Online Ethnography - Transforming Qualitative Research
Context - Client Concerns
The following article outlines some insights from a recent qualitative research engagement where the client requested the agency undertake a more modern approach to qualitative research.
The agency originally proposed a focus group but there are several research effects that the founder (research sponsor) felt highly cynical towards. He argued that if the agency defaulted to a traditional focus group discussion, he wouldn't feel confident making decisions off the back of the research.
He was particularly concerned about group bias where one person dominates the others and influences them to agree or disagree with what they're saying. He argued that people are hardwired to be socially influenced and that it is very hard not to be affected by what those around you say.
He also felt people are simply not good witnesses of their past behavior and thus relying on recall weeks or months after an event was not an accurate representation of their views.
Finally, he felt that an artificial viewing facility would not necessarily elicit meaningful feedback from participants, as he felt behaviour was likely to change when respondents were being covertly watched by clients behind a one-way mirror.
The Challenge
The client thus challenged the agency to come up with a qualitative research method that would take him closer to people's real lives, and the way they make decisions.
Finally, he also wanted to present the findings in a way that was more compelling than a “bunch of PowerPoint slides with paraphrases pasted on charts”.
Drawbacks of Focus Groups
In essence, the client was highlighting some known issues with Focus Group discussions. These included bias effects, group think challenges and problems with recall weeks after an event.
He also felt Focus Groups lacked depth (a problem for face to face groups as much as Zoom calls or webcam groups), which a lot of people are defaulting to at the moment.
He argued that if you are investing $60 per person, and you're getting eight people in a group, all talking in one real time session, you're getting less than 15 minutes of input per person. And because it's live, only one person can speak at any time. Once you deduct the time that the moderator spends speaking, you're left with less than 15 minutes per person.
Online Ethnography
Online Ethnography or Mobile Ethnography (What is Mobile Ethnography?) refers to the use of online devices (Smartphones and computers) to capture insights from remote respondents in the field. This was the approach the agency proposed to the client based on his fears listed above.
Benefits of Online Ethnography Compared to Focus Groups
With mobile ethnography, respondents are feeding back in parallel. While you are still spending $60 for that two hours investment, you are getting 120 minutes input per person, so eight times more input per person, which means eight times more detail compared to the focus group example above.
So it's the same number of people, the same investment for incentive, but eight times as much detail plus you don't have all the time, it takes the moderator to talk. So when you also consider other benefits of asynchronous online qual and mobile methods, you start to realize the other compelling benefits including:
Getting into people's real lives in their own context
Overcoming the recall biases at play - it is a task-based observed methodology
Getting feedback in private, so they're less influenced by others and are more likely to emotionally disclose more personal information because they don't feel quite so judged. They're not being watched.
Getting mobile video footage from their real lives, which is hugely impactful when it comes to client presentations because ultimately, they want to see real people's authentic lives.
getting a lot more data as the above calculation illustrates.
Some Recommendations
He did flag one issue with asynchronous online qualitative research: you haven't necessarily got a captive audience compared to real-time sessions. In a real-time group discussion, it's unlikely people are going to just walk off if they get a bit disengaged or bored. You can thus get away with being quite direct in the way you ask questions.
However, in an asynchronous context like online ethnography, you have to engage them, you've got to make it interesting, make them feel motivated and want to take part. He suggested that games are a good way to do that, especially when you're giving them a sense of importance and recognizing their value to you.
Universal Principles
The following represent some universal principles that are useful in asynchronous research methods.
1/ Make Your Respondents Feel Special
Make your respondents feel special, remind them that they've been carefully chosen and that their input will make a big difference, the more special they feel, the more reliable and engaged they'll be. They have to answer all your questions. This is a new model where it's incumbent to engage people to make them want to come back for day two, and day three of the study. So making them feel special in the way you send instructions, in the beginning, will help achieve this, making them feel special in the way you probe. The feedback you give them, the encouragement you give them. All of these things help maximize engagement and reduce the risk that you're going to get drop-out or low engagement.
2/ Don't Overload The Tasks
Try not to set too many tasks, you've got to be honest with people, when you say this is going to take two hours of your time more or whatever the time brief is to people. And there's a tendency to maybe throw the kitchen sink into overloading the questions and tasks just because you can and you know, it's not like you've only got a two-hour window. So sometimes clients will try and push in more and more questions. And it's really important for researchers to push back and say, you know, we're the experts, there is a limit to how much time we can get from people. If you overload them, people will get annoyed, they feel disenfranchised, and they'll turn on you and they'll start being negative, or they just won't turn up.
3/ Make it Engaging
People love to express themselves. People like to play games. So if you can set tasks that somehow tap into that desire to, to play, to express yourself, you're going to get more evocative, more emotional feedback as well.
Summary
In summary, the above outlines some of the reasons why some clients are seeking alternatives to Zoom calls and Online Focus Groups, and why online ethnography offers a credible option for those seeking authenticity and rich insights.
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