It's human nature to follow the crowd - it's much easier than going against popular opinion

Anyone who knows me knows I’m not a traditional, ‘follow the rules’ type person or researcher. I love trying new things and innovating to make sure research is kept lively and relevant for all parties involved. I’m open minded to new techniques and digital products that aid what a good qualitative researcher can glean from consumers. However, I do draw the line at some new products claiming to ‘speed up analysis’ or give you all the answers based on the written word only. 

Whilst text-based analysis may help you identify that golden quote more quickly, it can also be misleading. If one opinionated participant repeatedly vocalizes the negatives, then your results based on text-based analysis will be skewed. More importantly, what we also miss is the ‘unsaid’. That all important lean forward, nodding, or eye-roll at the negative comments. The crossed or uncrossed arms, the lit-up faces, the smiles, the scowls and the general disdain. This is what really brings the analysis to life and presents a holistic view alongside the spoken word. 

Some qual researchers have that natural instinct, picking up intuitively on what people are thinking based on body language.  For others it’s an invaluable skill to learn.  I’ve seen many cases where you can see from body language alone that what people are saying does not match how they are feeling, and it’s important to gently encourage the truth out of them. We can’t forget that it is human nature to follow the crowd to some extent and we need to enable participants to feel comfortable to speak their truth, not everyone else’s.

A good qualitative researcher should be curious, intuitive, perceptive, convivial and non-judgmental, and should be able to read a room quickly and think on their feet. It may look easy, but actively listening, managing egos and opinions, keeping one eye on the topics to be covered, ensuring equal contribution to the session and in some cases checking the back room requires a lot of experience and a degree in multi-tasking! One of my previous Qual trainees once mentioned it’s like learning to drive - having to think about gears, road position, speed, mirrors, road signs etc. – such a great analogy.

The intoxicating mix of emotions, mannerisms and language is what make Qualitative sessions so enlightening. Data is great, numbers too, but Qual is where I find my real joy.