Advanced Qualitative Techniques
Two of the more advanced techniques for qualitative data collection that we can undertake include
digital ethnography and online communities.
Digital Ethnography & Website Navigation Experience
Digital ethnography generates ‘in-the-moment’ qualitative insights. Using a smartphone research respondents can self-document how they behave, act and feel, in-context and in-the-moment. It is also possible for participants to navigate a website on their smart phone, recording their experience as a user via screen recording and narration.
It has a diverse range of applications, for example: track a customer journey; record how a website is navigated with participant narration; undertake a diary study; test concepts/products in their everyday contexts; undertake ‘voice of the customer’ research to better get to know customer segments; and undertake behaviour change tracking studies. Respondents can also provide a quantitative ‘rating’ score in relation to an experience.
Participants use an App that is installed on their smartphone to diarise their own behaviours and feelings while they are ‘in-the-moment’. The experience is captured using videos, photos or text based tasks. We would work with the Client to design a small number of tasks that gain insights e.g. at different stages of a process, at different points in time/times of the day. These multimedia diary posts are uploaded to a dashboard that we can immediately access. The app has a social networking style user experience that feels familiar to many respondents, with the aim of making it a fun and intuitive experience.
As a qualitative methodology, a digital ethnography is aiming for depth and quality rather than quantity. We often recommend between 15 and 20 participants, depending on the research topic. We can recruit residents via our panel, social media and/or in a quantitative survey as required. We could also work with the client to identify participants e.g. using a customer list. This methodology can generate unexpected insights, as well as build knowledge about aspects you know you’d like to explore in more depth. It is almost always more cost-effective than traditional ethnography where a participant is accompanied and observed by a researcher.
Online Community
Participants join a private online community forum, set up in the style of a social media group page or blog. Participants must sign up and answer profiling/eligibility questions in order to register. The community can be Client and/or IGR branded and, if desired, become a customer ‘hub’ for independent discussion and interaction, as well as more formal research tasks. They can be short-term or on-going.
Communities predominantly deliver qualitative insight, with a small amount of quantitative insight also possible. Members are invited to participate in a series of online discussions, multi-media image and/or video tasks, diary tasks and polls for research and engagement purposes. Informative material, such as relevant online videos and articles, can be provided as conversation prompts. IGR researchers moderate and probe as necessary.
Online communities can also provide the space for participants to discuss what is most important to them. Identification of organically occurring can also lead to unexpected insights that inform service or product development.
