The best approach to qualitative research
The best approach to qualitative research
By
Lisa Baxter
This article provides an insight into different types of qualitative research and how to use them for brand development, programme development, marketing and communications, targeting and segmentation, relationship marketing and customer orientation. It provides some insights that will help you to use different types of qualitative research including focus groups, observation and ethnography and creative idea generation to form a direct connection with your customers and gain insight into their beliefs, values, attitudes, behaviours and motivations.
Creative Idea Generation
‘Innovation is the generation of new ideas – either new ways of looking at existing problems or of seeing new opportunities.’ Sir George Cox
This method is about applied innovation; taking ideas and putting them into practice. It can be used to inform new product development, interesting creative business propositions and solve strategic and tactical problems.
The stages within this process are:
1. Incubation: defining the problem and warming people up.
2. Generating a large number of ideas around agreed problem or theme: free-wheeling generation, suspending judgement in positive environment. Followed by clustering of themes and selection of best ideas.
3. Evaluating: do these ideas have legs? How can they be made implementable?
4. Plan for action: what will you do which will make this happen?
