Wendy Gordon, Acacia Avenue (UK) Making inspiring big theories into real chunks that have value
A short spin through TED talks, YouTube and best selling business books on human decision-making and you will discover two big theories – Behavioural Economics and Social Neuroscience. These inspiring theories challenge some of the core principles of qualitative research. We need to figure out where we stand. This workshop is designed to grapple with the implications for our discipline.
Jay Zaltzman, Bureau West Marketing & Research (USA) New qualitative research options: How to choose
As media habits and communications technologies evolve, a widening array of new methods and tools continue to become available to qualitative researchers. In addition to face-to-face methods, one can now choose from many real-time and asynchronous methods, using online or mobile communications and virtually any combination of media (speech, text, texting, images, video, etc.) for dialogues, discussions, diaries, ethnography, and much more. With so many options, how can qualitative researchers know they’re making the best methodological choice for a given project and client?
This workshop will help equip qualitative researchers and clients with a conceptual framework, decision guidelines, and practical tips to help them arrive at the best possible methodological choices.
Based on his own experiences and that of other "agnostic early adopters" of emerging methods, Jay will:
Briefly cover a wide variety of new qualitative methods, including their strengths and weaknesses
Share his latest thinking about how to make strategically smart design choices
Engage attendees in the decision process on some sample qualitative projects, followed by a discussion of the issues encountered.
Participants at this session will take away:
An explicit array describing the range of qualitative choices now available
Decision rules, guidelines and rationale for choosing and recommending specific qualitative methods
A conceptual framework for understanding the ideal applications of various new and classic qualitative methods
Ava Lindberg, SunResearch (USA) Facilitating consciously for breakthrough insight: Four approaches
Building on prior workshops at recent QRCA Annual Conferences about authentic ethnography and transformative archetypes, Ava Lindberg will share her latest thinking about four discrete ways to push the probability of breakthrough research and conceptual insight through the principles of creative facilitation. Representing the very soul of inspiration in action, Lindberg shows how…
…the right form of creative ideation can encourage consumers to express deeper emotional reactions, which can turn a well-executed focus group into a profoundly moving experience for consumers and observing clients
…a powerful, immediate client debrief can set the stage for co-creation of results that acts as an active stop-gap between the end of a project, immediate team planning, and the final report weeks later
…a radically brilliant half-to-full-day cross-functional brainstorming session can create breakthrough concepts that meet the team's greatest needs and may wow consumers in follow-up research
…a politically savvy summit of senior management and noted experts may be the beginning of a shift in corporate philosophy that changes the course of a company's future
Using relevant, recent case histories describing major brands and corporate management scenarios, Lindberg illustrates how each situation requires a very different level of in-going expectations, creativity, moderator involvement, and facilitation style. Participants will have a chance to learn and try out these principles of creative ideation within small, interactive groups.
This workshop is especially suited for…
QRCs who now use or want to do more creative debriefs, brainstorming, and ideation within their mix of qualitative research modalities.
Insight planners who seek more creative, interactive research to develop new ideas, strategies, tactics, names, and positionings for new product and creative development.
Qualitative buyers and clients charged with creating high-summit conferences that bring together senior management, experts, or key members of multiple, international divisions to share perspectives, develop a breakthrough strategy, or create greater collaboration toward a singular vision.
Thursday
Jeff Walkowski (US) Online qualitative: A reflection of the ever-changing qualitative research marketplace
Online qualitative research is no longer “the new kid on the block.” It first appeared in the mid-1990s and has grown and evolved rapidly over the years. Now is a good time to pause and reflect on how online qualitative got started, where it is today, and what its growth tells us about our industry.
Jeff Walkowski is one of the pioneers in the online qualitative research arena. He has conducted over 300 online sessions since the mid-1990s. He co-chaired QRCA’s Online Qualitative Research Task Force, and he co-developed a distance learning course for moderators of in-person focus groups to adapt their skills to the online environment. He has spoken about online qualitative research at conferences internationally, and he co-edited Qualitative Research Online (Research Publishers LLC, 2004).
Sheila Keegan (UK) Creating a better future: How can qualitative research help?
The recession has forced us to re-evaluate structures, systems and assumptions that seemed invincible. In the immortal words of Leonard Cohen, “There is a crack in everything. That’s where the light gets in”. Following the cracks, it is clear that command and control structures and mechanistic targets, poorly applied, have created organizational cultures that are often toxic. Just think Mid Staffordshire NHS. Targets are essentially quantitative measures. So where is qualitative thinking and practice in all of this? The current crisis could be an opportunity to let the light get in; to explore and expand the role that a qualitative mindset can play, not only within research, but in the wider world, as part of developing organizational resilience and change.
