Research Services
Qualitative Methodology
The purpose of qualitative research is to reveal why people do or feel the way that they do. All the quantitative research that we offer can easily identify what and even how people act but for a business to really understand their customers and how to improve their services it is sometimes necessary to probe a little deeper into people's beliefs and motivations.
Qualitative research is conducted in one of two main ways:
In reality many research projects require a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods and all our research staff are able to advise on the best combination of methodologies to meet your individual objectives.
Focus Groups
When clients are considering new concepts for their products or services a focus group is often the best way of discovering how potential customers or users will respond. A focus group discussion usually consists of gathering 8 - 10 people together and with gentle guidance from a group moderator encouraging them to discuss their attitudes and experiences on a particular topic. One advantage of the technique can be the development of new ideas which are triggered by the respondents reacting to one another.
Our research team includes three experienced moderators and we also have a number of associate freelance moderators across the country. Respondents are recruited to the group according to a previously agreed criteria - this will often involve an appropriate demographic cross-section together with a split of users and non-users of the service.
Depth Interviews
Unlike a conventional quantitative interview this type of interview does not consist of an interviewer working through a rigid questionnaire with questions offering a list of pre-determined options. Usually they involve a semi-structured format with the interviewer following a basic topic guide and probably including a few classifying questions. Within this structure respondents are prompted to talk generally about their experiences, preferences and the alternatives they might like to see supplied.
This type of research is a particularly useful tool when conducting qualitative research amongst business people. Focus groups can be inappropriate for this audience because of the difficulty of gathering all respondents together in one place along with the possibility of respondents being reluctant to talk freely in front of their competitors. An in-depth interview enables our staff to visit the respondents' place of work at a time convenient to them. Providing an interview is well planned respondents will often be willing to talk in some detail and in many cases a respondent who reluctantly agreed to give 20 minutes of their time will ultimately spend much longer with our interviewer.
Depth interviews are not always conducted face-to-face. In some cases it can be quicker and cheaper to conduct such interviews by telephone although such tele-depths tend to be slightly shorter and result in a less detailed interview. Our research team will be happy to discuss with you where this method could be sufficient to meet your objectives.