Your Research Toolbox

In your research toolbox, you have all sorts of different tools and techniques you can use.  And oftentimes, there are multiple research routes that can answer your needs.  Of course, there is quantitative and qualitative.  However, within those, there are focus groups, concept testing, segmentation, ethnographies, online qualitative, brand architecture research, one-on-ones, mobile qualitative, positioning research and the list goes on and on and on.

Factors to Keep in Mind When Selecting Research Tools

With all of these tools (and more!) available to help in understanding your business issues, there’s no one approach to answer your questions.  The research methods/approaches that are selected are often based on the following factors:

  • Scope of the question(s) at hand
  • How you’re planning to use the information
  • Risk-level of decision at hand
  • Timeline
  • Budget
  • Key stakeholders involved

Combining Research Tools to Tackle Business Issues

While sometimes the best approach for a given research need is simple – like a concept test or a concept/product placement test, oftentimes information needs are more complex.  Marketing researchers often recognize that the more complex the issue, the greater the benefit there is to combining multiple tools in your research toolbox.  Combining approaches can help you gain exponentially greater learnings to make a real difference in your business.

Doing Qualitative Research to Make Quantitative Research More Impactful

One common and insightful research approach is conducting focus groups to refine concepts prior to quantitative testing.  However, sometimes you’re not quite sure if the changes made to the concepts after you head back to the office are exactly what the target consumer was looking for.  Reaching into our research toolbox, we can greatly increase the odds of concept changes being on-target before you head into concept testing with online qualitative follow-ups, utilizing a sub-set of consumers from the focus groups.  Doing this little bit of extra due diligence can help to avoid costly recycle time by ensuring your concepts are as strong as they can be heading into the quant – helping you to get it right the first time.

Or – sometimes you’re on a super-tight timeline, and would like to do both qualitative and quantitative research, but just don’t have time for both.  With our hybrid same day quantitative / qualitative fast research tool, you don’t have to choose – you can get outstanding insights with the quantitative measurement you need, along with the deeper understanding you gain from qualitative discussions all in a span of a day or two.  Getting both measurement and great insights -fast!

These are just the tip of the iceberg to demonstrate the possibilities of how utilizing a combination of research tools can help you to get the strong insights you need, with greater speed, and give you even more confidence that the decisions you make are the right ones to grow your business.