Featured article:

Taking International Qualitative Research One Step Further....

Quirks Magazine, November 2006
By Caroline Richardson, Project Account Director (Nunwood)

It has been said that the UK is a ‘hothouse’ for new and innovative research techniques and methods. Agencies and clients alike are often experimenting with new approaches, particularly when it comes to conducting qualitative research. Coupled with this, new methods of disseminating research findings are being explored, with the aim of avoiding the ‘death by Power Point’ approach. However, when it comes to transposing this onto the international arena, it can be a different story.

For research projects which span continents and involve many different countries, it can be difficult to encourage this same, innovative approach in research techniques and methods of dissemination.

You will often find that research projects requiring insight from across the globe, are usually highly strategic pieces, with many stakeholders (more often than not, who are dotted around in various countries). To undertake innovative approaches for high value projects of this nature can be seen as a risk. After all, you know what you will get out of running a series of focus groups and you need ‘buy in’ from all. There is also the view that budgetary restraints won’t allow free reign on creativity when conducting qualitative research internationally.

However, there is a strong case for harnessing and nurturing this creativity and it shouldn’t simply stop at a domestic level.

Whilst focus groups and in-depth interviews can work for certain research needs, we could be in danger of not only succumbing to ‘death by Power Point’ but also ‘death by focus groups’! We are now seeing a change in client’s research needs, taking consumer insight one step further. It’s not simply enough to get an understanding of what people say they feel about new products and services. There is now a much greater focus on understanding consumer’s daily lives – their routines, their frustrations, their ‘inspiration points’, their aspirations and their ‘life journey’ in order to be at the forefront of understanding how our clients can develop products and services that fit into their lives. This is not something that can be easily derived through a series of focus groups or other traditional qualitative research. It needs to go much deeper than that, to the subliminal level.

Many have adapted to these changes and embraced this when conducting domestic research, however the thought of answering these kinds of research objectives on an international level can strike fear into the heart of any researcher. How can this logistically work on a global level? How can we undertake this without blowing the research budget completely out of the water? And importantly, how can we feed these results back to clients and stakeholders globally? Too many obstacles? Maybe we’ll just stick to good ol’ focus groups then... Everyone one will know what they’re doing and everyone will know what they are getting.

For those prepared to take it a step further, the more innovative alternative that immediately springs to mind is ethnography. A research technique that is frequently bandied about and scrutinised. To many, it is the answer to conducting innovative qualitative research. And in certain cases, it can be the answer. However you will often find that budgetary and time restraints usually negate the possibility of conducting pure ethnography. More and more often, we are being asked to conduct research as cost effectively as possible, in as little time as possible and pure ethnography ticks neither of these boxes. Particularly when applied to international research, it often isn’t the answer. If stakeholders in the US, Europe, Asia and Africa are relying on the research findings, they will not be prepared to wait for months on end whilst time is spent with consumers, the time spent analysing their behaviour before they even get a sniff of the findings!

However, it is possible to utilise alternative research techniques and methods of dissemination on the global arena. These can be conducted cost effectively, without the anticipated headaches outlined above. The following case study examples illustrate this. These are not ‘off the shelf’ products, as there is no one solution to any research need and set of objectives. However, they do illustrate the need to push the boundaries when conducting qualitative research internationally.

If we take the consumer insight needs outlined above - in order to gain a subliminal understanding of people’s daily lives, this requires the commitment of respondents over a length of time. Avoiding pure ethnography, we can spend alternative ways of getting to know consumers as individuals, and make the most of technology and visual stimulus to allow findings to be quickly and easily disseminated around the globe.

In order to understand the daily lives of consumers and understand their ‘journey’ when considering new products and services, once they have them, or even before they even felt they had a need for them (identifying the key inspiration or trigger points), a panel approach can be taken. It allows researchers and clients to follow people’s lives, follow the customer experience journey, understand what they are going through, measure satisfaction, points at which they may be likely to ‘switch’ and potential areas to capitalise on.

