relationship" with these persona's, down to associating a photograph with a hypothetical name, the benefits create an authentic perspective in problem solving — or establishing requirements— for both the stakeholders and the designers.