How many interviews should you conduct for your qualitative research?
While determining a sample size is easy for an online survey (for example, brand awareness research), the same cannot be said for the number of interviews in qualitative research. The principle of saturation is often put forward as the ultimate argument for determining the sample size. But it is challenging to implement. To help you, we have launched the first version of an online tool to calculate the minimum number of interviews to be conducted. crédits : Shutterstock Introduction Individual interviews are a “qualitative” method, just like focus groups. The difference between the two approaches lies in the objectives pursued. Qualitative interviews aim to “explore,” whereas focus groups seek to “confirm” working hypotheses. Qualitative methods are used in many fields to “clear” a subject and explore the different themes related to it. Our online calculator is limited to a particular perspective: understanding customer needs within the framework of market research. crédits : Shutterstock Why conduct interviews as part of market research? Market research aims at assessing the business potential of an idea. Determining the right idea requires a good understanding of the needs of future customers. To explore these needs in-depth, nothing is better than qualitative interviews. But the problem is that it is complicated, in principle, to determine the number of interviews to conduct. crédits : Shutterstock Factors that determine the number of interviews to conduct for your market research. The number of interviews you need to conduct depends on the subject you are interested in and the stage you are at in the market research. Finding an idea vs. confirming an idea Finding a business idea that meets a need is not the same as confirming the relevance of an idea with your target audience. In the first case, you need to interview more people to understand their current and future needs. In the second case, it will be “enough” to present your idea to a sample of people to collect opinions and improve your chances of success. Face-to-face or remote interview? Qualitative interviews conducted face-to-face make it possible to mobilize the respondent and to have his full attention. With the Covid crisis, qualitative market research had to be conducted remotely. Distractions and temptations are more numerous when one is behind his screen. Moreover, body language is less easily perceived. Qualitative interviews carried out at a distance are therefore less effective, and for this reason, more should be carried out. Different uses depending on the target? In some contexts, a product can meet different needs. For example, Europeans will use a Smartphone to make phone calls, but for 97% of Africans, it is the only way to connect to the Internet. The constitution of a qualitative sample...
Qualitative interviews: use of real-life scenarios (or “vignettes”)
Different methods can govern a qualitative interview (one of the leading techniques in qualitative research). One of them is the scenario method, also called “vignettes”. In this article, we discuss the use of real-life scenarios to simplify the respondents’ speaking process. What is the scenario or “vignette” method? The scenario, or vignette, is the description of a situation that is most often hypothetical and into which the social scientist wishes to immerse the respondent before interviewing him, or her. Reduced to its simplest expression, the scenario can consist of a single sentence. However, it is important to include elements that will stimulate the beliefs, perceptions or attitudes that one wishes to study. Advantages and disadvantages of the scenario method The advantages of the scenario method in qualitative research are multiple: easy to use, they are within everyone’s reach they have been in use for several decades, which makes it possible to establish the reliability of the approach they can be adapted to multiple situations and allow the projection of a hypothetical situation that would otherwise rarely be observable they help to put all respondents on an “equal footing.” There are also disadvantages associated with the use of vignettes describing fictitious situations: Difficulties in analyzing respondents’ discourse when focusing on their ideas instead of taking the fictional characters’ perspective in the vignette. Distinguishing between the respondent’s own opinions and the part of the discourse that represents social norms. When the scenario contains hypothetical situations that the respondent has never faced, their responses may not reflect what they would do but rather what is acceptable to say (social norms). The “vignettes” or scenarios used in qualitative interviews most often relate to fictitious situations. This article presents an approach that uses scenarios from real cases. The use of real-life scenarios: advantages and disadvantages In a 2020 article, Sampson and Johannessen introduce the notion of real-life inspired vignettes. Their research led them to observe real but rare situations in risk management on the high seas. Notes taken on the spot allowed the creation of vignettes describing these situations. These vignettes were presented to respondents for feedback and to explore their daily practices in managing risks at sea. Read also Market research: how to conduct a qualitative interview? Risk management at sea is subject to stringent rules that must imperatively follow specific procedures. Practices different from those described in the guidelines are, therefore, theoretically rare. There was a risk that respondents might make a “facade” statement that does not reflect actual practices. Thus, the researchers came up with the idea of using real situations observed in real life as narratives to “put the respondent at ease.”...
