spring 2008...• from the editor-in-chief •8 qrca views spring 2008 visionary buckminister...

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I D E A S & T O O L S F O R Q U A L I TAT I V E R E S E A R C H

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• TABLE OF CONTENTS •

T H E O F F I C I A L P U B L I C A T I O N O F T H EQ U A L I T A T I V E R E S E A R C H C O N S U L T A N T S A S S O C I A T I O N

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FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEFThinking Internationally • Dr. David Van Nuysexplains why QRCs must expand their horizons toinclude an international perspective.

FROM THE PRESIDENTYou’ve Got Questions; We’ve Got Answers • Dr.Sharon Livingston invites research buyers to send in questions, with answers from QRCA experts to bepublished in a new QRCA VIEWS Clients’ QuestionsAnswered Here column.

SCHOOLS OF THOUGHTThe Roaring Silence: Messaging to a BuzzingWorld • In this second half of his article on positioning,Thomas Kern addresses messaging and our need forunderstanding listening in an increasingly noisy world.

COVER STORY

How Global Is YourVillage? Why YouShould Do OnlineQualitative Researchin Your Corner of theWorld! • Ilka Kuhagen andCorette Haf discuss their exper-ience of conducting internationalonline qualitative research, basedon their “Global Village” casestudy, which was presented atthe 2007 QRCA Annual Conference.Cross-cultural differences areexplained, and best practicesare offered.

Editor-in-Chief: David Van Nuys, Ph.D., [email protected] • Managing Editors: Monica Zinchiak, [email protected],and Susan Sweet, [email protected] • Design/Art Direction & Publishing: Leading Edge Communications, LLC (615) [email protected]

FEATURE EDITORSBook Reviews: Kay Corry Aubrey, [email protected] • Business Matters: Abby Leafe, [email protected] • InternationalResearch: Raj Sharma, [email protected] • Qualitative Toolbox: Sharon Livingston, Ph.D., [email protected] • Schools of Thought:Lana Limpert, [email protected] • Humor: Joel Reisch, [email protected] • Tech Talk: Matt Towers, [email protected] •Travel & Leisure: Mary Beth Solomon, [email protected]

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• TABLE OF CONTENTS •

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T H E O F F I C I A L P U B L I C A T I O N O F T H EQ U A L I T A T I V E R E S E A R C H C O N S U L T A N T S A S S O C I A T I O N

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QUALITATIVE TOOLBOXSecrets to TV Advertising Casting • Dr. SharonLivingston explains how your customers may be yourbest casting directors.

QUALITATIVE TOOLBOXUnder the Radar — Meeting the Challenge ofValidity in Assessing Advertising Communicationand Impact • Learn the details of conducting the“communication check,” where certain psychologicalfacts about advertising are important to bear in mind.

QUALITATIVE TOOLBOXU.S. Hispanic Market — Qualitative ResearchPractices & Suggestions • Discover how to conductresearch with Hispanics in the U.S. with this practicalguide for venturing into this complex market segment.

INTERNATIONAL RESEARCHPratfalls and Profit in International Research •Bridgid Michaud shares her lessons about adapting tocultural differences in order to successfully expand yourbusiness offerings beyond the U.S.

TECH TALKThe Objective Interview: Using Eye Movementto Capture Pre-Cognitive Reactions • Mike Bartelsdemonstrates ways to use new eye-tracking technologyfor various types of research.

BUSINESS MATTERSBuyers’ Perspective: If It’s Saturday, We MustBe Doing Shop-A-Longs in Singapore (Part 2) •Gene D’Ovidio offers insight into how buyers approachfinding a qualitative service provider, in this second ofa two-part story.

NEWS FROM QRCANew QRCA International Scholarship • The QRCAInternational Committee announces the launch of the newQRCA Global Outreach Scholarship.

TRAVEL & LEISUREBarcelona, Here We Come: Get Ready for theAQR/QRCA Joint Conference • Not that anyone needsa particular reason to visit Spain, but here is a perfectexcuse: the 2008 ACQ/QRCA Joint Conference in Barcelona.Get out your passports!

QRCA VIEWS PODCASTOur Newest QRCA VIEWS Podcasts • QRCA’s newpodcasts feature interviews with authors Bill Buxton andScott Berkun.

BOOK REVIEWCitizen Marketers – When People are theMessage • Authors Ben McConnell and Jackie Hubdescribe the emerging power of “1 percenters” andonline communities.The New Influencers: A Marketer’s Guide to the New Social Media • Author Paul Gillin exploreshow social media offer new opportunities for discoveringdeeper insights into customer thinking and needs.

HUMORTop Signs It Is Going To Be A Difficult Project •To look at the lighter side of the qualitative profession,QRCA VIEWS introduces our new Humor column. We dareyou not to laugh!

EDITORIAL GUIDELINES

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• FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF •


visionary Buckminister Fuller popularized the phrase “Spaceship Earth”back in 1963, capturing the then-dawning realization that the planet issmaller than we were used to thinking and that we are all far more inter-

dependent than we had previously realized. Similarly, Marshall McLuhan underscoredthis notion, bringing the concept of “The Global Village” into our everyday vocabulary.Now, the World Wide Web binds us all together ever more tightly, and with each passingday, planet Earth shrinks just a little bit more.

“Global warming” and “globalization” are contemporary manifestations of thisemerging reality. The home-mortgage market in the U.S. sneezes, and the rest of theworld catches a cold. A monkey virus jumps from ape to human in Africa, and weall are impacted. And political events in the Middle East, in India, in China and inAfrica will shape the future for millions around the world.

The seismic shifts of this shrinking world present not only dangers but also neweconomic opportunities and challenges. In this changing environment, it is imperativethat we, as researchers, break out of the confines of parochial thinking and practicesand expand our horizons to include an international perspective.

For some time now, QRCA has been moving toward becoming an increasinglyinternational organization, despite the fact that the bulk of its membership is in theUnited States. In recent years, the organization has made significant strides in thisdirection. Two members of the QRCA Board of Directors are in Europe. Our Inter-national Editor for VIEWS is in India. Joint conferences with the U.K.-based Assoc-iation for Qualitative Research (AQR) have also helped to consolidate this direction.In fact, one of the highlights of our recent annual conference in Vancouver was thepanel of three AQR members who gave stellar presentations. You can bet that Ibuttonholed them to be future contributors to VIEWS, and I am pleased to reportthat all three agreed.

