6 Steps to Perfect Qual Webinar Series Summary
Step 1 – Qualitative Research Design Webinar – Webinar held on January 17, 2018
What a great kick-off to the year with the first webinar in our series, Qualitative Research Design! We were fortunate enough to spend some time chatting with three very knowledgeable and engaging panelists – Tia Maurer, Group Scientist, Procter & Gamble, David Harris, Author of The Complete Guide to Writing Questionnaires: How to Get Better Information for Better Decisions, and Jim White, Founding Partner, Reality Check.
In this webinar, we focused on Q&A that might help shed some light on common issues or questions that can arise during the process of designing research.
Here’s what our panelists had to say!
- The first point we touched on was the process of considering if market research is a necessary step to solving a business problem or question. How do you do that?
- Can the question be answered with existing data or knowledge? Don’t re-invent the wheel, use it!
- Research planning is critical! Write out a paragraph or two that tells what the tension/problem is, what is the current state of affairs, what do we already know, etc. By doing this, it can help you in defining the decisions that the research will support.
- Ask your client right out of the gate, “what decisions are you trying to make, and what actions do you plan to take once you have the information?”
- Let’s say a problem/issue has been identified, and research IS the next step. What methods can we use to get the “why,” or the problem that is driving the research?
- Get it down on paper! Ask questions such as “why are we thinking about doing research, what do we already know, what is the research question, and finally, what does success look like for us?” Write out the questions, and discuss them as a team. Biographer David McCullough is quoted as saying “writing is thinking.”
3. Once a problem/issue has been identified, how do we decide which methodologies are going to be most useful in helping us get to the answers?
- Use tried and true methods that you have had success with in the past
- Ask for suggestions from both internal and external resources, such as suppliers. How might they tackle the research?
- Find out what your client is comfortable with, and how they expect the findings/information to be presented to them.
- As many of us know, we have a plethora of new technologies available to us today to help with conducting MR. Which is the most valuable?
- Online qual! You can cast a much wider net in terms of reaching people, having them upload videos and pictures. We can get deeper insights because people are doing it from the comfort of their own homes.
- One last piece we touched on, was the shift toward more behavioral research versus attitudinal research. Why do we think it’s going in this direction?
- The reason is simple, what people say, and what people do don’t always match up.
- A person’s recall is much better when they’re in the environment where they normally do a task, while they are actually doing it.
- When we take this approach, we’re talking to people about what really matters to them, and understanding their relationship with a brand.
One last thought that all of our panelists agreed on is to always remember the fundamentals of research. The newest and best technologies are not always the best approach to get to the information you need!
We hope you found this summary to be helpful! To listen to this webinar in its entirety, or to download a free, transcribed version, click here.
Be on the look-out! For your convenience, I’ll be summarizing all of L&E’s upcoming webinars, as well as regularly sharing information about relevant qualitative research topics, trends, and technologies.
Until next time!
Your Research Design Engineer at L&E,
Renee Wyckoff