Qualitative research on Chinese tourists undermines stereotypes
Are the leading museums doing enough to understand the customer experience they offer? In this article, I have looked at the use of Big Data to understand visitor expectations better and increase satisfaction. Even without Big Data, it is possible to have a better understanding of one’s “customers”. Proof of this today with qualitative research on Chinese tourists at the Palace of Versailles. If you only have 30 seconds Cultural institutions have a lot to gain from studying the expectations of their visitors through qualitative research. The qualitative methodology implemented for the study of Chinese tourists combines several techniques: interviews based on a questionnaire, on-participatory observations, exit interviews to confirm these observations. The qualitative approach provides a more nuanced insight into the expectations and behaviour of Chinese tourists in France’s cultural hotspots. Introduction In her research, Isabelle Brianso describes well the paradox of the image of the Chinese tourist in France. As the leading visitors to the Château de Versailles (11% of visits) and the Louvre’s second-largest foreign clientele (behind the Americans), the Chinese are an essential source of income for France. Still, they are perceived as a nuisance by other visitors. Rare are those who conduct qualitative research in their exhibition spaces to explore the expectations of their visitors. Thanks to a qualitative in-situ approach, the author of the research published in 2017 wanted to overcome the negative clichés conveyed about Chinese tourists: A certain number of stereotypes are regularly ” pinned on ” Chinese tourists, who are said to be uncultured and somewhat rude. According to popular belief, Chinese tourists only travel in groups, give priority to visiting the Louvre or Versailles, and eat exclusively in Asian restaurants throughout their European cultural tour. The research was carried out in situ, at the Château de Versailles, in direct contact with Chinese tourists. This research is also an excellent example of the combination of different qualitative techniques to capture the reality of a situation. To understand the reality of the Chinese tourist in France, 2 approaches were combined: individual face-to-face interviews based on a questionnaire non-participatory observations of the tourists in the History Gallery of the Palace of Versailles The analysis of data collected this way enabled the researchers to reconstruct a “customer experience” in 3 stages: before the visit, during, after. This reading scheme proves to be very useful and is similar to the “customer experience wheel” that we often use for our analyses (click here to download it from our “resources” page). Face-to-face qualitative interviews An initial qualitative survey was carried out “face-to-face” by three interviewers of Chinese and Sinophone origin on a sample of 283 people. Respondents were selected based on age (>15 years), language...
Qualitative market research: using the senses in participatory research
All market research aims to achieve objectivity. This is, of course, the case with quantitative methods, but also with qualitative research methods. In today’s article, we present you with a study that shows why it is necessary to use your senses in qualitative research. Its author, Brian McDonough, defends the vision of participatory qualitative research. The case study he uses (interview of an aeroplane pilot) allows us to understand how the researcher’s active participation helped him to understand the world of the interviewee better. This study highlights the limitations that traditional interviews, based on an interview guide, can have. We have produced a podcast with Brian, which you will find at the beginning of this article. At the end of this article, you will also find the questions we asked him and his answers (in the form of sound clips) for each of them. In a nutshell In some cases, participatory qualitative research allows a better understanding of what the respondents are saying and the world in which they live. The objectivity of qualitative research does not necessarily mean distancing oneself at all costs from the subject of the research. Summary Description of the case study used for qualitative research Use of a sensory-based qualitative methodology Tips for your qualitative research The podcast questions Case study: the qualitative research of an airline pilot’s expertise The purpose of market research was to understand the use of technological tools in the workplace. For this research, Brian McDonough chose to focus on the aviation industry and followed an airline pilot in his daily use of aircraft control instruments. In his research, he explains how he was very quickly confronted with a methodological difficulty that led to palpable frustration during the interviews. The pilot was indeed unable to verbalise his expertise. The words used during the interview became less precise, as can be seen in the passage below: When you’re at an approach it’s going to be that sort of angle. You’re going to listen to that much sound that will be coming out of the engines. You can see that the engine instruments are going to be in that sort of mark. It was therefore not possible to understand precisely what the term “expertise” meant in the case of an airline pilot. Traditional qualitative interview methods showed their limitations. A semantic analysis, faced with the imprecision of the terms used, would have concluded that the pilot had no expertise. But this was not the case since the pilot demonstrated his expertise in the very act of flying an aeroplane. Another methodological approach was necessary. We must not only listen to what is said but also experience first-hand the results. Use of a qualitative...