Meanwhile, this VIEWS issue you hold in your hands is chock full of internationallyoriented content. Our feature article by Ilka Kuhagen from Germany and CoretteHaf from South Africa addresses the issue head on in “How Global Is Your Village?Why You Should Do Online Qualitative Research in Your Corner of the World!”Their article makes a strong case for the effectiveness of online qualitative in inter-national research, especially when local qualitative researchers in each country partneron the project.

The title of Gene D’Ovidio’s article, “If It’s Saturday, We Must Be Doing Shop-A-Longs in Singapore,” certainly picks up on this theme. Gene’s article is part two of a

ThinkingINTERNATIONALLY

The seismicshifts of this

shrinking worldpresent not onlydangers but also

new economicopportunities

and challenges.

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David Van Nuys, Ph.D.E-FOCUS GROUPS

Rohnert Park, [email protected]

9Q U A L I T A T I V E R E S E A R C H C O N S U L T A N T S A S S O C I A T I O N

Qualitative Research Consultants Association(QRCA) serves its members in the industry througheducation, promotion and representation. Thestatements and opinions expressed herein are those ofthe individual authors and do not necessarily representthe views of the association, its staff, or its board ofdirectors, QRCA Views, or its editors. Likewise, theappearance of advertisers, or QRCA members, doesnot constitute an endorsement of the products orservices featured in this, past or subsequent issues ofthis quarterly publication. Copyright ©2008 by theQualitative Research Consultants Association. QRCAViews is published quarterly. Subscriptions arecomp l imen ta ry to member s o f QRCA.POSTMASTER: Send change of address notificationto QRCA, 1000 Westgate Drive, Suite 252, St. Paul,MN 55114 USA. Postage guaranteed. Presortstandard postage is paid at Franklin, TN. Printed inthe U.S.A. Reprints and Submissions: QRCA Viewsallows reprinting of material published here, uponrequest. Permission requests should be directed toQRCA. We are not responsible for unsolicitedfreelance manuscripts and photographs. Contact themanaging editor for contribution information.Advertising: For display and classified advertisingrates and insertions, please contact Leading EdgeCommunications, LLC, P.O. Box 680142, Franklin,TN 37068-0142, (615) 790-3718, Fax (615) 794-4524. Deadlines are the first of the month prior to thefollowing month’s publication. (Example: August 1for the September issue.) Subscriptions are free tomembers and are available to buyers upon request.

series on the research buyer’s perspective, and it emphasizes that business asusual is increasingly a thing of the past. Qualitative researchers need to “uptheir game,” and one way of doing that is to become more sophisticatedabout working with international partners.

Bridgid Michaud offers plenty of practical tips in her article, “Pratfalls andProfit in International Research.” To further put you in an international frameof mind, you will find Mary Beth Solomon’s article, “Barcelona, Here WeCome: Get Ready for the AQR/QRCA Joint Conference in Barcelona.” InBarcelona, you will hear plenty of Spanish. But not just in Barcelona. Spanishis the second-most widely spoken language in the world, as well as the second-largest language group in the U.S. It would be a mistake, however, to treatall Spanish-speaking people as if they come from a monoculture. This pointis driven home by Ricardo Lopez, who writes about Hispanic research guide-lines developed by the QRCA Latino Special Interest Group.

You will find lots of other valuable content, as well, in this issue. Moreover,be sure to check out the latest podcasts (at http://podcast.qrca.org/), in whichour book reviewer, Kay Aubrey, interviews authors Bill Buxton (SketchingUser Experiences) and Scott Berkun (Myths of Innovation). You will findmore information about these in the Podcast section of this magazine.

In other news, we are discontinuing our long-running Targeted Marketingsection, which was edited by Judy Langer, one of QRCA’s founding members.Judy did a fabulous job and continues to serve the organization in other ways.Targeted Marketing will be replaced by our new section, Trends, which willbe overseen by new feature editor Shaili Bhatt. Look for the first offering ofTrends in the next issue. And, finally, we are happy to announce Humor, a newfeature that will be edited by Joel Reish, last year’s QRCA president.

1000 Westgate Drive, Suite 252St. Paul, MN 55114 USA

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Email: [email protected]

QRCA 2007–2008 Officersand Board of DirectorsSharon Livingston, Ph.D.PRESIDENT

Christine KannVICE PRESIDENT

Abby LeafeTREASURER

Nancy HardwickSECRETARY

Martha GuidryDIRECTOR

Ilka KuhagenDIRECTOR

Peter LovettDIRECTOR

Joel ReishDIRECTOR

Nancy UlrichDIRECTOR

Shannon Pfarr ThompsonEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Darrin HubbardASSISTANT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

David EwaldSENIOR ADVISOR

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• FROM THE PRESIDENT •

often do you think to yourself, “I would really like to know _____ , but itsounds so ______” (fill in the blank: stupid, unimportant, silly, pointless,insignificant, impossible, socially unacceptable, weird, etc.)? A number

of years ago, Radio Shack ran an ad campaign that became very successful because ofthe talent of the creative in the ad agency, which understood a basic issue about techtoys and gadgets. The ad simply stated, “You’ve got questions. We’ve got answers.”Radio Shack made it easy for customers to bring up whatever questions and concernsthey had and feel welcomed. The approach was so refreshing and approachable thatit is still part of the Radio Shack brand promise, at least 15 years after it was originallyconceived. And many people have copied it, including Microsoft 2007, the FDIC FederalDeposit Insurance Corporation and numerous other companies and organizations.

The tagline has become a popular part of our vernacular because it speaks to a basichuman need. We need information to carry on our daily lives a little better. Lots oftimes, we have questions that we judge as inane, and we are uncomfortable voicingthem for fear of looking “funny” or sounding like we don’t know what we’re talkingabout. Doesn’t everyone know exactly what each of those symbols on a digital camera’scontrol dial means? What about all the icons on a Blackberry and how to fully utilizeall of the functionality?

As I write this, I am aware that I feel embarrassed and a little frivolous that I use onlycertain functions on all my high-tech equipment, while the other cool capabilities goto waste because I am not comfortable asking someone about them. Sure, I could lookit up in the manual or on the ’net, but it would be so much more pleasant to just beable to ask someone who had the answers and could share them with me. I know I ammissing out on some very neat things I could be doing.

Recently, in a best qualitative research practices forum, an associate director of mar-keting research dared to ask a politically loaded question: “How can we better handlethe agency in the back room?” All forum participants bolted up in their chairs andleaned in to hear my response.

