Know Your Research #1 Qualitative Research

Qualitative marketing research involves a natural or observational examination of the philosophies that govern consumer behavior. The direction and framework of the research is often revised as new information is gained, allowing the researcher to evaluate issues and subjects in an in-depth manner. The quality of the research produced is heavily dependent on the skills of the researcher and is influenced by researcher bias. Qualitative market research is an open ended questions(conversational) based research method that heavily relies on the following market research methods: focus groups, in-depth interviews, and other innovative research methods.

Qualitative marketing researchers collect data ranging from focus group, case study, participation observation, innovation game and individual depth interview :

Focus group

The focus group is marketing research technique for qualitative data that involves a small group of people (6–10) that share a common set characteristics (demographics, attitudes, etc.) and participate in a discussion of predetermined topics led by a moderator. There are opportunities to conduct focus groups with the use of focus group software. There are many types of focus group as well, but they always involve discussion among the group(s). The problem of the focus group is the issue of observer dependency: the results obtained are influenced by the researcher or his own reading of the group's discussion, raising questions of validity. Non-verbal cues, which may contradict the views participants articulate, are important and can easily be missed if the researcher is not familiar with visual cues, body language and other non verbal cues.

Qualitative case study

Qualitative case study methodology provides tools for researchers to study complex phenomena within their contexts. Because it only studies one case, so it is very up-close, in-depth. It contains high levels of internal validity (the extent to which one is able to say that no other variables except the one being studied caused the result), but the external validity is low. Customer behavior is a good example for qualitative market research.

Participation observation

Participation observation is watching participants' behavior in real world settings without trying to manipulate their actions. This method is high in external validity but low in internal validity.

Innovation game

Innovation game refers to a form of primary market research developed by Luke Hohmann where customers play a set of directed games as a means of generating feedback about a product or service. A facilitator explains the game(s) to be played and controls the paces, monitors the participants' levels and manages the time. There are many types of innovation games, such as 20/20 vision, me and my shadow, and buy a feature.

Individual depth interviews

In-depth interviews, also called IDIs, have been an integral component of market research since its inception in the 1920s. This method is useful when you want detailed information about a person’s thoughts and behaviors or want to explore new issues in depth. One can get unique points from each respondent, and their answers will not be influenced by other people as in a focus group. In-depth interviews are held one-on-one between the respondent and the interview via a telephone, conducted in person, or through an online platform (increasingly common).

The primary advantage of in-depth interviews is the amount of detailed information provided as compared to other data collection methods, such as surveys. Another advantage is reaching respondents that are geographically dispersed, which cannot occur in a focus group. This method is often used to refine future research or provide context to future studies. The primary disadvantage of in-depth interviews is the time to conduct, transcribe, and analyze. As such, this method could have higher costs associated with it than other methods.

Qualitative research is used in both consumer research and business-to-business (B2B) research. However, qualitative research methods are used depending on whether consumers or business decision-makers are being inter-viewed. In consumer research, a range of qualitative methods are used, particularly in-depth interviews, focus groups and ethnographic observation.

In B2B research, focus groups and ethnographic observation are used far less frequently due to the nature of business decision-makers, and in-depth interviews are most frequently used in B2B research:

• Time-poor business decision-makers often don’t have time to attend in-person focus groups, or for observation techniques that require a lot of time to set-up.

• Many B2B decision-makers work within offices that have strict security/privacy regulations. Also, many are participating in the research in their own time, and don’t necessarily want colleagues to know they are taking part in the study. As a result, face-to-face techniques which require interviewers to attend their offices (e.g., face-to-face interviews or observation) are often not realistic.

• The target audience for a study is often small and spread across multiple locations – getting respondents in one place for a face-to-face focus group can often be unrealistic.

• Decision-makers can often be unwilling to share confidential information in front of potential competitors, so group activities that require multiple people from the same sector don’t work.

Advantages of Qualitative Market Research

It helps you gather detailed information: One of the major advantages of this market research method is that it helps you collect details information instead of just focusing on the metrics of data. It helps you understand the subtleties of the information obtained thus enabling in-depth analysis.

• It’s adaptive in nature: This market research can adapt to the quality of information that is collected. If the available data seems not to be providing any results, the researcher can immediately seek to collect data in a new direction. This offers more flexibility to collect data.

• It operates within structures that are fluid: The data collected through this research method is based on observation and experiences, therefore, an experienced researcher can follow up with additional open ended questions if needed to extract more information from the respondents.

• Helps communicate brand proposition accurately: Through this market research method, the consumers can communicate with the brand effectively and vice versa. Any product terminology, product jargons etc. are effectively communicated as this research method gives a chance to the brand and the consumer to express their needs and values freely, thus minimizing any miscommunication.

• It helps reduce customer churn: Consumer behaviors can change overnight, leaving a brand to wonder what went wrong. By conducting qualitative market research, brands have a chance to understand what consumers want and if they are fulfilling their needs or not, thereby reducing customer churn. Thus the brand-consumer relationship is maintained

Disadvantages

• Issues on confidentiality and anonymity can pose problems during presentation of findings.

• If researcher does not have enough skills such as communication skill, the quality of research is likely to be low.

• The sample size is relatively small, the result may not be very accurate.

• Qualitative research produces large amounts of data which requires a tremendous amount of work and labor on the part of the researcher.