Sheila Keegan is a Chartered Psychologist and qualitative researcher who works in the private and public sectors on areas of business strategy, social policy and organisational communication and change. A particular interest is looking at organisational development from the perspectives of chaos, complexity and emergence. These ways of viewing the world seem particularly appropriate today, given the unprecedented levels of unpredictability and change that we are experiencing.
GiGi Santiago (Singapore) Creative directors hate research?
Coming soon.
Patricia Sunderland + Rita Denny (US) Not artifact, in fact art
Patricia Sunderland and Rita Denny, USA, Practica Group, LLC, practicagroup.com
Not Artifact, In Fact Art: Alternative Meditations on Consumers’ Collages
In this PK, we want to consider consumer created collages not in terms of the category or brand stories they might tell, but rather in terms of the aesthetic and sociocultural traces they embody. What larger social and aesthetic stories are there to be told? What new kinds of questions are inspired by regarding our consumer research artifacts as art?
Patti and Rita are anthropologists who have been bringing the lens of cultural analysis to bear on qualitative consumer research for more than twenty years. Specialists in ethnographic and semiotics, their work often foregrounds a focus on language and the visual. For this project, the PK form also served as an important springboard for inspiration.
Susan Sweet (US) Leading edge listening
Is “listening” a method? Whether it is or is not, why should researchers care about listening? And how can quallies stay on the leading edge? In this PK presentation, Susan will challenge you to go beyond hearing to a deeper, move evolved type of listening.
Susan just celebrated her 10 year anniversary at Doyle Research, where she digs for insights using a mix of in-person and online immersive research. She has served on the Board of Directors for QRCA and was co-Managing Editor of the award-winning QRCA VIEWS magazine. Susan recently traded grueling triathlon competitions for much more enjoyable tap dancing classes.
Jonathan Wilson (France) Understanding or doing
By wanting to move qualitative market research 'forward', don't we run the risk of turning our back to what has estalished Qual as a trusted means for clients to arbitrate marketing choices and suggestions? Understanding, certainly. Inspiring, not necessarily.
With over 20 years of practice, on both sides of the Channel, in agencies and now 13 years as a small outfit, Jonathan Wilson knows what Qual can do to help understand human perceptions and behaviours, and that our main task is to observe and connect with people in order to provide if not answers, at least solid directions on which to build good marketing.
Joanna Chrzanowska (UK) DARE to rethink the very nature of Qual
This is the ultimate in challenging assumptions about who we are and what we do.
Joanna is a lifelong qualitative researcher (as it used to be defined), and a leading trainer in qualitative methodologies and skills.
Bryant George + Susan Stancombe (Australia) Where the wild things are: Group instinct as inspiration
What can we learn from 'Group Instinct' as derived from evolutionary psychology? 'Where the Wild Things Are' delves into our collective hardwired past, our desire to connect, and presents a case for motivating and engaging our customers by tapping into people's empathy for others.
Bryant has overall responsibility for all advanced qualitative research, quantitative research, cultural forecasting, visioning, new product development and scenario spinning activities within Stancombe. He has worked in the Australian market research industry for over 15 years and has been influential in consulting to major local and international brands during this time. Bryant has particular interest and experience in understanding the influence of social and cultural change on marketing and communications and the role and influence of media in people’s lives. He loves to challenge conventional thinking and methodologies.
Susan is the founder and Managing Director of Stancombe Research & Planning and 42. Susan has over 20 years experience as a social and marketing research specialist and brand planner. Prior to her life as an advanced researcher / strategist and business owner, Susan worked as a behavioral therapist. Susan has many years experience in a wide range of research and strategy in both the commercial and government arenas, and has been a pioneer of innovative and advanced research methodologies in the Australasian and Asia-Pacific markets. She has a particular passion for undertaking research in developing markets.
Susan Abbott (CA) The evolution of listening
The tools of social media have been co-opted by qualitative researchers to create Insight Communities (aka MROC or Marketing Research Online Communities) that bring new opportunities for deep listening and insight to organizations. Insight communities can operate for periods of months to years, with participants groups from 50 to 500. With contributions from industry pioneers such as Diane Hessan of Communispace, Matt Foley of PluggedIn, Dana Slaughter of slaughter Branding, Liz Van Patten of Van Patten Research, Jim Longo of Itracks.