This was unusual, since it takes a while for the participants to get comfortable enoughin the presence of their peers to ask a question that others might judge. They have todisplay ignorance or a weakness to bring up their concern. But if they don’t ask, howwill they find an answer?

You’ve Got Questions;WE’VE GOT ANSWERS

This letter is directed to ouresteemed clients — the buyers of

qualitative research — on behalf ofour QRCA members.

HowRecently, one ofthe higher-level

researchers daredto ask a politicallyloaded question:

“How can webetter handle the

agency in theback room?”

By SharonLivingston, Ph.D.THE LIVINGSTON GROUP

FOR [email protected]

C O N T I N U E D You’ve Got Questions; We’ve Got Answers


I am happy to share the answers thatthe group discussed, and I am sure myQRCA colleagues have their own pointsof view that would be very interesting tohear. But the bigger revelation for me wasthat there was an important issue thatwas not being addressed. How manymore of these questions go unasked andunanswered? This one was politicallysensitive, but I will bet there are manyimportant questions that do not get askedthat could make a huge difference in jobperformance and job satisfaction.

Most of us who come to marketingresearch love to solve problems, but we maynot be marketing researchers by training.In fact, many clients I have surveyed havetold me they landed in research after pur-suing degrees in a vast array of specialties– journalism, anthropology, language arts,psychology, sociology, political science,literature, but not marketing research.There are so many intriguing approachesto marketing questions. For example,later in this issue, you will read about awonderful approach to ad testing, onethat challenges conventional thought.

So, send us your questions! You canreach us at [email protected]. At therisk of being a copycat, I would like tosay, “You’ve got questions, and we’vegot answers.”

QRCA would like to invite all of youresearch-buying readers to send us yourquestions. The sender’s identity will be keptconfidential. We will pose the questionto our members and promise to come upwith great answers. We will share themwith you personally and in the next issueof VIEWS in a column called Clients’Questions Answered Here. The questionwill be stated anonymously. We will sharea variety of responses from different QRCAexperts, so you will get a comprehensivepicture on broader issues and more targetedanswers where that makes more sense.

As promised, back to the sensitivequestion about ad agency participationin the back room. The issue, for those of you lucky enough to never have hadconflict in the back room, was thatsometimes client researchers felt pushedaround by their agency’s creative directoror strategic planner. The relationship feltadversarial instead of collaborative. Hereis that forum’s collective point of view,and I encourage our readers to offer theirs.

Working with an ad agency is a critical partnership. When theagency has to be “handled,” there really is something wrong. Theproblem is that often there is no clear report order when agency andclient are working together. Whom does the agency serve? Often itis someone much higher up in the client hierarchy, even though weare all supposed to play nicely together.

So, what can we do? It is critical to have everyone in agreementon the goals and approach. The designated client on the project hasto be responsible for getting everyone involved to sign on. In additionto collaborative meetings with the brand group, marketing research,the agency and the qualitative research consultant, that might meanactually getting all to sign their names on the proposal, discussionguide and testing materials to show that they have seen and agreedwith the process. There also needs to be agreement on who attendsfrom the agency. And if they do attend and want to have their opin-ions about the research heard, they must observe all the research.That goes for everyone from the agency and client side. There willbe some push back, but when the details are dealt with in advance,there is less likelihood of distress in the back room.

How do our readers deal with client/agency back room issues?QRCA would love to hear from you. Please send your questionsand answers to this issue to [email protected].

We can’t wait to hear from you.

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• SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT •


one point early in his career, the American composer John Cage (1912 –1992) took an opportunity to visit the famous anechoic chamber at Harvard.For Cage, who would ultimately revolutionize the world’s understanding

of music and noise, the trip was a dream become reality. An anechoic chamberis a room designed to smother all internal sounds and absorb all external ones –an auditory isolation tank of sorts. Like many a venturesome artist before him,Cage wanted to taste the extremes of his art firsthand, to know how it felt to beinside a world without sound, albeit briefly.

But right after entering the chamber, Cage felt betrayed. Even after he allowedhimself time to adjust to his surroundings, he continued to hear two sounds –one high and one low. Like a disgruntled customer, he raised the issue with theHarvard engineer who was operating the chamber. The engineer asked Cage todescribe the sounds he had heard. Cage did. The engineer listened and after amoment said, “The ‘high’ one was your nervous system in operation. The ‘low’one was your blood in circulation.”

For anyone who makes a living in the conjoined worlds of marketing andmarket research (not to mention advertising), the takeaway should be clear: Nomatter how carefully you try to control what your audience hears, unwanted“noise” always creeps in.

This article, the second of two, will focus on the role of messaging in helpingto position a brand. The first installment explored the role of positioning.

The Roaring Silence: Messaging to a Buzzing WorldB Y T H O M A S H . K E R N

Double Helix Development • [email protected]

No matter howcarefully you try tocontrol what your

audience hears,unwanted “noise”always creeps in.

At

C O N T I N U E D The Roaring Silence


An Unexpected QuestionCage’s trip to the anechoic chamber came to minda few months ago, when I got a surprise telephonecall from an overseas client. This was not my client,per se, but the end client – my client’s internal bossat the company’s headquarters. He first apologizedfor contacting me directly, but he had an importantmeeting with colleagues from around the worldthe following day and needed the answer to aquestion that was hounding him: “Why do wehave to test our messages?”

Truth be told, this is not something I had everbeen asked during my ten years in market research.In the pharmaceutical industry, where I do all ofmy work, testing messages is an essential rite ofpassage for a new product and for any existingproduct with something new to say. Some com-panies do their message testing more rigorouslythan others, but the overarching goal is somethingthey have in common. The issue is never whetherto test messages, but how many times to test them,or in how many ways, or in how many countries.

“We already have the messages,” he said. “Ourinternal experts have come up with them, andthey are very good – they speak for themselves.They are all the things we want to say.”

“What you say,” I pointed out, “may not bewhat your customers hear.”

“What does this mean?” he asked, with a hintof exasperation in his voice.

To be fair to this client, his company wasdeveloping a new product (let’s call it ProductZ) that was distinct from all other products onwhich the company had built its internationalreputation. They were now swimming naked inuncharted waters and proceeding without fear …until they saw some research I conducted fortheir U.S. affiliate. I had been asked to explorehow a few dozen physicians defined a group of25 words and phrases used in talking about asingle disease (let’s call it Disease C), which thenew product was going to treat. The purpose of the research was to give the company a firmgrounding in what its customers regarded as“correct terminology” and to highlight any areaswhere a consensus definition had not yet emerged(a common situation in the medical marketplace).The company’s long-term plan was to ensure thatit could debrief its advertising partners about thepreferred terms when development of promotionalmaterials for Product Z began, several monthsinto the future.

