The power of qualitative research in today’s digital landscape

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2020 was a turbulent year for most industries, including the qualitative research industry. Many brands and agencies that previously relied on in-person interviews and focus groups for qualitative research have moved their work online, accelerating industry innovation.

Areas like participant recruitment, knowledge communities, emotional intelligence (AI and ML), UX testing, and more are seeing a lot of innovation. The rise of digital technologies has opened up new possibilities, an explosion of techniques and opportunities that help us better understand the human experience.

In addition to collecting deeper human insights, technology has paved the way for greater speed and efficiency in data collection and analysis. Today, it is safe to assume that digital technologies have become crucial for markets and society, making digital transformation a vital area of ​​business innovation.

Despite the bounty it presents, digital transformation is complex and organizations will find it difficult to properly seize and capitalize on its opportunities unless they fully understand its impact on qualitative research. Let’s navigate significant changes in the qualitative research landscape as we discuss how brands (yes, that’s you) can benefit from the digital transformation of qualitative research.

Related: The impact of technology on market research

Gather better quality information: bridging the gap between saying and doing

Finding answers to questions has always been a complex art. Respondents may forget something, feel compelled to respond appropriately, or hesitate or be unwilling to open up.

Usually, there is a gap between what respondents say and what they do. Winning at the game of qualitative research today requires narrowing the say/do space and capture natural behavior.

Has the expansion of qualitative research methods online improved the ability to understand natural behaviors? Yes, with the inclusion of emotional intelligence.

It’s not enough to get feedback; the key is to combine it with behavioral insights. Emotional intelligence includes AI technologies like voice analysis, eye tracking, and facial coding to help you gain a window into your customers’ minds.

Did your customers say they are happy with the product? You can confirm that information by analyzing their voices or facial expressions. Want to try the consumer journey on your website? Use eye tracking to understand how your customers navigate your website.

You can use behavioral techniques to test ads, proof of conceptcontent tests, prototype test and more to generate accurate, evidence-based insights to make actionable changes. Another cutting-edge technology is Natural Language Processing (NLP), which provides the tools to enhance and analyze linguistic and statistical data.

Get the Best of Both Worlds: Conducting Mixed Methods Research

Mixed methods research includes the use of multiple methods of data collection (i.e., combining quantitative and qualitative research) to get a unified point of view. It is essential to the understanding you hope to gain: the what (quantitative insights) and the why (qualitative insights), and it can help you get real results.

For example, suppose a company wants to identify problems with its new prototype. In that case, you can conduct a quantitative study followed by a qualitative study to validate the quantitative results, gaining a fuller understanding of the respondents’ opinions and feedback. Or if the company wants to understand the buying patterns of both internal buyers and online buyers, it can conduct a quantitative study for online buyers and a qualitative study for internal buyers.

Brands can benefit from both the specific and measurable insights of qualitative data and the unique and nuanced insights of quantitative data by combining both forms of research.

Related: Why both quantitative and qualitative data are vital for results-driven companies

Logistically simplify qualitative research: embrace do-it-yourself and in-house research

Digital technologies have made research accessible to all by lowering the barriers to entry. This means that more research and insight teams are conducting internal studies, including people in other roles such as marketers, designers, product managers, and UX teams, doing DIY research when necessary.

A ESOMAR study (which surveyed 802 users and buyers of information and research from 61 countries) suggests that almost 50% of research is handled internally with DIY tools. DIY research platforms allow brands to define the scope of the project, find the right respondents, create surveys and conduct interviews faster, easier and more cost-effectively.

While pure DIY platforms are available on the market today, depending on the research goals, brands may also choose a hybrid model (for example, a vendor that offers reporting and data analysis support).

Stand Out in a Competitive Market: Introducing Research Agility

Digital technologies today make it easier than ever to carry out research processes agile. Studies that used to take months are now completed in days. Additionally, the use of market research tools can help brands conduct research at a much lower cost without compromising the quality of insights (in fact, they help to gather higher quality insights than traditional qualitative data collection methods). ).

Even a leading brand like Cisco switched its Subscription Billing Method (SBP), based on the Waterfall method, to the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), reducing its defects by 40% and improving its defect removal efficiency by 14%. . Agile research is the name of the game for brands to create foresight, respond quickly to changes in the marketplace, and outperform competitors.

While digital transformation is not a substitute for human intelligence, it paves the way for smarter and more effective research. The qualitative research industry has seen and will continue to see game-changing innovations, allowing brands to seamlessly capture superior customer insights. Leverage market research technology to better understand your customers and making practical innovations is crucial, especially in an uncertain economic environment.

Related: 7 digital transformation trends to watch out for