The impact of coronavirus on qualitative market research methods
The coronavirus crisis affects us all, regardless of the industry. The market research industry is no exception. The conduct of qualitative market research, in particular, has been impacted, since qualitative interviews or focus groups can now only be conducted remotely. A prospect asked me last week about the methodological adjustments resulting from the Coronavirus crisis. Virtualisation is, of course, the first answer and it is recommended by ESOMAR. But are remote qualitative interviews still as effective? How is communication affected by distance? A publication by my friend Dr Emmanuel Tourpe gave me the excuse to answer this question. Remote qualitative research Containment raises the question of the continuity of activities and in particular qualitative studies. Ethnography, participatory observation and Design Thinking projects are no longer possible under the current conditions. Unless, of course, you are interested in what consumers are doing in their homes, in which case the timing is ideal. But what about focus groups and other face-to-face interviews? ESOMAR’s guidelines are clear: on-line methodologies should be used whenever possible. We already carry out a lot of remote interviews via Skype, WebEx or other equivalent means. But for focus groups, it’s a different story. Concretely and precisely, I doubt that a semi-structured or “free” qualitative interview can be conducted with the same result on-line. The lack of physical proximity is inevitably felt on the interviewer’s ability to put his interlocutor at ease, to have his complete attention, and to deepen the subjects with the same efficiency. On the other hand, I think that guided interviews can be conducted on-line without any noticeable loss of quality. The impact of distance on the quality of the communication The physical distance that results from the virtualization of interactions seems to me to represent a new kind of communicational bias. With Emmanuel Tourpe’s permission, I have reproduced the text he wrote on the difficulties of communication, cognitive biases and the problem of communicating. The distance imposed by confinement and the use of digital tools seems to me to complicate a little more the search for the intention of the interviewee and of course, the detection of emotions. How, through the filter of the camera, can one detect body signs that betray an unspoken feeling, in short, information that is crucial for any qualitative research of an exploratory nature? Let us now listen to Emmanuel, who has the rare gift of writing clearly while preserving the beauty of the language. Don’t hesitate to consult his course on communication theory. “To communicate is to get a message across despite the 27 usual cognitive biases (or wounds of intelligence) that confuse it and obscure meaning. This requires an effort on the part of the communicator (expressis verbis: clarity and sharpness)....
IntoTheMinds offers market research services in France
We are happy to announce that we opened in July our office in Paris to be closer to our French customers. Located in the 9th district of Paris (13-15 rue de Taitbout), a stone’s throw from the Opera house, offers facilities to welcome clients, conduct focus groups as well as face-to-face interviews. Our Paris base camp also offers us an opportunity to take a closer and more continuous look at the vibrant retail scene. As you know we follow closely retail trends all over the world and conduct regular trips to European cities to analyse retail innovations, interview retail innovators and document our finds on our blog (see an example here). Read also A map of the best and most innovative retail concepts in the world The range of market research services offered in France will be the same as those we offer in the rest of Europe : qualitative techniques, quantitative techniques, satisfaction surveys and predictive consumer behavior modelling. Contact us by phone (+33 1 88 32 73 44) for more information or drop us a line by email (info@intotheminds.com) or through our contact form. We usually respond within 60 minutes (during office hours). Qualitative market research methods As we explain in our online market research guide, sound research starts with well executed qualitative techniques. This is our promise. We apply the most rigorous methods to obtain objective results. We make no compromise to guarantee this objectivity and are one of the last market research agencies to do everything in-house, including full transcripts of interviews, manual coding and statistical analysis of co-occurences. Quantitative surveys Quantitative surveys help us validate designs and business models, study price perceptions or test market traction on new products or services. We can work with your panels, our panels or on third-party panels, in all countries of the world. We use professional translation services for non-European languages and always require back translations to ensure consistency of the quantitative instrument. Satisfaction surveys We help companies assess their customers’ satisfaction. We have no agreement with pre-determined software vendors and can measure satisfaction with whatever tool you’d like. Our greatest added value is for customer who either have no customer satisfaction instrument yet, or for those who on the contrary have already results and look to interpret them. Behavioural modelling and predictive analysis A part of the team deals only with Big Data analysis and behavioural modelling. In other words we use data to predict your customers’ behaviours and to tell you which factors are the most likely to influence your revenues and your bottom line. We are free of software vendors and work with state-of-the-art tools...
This artist uses market research techniques for a stunning visual result
While on business trip in Glasgow a few weeks ago (for the EMAC marketing conference), I visited the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art and discovered the Mitch Miller’s work. Mitch Miller is a Glasgow-based artist who has invented the concept of dialectograms, which he describes as follows : Take a dash of cartography, a pinch of architecture and a fair bit of ethnography and you have the dialectogram, graphic art that depicts place from the ground up. His work combines different techniques that could be used in qualitative market research : taking notes in a diary (like Charles Booth did for his research on London) mapping things, events and behaviors visual description of people visualising places (like we use to do when we study in-store behaviors) Not only is Miller’s work documenting the reality of a situation but it also merges market research techniques together to converge into a useful and visually superb result. I’ve included below some of the pictures I took in the Glasgow Museum of Modern...
