The Right Methodological Blend for Your Question/Challenge
One of the things you learn after years in research is that each question or challenge helps to shape the most apt method of discovery by virtue of:
- what is being asked
- the types of knowledge that already exist about a market or client
- the goals/intended outcomes of the research, and
- budgetary/time considerations.
Some questions come with multiple layers of depth. Others are straightforward needs to get a pulse on a group or market.
No matter what the question/challenge, just a few of the tools we have at our disposal to craft the ideal research approach include:
Qualitative Tools
Techniques which focus on engaging a select set of market members deeply and in various manners, often in the environments in which they already work, live, or travel. These tools provide rich insights that are usually themed into lists of core psychological and motivational drivers of the market.
Ethnographicesque Immersion
This approach allows us to place seasoned qualitative researchers in key locations and roles which allow them to watch the culture and communication of a group first-hand, giving light to insights which are rarely revealed in interviews or other direct communication environments. Researchers enter the culture with the skill of a chameleon, blending into their surroundings while keeping a keen eye and ear out for the rules, habits, patterns, and tendencies which make the culture tick. Who talks to whom? About what? To what end? What actions are being taken?
Observational Shadowing
In this situation, researchers spend time in and around the places where decisions and communication are taking place, but merely as quiet observers. For example, much of our work in healthcare involves observational shadowing in waiting rooms and exam room corridors. This type of approach can also include ride-alongs with mobile clinics or sales force members or literal shadowing of key team members or customers to understand how products and services fit into daily routines and needs.
In-Depth Interviews
Varied in format, these are 1-1, 2-1, or 3-1 situations where 
participants participate in a directed conversation that focuses primarily on listening to what participants are sharing and allowing them to direct the discussion, while guiding them with structured prompts which ensure all core areas of insight are addressed. All conversations are participant-focused and work to understand the psychology driving consumers. When this tool is engaged, a strategic recruitment approach is utilized to ensure that participant diversity allows for successful themed analysis.
Focus Groups
One of our rarest tools of engagement, we maintain focus groups as an option only for challenges where group dynamics will enhance rather than detract from depth of understanding. In most cases, our philosophy is that in-depth interviews will provide far better insights than focus group settings because we zero in on the psychological pathways that an individual utilizes when thinking about a particular category, product, service, or decision.
Quantitative Tools
Approaches which allow us to engage large statistically valid samples of target populations and get answers to questions for which a core set of variables is known.
Questionnaires/Surveys
Design and engagement of non-biased questionnaires with insightful questions across a variety of administration media, including: phone, e-mail/internet, intercept, integrated (as a part of an existing communication stream).
Observational data collection
Researchers enter the natural environment where behavior occurs and observe the frequency and kinds of behavior under investigation. Once data are collected, they can be merged with data from other sources & analyzed to provide convergent validity
Experimental design
Have you ever wondered whether your intervention, be it a training program for employees or a promotion for consumers, truly led to a desired change in human behavior? This is the kind of question that our experimental designs can help answer. We can assess behavior prior to an intervention to gain a baseline measure of behavior, introduce the intervention, and then assess post-intervention behavior. If the change in behavior from pre- to post-intervention is significant, then we can say that the intervention likely created the change in behavior. You can be even more assured in your conclusions if you run assessments in a parallel control group that is not exposed to the intervention.
Statistical analysis
All quantitative research projects undergo statistical analysis. The exact technique used is based upon the questions you need answered. We design our projects and data collection tools with the end-goal in mind. Questions we answer through statistical analysis include: determing whether associations between variables of interest are significant, determining whether differences between groups are meaningful enough to warrant changing a campaign or approach, and creating prediction and classification models which help a company evaluate which variables are most important in leading to desired outcomes.
Qualiquant Tools
A blended research approach offering the depth of qualitative insights with the breadth of quantitative coverage. Usually portions of the research will focus on qualitative data, while others will focus on quantitative.
Sandwiching
At times it is advantageous to structure data collection so that participants are first exposed to a quantitative instrument, then enter a qualitative exchange, and in some cases then wrap-up their experience with a follow-up quantitative assessment. By sandwiching the methodologies deeper insights and cross-conclusions can be drawn from the collective date. In most situations, the quantitative instruments (especially front-end pieces) are administered to a larger set of respondents than the subset that receive the full sandwich treatment. In this way connections and confirmation between data sets is possible, while depth and variety of insights are built.
Simultaneous-Parallel Engagement
While there are times when sandwiching is the ideal approach, there are other times when launching two separate, but mutually focused, collection methods is recommended. In this approach research plans and goals are strongly aligned during the development and planning stages, but execution of the plans involves two separate sets of recruitment, creating two distinct, yet related data sets.
Staged Intent
The best research projects start by building off existing knowledge, 
but sometimes additional insights are necessary before a particular portion of research insights can be effectively developed. In these situations a process of staged intent is utilized which allows one or more areas of research to be completed as milestones rather than conclusion points. As insights from one stage of the research are developed, they direct and allow for more targeted design of the next stage of research. In almost all cases of staged intent design a mix of quantitative and qualitative insight pathways are incorporated.
Web-Based Distributive Patterned Response
Whether distribution is via email or web-based hosting, this approach allows for respondent answers to filter and direct the presentation of survey questions or prompts in such a manner that deeper insights into specific sections can be achieved from a single respondent without the concern of response fatigue. Because respondents are exposed only to prompts which most closely align with knowledge gained in previous answers, a blended set of open and close-ended questions can be provided. On the researcher side, results flow into easily analyzed data sets in real-time, allowing on-the-fly adjustment of future respondent focus and recruitment.
