Use qualitative research when you want to explore a complex topic in depth with your target audience. The two most common qualitative techniques are focus groups and in-depth (one-on-one) interviews.

Outlook Research has conducted hundreds of focus groups in the United States and many other countries. Our focus groups usually include a combination of group discussion and individual written feedback. We typically ask respondents to write down their reactions to products, messages, etc. before discussing them as a group. This allows us to gain the benefits of group discussion without falling prey to "group-think." We encourage our clients to provide prototypes - such as 3-dimensional models, laptop-based applications, or paper mock-ups - to simulate the real customer experience as closely as possible. Sometimes it makes sense to supplement the focus groups with written questionnaires or pre-group shopping experiences or diaries.

There are times when one-on-one interviews work better than focus groups. For example, we have conducted studies that involved visiting high-tech resellers at their place of business. This allowed us to understand their business model by viewing their business in operation, and to discuss topics that they would be reluctant to divulge in front of their competitors. Another example of an area that often lends itself to one-on-one interviews is purchase process research. We have found that group discussions of the purchase process tend to result in vague generalizations, because the respondents don't remember their detailed reactions at each step of the purchase process. We can get much deeper insights by having respondents create a "diary" or "scrapbook" of their purchase experience over a couple of weeks; we then discuss their experiences during the interview.

For more examples of qualitative projects conducted by Outlook Research, please click here.