Multi-touch qualitative research

By Stacy Graiko
July 13, 2010
Many research studies are designed to have single touches with consumers. Ex: in focus group situations, the moderator typically meets the research participants for the first – and last time – when they enter the focus group room. Think about this concept: we meet them at minute 1, and by minute 15 are asking them to open up and share with us their fears, desires, and perhaps faulty perceptions about ideas we are researching…a risky proposition for them. And at minute 120, we say goodbye forever.
In IDIs, cut that time in half, but expect to get to the same level of rapport we do in a two hour session. Our expectation that research participants look at us as trusted confidantes in single-touch qualitative research is irrational at best. So how can we increase the level of trust and comfort our research participants have, while staying true to our research objectives? Multi-touch research has proven to be a critical tool in our toolkit.
Multi-touch qual calls for at least three touches with research participants by the research team, in addition to touchpoints with recruiters. After recruiting, we conduct a brief telephone call or VoIP (Skype) session to get to know each other. In this session we introduce the research, sharing as much as we can about the research objectives and methods. We give the participant an opportunity to ask us questions and we answer as candidly as possible without giving away any necessary brand confidentiality. Then, we review the homework assignment and generate some anticipation for our in-person session. Next we meet in person, either at an IDI or group session.
If possible, the researcher that conducted the get-to-know-you call will be the researcher moderating the in-person session, and the conversation starts on a higher level than it would otherwise, ex: “When we spoke you told me XX about yourself; would you elaborate?” etc. vs. “Please tell me about yourself.” The level of rapport in the room is noticeably higher and more intimate than sessions conducted without the initial session. Finally, we wrap-up within a week after the in-person sessions with a follow-up phone or Skype call to gather last thoughts after each of us has had time to reflect on our previous meetings.
These three touchpoints add time (and cost) to a research study and the pros and cons need to be weighed, especially when conducting hybrid studies that go right into another phase after exploratory qual. For topics of a sensitive nature, and studies in which more data is better, multiple touch qual makes sense and added cost and timing is usually justified.
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