Susan Abbott is a researcher and consultant specializing in customer experience and innovation. She used her qualitative skills to gather insights about Insight Communities. Susan had a previous life as a bank executive prior to discovering qualitative research. She has an MBA, is on the board of QRCA, and wrote The Innovative Organization. That’s her on the red Vespa.
Julius Goepp, MD (US) The accidental ethnographer 2010
Coming soon.
Robin Challis + Chris Simms (Ireland) The psychology of food & drink: Case study of a new technique
Case study of a new research procedure combining qualitative research outputs with data generated by a clinical psychologist.
Robin Challis has been a journeyman quallie for twenty year. He will collaborate with Dr. Chris Simms, clinical psychologist and academic.
David Van Nuys (US) Through the looking glass of positive psychology
David Van Nuys makes an ardent case for Positive Psychology, and would like to call us to a higher set of ethics than those set down in writing by our professional organizations. 'We need to be guided by values that take into account the greater good for all', he says.
David Van Nuys, Ph.D. is president of e-FocusGroups and Psychology Professor Emeritus at Sonoma State University. He has served as a board member of QRCA as well as Editor-in-Chief of QRCA VIEWS. David also co-authored a book in which he profiled the infamous Zodiac serial killer."
Friday
Chloe Fowler (UK) and Eleanor Atton It's cool to be new
Here we share our story of a research approach we've developed specifically for start up brands in the UK, First Shave. We wanted to do something a bit different, make a new friend or two along the way and help new brands realise the value of great qualitative research at a stage when many are unlikely to even know what it is.
Chloë co-founded Razor Research in 2007 and was delighted to win the MRS award for Best New Agency in 2009. She was also a finalist in Marketing Week's Engage Awards, in the rising star category. She started her career at Leapfrog Research & Planning and has also worked at Firefish and TRBI (now Synovate). She is a committee member of the AQR and helps organise education and training events as well as the young researcher events with Elle.
Elle's been a qualitative researcher for a good few years now. She loves it. As well as her day (and night) job at Razor, she's an elected member of the AQR committee. Her and Chloe have hosted a series of successful AQR Pecha Kucha events for newer researchers in the UK. Prior to Razor, Elle worked at Firefish and before that completed a PhD in psychology for Mars Confectionary.
Simon Patterson (UK) Coming out of the Economic Crisis
Since October 2008 we have been monitoring how everyday consumers have been responding to the Economic Crisis using a multi-disciplinary mix of qualitative research, quantitative surveys, media reports, and advertising semiotics. The output is a fascinating description of how consumers (and as citizens) have been making sense out of living with Crisis and their future expectations. Reactions have been a mix of fear and hope, but the search for a new reality provides encouragement for the qualitative research world.
Simon Patterson is a Consumer Psychologist and currently CEO of QRi Consulting, previously MD of CRAM International. He has undertaken several hundred Qual projects internationally for global projects.
Ben Smithee (US) Beneath the Surface of Social Media
It's more than a world of tweets, likes, followers and fans, but what does all of this social media buzz really mean to us as researchers? How has the social web become a new brilliance of insights and feedback, and how has it raised the bar for qualitative research? Stretch your mind, and be inspired by what lies beneath.
Ben Smithee, of Spych Market Analytics, is helping to flip the world of qualitative research on its head and deliver new insights to not only his clients, but to his fellow researchers. As an experienced speaker and consultant, he has quickly become a leading voice in the application of new techniques and methodologies in the land of qual. He has been nominated as one of the top 10 youth marketers in 2010 and has worked with industry-leading clients and organizations around the world. He exudes passion and brings new energy and excitement to every presentation.
Shaili Bhatt (US) & Shamsu Bhaidani (Canada) What are your participants doing right now? Integrating mobile into qualitative research
Coming soon.
Bob Cook (UK) Polyphony not cacophony
Coming soon.
Mark Lovell (Canada) Challenge the ritual
When meaningless and counter-productive rituals prevail, inspiration dies. Come and cast a cold, objective eye on the main constraints that condemn much qualitative work to tedious repetition of the "same old".
Mark Lovell cut his qualitative teeth in the UK. He has been research director in an ad agency and headed up a full-service market research company in Montreal before starting Lovell Group, which is entirely devoted to qualitative research and operates on the virtual company principle.
Andy Barker (UK) Qualitative decrepitus
Coming soon.
Susan Thornhill (US) Ode to inspiration
This, PK, using rhyme, takes a humorous look at how we are inspired to use and benefit from so many new tools and techniques in the research world today.
