Last quarter we wrote about Magic Numbers in Market Research—those arbitrary rules of thumb and cut-off points we use when quoting things like minimum samples sizes or how many people to include in a focus group. Presto! Like magic, the issue appeared in the New York Times a few weeks ago, this time related to…
One way you can make a research report really pop is to carefully select and edit quotes from the people involved in the study. For qualitative research, that means pulling quotes from transcripts of in-depth interviews, focus groups, online bulletin boards, social media, etc. For survey research, it means pulling quotes from open-ended questions that…
Many assume that rigorous market research always works with random samples or probability samples. This assumption is not true. There are many studies that require purposive sampling instead. Purposive sampling involves finding people with specific characteristics or qualities, even if they do not fully represent the whole population, because these specific people can provide unique…
A client had a surprising experience this week when a member of our multivariate analysis team showed up online to watch a live in-depth interview with a registered nurse about how prescribing decisions are made. “Who is that online with us?” the end-client inquired, not recognizing the name. The qualitative manager answered, “He’s on our…
This quarter’s newsletter from Versta Research focuses on the art of asking questions. We suggest that the importance of business questions far exceeds the importance of survey questions or focus group questions. You can’t do the latter without the former, at least not very well, and research that is not specifically designed to answer clearly…
It hurts, but when your customers hate you, you should be listening all the more carefully: You need to find out the who, what, where, when, and why they hate you. Probe deeply with focus groups, in-depth interviews, social media monitoring, and survey research. Rigorous research done right (our specialty) will give you valuable insight. …
In the previous post we noted that our industry is driven by data and information, which meant huge changes in the nature of our work over the last ten years. Looking ahead, here are what we predict will be the five biggest trends that will shape market research challenges in the decade to come:
It’s fascinating that new survey technology and easy access to millions of consumers could be affecting the focus group industry more than the quantitative survey industry. But a colleague who has been doing focus groups for over 20 years says that’s exactly what she is seeing.