Method Spotlight May 2016

Is My Marketing Research Project a Qualitative or Quantitative Effort? Or Both?

This is a question that has been echoing through the ages, and will continue to echo into eternity it seems. Interestingly, there aren’t many really good answers to this question out there either.

Here marks an attempt to create a checklist of sorts to assist in making these decisions; a means of scoring your research effort with respect to whether it is a qualitative research effort, a quantitative research effort, or an honest to goodness both methods scenario.

As a marketing research provider for nearly 20 years, I will say that it is usually preferable to perform some qualitative and quantitative research when performing upstream research. This is not from a desire to make my projects bigger and more expensive; rather, I wish to insure my projects are effective and efficient. Most of the time, the best results come through asking both types of questions, and the order in which you ask the questions is very important and dependent upon many of the same things that decide whether a qual or quant (as they are known in short) effort is the best way to go.

1. How up to date are you regarding the problems facing your target audience and the solutions they have at their disposal? Why do they need you?

5 Points – If you have a very clear idea of the different problems they face and options they have for solutions;

3 Points – If you know one or the other, i.e., their problems but don’t know the competitive solutions, or vice-versa.

1 Point – If you only know the audience, but little about why they need you.

2. To what extent does your use of the research depend on your assumptions being projectable to your target audience overall?

5 Points – If certainty regarding the results reflecting the market overall is critical;

3 Points – If you would like to have some measure of assurance the results are able to be projected over the entire audience. 

1 Point – If you are exploring a subgroup of your audience in detail, or if you are looking for potential answers and not the percentage of your audience who would offer potential answers.

3. Do you need to set benchmark values based on the research, and at some future time, check to see if these values have changed?

5 Points – If the main goal of your research is to establish benchmarks and test how the responses change over time;

3 Points – If benchmarks are only related to uncovering drivers or narratives surrounding why your audience makes the choices it makes.

1 Point – If benchmarking is not a priority nor a requirement of the research.

4. Do you need respondents to react to a new concept or idea using a scaled response that can be used to compare groups of respondents or respondents overall?

5 Points – If scaled feedback is critical;

3 Points – If scaled feedback is only needed to spark further probing or in depth commentary.

1 Point – If scaled feedback is not required at all

5. Does your research effort require hands-on, physical interaction with the product itself?

5 Points – No hands-on interaction is required;

3 Points – Hands-on interaction would be a bonus, but not required. 

1 Point – Hands on interaction with a product is an absolute necessity.

Your score:

18-25 – You are most definitely needing to perform quantitative research. Writing a focused outline regarding the specific questions you need answered and the potential options for answers would be an excellent next step in achieving your research goals, whether the actual research is performed by you or a research firm.

12-17 – It is likely important you integrate some quantitative component into your research, as it seems your goals are aligned with that methodology, but you may wish to consider performing both. Consider performing a survey followed by a series of one on one interviews, or the opposite order. If your answer to question number 1 was 1 point, it is strongly recommended that a series of qualitative interviews be performed prior to conducting a survey.

5-11 – You would be best served by planning for an initial round of qualitative research, either one on one interviews or focus groups, depending on your goals, market and audiences. To help you decide what kind of qualitative research is best for you, consider reading our whitepaper, "Focus Groups or IDIs?"

Keep in mind, if you are making big decisions and bets on hypotheses surrounding new products, new positioning or product campaigns, or new directions for your products or services, you nearly always need to include quantitative research into your plans. In many of these cases, performing your quantitative research first, and following up the survey data with a qualitative inquiry can substantially deepen your understanding of the quantitative results.

If you have any questions, or just want to learn more about what we do here at Actionable Research, please contact us to set up a call.

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