Qualitative Research Consultants Association

Session : QRCA800
Build Your Own Qualitative Tools – and Brand Them
Competency: 11
Conference : QRCA 2008 Annual Conference
Speaker(s) :

Download Format(s) :
MP3

$15.00

Presenters: Jane Goldwasser and Missy Carvin

What makes you stand out in the crowd? What services, techniques and add-ons do you offer your clients? What is your brand?

Every product or service needs to be positioned correctly if it hopes to reach its market. While we often give this advice to our clients, it’s sometimes harder to turn around and apply it to our own businesses. QRCs need positioning, too. By inventing and branding your own qualitative tools, you will begin to create a marketable differentiation for your practice.

New qualitative tools will help you provide your clients with solutions to their research questions. Branding those tools will set your practice apart in this crowded field. You’ll have great subject matter for articles, speeches, newsletters and sales calls. You’ll never have to search around for a reason to make a “cold” sales call; just offer a potential client information on a solution only you can provide for his or her problem.

In this fun, interactive workshop, we’ll dissect what makes one brand stand out from another, apply innovation to create new, never before seen qualitative techniques and brand them so you stand out from the crowd.

Session : QRCA801
Slingshot Process: A Creative Way for Adding Value to Qualitative Customer Research
Competencies: 5, 6
Conference : QRCA 2008 Annual Conference
Speaker(s) :

Download Format(s) :
MP3

$15.00

Presenters: Anne Orban, MFA, MEd and Bonnie Bergey, MA, MBA

Innovation Focus’s Anne Orban will introduce delegates to the theory and practice of the Slingshot Process. This process uses an exploratory and/or developmental focus group session followed by a creative problem-solving session to find breakthrough meaning for clients.

The Slingshot will be presented initially with audio-visual aids. Then, using session attendees, Innovation Focus will lead participants through the Slingshot process.

The Slingshot process introduces the prosumer in both consumer and creative roles. Prosumer participation contributes depth to understanding the consumer experience. Prosumers also provide high-level creative input from a product development professional, as well as impartial and informed challenge to client team biases and assumptions from an outside peer.

The close proximity in time of a qualitative research experience and a creative problem-solving session optimizes creative tension. This purposeful development of creative tension is used to uncover breakthrough ideas when prosumers and client team members are slingshot from the consumer experience into the creative idea generator role.

Session : QRCA802
Creating the Perfect Screener: Get the Right Respondents to Get the Best Results
Competencies: 3, 4
Conference : QRCA 2008 Annual Conference
Speaker(s) :

Download Format(s) :
MP3

$15.00

Presenter: Lisa Hermanson

How many times have you struggled developing a 50-question (!) screener, only to find out that half the criteria were not applicable to the project, or the clients changed their minds at the last minute, or the facility declared the respondents “unfindable”? Determining the appropriate target respondents (the “screening criteria”) is probably the most overlooked aspect of qualitative research. Yet suboptimal screening causes many problems in qualitative, from wasted time and money during the actual screening process to invalid research results from inappropriate respondents.

This session will take you through the entire screener-development process, but with a strong emphasis on up-front preparation, where the most mistakes happen and where even the smallest error can have a disastrous effect on the overall research project. Through this workshop, you will learn to develop a screening-process template that will ensure that the right respondents are recruited for each project, guaranteeing great research, great results, and happy clients.

Session : QRCA803
Show Me a Story
Competencies: 1, 6
Conference : QRCA 2008 Annual Conference
Speaker(s) :

Download Format(s) :
MP3

$15.00

Presenter: Liz Van Patten

Want to elevate your PowerPoint presentations to a new level? This workshop will give you the tools to create slide decks that express your unique vision. The session content draws from 1) learning theory on how we absorb information, and 2) the basic principles of graphic design. Not a PowerPoint “how-to” or “tips and tricks” workshop, the session assumes that attendees have at least some working knowledge of PowerPoint. Our focus will be on creating a new paradigm for PowerPoint and using its tools to express your personal brand and research insights more effectively.