This company had been successful with theother products it manufactured and had refinedthe marketing of that product type to a science.Complications only arose with Product Z, whichwas not only of a different type (noted earlier),but would also be promoted to a larger and more

diverse group of potential Disease C customersthan any of the previous ones had been.

Why Message at All?As any moderator knows, sometimes the bestanswer to one question is another question. Inthis case, it may be helpful to shelve “Why testmessages?” and ask instead the question thatshould logically come before it: “Why messageto your customers at all?”

Think for a moment about all of the individualhuman beings who constitute the potential“market” for Product Z. The list could includethousands of physicians as direct customers,hundreds of thousands of Condition C patientsand likely a few million more people who couldexert some influence over decisions whether touse this new product or something else. But fornow, let’s concentrate on the highest-yieldingtargets – physicians, who have to prescribe themedication if it is ever going to be used.

Now, in a twist worthy of dime-book sciencefiction, imagine every one of those physicians withan antenna protruding from his/her head. Thisantenna can be adjusted by each physician toreceive only certain frequencies of messages – forexample, messages about Disease C. For manypeople, this would be a type of Satellite Radio fromHell, but for physicians, staying competitive inthe market also means staying abreast of whattheir colleagues are learning, regardless of howmuch one agrees with those learnings. And inour analogy, as in the real world, a remarkablylarge number of physicians do so by using this“antenna.” The antenna can also be tuned toother frequencies (e.g., Disease RP, Disease Q10,Pediatric Disease W) according to what intereststhe individual physician has.

If Disease C is the band (think FM), there aredozens of individual “stations” that representthe various treatments used to treat Disease C.Some have physicians talking specifically aboutthe treatments (“Product KG has produced anincredible result in my patients”); others broad-cast patient testimonials (“I never thought I couldlive a normal life before I tried Product J5…”)or government-approved scientific data to shillon behalf of their products. Some just say thename of the treatment as many times as possible,to engrain it deeply into the heads of their currentand future customers.

If you are the manufacturer of Product Z, youcannot afford to stay off of those “airwaves” andlet your competitors monopolize the attention ofyour customer base. Even if you find the process ofusing radio signals into physicians’ heads revolting,you cannot stand idly by: every minute a physicianlistens to a competitor’s signal is one minute less

The Roaring Silence C O N T I N U E D


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for him or her to listen to yours (these folks have otherinterests besides listening to the Disease C channel, youknow). Your product recedes further in awareness. Hemight forget its name in a week, or even tomorrow.

And in the name of full accuracy, it must be said thatnone of these stations are required to discuss their ownproducts – they can discuss any products that they wantto, including yours. Even if they cannot slam ProductZ directly, they can make insinuations about it and/ormock the judgment of individuals who use it. Or theycan discredit the studies behind your product’s claims,thereby deflating your legitimacy while claiming to doso in the name of “good science.”

Face it – you need a transmitter. You need to message.

Why Test Messages?At the risk of simplifying too much, I would contend that“messaging” is nothing more than information transmittedwith the goal of influencing others. Messages can befound not only in what is conveyed (content), but alsoby whom (source), how (channel and tone) and howoften (frequency), among other factors.

Message testing exists to help you confirm that yourbrand’s “transmissions” are received in the “antennas” ofyour customers with as little loss of content as possible.And the more complex the message is, the greater thechances are for miscommunication.

In the first installment of this article, a product’spositioning was compared to a fresh block of modelingclay that can be shaped in almost any way that a brandteam desires. With time, of course, the clay loses moistureand starts to harden, until “eventually, molding optionsgrow limited, and there is nothing left to do but todecorate the façade of the hardened block itself.”

All of that shaping, all of that manipulation, all of thatsculpting, is accomplished via messaging – your own andthat of your competitors. Because your customers havelimited time and will form opinions about your productquickly, sometimes unreasonably so, you cannot affordto launch a messaging “trial balloon” just to see whathappens. Positioning “clay” starts to dry as soon as itgets exposed to the air – imagine a stopwatch countingdown to zero – and you need to have your own messages,tested to perfection, doing the molding.

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B Y I L K A K U H A G E N

IKM • Munich, [email protected]

A N D C O R E T T E H A F

qualonline.co.za • Cape Town, South Africa [email protected]

Why You Should Do Online Qualitative Research in Your Corner of the World!

• COVER STORY •



two graphs on the following page(Figure 1, page 20) provide asnapshot of worldwide internet

penetration, according to the figures of inter-networldstats.com (www.internetworldstats.com).It is well known that the continent of NorthernAmerica boasts the highest per capita internet-penetration rate (70 percent), and onlinequalitative research has been conducted inthe U.S. and Canada for more than 12 years.

Outside of North America, online qualitativeresearch is viewed rather skeptically and isconducted to a limited extent. Based on thestatistics for other world regions, however, a strong case can be built for the potential of online qualitative research worldwide.Examples include:

• Although 55 percent of the total Oceania/Australasia region has access to internet,individual countries such as New Zealand(75 percent) and Australia (72 percent)actually boast higher per capita internet-penetration figures than the U.S. andCanada.

• In terms of numbers of internet users, Asia(459 million) and Europe (338 million) havemore internet users than North America(235 million).

It is also very interesting to look at internet-usage growth in the period 2000-2007 (Figure 2,page 21). As can be expected, the developedcountries/regions with the highest penetrationhave the lowest growth figures, while thedeveloping countries displayed phenomenalgrowth in internet penetration in the pastseven years.

This growth is dynamic, and it changedsubstantially during the months that we workedon Project Global Village, a worldwide vol-unteer project with bulletin boards amongteenagers. As you read this article, thesefigures (Figure 2) could already be outdated.Please visit www.internetworldstats.com forthe latest statistics and details with regard toindividual countries.

The concept for Project Global Village wasborn out of our conviction that QRCs outsideof North America cannot afford to be leftbehind. We believe that QRCs should addonline qualitative research to their services or toolbox in every corner of this world!

We also believe that online qualitative re-search creates new possibilities for internationalresearch. As client projects are usually highlyconfidential and cannot be used for demon-stration to other researchers, we decided togather a team of colleagues from around theworld and conduct a multicultural project thatcan be used for demonstration and publicity.

