In this profession … the qualitative market research profession that is … MAN do we need to switch hats and tap different skill sets ALL THE TIME.
When moderating, we need to utilize our facilitation and active listening and quick-thinking skills.
After, when analyzing, we need to put on our analytical, logical and critical thinking caps.
Finally, when writing, we need to put on our creative hats. We use language skills to compose, wordsmith and edit then artistic skills to graphically layout.
Of course, we use our organization skills all around, don’t we? Organizing input for discussion guides, stimuli for groups and notes/verbatims for analysis.
Qualitative researchers wear many, many hats.
Today, my hair is a mess. Hat head.
Switch it up, a photo by Herkie on Flickr. I’m one of those moderators that often exclaims in the middle of a focus group the words, “I LOVE MY JOB!!” I’m an extrovert with an insane curiosity, and I so thoroughly enjoy facilitating group discussions that I often make my family crazy with questions. But…
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Up Close & Personal, a photo by Darkstream on Flickr. Someone writes on the Jergens US Skincare Facebook page, “Great lotion!” On Twitter, someone tweets “#Pepsi wins over #CocaCola any day.” Each day thousands of brands are mentioned via social media … and thousands of opportunities to dig deeper are missed. So how does a…
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Skilled qualitative research specialists often use projective techniques to get beyond top-of-mind information, move past the first thing that comes to someone’s mind and really go after some deeper insights. The “Think Say Diagram” is a classic: respondents are asked to jot down what they’d be saying about any given topic … and enhance it…
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080330 takeout cupcake 2, a photo by Dan4th on Flickr. It’s been one week since the annual QRCA conference wrapped up, which means it’s time to open up the folders again and see the goodies that I took away from those delicious presentations! I thought I’d share some nuggets with you. There are many ……
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The 2011 annual QRCA conference in Vegas began yesterday with a damn good “master class” given by three industry greats: Bob Harris, Judy Langer and Pat Sabena. My primary takeaway is that each moderator has their own personal style and as long as the focus of the groups remains on the objectives you can use…
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Yeah! My most recent article, QRCA VIEWS Fall 2011 Travel Wise ( if you get the magazine, it is on page 72!) The article is about the various art exhibitions at various international airports — exhibits that enrich the travel experience, reflect local culture and heritage, educate and impress those who pass through. This writing assignment…
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“Learn. Connect. Have Fun!” That’s the slogan for the upcoming annual conference for qualitative researchers taking place this October in Las Vegas. And that’s what I felt working out the draft of my slides for the workshop I’m presenting at the conference on “Repositioning Yourself” for qualitative market researchers. Here’s the description of my…
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In the wake of Hurricane Irene and the subsequent 3 day loss of electricity, phones and internet I experienced here in Connecticut, I’m reminiscing about a project I worked on in 1999 … focus groups for a large and well-known IT firm on the topic of disaster recovery. While the findings remain proprietary, I’m comfortable…
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“Go to yoga,” my sage of a son said to me this morning. “You need it.“ You need it. What did he mean by that? He meant that lately I seemed overwhelmed. He meant that I’d been ineptly handling the stress of my current workload and was taking it out on my kids. He meant…
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