Here’s what we plan to cover: “Death by PowerPoint” – or why we need a new approach to creating presentations; “Words and pictures” – presentation or word processing? They’re not the same!; “Multimedia learning” – how we absorb information and why it matters; “Get on the grid” – use the principles of graphic design to power up your slides; “Show me a story” – the basics of visual storytelling; “Practice makes perfect” – hands-on exercises and tips for developing your own eye for design and storytelling; “And in conclusion” – summary and sharing

Attendees will leave this session with a new way to look at PowerPoint and a basic set of skills for creating presentations that are professional-looking, impactful, and memorable.

Session : QRCA804
First Impressions Count! Packaging is the Ultimate Form of Brand Expression, Making Effective Packaging Research Critical
Competencies: 2, 3
Conference : QRCA 2008 Annual Conference
Speaker(s) :

Download Format(s) :
MP3

$15.00

Presenter: Lauren Goldberg

Packaging is arguably one of the most creative outlets a brand has at its disposal. Yet creativity needs to be combined with a focused, disciplined approach to packaging research.

This interactive session will explore exercises to help guide respondents beyond superficial “likes/dislikes” to uncover deeper insights that motivate design preferences. Learn how to use packaging research to give your clients and their design firms the direction they need to guide optimal packaging development.

Topics to be covered: How to convince potential clients of the value of qualitative packaging research; Exploration of various types of packaging research (including guidelines for new product exploration, packaging innovation work, concept testing, line extensions, and visual equity exploration); Study design, methodologies, and interventions to have in your toolbox; Unique challenges of packaging qualitative; Case studies/examples from actual qualitative sessions; Tips for excellent packaging reports; When qualitative isn’t enough, and thoughts about testing packaging online

You will leave with a toolbox of effective packaging exercises and how companies leverage packaging design to fully express their brands and overshadow their competition. In addition, you will be able to more confidently articulate the different types of packaging research and recommend the most suitable methodologies to your clients.

Session : QRCA805
Online Communities: Web 2.0 for Qualitative Research Strikes Again!
Competency: 11
Conference : QRCA 2008 Annual Conference
Speaker(s) :

Download Format(s) :
MP3

$15.00

Presenter: Doug Bates

Collaboration and communication among Internet users continues to evolve. This “Web 2.0” evolution in Internet use continues to result in new and innovative research methodologies that better mesh with the expectations of Internet users. One recent introduction - “Online Communities” – is being used to obtain more frequent and intimate contact, collaboration, and feedback from groups of people who share common interests and/or characteristics.

The elements of an online community can cover a wide range – blogs, forums, personal spaces, self-directed profiles, and direct connections to other text or discussion-based research tools. Online communities, however, are still in their infancy and there is much to learn about what they can do and best practices.

To help those new to online communities, this engaging session will educate curious practitioners on five topic areas: 1) Differentiate online communities from panels, forums, user groups, support groups, and other similar entities 2) Explain how online communities fit within the context of “Web 2.0” applications such as Facebook, MySpace, Second Life and Digg 3) Provide a working knowledge of online communities for qualitative research 4) Demonstrate example(s) of online communities, their components and tools 5) Provide insight on managing a healthy online community

Session : QRCA806
Teaming with Quantitative Suppliers for New Revenue Opportunities
Competency: 10
Conference : QRCA 2008 Annual Conference
Speaker(s) :

Download Format(s) :
MP3

$15.00

Presenter: Warren Pino

Moderators understand their clients’ products and services and have insight into their clients’ target audiences. What’s more, many times qualitative work specifically precedes a quantitative effort. Herein lies the opportunity for moderators to leverage the strong relationships they have built with their clients by developing an alliance with a full-service quantitative supplier. And the best part is, simply bringing a quantitative supplier on board can generate additional revenue opportunities to moderators for relatively little effort. Moderators have (as they say in detective work) the means, the opportunity, and now the motive to realize these gains.