MethodologyEach moderator conducted one bulletin board(BB) focus group in his or her home country andnative language, based on the same screeningcriteria and utilizing the same basic topic guide.Fieldwork took place from May to September2007. The sequential approach to do only oneor two countries at a time allowed for accu-mulated learning and improved methods duringthe process.

It was a volunteer project, and most of theteam members financed the recruiting andincentives themselves. FocusForums generouslysponsored the BB software platform for theentire project (11 BBs in 6 languages). Thisincluded translating the whole site in each ofthese languages (including Chinese), as well asproviding ongoing help with troubleshooting,incorporating our ideas and suggestions, andproactively improving the site.

STEP 1: Moderator Pre-Planningfor Own Online BB DiscussionBefore even starting the project, all moderatorswere invited to discuss the approach in aprivate online forum. This showed variousproblematic areas that needed to be solved:

• Legal issues: Social topics (for example:parents/children relationship) cannot beincluded in China, as this is seen associal research and is not allowed forforeign organizations. Some countries(U.S., Canada, Russia, China)recommended not discussing any drug-related topics online!

• Cultural issues: Due to different schoolsystems and cultures, it was importantto find ways to describe correspondingage groups and educational levels. Also,the mix of girls and boys at this ageneeded to be considered.

• Timing issues: Different cultures dealdifferently with school vacation andexams. In Germany, the research needed to be finished before the summervacation started (teenagers leave withtheir families for vacation), while othercountries preferred to conduct fieldworkduring the vacation. In Germany, therewas a window period after finishingexams and before the start of theholiday, whereas in other countries,exams are written until the last day of school.

• General issue: The proposed discussionguide contained too many topics for onesingle bulletin board! There was a needto reduce the amount of topics and

The

How Global is Your Village? C O N T I N U E D


allow for slightly different approaches per country.

STEP 2: RecruitingAs mentioned earlier, teenage respondents wererecruited according to the same criteria. We aimedfor 10 girls and 10 boys in each country. Theywere 15 to 16 years old, of a similar educationallevel and owned a cell phone for personal use. Wealso included some criteria to ensure medium-to-heavy internet usage. With this age group, wefelt that it would be ethical to obtain parentalpermission up-front.

With regard to the recruiting process, we followed“traditional” recruiting practices. Most countriesused a combination of professional recruiters, aswell as our own personal contacts. Our NorthAmerican colleagues used a combination ofonline panels and professional recruiters.

Our main learning with regard to recruiting teenswas that it can be more time intensive than onewould expect. Often, parents’ email addresses hadto be used to reach the kids, and we needed to callor SMS (short message service) the kids to alertthem to retrieve and read email messages. We alsofound that it is important, at the recruiting stage,to create realistic expectations of the time commit-ment involved, in order to avoid a drop in their levelof participation towards the end of the bulletinboard. Based on our experience, we also recom-mend over-recruiting to compensate for wrongemail addresses, respondents who do not reactto email or SMS messages and general dropout.

In fact, not only the recruiting, but also allup-front and ongoing communication with teenrespondents is time intensive. In some countries,we found the need to communicate by phone orSMS (i.e., not rely only on emails) to send loginsand daily reminders about new questions and/or

follow-up probes, as well as to provide generalmotivation to keep up their levels of participation.Sending the parent permission letter and chasingthe replies was, in itself, an additional communi-cation exercise.

We learned that teens are more high maintenancethan adults, and we recommend that you plan yourtime and budget accordingly.

STEP 3: ModeratingWith regard to moderating, we learned the impor-tance of visiting the discussion on a regular basis.This enables the moderator to stay on top of thediscussion in order to intervene if things do notwork out as planned.

We also found that being inundated with toomany questions discouraged respondents and ledthem to give shorter answers so that they couldwork through the bulk of questions quicker. Werecommend that moderators resist the temptationto ask too many questions; instead, follow upwith more probes if an aspect is not mentionedspontaneously.

We found that mixing methodologies and usingdifferent techniques increased our respondents’interest and captured their attention more effec-tively. We would like to share the challenges andour learning in these regards in more detail.

Challenge: Use of theQualitative Toolbox – OnlineThis privately sponsored project was also used totest the different qualitative tools and techniquesin an online environment and to help show howdeep and rich insights can be gathered online.

BloggingBlogging was tried as a task for the first day.Respondents had to describe the “life of a

Figure 1.

Internet Penetration by World Region Internet Usage by World Region

C O N T I N U E D How Global is Your Village?


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teenager in ____ country,” pointing out what theythink makes their life in their country special andhow they would describe their lives to teenagersfrom other places in the world.

We found that this did not really work in theenvironment of a bulletin-board discussion. Therespondents had to go to a different area of theBB and use a different style than the chatting thatthey are used to. There was zero interaction andonly a few valuable posts.

We came to the conclusion that blogging wouldneed more time than anticipated or a completelydifferent approach such as immersive research.

CollagesThe teenagers were asked to send in photos fora collage. The photos had to represent what theythink is special about being a teenager in their homecountry. This worked very well in some countries(South Africa, Brazil, U.K.), but not that well inothers (Germany).

We experimented with the following requests,and each moderator could then create the collagebased on the photos received and/or source suitablevisuals according to the descriptions.

• Send in favorite photos via email or cell phone (but make sure there is noidentifiable content, in order to protectrespondent anonymity and avoid data-protection issues).

• Describe the photo that you would have liked to send in.

Figure 2.

Internet Usage Growth by World Region (2000-2007)



• Imagine flipping through a newspaper ormagazine, and describe the words, sentencesand/or pictures that you would have cut out.

Picture SortingPicture decks that are usually used for face-to-facegroups were scanned and uploaded, and respond-ents could drag and drop the picture of their choiceand describe: “What picture best represents yourfeelings for your cell phone?”

Interestingly, teenagers from different countries,different cultures and with different languageschose the same pictures in order to express thesame feelings (Figure 3, below left): connection,friendship, love, “it connects me with my friends.”

Color AssociationThe range of colors available for formatting text/fonts was used as a “paint deck.” Respondentswere asked to type the word COMPUTER inthe color that would best represent their feelingswhen they had to be without their computer.

This method also created rich and meaningfulresponses:

• Stress was expressed in black (“because mylife would be so sad”) or in red (“warning,warning!”).

• A change of colors in the same wordCOMPUTER was used to illustrate thechanging feelings (“at first dark colors for boredom, then more and more livelybecause we get used to living without it and are even very happy about it”).

• Bright colors (light blue, pink) were chosen when it was OK to be without the computer (“… because it is quiet and peaceful without computer, no msn, no crazy games”).