How to successfuly realize qualitative interviews in market research studies
Conducting good market research often requires to carry our a qualitative study. This is particulary true of customer satisfaction surveys that are often poorly designed and are not based on sound assumptions. In today’s article we reflect on some essential aspects of good qualitative research. We discuss a four-step iterative guide for interview design proposed by J. Arsel (2018) in his article entitled “Asking Questions with Reflexive Focus: A Tutorial on Designing and Conducting Interviews“. Step 1 : Define the types and purpose of your qualitative interviews Before starting your research you should be clear about why and how you’ll conduct qualitative interview. In Arsel’s words : “you should have a clear understanding about what you expect interviews to reveal and what kind of theoretical stories you can tell with interviews.” Not all interviews are alike. Different settings require different types of interviews. For instance: “Ethnographic interviews are short, in situ, and impromptu conversations that take place within the constraints of the field site. This type of interviewing might require more emergent design, and more spontaneous questions tailored for each observed moment to make the best use of time and space restrictions.” Step 2 : the interview guide The interview guide should be divided into 3 parts : In the first part you’ll inform the respondent about the study In the second part you’ll get her consent (and you’ll make sure you tape this to avoid any ethical issue afterward) In the third part you’ll ask your questions Arsel’s article is very detailled about how you should prepare your questions, how to translate your market research questions into interview questions, documenting interview insights in a central document, getting to know your participants, interviewing other types of actors to complete your understanding of the market, and embedding ethics in research questions. As Arsel puts it : “the interview should have an overarching purpose that persistently and progressively seeks new knowledge around an ever-evolving research question.” This is a very important piece of advice. Interviews are not en end in themselves. They are an instrument to reveal the truth on a market, on customers’ expectations or behaviors. It’s therefore instrumental that interviews be allowed to evolve to adapt to the truth being revealed. An interview guide is a living document and you’ll only be able to make it live if your document your findings progressively, after each interview. Here’s how Arsel sums up this interview process “Start your conversation by concisely and clearly explaining that you are a researcher studying [the subject matter], and are interested in hearing their experiences on this subject. If you are using a tape recorder, keep it...
Step-by-step market research guide almost ready: first teaser
As I announced earlier this year, one of my goals for 2018 was to write a step-by-step guide to market research. I did this between December 2017 and January 2018 and it took me quite a lot of time to finalize it : we let the market research guide translate in English and Dutch (translating 8000 words can’t be done overnight as you can imagine). This time I didn’t do the English translation myself as I wanted to have perfect ressources for our readers. we prepared a special template for our website to host this guide. A side panel was added to navigate between the 7 steps of the market research method proposed. we had to prepare graphic designs to make it easier to read the guide and identify the different steps for conducting market research. we prepared a very nice infographics (see below) Last but not least we are now in the process of preparing a white paper in pdf format. Next to the market research guide we will also add interviews of marketing professionals and entrepreneurs on how to use market research in different industries. I hope you’ll like our guide and learn a lot about market research and in particular my passion for qualitative methods. The online guide to market research is ready and available online : find it here ! As a teaser you’ll find here the link to the first episode of the market research guide and below the infographics which we prepared to illustrate the whole process. Don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and comment to improve...
Tips and tricks : using observation as a market research tool
In our latest article we dealt with an experiment carried out by the Virginia Tech University that used innovative observation techniques to study human behaviors when faced with self-driving cars. Today we want to dig a little bit more on observations as a market research tool and highlight settings where such a technique can be useful. At the end of the article we will also give you 3 useful tips. Only for our subscribers: exclusive analyses and marketing advice Email address * Subscribe By signing up, you agree to our Terms of use and privacy policy. "I thought the blog was good. But the newsletter is even better!" Esteban Hendrickx, art director When to use observation as a market research technique Observation is one of my favorite market research techniques. Yet, as I explained in the previous article, it is far too rarely used. I find it most useful is some particular situations : when studying human-machine interfaces when studying purchase decisions made by customers in self-serving settings when analyzing drop or rise in sales in retail settings You’ll mostly use it in B2C as you can understand from the examples given above. One very cool example is the project we are currently carrying out for the world’s best winebar, the N5 in Toulouse. We are combining Big Data analysis (a quantitative market research technique) and ethnography to understand how consumers decide on the wine they’ll taste next. Quantitative data alone can’t give you the answer. Qualitative research is key to understand what’s going on. Tips and tricks when using observations as a market research technique My first real use of observation as a market research tool dates back to 2005 when I had to carry out a project for a retailer. I spent hours in the stores observing employee-customers interactions as well as customers coming at lunch time to buy something to eat. I learned from there a series of tips that I always try to remember when I need to use that technique. 1. Try to know as few as possible Fortunately the project mentioned above was one of the very first I won as a market research agency. I knew very little at that time and it actually helped me. The less you know the more neutral you will be. You’ll have a fresh new look at something that you ignore and that might in fact improve your conclusions. When you’re used to something you can’t see the details of it. 2. No more than 1 hour of observation at a time I find it very difficult to observe well more than 1 hour. This is because...