Moderators need not be experts in quantitative research, they simply need to recognize the opportunities, develop a quantitative partnership, and make an introduction. The moderator can then choose to stand back or take an “added value” role that might include offering feedback on the quantitative survey or a written analytical report and on any subsequent recommendations.

Session : QRCA807
Create Your Own Computerized Qualitative Coding System with Microsoft Office Software
Competency: 6
Conference : QRCA 2008 Annual Conference
Speaker(s) :

Download Format(s) :
MP3

$15.00

Presenter: Christopher Hahn

Data collected using all major qualitative methods can be proficiently organized and analyzed with everyday software, including Microsoft Word, Excel, and Access. Step-by-step techniques described in Doing Qualitative Research Using Your Computer (Sage Publications) will be presented.

A researcher’s first pass through raw qualitative data can be done with remarkable efficiency using standard features of Microsoft Word. The session demonstrates how transcripts, field notes, and memos can be processed in a Word “code document” that is structured to (a) receive and store first-pass qualitative codes and memos, (b) label the data passages that led to the creation of the level 1 codes and memos, and (c) preserve the raw data in-situ for later examination.

Databases of qualitative codes allow clear and efficient views of emerging categories, themes, and (if desired) theories. The presentation introduces higher-level coding systems that use Excel or Access databases.

The techniques exhibited will help researchers achieve defensible conclusions from their qualitative data quickly and economically. A great deal of efficiency and insight can be gained by working with readily available software to arrange, systemize and control qualitative data.

Session : QRCA808
Learning to Go with the Flow: Improvising Market Research
Competency: 7
Conference : QRCA 2008 Annual Conference
Speaker(s) :

Download Format(s) :
MP3

$15.00

Presenters: Nancy Dodd and Andrea Levy With qualitative research, you have to be prepared for the unexpected. This is what makes our work challenging, interesting – and fun! Come to our workshop and improve your ability to improvise on the job. You’ll gain new skills and insight from improv techniques as well as others’ experiences.

We’ll start with a brief exercise that will bring to life the themes of improvisation that will guide our discussion.

We will have a brief discussion about how qualitative research is essentially structured improvisation: We create discussion parameters and guidelines but then must deal with and embrace the unanticipated; We set expectations with clients, but often studies don’t proceed as planned, and we must skillfully improvise; Sometimes we’re faced with non-traditional research environments where the old rules simply don’t apply

We will review a case study of focus groups conducted in Sudan that will provide insight into the importance of improvising in a nontraditional research environment. We have some wonderful photos and excerpts from the transcripts of the Sudanese focus groups that participants will find extremely interesting. What were the successes and the mistakes? What was learned about how to successfully improvise?

Session : QRCA809
E-thnography: How to Apply Observational Techniques Online
Competency: 5
Conference : QRCA 2008 Annual Conference
Speaker(s) :

Download Format(s) :
MP3

$15.00

Presenters: Kasia Gandhi and Jamie Hamilton

694 million people are connected to the World Wide Web. An online presence is a prerequisite for modern businesses, and many depend on the Internet as a marketing channel. Website design and usability, the user experience, and understanding online behavior are becoming critical research issues. Whilst there is a burgeoning quantitative web-analytics industry, qualitative research into these issues is still comparatively primitive.

During our workshop session we will advocate that current face-toface methods for Web concept and usability testing, as well as our understanding of online decision-making processes, can be improved and transformed using text-based e-groups with applicationsharing capability. We will show how technology can offer a valuable new “ethnographic” perspective on Internet behavior: revealing new insights by enabling unobtrusive observation, and allowing participants and customer groups to report on their online experiences in real time.

We will provide the audience with clear guidance on how to use these new ethnographic techniques to achieve a deeper understanding of consumer motivation, journeys, activities and choice-making of consumers as they explore the world of the Internet.