AnalogiesWe experimented with analogy by asking ourteens to compare internet search engines withanimals. They enjoyed this activity very muchand generated great input and clear positioning.Interestingly, the respondents from differentparts of the world again chose similar animalsas analogies!

Google as an animal was described as fast,superior and smart. It was compared to a cheetah(“damned fast, intelligent, effective and gets itright most of the time”), a lion (“the king of thenet”), an owl, a chameleon and a fox.

A further variation of this technique was usedby some of the moderators by asking respondentsto liken their current computer vs. their ideal futurecomputer with animals (Figure 4). The resultsclearly indicated a wish for a faster, smaller andunique device (from turtle to squirrel monkey: ...“it’d be a turtle because its soooo slow… hahaa.i’d like my next computer to be unique so i’dchoose a squirrel monkey since they’re small.”).

StorytellingRespondents were asked to tell the story of “a dayin the life of my cell phone.” This task seemedto be difficult, and only a few teenagers got thisright. The younger ones, especially, and the boyshad difficulty with this, and we came to theconclusion that the quality of output related tothe age and personality type of the respondent.We found that it worked better in countries wherethe moderator gave very clear instructions and a good example. However, when it worked, itdelivered deep insights!

Challenge: Question Stratagem –Blinded QuestionsWe also monitored the effect of blinding somequestions (i.e., respondents see the answers offellow respondents only after they have postedtheir reply). Clearly, some questions need blindingto allow for uninfluenced, spontaneous andunbiased answers (sentence completion, picturesorting, etc.).

Teenagers loved the blinded questions, as “it wasfun to think and then compare with the others.”Nevertheless, blinding takes out spontaneity andwillingness to comment on other respondents’posts. So, it is recommended to use blinding onlywhen really needed.

Challenge: Follow-Up ProbingMost of the moderators were frustrated by theeffort involved in persuading the teenage respond-ents to go back to previous sections to answerfollow-up probing questions. Moderators experi-mented with multiple methods:Figure 3.



• Sending out daily emails: Communicatingenthusiasm and appreciation, while instructingrespondents to come back to the BB andanswer the probing questions of the previousday before starting to answer the newquestions. This can be done via group emails,but also with individual emails addressingspecific questions for specific respondents.This can also be done via text messages torespondents’ cell phones.

• Changing the “Welcome” message on theboard at least twice per day. This was doneto enhance the feeling of interacting with alive, responsive person and to make it moreinteresting. It also enabled the posting ofindividual, specific messages to addressrespondents directly.

In order to guarantee utmost comparabilityover all the countries involved, there is a tendencyamong international researchers to create adetailed topic guide with many single questions.Thus, it is done to:

• Apply the same methodology in all countries.• Cover all relevant topics in all countries.• Check and synchronize translations up-front.• Make cross-reading of the different boards

easier.Nevertheless, this structured approach gives

no flexibility to the individual moderators, andit can create redundancy if a discussion comesup at an earlier point than anticipated. Such ahighly structured and detailed topic guide createsa feeling among respondents of a higher workloadand leads to less discussion/interaction and failureto answer the moderator’s follow-up probes.

So, an alternative approach was tested that ledto more effective achievement of the objective:namely, to leave space in future days to pick upon themes that need to be revisited, rather thanforcing respondents to go back to earlier sectionsof the discussion. Current platforms make goingback to locate and answer follow-up probes timeconsuming and can drain the energy of the group.

It was also felt that too many follow-ups cantake the onus off the group to converse with eachother (i.e., follow-ups can become a serial dialoguewith the moderator). When using this approach,it is important that the moderator should demon-strate his/her presence, sending signs that he/sheis reading along and listening.

Challenge: Respondent InteractionMost moderators found it challenging to avoidserial dialogues (referred to above) and to encouragethe teenagers to interact and discuss with each other.This age group is used to interacting online, but in“real time.” They see a group discussion as “work”(in order to earn the incentive) and believe their

job is done by simply answering the moderator’squestions. The teens displayed reluctance toopenly disagree, and they probably still lack thesocial skills to know how to do so politely anddiplomatically.

So, additional stimuli are needed to get aninteractive discussion flowing. Here are ways to do so:

• Build in a dummy respondent who startscommenting (obviously, without biasing the outcome).

• Ask respondents to comment on the post of at least one other respondent.

• Use an additional incentive to motivate themto revisit the discussion and comment on aspecified number of topics or questions.

• Focus — ask fewer questions so it lookslike less work.

Some of our moderators found that more inter-action happened automatically when useful tips(websites, gadgets, etc.) are shared or when there isshared enthusiasm (favorite store, product, etc.),rather than when asking for a response to a ques-tion or an opinion.

Challenge: Language IssuesOf course, one of the biggest challenges in under-taking a multi-national, multi-lingual study isfollowing the languages! In our project, languagewas a factor in the following examples:

• Our bulletin-board software provider, FocusForums, translated the whole platform intoChinese. Observing a Chinese bulletin boardis impossible for most non-Oriental QRCs,as most of us cannot even read Chinese!

• Another challenge were the abbreviations,slang, phonetics and other weird spelling thatour esteemed target market has developed

Figure 4.


into their own language. This was particularly enter-taining in India, where this example comes from…“HEY PPL HWS YAA M AXL ROSE BY MYNAME ITSELF U LL CUM 2 KNW HW BIG A FAM M I OF ROCK ND G N R I LOVEROCK ACTIVITIES…”

• European languages like Italian, French andGerman use the second and third person, whichhas implications in how you address the teensand phrase your questions.

• In India, any online discussion is called blogging.• Instant messaging is called by many names, like chat

or texting. In Germany, teens have created the verb“msnen.” South African teens spend hours chattingto each other on MXit, an instant-messaging servicefor cell phones, allowing users to send and receivetext messages at a fraction of the cost of an SMS.

Our experience highlighted the need to work withnative-speaking, bilingual local moderators when doinginternational research.

Challenge: Ongoing TeamCommunication and CoordinationFor a multinational study, ongoing com-munication among the team members wasvital. We used our Moderator Bulletin Boardup-front to agree on the approach, criteriaand guide. We used it again afterwards toshare feedback and compare notes. Weobserved each other’s BBs as far as ourlanguage abilities allowed. This helped newonline moderators to get familiar with thetechnology and to get moderating tips fromothers. We incorporated changes andimprovements as we went along. We alsoused Skype extensively to talk with oneanother during the process.

