Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/482881
10 QRCA VIEWS SPRING 2 0 15 www.qrca.org n FROM THE PRESIDENT n I was recently on a domestic flight with a U.S.-based carrier. When the flight attendants served dinner to my fellow economy passengers and me, my imme- diate reaction was, "They don't understand their passengers at all!" What can I say? A Qualitative Research Consultant's (QRC) mind never stops – we just can't escape work! Here is what I observed as the attendants served the three rows of passengers before mine. • Flight attendants uniformly set down the food trays with the salad at the six o'clock position and the entrée at the noon position. • Almost every passenger turned the tray completely around, then rotated the tray, putting the entrée on one side and then the other before turning it back to its original position – all before they started eating. That's odd, I thought… what the heck is going on? • When I was served my tray (and yes, I was biased by then, but I understood why) I also tried turning my tray in all the different positions. The tray slid at the slightest touch because it did not rest flat upon the tray table and it did not feel sta- ble enough to eat from. Long story short, the trays had been designed to fit securely and compactly into the flight attendants' serving carts, but (subjectively) less thought seemed to have gone into the end users, experience when eating from a small, cramped table tray. I did laugh at myself shortly after this observation, realizing I seemed to be the only one paying attention to or caring about this issue. I even asked a flight attendant about the matter and he said no passengers had ever mentioned this to him. This attentiveness toward and curiosity about our surroundings, and the need to know more, is what we QRCs share. It is a key attribute in making qualitative researchers' involvement in the research design process critical to a project's and, ultimately, the client's success. Being an involved member of QRCA provides a chance to participate in the design process; we have the opportunity to learn about and be exposed to in- practice applications for new and emerging techniques, even when we've not yet had the privilege of putting them into practice ourselves. The increase in technolo- gy, coupled with the tried and true techniques that serve as the foundation of quali- tative research, has provided qualitative researchers an opportunity to be more cre- ative in designing projects to better meet clients' needs. The time has passed from approaching qualitative research as "let's do some groups" – what seemed to have been a catchall phrase for conducting qualitative research. Objective-driven meth- odology design is steering client successes, and mixes of old and new approaches deliver results. So, what would I have recommended if this client had come to me? Well, it isn't fair to speculate, knowing multiple factors can be at play. But, one thing I would have asked the client is to have their team eat a meal with passengers in their econ- omy class section and live in their customers' moment. Leveraging Qualitative Research Consultants for Strong Research Designs By Mark Sumpter Consumer Link Moderating & Research Consulting Inc. Chicago, IL mark@c-linkmoderating.com