How to get more out of qualitative studies by using Conceptual Models of Behavior.
In many cases, qualitative studies are intended to reduce the implicit uncertainty in decision-making, so they are carried out seeking to conclude, in the manner of quantitative studies.
Examples of this are the studies carried out to explore in depth concepts of new products and services, or the redesign of the same; advertising concepts, or advertising executions in varying degrees of progress in terms of production.
This does not mean that the decision will be supported by numerical results, but rather that it will be based on a better understanding of the effects that this decision may have on both the purchasing behavior of customers and on the company's performance indicators.
What should be sought are managerially strong results, rather than statistically conclusive. Despite this, it is common to use descriptive techniques both during the development of a group session, or in-depth personal interview, and for the analysis of results.
Nothing more wrong. Interview guides that contain specific questions rather than topics to explore must be critically mistrusted. And you have to be critically suspicious of qualitative study reports that describe results in numerical terms, rather than offering in-depth understanding.
Of course, it is correct to do qualitative studies to conclude and make decisions, but always on the basis of a better understanding of the phenomenon under study, never on the basis of a numerical description. If you want to quantify the number of responses for or against a concept, even on the basis of a convenience sampling, what should be carried out is a survey.
In a poll, the questionnaire can include both open questions and closed questions. The former will serve as the qualitative part of the study, while the latter will make it possible to quantify some proportions on which the decision to be made may depend.
On many occasions, qualitative studies are carried out as a first step in the process of getting to know the company's clients in depth, perhaps as part of a quality process that requires a chapter that covers this topic.
If it is the first time that the company is engaged in market research, it runs the risk of wanting to include as many topics as possible in the same study, regardless of the appropriate techniques to obtain the information.
The result is a qualitative study with tinges of a quantitative study and a report that aims to be conclusive about the reasons for purchase, satisfaction factors, brand perception and other qualitative aspects, such as buying habits or other quantitative aspects that it would be better to obtain through different studies.
Another error in qualitative studies results from the volatility of their findings, best characterized by forgetting the results by saving the final reports in a desk drawer. Any time a decision has been made, this may not seem to be important. However, sometimes the amount of money that is spent is such that a doubt arises.
How to make the best use of what is learned in a qualitative study?
Qualitative studies are typically a first step in market research. Its purpose is to explore in depth a buying behavior topic to learn something about it and to take advantage of that new knowledge when designing a quantitative study.
Thus, the correct terminology should be that of exploratory studies for the former and conclusive for the latter. In fact, there might be no exploratory study if it is replaced by real, deliberate, personal contact with the public, seeking to understand it in depth.
When an exploratory study is done, the most enriching thing about a group session is watching it. Live the eye-opening experience of learning and raising awareness about what products and services mean to the public and the role they play in their lives.
For this experience to transcend, the group of observers is required to later discuss what happened during the session, make a consensus of the main findings and gather them in their own work summary. This summary is not a substitute for the Investigator Results Report.
For the findings to be used, it is not enough to document them in a report. They must be applied during the company's decision-making processes. Even in decisions other than the one that generated the study in the first place.
Experience says that the best way for this to happen is to translate the findings into a scheme that I call a 'Conceptual Model of Buying Behavior' that serves as a reference for the work of many people, inside and outside the company.
A first example shows the decision to change the filter and oil of a private car. It divides the process into two stages: the decision to carry out such 'regular' maintenance and the decision regarding the choice of a particular filter brand.
A second example shows the variables that influence the decision to hire a residential telephone line, be it the first, second or whatever the home user is considering for their home.
The third describes the process of choosing an institution of higher education.
In all three cases, it is important to note that it is the summary of one or more qualitative studies carried out with the intention of understanding the purchase decision, the variables that determine it and the participants that influence during the process. However, they also reflect the expertise of the people involved in the project.
The resulting model can be used in many ways: as part of an advertising brief, or as part of an induction manual to the company and its market; as the basis for developing the questionnaire for a descriptive study, or as the starting point for developing a more sophisticated model for predicting purchasing behavior, since numbers are added to the variables that have already been conceptually related. With such a model, you have something that can go much further than the simple experience of witnessing the sessions or reviewing the results in a final report. In the least of cases, its preparation represents a magnificent exercise of synthesis of one's own business experience and imposes the challenge of conceptualizing what is already known about the company and the market it serves.