Our Moderator BB and all the individualcountry BBs were done on the same BBprovider account. Therefore, we accessedall the BBs with the same set of log-in details.To facilitate more efficient ongoing com-munication and the ability to observe eachother’s BBs seamlessly, we recommendconsolidating the whole project on oneprovider’s platform.

The Global Village TeamWe would like to end this article by sharingwith you some quotes from the GlobalVillage team, highlighting the most salientfinding(s) in their country.

Betsy Leichliter (U.S.)“To the U.S. teens, a phone is so muchmore than a phone for real-time voice calls – it’s a communications-control devicethat they use to decide if/when/how tocommunicate with friends and family.Their phones are also their first line ofdefense against information overload, since the phones do such a good job ofcollecting and organizing contact databasesand managing voice/text/IM/photo/videomessages that the teens can stay on top ofenormous amounts of communicationwithout too much stress.”

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Figure 5.



Susan Abbott (Canada)“On two separate occasions, teens referred totheir cell phone as ‘myself phone,’ a phrase thatcaptures the essence of their phone relationship.Teens stand ready to be amazed and delightedby the new technology they imagine is in store intheir futures. As a moderator, I was glad to havethe software needed to send SMS reminders, alearning from early in the project.”

Julia Gartside Spink (U.K.)“The depth of the relationship between our teensand their mobile phones was phenomenal: theytruly share their life with this device. It is theirpersonal friend, providing company, reassurance,entertainment and contact to the outside world,sharing their secrets, providing security... the listis endless! In comparison, the computer is ‘just’a mechanical device!”

Piyul Mukherjee (India)“In a collective culture like India, the cell phonemeans much more than just a speaking device; ithelps them flaunt their creativity and innovativenesswithin their own close groups, as well as to strangers– such as having the latest ring tones. These areoften taped from an audio player (saves the expenseof ‘subscribing'). Usage of Bluetooth was quite highwhen it came to exchanging audio, songs andimages for the same reason: it is free of charge –one more way of keeping costs to the minimum,in a country where value-for-money is as ingrainedas is the ‘sharing’ that is seen as a key value (andIPR or Intellectual Property Rights is a ratheralien concept).

“Another important way the device helps theteenagers is to create a little world for themselves…. their own private little space in space-starvedhomes, while they quietly text their friends throughthe night, listen to their own music and so on. Also,parents are rather bewildered about this newfangleditem, anyway; technology is something this agegroup understands far more than their parents, who,in fact, depend on the next generation to guidethem – quite ironical in the ‘family-oriented’ Indianculture where age is expected to be revered.”

Otto Rodriguez (Latino teens in U.S.)“Latino teens seemed to share a tremendous ‘innate’necessity to communicate with friends and familymembers on a constant basis. Consequently, mobilephones, internet/computers and other technologicaladvancements seemed to ideally fulfill such great‘cultural’ need. In addition, having access to thelatest cell-phone type or model was often deemed‘extremely important’ and basically described asa welcomed status symbol among this highlyimpressionable target audience.”

Raf Manna (Italy)“The stark difference between girls and boyswas obvious. I was expecting girls to be moremature at an equivalent age, but even theyoungest girls turned out to be much ahead of the older boys in terms of being articulate,forward thinking and mature overall. I wasencouraged by the Italian teenagers’ sense ofpride and satisfaction that researchers show aninterest in their views. This is something thatthey are not used to and that they found veryfulfilling at their age. This impacted in terms oftheir compliance and quality of participation,which I found to be outstanding.”

David Ying Hon Ho (China)“What is most striking in China from theinternational perspective is the different set ofplayers in the internet and technology market.While many teenagers in Western countries (the bulk of geos in this project) are searchingfrequently on Google, communicating heavily on Windows Live/Yahoo messenger or aspiringfor the ownership of an Apple iPhone, Chineseteenagers are searching on Baidu, chatting onQQ and are mostly unaware of iPhone. TheChina market shows its uniqueness in thisrespect. Consumer behavior might be somewhatuniversal, but the different history of economicdevelopment in China in the last few decadeshas given its market a different ecology. This is something researchers and marketers shouldbe aware of. More attention is needed for thelocalization of international research projects in China than in the Western countries.”

Corette Haf (South Africa)“South African teens were unique with regard to their extensive use of MXit, an instant-messaging service for cell phones, allowing users to send and receive text messages at a fraction of the cost of an SMS. MXit dominates theircell-phone-usage behavior and fulfills themajority of their communication needs. Itreplaces online chat rooms, other internet-basedIMs and even social networking, to an extent.”

Ilka Kuhagen (Germany)“In Germany, I was impressed to find out thedifferent types of communication through thevarious channels: cell phone with voice is usedfor immediate check of dates, and texting ismore the way of sharing experiences, while (realtime) chat is the regular exchange of updates,emotions and everyday gossip. The computer,and thus the internet, is mainly used for chatsand social networking and not necessarily foranything else by this age group.”

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Colette Chambon (France)“We were really surprised by thesincerity of responses on the internetand how teens underlined how freethey felt to express themselves withoutthe face-to-face judgment of theirpeers. The high level of enthusiasmsurprised us, too: they wrote after theBB to say how much they appreciatedthe experience and that they wish theyhad more time to react to the others.

“We found that both the cell phoneand computer are great ways for Frenchteenagers to create their own socialnetwork and exchange outside ofparents’ control. Blogs and communitiesare really appreciated, and they spendhours chatting, whereas virtual worlds(Second Life) are rejected and asso-ciated with an image of ‘frustratedadult’ inventing a better life than hisown and spending money for ‘wind'!”

Diva Oliviera (Brazil)“These young people grew up sur-rounded by technological advances,and they constitute the first generationthat knows more about the subjectthan their parents. They are eager,demanding and multitasking, and theyare not in awe of technology, whichthey consider a mean, as opposed toan end.

“The relevance of this study tran-scends the specific comprehension ofattitudes and behaviors of the agegroup in question, when one considersthat this generation is inaugurating anew way to deal with reality and thatthe transformations generated by thiscontact with technology are structuralin nature.”

(Editor’s note: The authors presentedthis case study at the recent 2007 annualconference of QRCA in Vancouver.)

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• QUALITATIVE TOOLBOX •


you are like most qualitative advertising-copy researchers I know, youshow respondents storyboards, animatics or close-to-finished ads usingactual actors. Sound right? When we do get to expose real people, they

are selected actors who have responded to a casting call. The choice of whichactors are used is made by advertising professionals based on their informedjudgments of who would work best for the brand and message.

