Experience By Methodologies
Methodologies
Below are some of the approaches I have adapted and the proprietary techniques and data interpretation methods I have created to provide the best quality research at a good value. You can read more about these approaches in my book Qualitative Marketing Research: An Interactive Approach (2014). Available for download from Amazon Kindle.
Client Review
"Thank you for an incredible job of moderating. Both [client] and I were really pleased. You had such a tremendous energy level and did a great job managing the clients. I think we got some fabulous insights and it was a real success.
[The client] had positive comments about the report too and was pleased with the depth. [The Senior VP] also commented that he really liked your writing. So that’s more than 2 thumbs up but you get the point. Thanks again."
Account Manager,
Burke Marketing Research
Sample Fonts
• One-on-Ones, Dyads - for sensitive issues, detailed probing, step-by-step decision making
• Mini-Groups, Focus Groups - for in-depth probing, defining and clarifying perceptions, generating ideas, using group dynamics of homogeneous respondents
• On-site - for observational studies, for studies where personal environment jumpstarts ideas and associations
• Telephone and On-Line Focus Groups - for bringing together hard-to-reach people
• On-Line Bulletin Boards - when you want insights through community communication and discussion over a period of time
• Learning Labs - daylong interaction between different respondent segments and clients to achieve the fullest implications around brand and product on a continuously iterative basis
• Maxi-Groups, Several-on-Several, Enterprise - for clarifying and evaluating perceptions
• Integrated - quantitative and qualitative research
Client Review
"We appreciate your hard work and especially the fact that you were part of 'our team.' That’s really what we were looking for and you absolutely provided that with your insights and dedication."
Research Manager, Parker Marketing Research
Sample Techniques
For when you've developed prototypes or are entering a new category and want a first-hand knowledge of the consumers, their buying behavior, and product needs. For when you want to get at the heart of the problem by probing concrete, individual experiences:
• Phenomenon Interviews - to experience what the respondent experiences
• Step-by-Step Flow - to guide respondents to increasingly specific answers
• Situational Drawings - to uncover underlying emotions or learn more about the details of a situation or event
• Scripting - to guide respondents through their decision-making processes
• Re-enactment - to reconstruct habits and routines
• Nominal - to ensure coverage of divergent opinions
• Sensory Immersion - to better define position or concept
• Sorting - to identify key features
• Perceptual mapping - to show brands/attributes in relation to each other
• Spatial Relationships™ - to understand environmental relationships in order to turn retail/service industry space into places that motivate purchase and consumer/brand relationships
• Modified Delphi - to identify and forecast trends
For exploring ways of sensitizing consumers to new or existing products, for brainstorming, for acclimating your staff or stakeholders to changes:
• Brainstorming Interviews - to stimulate creative thinking
• Sentence Completion - to gain top-of-mind reactions
• Image Profiles - to explore respondents' image of a product
• Metaphors - to prompt thinking outside of normal thinking patterns
• Semantic Conversions - to develop positive or negative alternatives to perceptions
• Collage - to contemporize brand equity
For competitive positioning, brand identification, concept testing:
• Imaging - to explore respondents' perception of the target audience
• Chits™ - to capture the awareness of competitive brand attributes
• Layering of Projective Techniques, Story Telling, and Laddering - to understand consumers at a deeper than normal level in order to relate personal values to brand attributes
• Respondent Given Circumstances™ - for exploring the full context of product need and usage
• Lifechoice Motivations™ - for exploring the relationship between emotional drivers and product improvements
• Improvisation - to reconstruct emotions and behavior
• Picture Sorts - to dimensionalize emotional responses in concrete images
• Archetypal Imagery™ - for discerning brand archetypes
For interpreting the data:
• Textual Analysis - analysis of what respondents say (includes verbatims)
• Pattern Analysis™ - analysis of emotional and behavioral patterns to capture the emotional logic driving purchase