Quant/Qual – Hybrid or Mixed-Method Market Research?
We’ve been hearing a lot about the “new” mixed-method or hybrid market research techniques called “Quant/Qual” of late. Truth is, if you’ve been around marketing research for any length of time, you know that we’ve been doing “quant/qual” or “qual/quant” for decades.
What’s different – and noteworthy – is the way technology is being leveraged. Two companies come to mind, yet I’m sure there are others:
iModerate – Fields a larger quant study and then pulls off certain participants to have a one-on-one follow up with a professional moderator. As their site says: Research>iMpact provides a hybrid approach in which online qualitative sessions are incorporated into virtually any online survey, giving you qualitative insight that enhances and clarifies the quantitative data.
Invoke Solutions – Seemingly more quantitative in orientation, Invoke is leveraging their technology to obtain richer and deeper open-ended responses. They say that it’s like a focus group experience, but I’m going to need to learn more before I’m convinced. Having said that, I’ve seen enough that I’m intrigued and I want to learn more. The client-interface portion looks very powerful.
But are either of these “new”? I started this topic thinking, “No, they’re not really new at all. Just a new twist on an old approach.”
But the more I think about this, the more I believe these might be new approaches. The dividing line for me lies in the definition of “qualitative research.”
- Qualitative research explores.
- Great open-ended responses in quantitative research explains.
For now, I’m going to continue to think of these newer approaches in these ways – and make client recommendations accordingly. And, as always, I’ll continue to seek out more info. If you’ve got something to share on this subject, please do!
Feb 28, 2010
I like your distinction between Qual and quant. We have our own definition of qual/quant and it doesn’t fit either the invoke or the imoderate model. We conduct a survey and select respondents for online REAL TIME focus groups of 10-12 individuals based on their answers. This allows us to create truly homogeneous groups of concept acceptors, heavy category users or people who have something else in common. The result is a group of like-minded individuals who can provide deep insights that go well beyond the quant. They both explain and explore.
Most of our studies end up being this model because what is a screener than a short quantitative survey? We expand the survey and provide greater value to our clients.
Carol
Feb 28, 2010
Carol, thanks for weighing in!
Mar 01, 2010
Hi -
My company Visionslive.com also produces a suite of Online Focus Group and qual/quant ‘crossover’ tools. The quant tools are used in either focus groups or BB’s where the context has been set (concepts explained, positioning understood by respondents etc), to then obtain some quant from groups to back up any reporting. Sample size for the quant component would be typically <50 though – since you're only giving various polls to each group one-by-one. Clients do like it though, as it is able to give more rigor to any findings – it also doesn't take long to bolt on to a group. If you want to take a look at how it works, drop me an email at andreiko(_at_)visionslive.com