Quality Data Collection — Do’s and Don’ts

Qualitative research is the collection of data about the thoughts, attitudes, beliefs of a person towards a certain product or service. It is conducted online via forms, face-to-face online interactions, etc. The research could focus on a certain group or individuals depending on the need of the research.

The nature of qualitative research necessitates that caution be exercised before conducting it. Here’s a list of Do’s and Don’ts while conducting qualitative market research.

Do’s

Provide in-depth questions:

Whenever attempting to gauge someone’s emotions, make sure the questions are layered and reach the core. It helps you gather detailed information about your target audience and understand the subtleties in their answers.

Be adaptive:

When you receive data initially, be willing to accept and adapt and formulate the next set of questions. Adaptiveness is going to ensure that the answers you finally achieve are of good quality and contribute to the accuracy of the research.

Be open to changes:

A good market researcher is flexible. For fruitful market research, it is essential that the direction of research be changed according to the audience’s reaction to the same.

Follow-up:

Data collected with the research is based on the observation and experiences of an individual. An astute market researcher is one that follows the data up with more open ended questions to extract more information.

Accurately communicate brand proposition:

The brand proposition should be conveyed to the customers accurately so that they can communicate effectively with the brand and make informed judgments about it.

Don’ts

Over-target:

Qualitative data can be time-consuming often taking months, thus a consultant must ensure that the targeting should be limited but also represent all of the brand’s audience.

Bias:

While choosing the audience for research or analyzing data, a consultant should be aware of biases and be cautious of falling prey to them. Have no preconceived notions about the research or what the results ought to be.

Standardize Responses:

In qualitative research, each response is unique. Responses should be taken at face value without making an attempt to standardize them under a broad meaning. Each response is a personal preference, and hence valid.

Qualitative data can yield useful results if conducted in a fair manner without prejudices. The potential of this data is immense but collection can be expensive and time consuming.