However, running a qualitative panel on an international level doesn’t simply have to incorporate the usual qualitative techniques of depth interviews etc. Respondents should be given a vehicle to record their activities, thoughts, emotions, hopes and aspirations without having to ‘download’ these to a researcher in person. This can be done through the use of technology, particularly making use of web and mobile technology. By setting up a dedicated web site, designed for the specific project and panel, respondents can ‘log’ (in a journal type approach) anything and everything of relevance, having been briefed at the start of the project. Respondents can record these thoughts on an on-going basis in their own personal area, they can also be prompted with questions by the researcher according to their responses and even ‘blog’ in forums with other panellists. It can even be taken one step further, encouraging the use of webcams and podcasts, for visual impact.

Allowing for the fact that consumers experience many things away from their desk and their web browser, they can be given other means of constantly ‘downloading’ this information, almost in a journalistic approach. Making use of PDA’s, SMS messages, MMS, even giving them a phone number to call to allow them to leave a voice message.

All these options allow the respondents to record their experiences in real time and allows researchers to gain a real insight into their experiences, almost as if they were accompanying them on the journey in person (without the expense of being there every step of the way!) If this is occasionally supplemented with the more traditional qualitative techniques of depth interviews to prompt, encourage and develop understanding, then the result is a full, all encompassing understanding of the consumer and their personal journey, something which cannot be derived from the sterile environment of a focus group.

Panels are lengthy I hear you cry! How can we get results quickly and how does this lend itself to an international approach? Not only can the researcher have access to the customer experience and journey, but through the use of the website, clients across the globe can log on and view the responses at each stage of the ‘journey’. They can even interact with the respondents themselves, by responding to their ‘blogs’ – a true form of customer closeness, not simply viewing from behind a one-way mirror. This constant ‘drip feed’ of findings allows dissemination to take place on an on-going basis, allowing them to feel close to the research and means that the presentation of findings at the end of the panel or at mid-points simply serves to clarify and summarise.

In terms of logistics, the respondent website can be set up and managed by the central coordinating agency, allowing cost savings. Translation software can be used and both the local and global researchers take responsibility for absorbing the customer’s journey, with the local researcher prompting, providing the local market knowledge and completing any of the in-person ‘touch points’.

To provide another specific example, this time focusing on effective global dissemination in particular, Nunwood were tasked to ‘bring to life’ a segmentation study for stakeholders across the globe – insight specialists, marketers, product developers and external stakeholders. Having already completed extensive qualitative and quantitative research to identify the segments, there was a need to represent these and to take it a step further beyond the usual Power Point case study profiles.

Again, a form of ethnographic approach was taken, this time spending time with respondents in their daily lives, through various touch points – briefing meetings, journals, depth interviews, observation. However, importantly, all of these interactions with the respondents were filmed. This enabled us to build a series of films, to visually represent each of the individual segments. The films were completed by segment (showing each segment across all countries) and by country (showing all the segments in each country). Stakeholders across the globe were then able to download these films from their desks to truly understand the segments. The films have visual impact and staying-power, enabling product developers and marketers to have a clear understanding of exactly the type of people they are targeting.

By making the most of the film element, it allowed minimum time to be spent with the respondents, with maximum impact for the clients. The filming and production was managed centrally, with local researchers used for the respondent touch points.

These examples point to the fact that, when, designing or commissioning global research programmes, clients and researchers should not be afraid to think more innovatively and creatively. It has been shown that this can be done easily and cost effectively on an international level. We need to make the most of technology to achieve this. Technology can also allow us into the lives of consumers over a period of time, rather than simply a ‘snapshot’ view of their lives. It’s also crucially important to encourage customer closeness with clients, which can be achieved on an international level, through the use of technology and film as illustrated. Film can also be used to avoid the ‘death by Power Point’ syndrome - a communication tool allowing results to be quickly and easily disseminated on the global arena through impactful and engaging films. There is no longer the need to send researchers travelling the globe to debrief individual country stakeholders. The use of films and even film based debriefs, allows global stakeholders to quickly and easily get the findings they need. Don’t be scared to take the plunge and think creatively when conducting international qualitative research.

To contact Nunwood to find out more about some of the approaches outlined or to give your opinion on the views expressed in this article, please contact Caroline Richardson, Project Account Director at Nunwood. international@nunwood.com


Click to view International section

Click to view pdf version

Nunwood: "Profit Through Knowledge"