Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/482881
Q U A L I TAT I V E R E S E A R C H C O N S U LTA N T S A S S O C I AT I O N 17 Emerging from the "Dark Ages" Our tool was a live online focus groups platform and a bit "Frankenstein," to say the least, but I was excited to be able to help qualitative researchers come out of the Dark Ages and into the brave new world of online. No more would they need to jet-set first-class around the world to sunny climes and exotic places; no more would they have to stay in expensive hotels and eat fancy restaurant dinners; no need to wander aimlessly around city cen- ters and spend money on shopping; nor was it necessary to meet up with the client for drinks afterwards! You could just stay home all day, every day, order takeout, and moderate focus groups on a beanbag from the comfort of your bedroom. Think of the savings. In hindsight I now see the errors of my approach. Over the years I have had to adjust my pitch a bit to avoid being chased out of rooms full of raging quallies. I'm sure that the vigorous objections of qualitative researchers came from a good place. How could anyone get answers to pressing business questions if respondents weren't sweating it out during an interro- gation in a stuffy, windowless room with a one-way mirror? What about the lack of non-verbal cues? Or the fact that you can't give respondents something to hold in their hands? What about social interac- tion? Impression management? Symbolic phenomenology? What about that all- important atmosphere in the room? I digress. The point is I'm still alive, online qualitative platforms are here to stay, and all that running away from mod- erators has kept me reasonably fit. Let's fast-forward a few years when we were even closer to achieving the dream of online research. Everyone then had proper computers and was busy collecting follow- ers, friends and exes on social networks and bragging about their lives online. In addition, even normal people like your grandmother the truck driver or your aun- tie the fire-eating contortionist had email. They could click on anything with a screen and join a focus group. So what could possibly go wrong as we were nearing online qualitative utopia? What hideous demons would be unleashed upon the qualitative world as we knew it? Let's start with what could go wrong with the respondents. The Eight Hellish Respondents There are more than just eight of these people and not all are exclusive to online focus groups. 1. The Mute: Enters without saying a word. Exits without saying a word. 2. The Faker: A 13-year old finance director of a Fortune 500 company. 3. The Lothario: "Come here often? You're funny! Can I have your number?" 4. The Wrong Country: "Что нового" 5. The One Word Grunt: "Yes." "No." "Maybe." 6. The English Schoolteacher: "You missed an apostrophe." 7. The Potty Mouth: @$#&*^$! 8. The One Finger Sensation: The. Best. Respondent. In. The. Room. Types. At. Four. Words. Per. Minute… "So what could possibly go wrong now that we were nearing online qualitative utopia? What hideous demons would be unleashed upon the qualitative research world as we knew it?" I 've been in the market research industry for a few years now, but even so, the very thought of online qualitative research still sends shivers down my spine. Peering back a few years into the early days of online qualitative methodology (and by "early" I don't mean the Precambrian era of Internet Relay Chat; I mean around 2006 when it lost its tail and began walking on two legs), I had the pleasure of introducing a new prototype online qualitative platform we had developed. I was to demonstrate this amazing new tool to researchers and moderators from around the globe. The tool was built with the proviso: "If you have a computer you can watch YouTube on, then you can participate in an online focus group." However, not every computer could do this back then.