What exactly do qualitative researchers do?
A qualitative researchers’ job seems unreal from an outsider’s perspective — travel around the world, talk to people, explore new cultures and work on creative presentations. And often I wonder to myself — how did I end up here? Being a qualitative researcher wasn’t my top career choice growing up. In fact, I found out what it meant after I got my master’s degree. But here I am!
We love to share insights and resources for researchers at all points in their career. We have a deep dive on quantitative research, so we thought we’d share an overview of qualitative research as well. Let’s dive in.
“….So what exactly do you do?” is a question I get asked often. And depending on who’s asking I have different answers: “Do you know what focus groups are? I basically conduct those” or “I collect consumer feedback and tell people what’s working and what’s not with their products” or “I help companies understand their consumer needs and pain points.” And while all of that is true, there is also so much more to the job.
What is qualitative research?
Qualitative research is a method of gathering people’s experiences and feedback by talking to them (in person or virtually) to improve a product, service or brand. Unlike data analysis and quantitative research (which also focus on understanding people’s behaviors at scale), qualitative research can help gain an in-depth understanding of why people behave the way they do. Numbers and data help you understand what’s happening; qualitative research helps uncover the why behind those behaviors.
There are four key tasks that a qualitative researcher needs to accomplish:
- Building a research plan
- Coordinating and conducting research
- Gathering and analyzing the data
- Socializing the research across the organization
Building a research plan
While this may seem like the simplest task at hand, it can make or break a crucial research project. There are multiple tools available to qualitative researchers to talk to people: diary studies, 1:1 interviews, focus groups, immersion workshops, etc. Each tool has its own strengths and weaknesses, and identifying which tool will help get to the right answers is key to success. To get it right, it’s important to deeply understand why we are doing the project in the first place: What are the business needs we’re trying to solve? What kind of decisions do we need to make with these insights? What’s our timeline like? Why do we need to understand this problem? Why now?
Qualitative researchers do this by first talking to people who commission the project or who are directly impacted by the project, i.e. clients, stakeholders or other researchers. Once we have a good sense of the context around a project we build our research plan — this includes the project scope, research goals, methods we will be using, deliverables, audience and timeline.
Coordinating and conducting research
Once we’re aligned on the research plan, it’s time to start setting up the research.
- We first create a screener with questions that will identify the right participants for the study. We either work with vendors or find people for the study ourselves. This stage includes a lot of logistical project management — checking and rechecking participant details, protecting people’s privacy, NDA/Consent Form signing, setting up interview slots/virtual study launch timings and creating discussion guides.
- Once that’s done, we do what’s most commonly associated with qualitative research — actually conduct it! This can look like us sitting with people across a two-way mirror and asking them questions, going into their homes and meeting their families, going shopping with them, brainstorming and sketching together with consumers or virtually following up with them.
The difference between just anyone talking to consumers vs. qualitative researchers talking to consumers is the training and skill we utilize to ask the questions the right way. Qualitative researchers ensure that we make participants feel comfortable, build enough rapport to have them answer honestly, and ask questions in interesting ways to tap into their subconscious and avoid biases. Remember, it’s not about what questions are asked but how we ask questions to get the answers we need.
Gathering and analyzing data
Once we are done with all our research, we are left with all kinds of data that aren’t numbers on a spreadsheet — transcripts from interviews, quotes, sketches, photos, videos, etc. So how do we make sense of data that can’t be processed in data models?
This is the stage where art and science combine, and it’s personally my favorite step of the qualitative research process. Either collaboratively or individually, qualitative researchers use interesting techniques to make sense of this data — affinity mapping, walls (IRL or virtual) with sticky notes, brainstorming sessions, messy Miro/FigJam boards and tagging tools on digital platforms. The goal at this stage is to identify patterns that ladder up to the big picture. What differentiates an average qualitative researcher from a good one is the interpretive skills. A good qualitative researcher is able to get deep in the weeds of why those patterns show up, understand which patterns need to be prominently highlighted, and skillfully explain to stakeholders/clients why these patterns matter to their business questions.
At the end of this stage, we not only report what we found but also build a strong case for what we should do with these insights and why.
Socializing the research across the organization
Qualitative research is most successful when the people who are invested feel empathy for their audience and have a clear sense of what actions need to be taken from the research. This is the stage where storytelling and showmanship come in. Good research is engaging yet thought-provoking, easy to understand yet thorough, and simple to grasp but filled with all the necessary details.
Inspiring people to take action on research is challenging. I’ve found that using interesting visuals, movies, interactive games, immersive techniques and workshops can often be more successful than simply sharing a document report or slide deck. Or sometimes I involve stakeholders in the early stages of research by giving them small “tasks” like taking notes during the research sessions, building their own set of insights, or making them “in charge” of bringing one participant’s story to life. My goal at this stage is to empower others to feel confident enough to evangelize the research insights themselves. Conducting the research project is one part of the job, but constantly socializing the insights and building buy-in for research is equally important.
Why qualitative research is important…
Qualitative research is crucial to understanding people’s behaviors. So while the job may seem simple enough on the outside, there are many layers and skills to it that may not be immediately obvious. But hopefully, this post helped you understand a little bit more about what the job entails, and encourages you to explore the field more if you’re interested in pursuing a career as a qualitative researcher. There’s always more to uncover.
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