When conducting in-person, virtual or phone interviews as part of a qualitative market research study, you have the opportunity to have open-ended discussions with participants in order to dive deeper into the motivating factors, emotions and experiences that drive customer attitudes and behaviors.
These interviews can yield a wealth of valuable information that sheds light on the “why” behind the facts and figures derived from quantitative research.
However, it’s imperative when conducting interviews with your market research panel that you follow certain standards and guidelines to increase the rigor and authenticity of your study, as well as the value of the insights generated.
Why Use Qualitative Research?
There are different tools and methodologies that can be used to collect qualitative data within the building products and home improvement industry, from focus groups to retail shop-alongs and in-store intercepts. One popular approach is to conduct interviews with a market research panel, filled with a diverse and pre-selected group of respondents who reflect your target market.
In the time of COVID-19, qualitative research methodologies have shifted slightly. While in-person focus groups and interviews are still utilized, companies are now relying more on remote interviews to conduct qualitative market research. When well-designed and executed properly, each methodology has the potential to generate insightful data to help you better understand your customers’ challenges, purchase motivations and opinions.
Mistakes to Avoid During the Interview Process
Group and individual interviews are an effective methodology for probing into the perspectives, attitudes and behaviors of consumers, but there are also numerous variables that can affect the process, for better or worse. Here are some common mistakes that can negatively impact the accuracy and validity of your qualitative research, and how to avoid them:
1. Selecting a Biased or Unqualified Interviewer
A key component of trustworthy qualitative research is confirmability, which means your data accurately represents the information collected from respondents and is not influenced by the biases or assumptions of the researcher. When it comes to interviews with individuals and groups of participants, you want to make sure the person conducting the session can do so in a knowledgeable, controlled and unbiased manner. Additionally, they need to be able to control their reactions—whether positive or negative—because that often discourages authenticity and accuracy from participants. This is one of the reasons it can be valuable to hire an outside research firm to help your building materials company administer interviews and other types of qualitative tools. Using an external professional ensures there is no bias, whether conscious or unconscious, on the part of the interviewer. The neutral perspective of a third-party interviewer creates a more objective interview environment.
2. Selecting a Narrow Audience
When you’re recruiting panelists for group or individual interviews, you want to make sure you include a wide cross-section of demographics that represent your target market so you can capture opinions and perspectives that impact your products. Generally, you should keep each group interview to five to 10 people. It’s also important to collect data from non-customers, customers and previous customers to understand the purchase motivations of those shopping from other brands in your product category, as well as those who no longer purchase your products. Those are valuable “why’s” to answer, especially as brand switching remains high.
3. Jumping Right into Data Collection
Interviews can be a bit awkward for respondents—particularly group interviews where they might feel put on the spot. A “pre-interview” and asking purposeful warm-up questions can be helpful to establish a warm, friendly and permissive environment. It is in this environment where your market research panelists are comfortable and feel confident about sharing their views and genuinely answering your questions that deep insights are shared. The moderator or interviewer needs to ensure participants that there are no right or wrong answers.
4. Not Coming Prepared with the Right Questions
In order to keep your virtual or in-person interview on course, you should come to the session with predetermined questions that support the overarching purpose of your qualitative market research. Using triangulation is another way to compensate for the lack of statistical validity that’s often a challenge of qualitative research. Triangulation refers to using multiple research sources to validate your findings. Triangulated questions can help increase the trustworthiness of qualitative data. Further, ensuring the interviewer is skilled in asking follow-up questions and returning to unanswered questions is a must to reduce the variability of your interviews.
5. Being Inconsistent During Interviews
If you’re conducting multiple interviews or several focus groups, you must be consistent with your approach. That means having relatively the same number of people in your group interviews; giving each interview session roughly the same time and attention; starting with the same set of initial questions; and conducting each interview with the same interviewer. This consistency is key to increase repeatability of research for long-term data.
6. Sticking Too Tightly to a Script
While consistency is important, you also don’t want to be too rigid when interviewing participants, whether by phone, video conferencing or in-person. You’re dealing with a diverse group of individuals, which means you’ll experience varied communication styles. Some participants may share an abundance of information based on your initial questions. Others might require prompting or follow-up questions to encourage more forthcoming opinions and thoughts. You also want to allow for organic twists and turns during the conversation because it’s often where unique insights are found. However, utilize the discussion guide structure to ensure you remain on track and you capture feedback on desired topics.
7. Not Properly Analyzing the Data
Shortly after conducting interviews, you should review and organize your documentation. Make sure your notes are labeled and your recording is audible. If you conducted a group interview, draw a diagram of your seating arrangement and double check that you’ve clearly delineated who said what. You can immediately start to note themes, ideas and interpretations. Within the following days, you’ll start to analyze data from multiple interviews looking for similarities and differences from the collective as well as from various demographics. The result - insights that will help inform product development, follow up quantitative research, or other strategies that drive growth.
Optimizing Interviews for Qualitative Market Research
With the help of in-person and virtual interviews with individual consumers or a market research panel, you can collect valuable data to help with the creation of go-to-market strategies, marketing and sales communications, product development and other business operations enhancement.
To make the most of your qualitative interviews, it’s helpful to partner with a reputable market research firm, such as The Farnsworth Group, that can provide customized tools. Each discussion guide and interview that we provide is tailored to meet the needs of your specific project and customer base specifically within the building products and home improvement industries.
