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Is your marketing or product development a bit weak and under the weather, or isn’t it as punchy as it used to be? Qualitative research might just be the pick-me-up it needs. Now, not just any type of qualitative market research (it’s not some magic cure-all). You need to pick the right type of qualitative research — and we’re here to help you do that.
But what you need to know about qualitative research at its core, is that it’s about exploring the qualities and nuances of human behavior and preferences. Using discussions, observations, and analysis, you try to uncover not just what people do, but why they do it.
Conducting qualitative research provides you with rich, detailed feedback that gives depth to – and compliments – quantitative research, and can help you formulate direct actions to take. Here’s which qualitative methods we’ll be exploring today.
Surveys are great for tapping into the minds of your audience: you can ask direct questions to gather feedback on everything, in a variety of formats.
With the flexibility to reach a broad audience and the ability to tailor your questions for specific insights, surveys are one of the most used tools for gathering qualitative data at scale, and in record speed.
Benefits:
Challenges and solutions:
When to use:
Use surveys to explore consumer sentiments, identify unmet needs and pain points, and evaluate what drives brand loyalty.
Send out survey questions and collect written answers or even video responses with Attest. Our platform takes care of everything, from survey templates to get you started, to best-in-class research advice to help you run truly great research.
See how qual research with Attest works
You can get high-quality video responses from your target audiences with Attest, and our team of research pros is on hand to help you run awesome research
If you want to go deep, and not necessarily get a lot of data from different participants, interviews are your thing. By sitting down for a one-on-one with people from your target audience you can gather detailed feedback and personal stories
Use Interviews for qualitative research when developing new products or features to deeply understand user needs and reactions, and for branding or campaigns to gather stories and emotions that tie people to your brand, enriching your next marketing initiative.
Learn to read the room. Focus groups bring together a small group of people from your target market to discuss their opinions and experiences regarding your product or service. The setup of these groups often encourages participants to share their thoughts and ideas.
Use focus groups for brand perception studies to delve into group discussions about your brand and for concept testing to gather immediate reactions to new product ideas, packaging, or marketing strategies.
Watching how people interact with your product or service in their natural environment (in person or through video recordings), without interference, is a great way to get real-life insights into user behavior, preferences, and potential improvements that might not be revealed through direct questioning.
Use Observation for user experience research to see how people interact with your product in real settings and for environmental impact studies to understand how different environments influence consumer behavior towards your brand.
The words, images or videos related to your brand or product that people create and share tell a story. With content analysis, you collect all these elements and try to find themes, patterns or issues that stand out.
Use content analysis for uncovering insights into brand perception and evaluating the impact of marketing campaigns on public sentiment through social media content analysis.
Narrative analysis delves into the stories people tell about their experiences with your product or service. It focuses on understanding the sequence of events, the context, and the emotional journeys described by consumers.
Use narrative analysis to map out detailed consumer journeys from first awareness to loyalty and to craft compelling brand stories that resonate deeply with your audience.
This method involves analyzing existing documents and records related to your market or industry, and conducting case studies on specific examples within your field. You look at historical trends, previous campaigns, product launches, and customer feedback over time, providing a context for current market dynamics and guiding future strategies.
Use historical records management and case studies for analyzing long-term market trends, assessing the effectiveness of marketing campaigns over time, and understanding the evolution of product life cycles influenced by consumer preferences.
Ethnographic research immerses you in the everyday lives of your target audience, observing them in their natural settings to understand their behaviors, rituals, and the social context of product usage. This gives you culturally grounded insights into how and why your product fits into consumers’ lives.
Use ethnographic research to understand how user environments and cultures affect product use, tailor offerings for specific markets or cultural groups, and innovate with designs centered on real-world user behavior.
Phenomenological research focuses on the lived experiences of individuals regarding a particular phenomenon. Through in-depth interviews and discussions, you gather detailed personal accounts, looking for the underlying meanings and emotions attached to experiences with your product or service.
Use phenomenological research to dive deep into the emotions and experiences of new market segments, refine user experiences for greater satisfaction, and create brand messages that forge stronger emotional connections with your audience.
The grounded theory method starts with data collection without a predefined hypothesis, allowing theories to emerge from the data itself. Through continuous comparison of data from interviews, surveys, or observations, you develop a theory that explains a particular aspect of consumer behavior or market trends.
Use the grounded theory method to innovate products, tackle complex consumer issues, and craft strategies that deeply align with consumer preferences and behaviors.
Action research is a participatory method where researchers work alongside participants to identify and solve problems or improve practices. In the context of market research, it could involve collaborating with consumers to co-create solutions or enhance product design.
Use action research to develop products informed by user feedback, enhance customer experiences through targeted improvements, and strengthen relationships with communities or stakeholders through collaborative engagement.
Conduct qualitative research when you need in-depth understanding of consumer attitudes, feelings, or behaviors—areas where quantitative research’s numbers and statistics can’t provide the full picture.
Qualitative research is best used in tandem with quantitative research – they really do compliment each other. You can use qualitative research to help inspire you at the beginning of a project, or to flesh out ideas that emerge during preceding quantitative research.
It’s especially useful for exploring new concepts, enhancing product development, or deepening brand engagement, complementing quantitative data by adding context and depth to the insights gained.
With Attest’s market research platform, you can seamlessly blend qualitative and quantitative data, giving you the insights you need for smarter marketing and better product development. See how Attest is helping businesses in a variety of industries to better understand their audiences.
Principal Customer Research Manager
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