Digital innovation: does your market segment care ?
Tech-savvy entrepreneurs love to imagine solutions to digitalize our world and change consumers’ usages. Adoption is usually the problem that occurs. It’s therefore essential to ask you this question beforehand: “do your target customers care enough to change their habits” ? To illustrate the problem, let me tell you a story. The story of my 80-year old mother-in-law. My mother-in-law writes phone numbers on the back of her cell phone In spite of her age she’s still very active and owns two cell phones that she uses to make inland phone calls. She has some very recurring habits. She doesn’t know how to register phone numbers and dials them all the time. To remember her most frequent numbers she wrote them on the back of her cell phone (I assure you this is no joke). My wife would love to send her text messages. She has tried to teach her how to open sms for 2 years. Last summer she spent one hour practicing with her. This summer the exact same scene happened. One afternoon they sat in the living room and my wife patiently explained her once again the very same steps. My mother-in-law wrote them down on a sheet of paper. After 5 minutes came the time to practice and guess what … she wasn’t able to make sense of the instructions she just received. No innovation can solve this problem Let’s do a little bit of ethnography. My mother-in-law has no memory problems, she’s in extreme good shape for her age, gets interested in a lot of things. So why can’t she remember how to open a sms? This isn’t difficult, is it? I know quite a few tech-savvy entrepreneurs who’d jump on the problem to find innovative solutions : new interface, voice-recognition to open up the menus, …. All that wouldn’t have worked for one simple reason. I asked my mother-in-law a simple question: “do you care about sms?”. Her answer was immediate : “No I don’t”. This is why she doesn’t remember how to navigate the menu. The problem is not about the interface or her technological literacy. It’s just that she doesn’t care and won’t invest any second of her time to make it work. Conclusions for entrepreneurs This anecdote made me reflect on how ineffective innovation can be when consumers’ needs are misunderstood. Qualitative market research would have helped identify that one market segment just won’t use any type of sms-related system because the need is just not there. This is a lesson that entrepreneurs should remember when they think they have identified a market need to...
How to handle qualitative market research in different countries / languages
Because our market research agency is located in Belgium, we often have to deal with qualitative marketing assignments that require to conduct interviews in different languages. As you may know Belgium itself has 3 official languages (Dutch, French and German) which correspond to different cultural orientations. For firms with a national marketing strategy, it’s therefore important to make sure the market research is carried out taking those cultural differences and the resulting dynamics into account. Two interview guides it all starts with designing two separate interview guides. The reason why you have to not merely handle translations is that cultural differences also goes along with sensitivities for certain topics. If you were to study the adoption of a new social media tool in Switzerland for instance, it would be very recommended to make sure you tackle privacy perception issues in the German-speaking part of the country. German cultures have been shown to be correlated to high sensitivity with privacy issues, which may eventually impede the adoption of your online service. A cultural effect can also be perceived at the country scale. In Belgium for instance the online invoice payment service Zoomit has never been successful (despite huge communication efforts from the banks). Belgians have always been very conservative as far as payments and invoicing are concerned. When we conduct market research on financial services we are always surprised to see how all generations (even younger ones) follow old-fashioned patterns when it comes to payment : printing invoices, annotating them, and sorting them in binders. One interviewer only This is yet another question that is often asked: who will handle the interviews in different languages / countries ? Our answer is straightforward: one research only. Most market research agencies will go the easy way, hiring freelancers in the different countries to quickly do the interviewing part. The advantage is obvious: you can let several interviewers work in parallel which will accelerate the timing of your projet. This has however a big disadvantage. By doing so the “learning effect” will be very much reduced. Imagine you have to do a series of 20 interviews in Belgium (2 languages), The Netherlands and France. You’ll logically carry 5 interviews in each “territory” : 5 in France, 5 in The Netherlands, 5 in Flanders and 5 in Wallonia. You’ll most probably have to handle 4 different interviewers who will not talk to each other, will not share their findings after each interview. Not only will you face inconsistent results (because each interviewer will handle the job differently), but your interviewing guide will not improve along the way and there will be minimal learning effect between each interview....
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