This short blog outlines five common approaches to undertaking qualitative research. We then conclude with an introduction to mobile ethnography which combines the benefits of a number of these approaches and helps researchers generate rich insights from users.

In Depth User Interviews

User inteviews represent the most common and most widely known qualitative research method. User interviews are at their core just a one on one conversation. They allow you to hear first-hand stories about someone's experiences, their opinions, and their views on the subject at hand.

There's a lot of different ways you can approach user interviews.

First, they can range from structured to semi structured to unstructured; they can be conducted in person or over the phone, and can be particularly well suited to sensitive topics also e.g. finance, health research and sexual well being. While in-person interviews help you pick up on nuances they come at a cost i.e. travel time meaning the total cost can rack up. Similarly in a Covid era in person interviews are not recommended.

2. Field Studies - Direct Observation

Research takes place in the user's context, rather than back in the office or onsite. We know what people say they do is not always what they actually do. So we have to rely on something other than just user interviews.

Direct observation is a form of a field study where you directly observe user behaviour i.e. ethnographic research. Observing customers in their own context doing what they always do, is important to validate and support findings. Direct observation is useful for conducting design, research, and user process. It's great for learning user vocabulary, understanding businesses, interacting with customers, and discovering common ground. For example, listening in on support calls, watching people move through a store, or even observing sales staff and customers in stores. A modern take on this is mobile or digital ethnography which facilitates direct observation via smartphones.

3. Field Studies - Contextual Inquiry

Contextual inquiry is a mix of direct observation, and a user interview. It's a semi structured interview method used to gather information about the context of use. With this approach users are asked a set of standard questions, and then they are observed in situ and asked further questions. This is all conducted in their context and work environments so it helps with authenticity as the respondents are likely to be more relaxed in their own contexts.

4. Diary Study

A diary study is a research method used to collect qualitative data about user behaviour and activities and experiences over time as that user tries to accomplish specific tasks. In a diary study, data is self reported by participants longitudinally. This means that over a longer amount of time, participants are keeping a diary of those daily logs of activities or specific experiences.

Diary studies are really useful in certain scenarios. Perhaps, you want to collect habitual usage data?

What time of day are people engaging with your product?
How are they sharing your content?
What primary tasks are they completing?

Secondly, are there any changes in attitude, behaviour or motivation over time, like brand perception?

How loyal are customers after they make their first purchase?
How do they perceive your brand after they engage with that brand multiple times?

Modern takes on diary studies are mobile diary studies:

Mobile Diary Study - a mobile diary study utilised an application like Indeemo via your smartphone.

Video Diary Study - a video diary study may include screen recordings e.g. path to purchase analysis or customer journey mapping.

5. Focus Groups

Focus groups are a somewhat informal technique that can help assess user needs and feelings on both interface design or brand perception. In a focus group, you bring together a number of respondents or users to discuss issues and concerns. The group typically lasts a couple of hours and is run by a moderator who maintains the group focus, regardless of the methods you choose.

First, with qualitative data, you don't need a lot of people, but you need the right people. You can conduct qualitative research with a small number of participants and you're likely to uncover rich insights. However, the tricky part is they have to be the right participants - so recruitment is key. This means you have to align those people to the specific user segment or persona you're doing research on to aim to use a multi pronged approach.

Don't just rely on a singular qualitative method, but rather pull in others and use two to three different methods to really ensure you're getting that rich validated data.

Focus groups have been difficult to operate in this Covid era and also suffer from a number of limitations when set against newer methodologies like mobile ethnography

Cost of renting space
Travel to the physical location
Reliance on memory
Groupthink

It is thus likely we will see an increase in newer approaches like mobile ethnography as alternatives to focus groups.

Mobile Ethnography

Mobile ethnography or digital ethnography represents a fast growing methodology that utilizes the power of SmartPhones and Computers to allow qualitative research to take place remotely. The benefits of the approach are numerous including:

Scalable - have numerous respondents submit simultaneously
Cost effective - no travel costs (perfect for multi market research)
Versatile - can be used for customer journey mapping, to path to purchase analysis to healthcare research
Authentic - no researcher bias or group bias influencing the responses
Live - this represents an observed methodology so no need to rely on recall

In summary, quantitative data, gives you the how many answers, and qualitative data, helps you explore the whats and whys. The above list represents the most popular qualitative research methodologies while also introducing a newer one.

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