Qualitative Research Overview

Qualitative Research

• A type of research that focuses on understanding experiences, perspectives, and meanings, rather than quantifiable data.
• Constitutes around 14% of total research spending in 2019.
• Used to uncover beliefs, feelings, and motivations of a specific customer segment.

Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research

• Qualitative is exploratory, uses probing questions, has small sample sizes, seeks substantial information from each respondent, requires interviewers with special skills, and relies on subjective analysis.
• Quantitative is descriptive or causal, uses limited probing, has large sample sizes, seeks limited information from each respondent, requires interviewers with fewer or no special skills, and relies on statistical analysis.

Uses of Qualitative Research

• Used to understand customer motivations and feelings
• Can improve the efficiency of quantitative research
• Blends with quantitative measures for a comprehensive understanding of consumer demand.

Limitations of Qualitative Research

• Does not distinguish diverse differences in consumer attitudes, feelings, and behaviors.
• May not be representative of the population of interest due to small sample size and free-flowing discussions.

When to Use Qualitative Research

• Use it when: you are unsure about your target market, need to understand customer communication preferences, need to know customer opinions on new ideas, want to learn about reasons for reduced purchases, need ideas for campaigns or products, and want to comprehend brand image and customer lifestyles, values, and opinions.

• Avoid it when: you need to make multi-million dollar decisions based on the results, require definitive answers on reasons for product purchase, want to define customer demographic characteristics, need to determine market segment size and buying power.

Focus Groups

• Consist of 8 to 12 participants led by a moderator in an in-depth discussion on a particular topic, with the goal of understanding what people say and why.
• Group dynamics and interaction are crucial to success.
• Indirect questioning fosters free-flowing discussions.

Popularity of Focus Groups

• Widely used by marketing research firms, advertising agencies, and consumer goods manufacturers.
• Over two-thirds of qualitative research dollars are spent on focus groups.
• More extensively used by consumer goods than industrial goods companies.

Conducting Focus Groups

• Setting: Online or in focus group facilities.
• Participants: Should reflect the company's target customers, recruited via social media or centralized locations.
• Moderator: Should possess good business skills, show respect, build rapport, avoid leading respondents, seek equal participation, ask short questions, actively listen, be observant of body language, sensitive to undercurrents, flexible, interactive, and able to bring out feelings and emotions, foster a supportive and innovative environment.
• Focus Group Length: Currently, average group length is 90 minutes, with a trend towards 60 minutes.
• Number and Composition: The greater the market diversity, the more focus groups required. Maintain age and educational harmony.
• Client's Role: Selects the supplier, specifies the market and group characteristics, approves the discussion guide.
• Discussion Guide: A written outline of topics covered in the sessions.
• Focus Group Report: Typically presented as a PowerPoint presentation, allowing client feedback.

Benefits and Drawbacks of Focus Groups

• Advantages: Stimulating new ideas and thoughts, providing realistic feedback, observing customers, quicker execution than other research techniques.
• Disadvantages: May de-incentivize complex quantitative studies, moderator may create response biases, dominant or shy respondents can create problems.

Focus Group Trends

• Online and mobile groups: Growing tendency for clients to watch sessions online.
• Focus group panels: A group of 8-12 qualified respondents regularly participating in interviews on a specific product, service, or topic for 6 months.
• Panel advantages: Useful for new product development, less expensive than recruiting separate groups over the same time period.

Individual Depth Interviews (IDIs)

• Relatively unstructured one-on-one interviews guided by participant's answers.
• Advantages: No group pressure, greater probing, one-on-one contact encourages revelations, greater interviewer focus on participant responses, exploring sensitive topics.
• Disadvantages: Overall cost, cannot cover as much as focus groups in one session, no potential for debating opposite viewpoints, cannot observe group dynamics, takes more time to conduct.

Cost of Focus Groups vs. IDIs

• Standard 8-person, 90-minute focus group costs approximately 13,000,13,000, 13,000,18 per respondent minute.
• Average 30-minute IDI costs 600−600-600−800, 20−20-20−27 per respondent minute.
• Total IDI cost is higher, but focus groups offer greater value per respondent minute.

Classic Applications of Depth Interviews

• Website and ad copy reviews, sensory reactions to stimuli, prototype evaluations, package design or usage research.

Projective Tests

• Delve into detailed responses to obtain true feelings, meanings, and motivations by having participants project their feelings into an unstructured situation.
• Projection is useful for: Understanding unconscious or unaware influences, uncovering personal or undesirable influences, understanding rationales behind product perceptions.

Projective Test Formats

• Word association tests, sentence and story completion tests, cartoon tests, photo sorts/collage, card sorting, consumer drawings, storytelling, third-person techniques.

Word Association Tests

• A word is presented, and the participant mentions the first thing that comes to mind.
• Words are presented in quick succession to avoid strategic thinking.
• Used for brand naming, advertising campaign themes, and slogans.

Sentence and Story Completion Tests

• Participant completes incomplete stories or sentences.
• Provides a structured scenario for participants.
• Scenarios should be relatable and realistic.

Cartoon Tests

• Participants project their feelings into a scenario with ambiguity and lack of expression.
• Used for assessing the valence of attitudes toward a product or brand.

Card Sorts

• Useful in UX research for organizing website content and product features.

Photo Sorts

• Participants explain their views on abstract concepts like brand image and personality.

Storytelling and the Third-Person Technique

• Storytelling: Participants share stories about their experiences, including the metaphor technique and ZMET (Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique).
• Third-person Technique: Ask questions in terms of "your neighbor" or "most people" instead of directly asking the respondent.

Explore the fundamentals of qualitative research and its distinctions from quantitative research. This quiz delves into the methodologies, applications, and the significance of qualitative data in understanding customer behaviors and motivations. Test your knowledge of these research techniques and their implications.