22 tips qualitative research: if the selection of respondents is in order and a pleasant location is arranged for the interviews, there are practical tips for good qualitative research. Here are some that may be useful:
22 tips for preparing, conducting, analyzing and reporting qualitative research
- The marketing objective, communication objective and research objective are still sometimes used interchangeably but are distinct concepts. In short, try to distinguish between why you want to conduct a research, what you want to communicate (for example, with a campaign) and what the purpose of the research is.
- Obvious perhaps but unfortunately still common: don’t let respondents talk too long about what they are not interested in or what they reject. Research should be pleasant for the respondent and they should feel comfortable. Otherwise, they will close themselves off to the interview, become easily distracted and no longer want to participate.
- Make a checklist of question points and do so in considerable detail. It not only helps the fieldwork but also your own picture of what you want to know becomes more clear. Let others look at it too and listen carefully to suggestions. Split the questionnaire into segments and indicatively indicate approximately how long you may spend on each section. The questionnaire is a guide and you may not need it as much after a number of interviews. But always check toward the end of your interview to see if you left out any important questions.
- Go from “general” to “specific” in a questionnaire and don’t be afraid to phrase a little searchingly and hesitantly. Drop silences and say that it’s possible you forgot question points that are also important. This makes it easier for the respondent to come up with their own story.
- Always properly record what happens during fieldwork. Time, place, location and interview duration. Make at least one audio recording for analysis purposes. Respect the privacy of the respondent by only using the recording for analysis purposes. It is very important to record which words a respondent chooses. If a respondent ranks cards, take a picture of the end result.
- Make the respondent feel that they can add something. Handle your questionnaire flexibly and address what comes up spontaneously. Unexpected perspectives from the respondent can provide gems for your reporting.
- Take tone material seriously. If you want to present a concept and you are not satisfied with the tone material do not use it: describe it in your own words or put a few sentences on a sheet of paper and present that. Otherwise there will be “noise” in your results that has nothing to do with the concept as such but with the presentation of the concept. This deserves extra attention if concepts being compared are in different states of development.
- Do not talk about old and new concept (because that is controlling) and randomize the order when treating concepts.
- Be neutral: do not try to defend a concept or refute criticism but try to have answers clarified and understood.
- Acknowledge that you don’t know everything and, during the research, be emphatically open to the new and unexpected from a genuine interest in the respondent and the topic. There are many stories and many different opinions that come along, some of which may at first seem only distracting or have nothing to do with the topic. But over time, these can prove to be very valuable.
- Wrong answers are not possible. If people say contradictory things they are not wrong and both can be true: for example, having a heart for the environment and liking to drive a car.
- If the respondent has difficulty answering a question then it is probably not well phrased: try another angle. That other angle can also be useful to make sure you understood the respondent correctly.
- Don’t overquestion your respondents. Often a checklist of question points is the result of a group effort. Each person involved likes to contribute questions. This can sometimes result in an unworkable questionnaire. This is when someone must take charge and have the courage to intervene so that the interview is pleasant and logical.
- Be honest about the time an interview takes. An hour-long interview may well drag out if all present are at peace with it. But your respondent often has other appointments and if you can’t cover many points then that’s a problem. So be realistic and practice with someone to experience how long an interview takes and whether the questionnaire can be improved. Try to ask the “bonus questions” at the end of your interview.
- If the topic is appropriate and there is enough time: split a group and have individuals or smaller groups work out an assignment and present it to each other.
- Anonymize results. Your respondents deserve privacy and results should be disconnected from the identity of the respondent. Audio or video recordings are (with the respondent’s permission!) to be used only for analysis and reporting and should not be used outside of that framework. Inform your respondent in advance so that they are well informed about the privacy aspects when the interview starts. You also cannot mention the name of your respondent’s company because these can make a respondent identifiable. For example, because only one person works with that position.
- Use simple language in your reporting and enliven your account with quotes. Respondents’ own wording makes your results much richer and more credible. Try to make a balanced selection of views that were raised around a topic.
- Make a clear distinction between the results of the survey and the conclusions or advice and recommendations following the report. After all, it is possible to reach different conclusions based on the same results.
- In principle, do not use figures in your reporting. You can, however, talk about “most respondents” or “a minority” or “some respondents. In qualitative research, one respondent’s input may be worth mentioning if it adds an insight that is significant. The main point is to give a full picture of the range of opinions and the different viewpoints and perspectives. Sometimes the results clearly point in one direction and sometimes not. The latter is also an outcome!
- If time and budget allow, do the fieldwork together with a colleague and complement each other in carrying out the fieldwork and analysis and reporting. This makes the results more complete and reliable.
- During the COVID crisis of great importance: today there are also many ways to do qualitative research online. Consumers have gained a lot of experience with online opportunities to communicate in a short time. But it can also make sense, for example, if you can’t get experts together “live” but you can get them together online.
- Consider whether you want to conduct the research synchronously af asynchronously and what this means for the results.
- Finally, should the respondents have very different opinions about your main research questions, a recommendation could address whether it might be useful to conduct quantitative follow-up research to link those divergent opinions to specific target groups. However, do not try to interpret differences between answers of (for example) young people and older people based on a total of 12 interviews.
