SOBERING RESULTS
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH is outdated and long overtaken by the technology-led fashionable quantitative with an “n” alternative, according to many marketers. The results of a more traditional qualitative session, however, may throw up sobering information for those same marketers, broadening their thinking and improving results. QualRes remains a valuable tool and continues to develop.
QualRes, the personal, non-numerical and open-ended approach, can provide a substantially complete and accurate picture. Whether a series of one-to-one interviews, in-depth discussions with a handful of representative people, ethnographic exploration, or moderator-led focus groups, QualRes can delve far deeper than mass research.
When to use it? For example, if developing a new product; generating a different idea; understanding strengths and weaknesses; assessing purchasing preferences; studying reaction to advertising and marketing campaigns; exploring demographics and customer groups; and gathering data on company or brand awareness.
OPINIONS AND ATTITUDES
It reveals real-time thoughts, attitudes, views, beliefs and preferences. Experience, meaning and perspective can be discovered and evaluated. A skilled moderator will put his or her group at ease and bring out unbiased opinions: although research integrity is just as important as in other forms of research.
It does not matter that such groups have small numbers of participants. It doesn’t require the views of many to decide if the service is good or bad, the product worthwhile or a money waster.
There is no need to be awash with responses, requiring detailed analysis. Small samples do not necessarily mean lightweight findings.
VARIETY OF DATA
The data gathered often goes well beyond notes form. Photographs, videos and sound recordings can be invaluable elements in the exercise.
Pop-up communities are a recent addition to the skills-set. It involves engagement with respondents online, feeding questions or loading up product images for them to inspect. They are able to log on at convenient times and build dialogue at a comfortable pace. With this QualRes technique, powerful and uncontaminated results can be gathered. Pop-ups are just one indication that the process continues to evolve.
There are no short-cuts with QualRes, though. It cannot be delegated to a machine. But that is a mainstay of its success, leading to the studying of thoughts and processes in their more natural settings.
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