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Research Planning / Strategic Development – One of the most critical phases of any research project appears right up front, for if the study is not carefully planned, its chances of success are greatly diminished.  A number of critical questions must be evaluated and answered at this stage, including:

• What are the primary and secondary objectives of the project?
• What are the key types of information we need to obtain?
• Which research methodology is optimal for this project?
• From whom do we want to obtain the information?
• How many sessions should be held?
• Which geographic locations should be covered?
• What is the timing of the project?

Respondent Recruiting – During this phase, all final decisions regarding the “who” factor are made.  Once the study’s target audience has been finalized, then the optimal method of recruiting this group must be determined.  In the case of focus groups, for example, where most often the recruiting is conducted by the professional research facility at which the sessions will be held, a detailed “screener” is drafted to guide them in this process. 

Research Facility Management / Supervision – ConsumerView works with a number of extremely competent research facilities across the country, but understandably, the quality of their performance is only as good as the direction they are given.  If your project requires such a facility, a myriad of logistical issues must be resolved in order for the implementation to run smoothly, and overlooking even the seemingly-most-minor of details can be detrimental to the project’s success.

Discussion Guide Preparation – It could be argued that this is the single most important phase of the entire project.  Why?  Because one of the saddest outcomes of any qualitative study is the occasional outpouring of “should haves” following presentation of the final report.  (“We should have asked this” or “we should have shown them that” or any number of other disappointments.)  However, with careful planning of the “road map” used by the moderator / interviewer during the discussions, these regrettable concerns can be drastically reduced or eliminated.

Research Implementation – Stating the obvious, it is essential that you put the responsibility of actually executing the qualitative research sessions into the hands of someone who truly knows what he or she is doing.  Someone with considerable experience in how to make a variety of different people feel comfortable.  Someone who can calmly handle any number of surprises that often crop up while conducting a session.  Someone who makes listening an obsession.  Someone who can control the aggressive know-it-all so that other participants are not intimidated.  Someone who follows the agreed-to discussion guide but knows when to divert off the established path to explore an interesting and relevant side road.  Enough said.  The list is endless.

Results Analysis – Given that nearly all focus groups, mini groups and in-person individual interviews are recorded in audio and/or video, the first step in this phase is usually to review all the tapes and carefully take notes on all that was said.  Next, the researcher must analyze this abundance of data, and although individual respondent comments are often interesting or noteworthy, the primary goal must be one of identifying patterns of consistency within each group and across all sessions.

Report Preparation / Presentation – There are many different ways to construct and present the final report for a qualitative study, and not surprisingly, the decision is usually made based on the objectives and unique requirements of each client company.  Two separate reports are often created, with the first being an executive summary or topline report, and the other being a much longer and more detailed document that typically includes a number of actual quotes from the focus groups or interviews.