Based in Los Angeles, Susan has specialized in qualitative research consulting and brainstorming for the past 10 years for a broad range of clients. A presenter nationally and internationally, she currently serves as an Officer on the QRCA Board of Directors.
Diva Maria Tammaro de Oliveira + Raquel Siqueira (Brazil) Research with people 50+: A bricolage approach
Aging today is very different from what it was just a few decades ago. What about those who are already middle-aged now, in the beginning of the twentieth-century – what are their feelings? What are their expectations, desires, limitations, hopes and frustrations? Such are questions posed by this project. The originality of our approach lays in the use of “bricolage” methodology, through which we not only collect data from the target studied using a number of techniques - bulletin boards/Internet, ethnographic visits, in-depth interviews with pre-task/diaries, creative sections – but we also conduct a multi-method investigation of experts and professionals between 50 and 70 years of age – a group of experts (marketing research, psychologists and humanities). These experts are themselves going through this stage of life, and are asked to talk about their own experience as well as the experiences of other people in the same age group with whom they interact professionally – be it consumers, research subjects, or patients in their clinical practice.
Diva Oliveira graduated in Clinical Psychology at the University of São Paulo and later specialized in Market Research, having been active in the Qualitative field for the past 35 years, working at renowned international institutes and advertising agencies. Since 1984 she has been in charge of her own qualitative institute, Recherche, where she dedicates herself to the development of new investigative methods, like qualitative online. Ms. Oliveira creates, presents and teaches courses and seminars about marketing and research, and teaches Post Graduation courses at ECA / USP (School of Communication and Art at University of São Paulo).
With over 17 years of experience in Market and Marketing Research, Raquel Siqueira trained in Administration and Management at Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, 2001). A Publicity and Advertising graduate, she has worked at renowned international institutes (Brazil and USA) and client companies. Ms. Siqueira is partner-owner of Recherche, and in 2003 she was invited to structure Ipsos' Qualitative department, where she created and executed the Observatory of Trends study, now the company's flagship in innovation. Ms. Siqueira teaches post graduation level courses at ECA / USP (University of São Paulo), as well at FGV's MBA program.
Nicki Karet + Emma Worrollo (UK) The Science of the Sleepover: Moderatorless research with tweens and teens
How a more honest and realistic understanding of young people is gained by placing the research in their hands, thus moving them from suspicion and reluctance to enthusiasm and commitment to the process. The psychology behind the ‘safe communal space’ that is the sleepover explains why it provides an ideal forum for research and co-creation, capable of generating rich and uninhibited insights into how girls and boys think and express themselves.
Beginning her career as a primary school teacher, Nicki has always had children at the very heart of the career. In 1998 she set up and designed the kids’ division within the research agency Rosenblatt, and 5 years later, with sheer determination, and bolt of adrenalin Nicki went it alone and ‘gave birth’ to Sherbert Research in September 2003. Under Nicki’s careful nurturing, Sherbert has blossomed, and Nicki has built long standing relationships with high profile clients including McDonald’s and Disney.
Emma has a marketing and branding background and worked on many of the biggest brands in the UK and Australia. Emma plays a key role in Sherbert’s commercial research sector, bringing specific expertise in advertising development, brand strategy and NPD. Emma is continually coming up with new and exciting methodologies and loves finding creative ways to bring clients closer to consumers. Emma likes to keep her finger on the pulse, and is constantly observing and monitoring youth trends.
Anna Thomas (UK) From Road safety to Safe Sex: Researching Teens' Motivations
Keep Out: the sign on every teen's door. Sadly, that includes us adult researchers too. So what can we learn about the teen brain that helps us understand their unique perspective on life? What methods and approaches can we use most effectively - and most ethically - to get closer to the teen world? Drawing on case studies from the public sector, this presentation aims to start the conversation and open the door to teens.
Anna Thomas is a researcher with a "teen's worth" of research years behind her. Define is based in London and does lots of public sector studies - which is how we've been fortunate enough to meet the kinds of challenges that we're sharing in this presentation.
Nick Chiarelli (UK) Cracking the consumer codes: Key trends for 2010
Understanding the changing consumer is the crucial challenge facing marketers. But understanding the most recent changes, within an existing framework of change helps make trends-spotting actionable. Cracking the consumer code is about combining what with the why and giving marketers a new way of working.
Chiarelli has specialised in global consumer trends for 10 years, firstly at GfK Roper Consulting and now at Iconoculture. Before that he was trained as a qualitative researcher. Now he truly believes that innovative ways to combine multiple datasets, both qual and quant, with a genuine advisory expertise, represent the way ahead for market researchers.
