qualitative research
 

ORB’s highly experienced researchers have delivered qualitative research for a wide range of both public and private sector clients either as stand alone projects or as part of wider research involving both qualitative and qualitative approaches.

Areas of Expertise

  • Ad-testing
  • Brand Development
  • Communications Strategy
  • Consumer
  • Employee Research
  • Experts / Opinion Formers
  • Hard-to-Reach Groups
  • International
  • Political Opinion Research

Approaches

Qualitative research is used to explore the meanings people attach to products, messages, brands, people etc. Sometimes these meanings can be difficult for participants to talk about openly or are ‘hidden’ in the subconscious mind. ORB selects the most appropriate techniques to elicit these meanings in both focus groups and in-depth interviews:

Techniques

Projective techniques involve asking participants to make associations between a brand, product organisation etc and external stimuli then to discuss their reasons for their associations. This enables the individual or group to express feelings through light-hearted exercises which reveal insight into their deeper relationship with the brand, product, organisation etc

These techniques can be used effective when:

  • People may not be conscious of their underlying motivations
  • People tell you what they think you want to hear
  • People may be embarrassed to admit their real motivations
  • Most people think of themselves as being completely rational in their decision making and may dismiss non-rational reasons for their behaviours
  • Participants find the product, service mundane, uninteresting
  • When language is difficult e.g. trying to explain a taste or a feeling

ORB has used a wide variety of projective techniques including:

  • Collage making
  • User image
  • Projective Questioning
  • Guided Fantasy
  • Bubble Diagram / Sentence Completion
  • Brand party
  • Personification
  • Obituaries / Reincarnation

Probing techniques are less abstract than projective techniques and are used to delve further into a specific discussion. They may involve asking participants to place brands or services into groups or rank them according to certain criteria then to discuss their reasons for their decisions. Probing techniques used by ORB include:

  • Conceptual mapping
  • Attitudinal scaling
  • Laddering