Maximizing Value of Qualitative Research
If you are looking to get the most out of your qualitative research endeavors, you have come to the right place! Sarah Faulkner, principal at Faulkner Strategic Consulting, offers three principles to help you get the most out of your qualitative research.
1. Set your qualitative objectives for qualitative research. In order to decide whether or not it will be faster, cheaper or more convenient for you to do qualitative research rather than quantitative, it is important to check your objectives against Faulkner’s three C’s: confirmatory, checkbox and counts.
- Confirmatory: A quantitative screener will give you an answer to validate your confirmatory research much more efficiently than qualitative.
- Checkbox: When asking respondents ‘which one do you prefer?’ or, ‘pick the best option’, it is important to differentiate qualitative vs. quantitative. If you are looking for “what” or “which one”, use quantitative research. However, if you are looking more into the “why” or “how” use qualitative.
- Counts: If you are looking for any type of statistic, percentage or numerical data, use quantitative research. Decision-making will not go smoothly if you are talking about or reporting any statistical data from qualitative research.
2. Maximize the value of every respondent. You must look at the importance of the screener for qualitative research. In order to find out the extreme users, people who love your product or people who hate your product, you must use qualitative research. This will allow for you to maximize every consumer interaction because you can learn something unique and different from each consumer. Next, you must look at the value of the time spent with each of your respondents. In order to get the best information from each respondent, consider meeting with them on multiple occasions to get the most out of them. Sometimes, meeting with a respondent only once will not allow for enough information to complete your research.
3. Translate learning into insights with a well-planned debrief. Once you have all of your research and information done, it is time to think about the outcome needed and plan all of the exercises and experiences that will allow for you to put it all together. To plan everything out, consider using mind-maps, picture analyses or an experienced moderator.
Learn more about Faulkner’s three principles here.
