3 Emerging Qualitative Research Trends to Watch

Insight experts across the industry are watching to discover what innovations arise in the next few years that will expand the reach, influence and efficiency of insights and market research. In the past few years, we have seen massive improvements in data collection and analysis through innovations such as automation, the expansion of researcher skillsets and creativity, and the increased need for connections fostered online to eradicate

But looking into the future is always tricky. When discovering new trends, we must try to understand if they are truly impactful and useful trends, or simply fads that will fade away in a matter of months once the novelty has died down. The only way to try and understand the distinction between the two, and what label we put on potential future trends is to discuss it with other insight professionals and use the experience to dictate our actions. Saying this, let’s take a look at three qualitative trends with some fascinating insight from Gary Stow, who is a Senior Associate at Reckitt.

1. Video Qual Insights

The first emerging qualitative research trend worthy of discussion is video. Video is being integrated into many aspects of market research, with qualitative research being one of the main beneficiaries. This is one of the biggest opportunities for qualitative research since the insights industry took true advantage of the internet, but previous attempts to include video into qual research have been hampered by a few significant challenges.

As Gary notes: “As little as 5-10 years ago, video inclusion was often limited by file size/data sharing and storage, and participants having access to video supporting devices or the technical comfort and confidence to record and send video (and due to all of that, cost) – today, almost everyone has access to a smartphone, tablet or another digital video camera, are a lot more comfortable using video, data can be sent quickly, intuitively and smoothly, and file sizes are less and less of a barrier.”

As we now have ways to overcome those challenges the opportunities for integrating video into qual research are endless. Gary expands by saying that he can “see video, or even just audio, eventually completely replacing open text response boxes as the standard way to capture feedback.

“Apart from it being often easier for someone to verbally describe their opinion than write it, it results in a clearer message and inference: they can use their hands to gesticulate, point, or show something, and a voice carries inflection, whereas a text statement is flat, emotions and tone like anger, joy, sarcasm, confusion can be heard in a voice or seen in a facial expression – but are often completely lost in a written sentence.”

2. Experience over Research

The second trend can be thought of in two ways, firstly by tailoring qualitative research to capture experiences over consumer perceptions. With market research being driven by quantitative surveys and qualitative focus groups, insight experts rely a lot on what consumers say they do rather than what they actually do, so better crafting research experiences to capture the actual consumer experience would be incredibly useful for insightful decision-making.

This is supported by Gary, as he states that “from the insight quality perspective, it’s one thing to have someone recall and tell you what they did, but so much more informative and insightful to have them show you in the moment. It allows us to view consumers’ ‘autopilot’ behaviours, which help us build more empathy and strengthens our understanding, leading us to more authentic insights.”

The second way this trend could be acted on is through tailoring the stakeholder’s research experience to be more of a partnership rather than focussing on the research services themselves. This is the future of market research. With insight experts looking to increase stakeholder engagement, this is a trick not to be missed. Gary thinks that “a critical practice will be to keep moving away from the traditional ‘research as a service’ way of thinking, to more ‘research as a partner’.”

“Whether the right approach for the research team is embedding the researcher in the project team, or someone in the project team committing to take an active role in the research, or just being smart about how you engage your stakeholder throughout the research, an effective research team is a partner, not a service.”

3. Increasing Digital Connection

This third and final trend can be tied in somewhat with the increasing need for video integration in qualitative research, but there are also other ways that we can increase our digital connection in qualitative research. This trend has already gained a lot of traction through the pandemic where the world had to increase their reliance on online technologies, but there is still a way to go.

Gary believes that “Digital competence and leadership is going to be a huge skill need. Up until recently, it’s been a big need, but due to the digital-normalising impact of the pandemic and the constant evolution of technology, the digital world and how people use it is only going to grow. I’m not a big advocate of prioritising digital research over human research (i.e. relying on reading amazon reviews over asking someone to use a product in front of you) but rather how we use digital tools well to access human insight is already becoming a largely sought after skill.”

“It’s an especially interesting area for the ‘future consumer’ – Generations Z and Alpha – who as digital natives readily tell their stories through experience-based apps like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat. So, are ‘traditional’ methods (diaries, focus groups, interview) that often rely on recall the best way to engage with Gen Z product users, both to get to meaningful insights and ensuring that their participation is enjoyable?”

As insight experts there are plenty of ways we can increase digital connection in qualitative research, from injecting creativity into qualitative tools and methods to redesigning research priorities to accurately integrate tactics that boost respondent engagement in market research. Because everyone has smartphones these days, we have direct windows into consumer lives, we can observe them through their digital activity both naturally in social media platforms and organically in online qualitative insight communities, but to achieve this we need to increase respondent, stakeholder and researchers’ digital connection.