B Y S H A R O N L I V I N G S T O N , P H . D .The Livingston Group for Marketing • Londonderry, NH • [email protected]

Research has shownthat the most convincing

characters not onlydeliver the message

adequately, but that theyalso resonate with

consumers — i.e., theyare likable and crediblefrom the standpoint ofbeing able to talk aboutthe problem and solutionoffered. More importantly,

the most compellingactors deliver their

message with anauthentic emotionalimpact that inspiresviewers to ACTION.

If

Secrets to TV Advertising Casting(OR, WHAT IF YOU COULD LEVERAGE YOUR TARGET MARKET’S

INTUITIVE SENSE TO ACT AS CASTING DIRECTOR?)


Then, we are often asked to pose a number oftypical questions (requiring over-thinking it, sincerespondents in real life would never spend thismuch time with an ad. But that is a topic foranother article.):

• Initial thoughts and feelings?• How compelling it is to take some action?• Main benefit/main point (depending on

the agency and its point of view) about the product?

• Other benefits?• Possible drawbacks?• Believability?• Confusion — anything hard to understand?• Likes/dislikes about the visuals?• User imagery?• Brand imagery?• Possible improvements?That makes sense. Right?

Maybe. What if we could use consumerreactions to help agencies choosemore-compelling spokespersons fortelevision campaigns? Not surprisingly, the people featured in advertisingplay a critical role in the success of any TV cam-paign. While ad agencies do a great job of casting,some progressive companies have realized thatthe keen perceptions and emotional reactions oftheir customers go far in selecting compellingprotagonists for their brands.

Research has shown that the most convincingcharacters not only deliver the message adequately,but that they also resonate with consumers —i.e., they are likable and credible from the stand-point of being able to talk about the problem andsolution offered. More importantly, the most-compelling actors deliver their message with anauthentic emotional impact that inspires viewersto ACTION.

LikeabilityLikeability, according to Dr. Robert Cialdini, authorof Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion, isone of the key pillars of getting someone to say,“Yes!” People are ready to be persuaded bypeople they like. We don’t buy products: we buy relationships!

It makes sense. We are more inclined to listento people we like, as well as to agree with them.People we like can persuade us of their point ofview. Our friends, for example, have a majorimpact on our views of the world. We can beswayed by their opinions.

So, one key variable to measure the appeal of agiven actor is likeability. But, what makes an actorin a commercial likeable?

Eye ContactWe have always heard that “the eyes are thewindows to the soul.” Consumers do or do notmake emotional connections with the protag-onist in an ad, based on what they read in theprotagonist’s eyes.

Eye contact is an important way to emotionallyconnect with another. Generally speaking, thelonger the eye contact, the greater the intimacy.In casting research, actors who maintain sustainedeye contact with the camera are judged to bemore likeable than those who look away. Themore they look away, the less likeable theybecome. And if they look down and away, theyare judged as sly and untrustworthy, like a “sleazyused-car salesman.”

Pupils contract when people are engaged witheach other. Pupils enlarge when people retreatinto self.

Were you ever in a discussion with someonelooking straight at you who seemed like he (orshe) just wasn’t there? That’s because he wasn’t.Without realizing it, you were picking up thefact that his pupils had dilated but that he wasoff in his own thoughts. We have learned that itis polite to look at another person while talkingto him. People compensate and fool themselves intothinking that they are communicating interest bylooking at the other person, even though theymay not really be interested or engaged. Theydo this by unconsciously dilating their pupils,while their eyes are aimed at the other. In castingresearch, respondents are keen to pick up onthis vacuous eye contact.

By and large, respondents characterize high-quality eye contact as “looking at,” “lookinginto” or “connecting with” the viewer, whereaslow-quality, less-persuasive eye contact is perceivedas “looking through” the viewer or, even worse,as a “vacant stare” (other words used to describethis are “soulless” and “empty”).

Some respondents are able to link the perceptionof eye-contact quality to the level of focus in thepupils. A blank, empty, soulless stare is associatedwith more dilation (less focus), whereas moreconstricted and tightened pupil focus is associatedwith a positive emotional connection.

In casting research, actorswho maintain sustained eyecontact with the camera arejudged to be more likeablethan those who look away.

Secrets to TV Advertising Casting C O N T I N U E D


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And the longer the eye contact, the more self-esteem a person is perceived to have. Themore self-esteem, the more likely he or she is to persuade others.

Here’s an excerpt from a report speaking tolikeability. “Sue” was a highly likable characterwho seemed warm, fun and genuine. With hernatural, unaffected movements and delivery, shecame across as being a regular person, and thus,she was easy to relate to:

• “I like the way she looked at me straight on. It was like we were having a realconversation.”

• “She was pleasant; I could relate to her. Herpresenting seemed more real, and she wasmore likeable. I was more interested in herpresentation. I guess I can look at somebody,and they can turn me right off.”

• “Likable, warm personality. She was jazzy. I like that.”

• “She seemed to be believable yet had a senseof humor about it. She was very natural in theway she spoke and her demeanor. I would findher to be a colleague.”

C O N T I N U E D Secrets to TV Advertising Casting


BelievabilityBelievability is related to likeability in terms of eyecontact. When viewers make the liking connection,they are more apt to find the character believable.

Other factors also affect credibility. Believableactors are described as natural, sincere and ap-proachable. Participants recognize them as friends,neighbors or coworkers, people they would becomfortable with in everyday life. As such, theymirror the viewer from a category-appropriatepoint of view. So, how actors are dressed andcoiffed signals whether or not they are people withwhom the audience can relate. This is interesting,since actors reacting to a casting call often showup in “come as you are” garb. They read withoutprops or costumes. If an actor can make thebelievability connection on his own merits, heprobably is a strong contender.

In addition to making consistent direct eyecontact with the camera, believable characters tendto use a minimum of hand and body gestures. Lessbelievable actors are more likely to look away, shifttheir glances and demonstrate broad, exaggeratedgestures. These are judged to be untrustworthy andmerely acting. Rolling of the eyes is experiencedas disrespectful and disingenuous.

Here’s an excerpt from a report speaking tobelievability and appropriateness to category.This protagonist was also very believable andconvincing. Her direct eye contact with the cameramade her seem open and honest, and her size,movements and expressions communicated thatshe could be a genuine sufferer:

• “She seems like someone who went to herdoctor and is taking the product herself. Herfacial expressions were real, with good eyecontact. She wasn’t just an actor.”

• “You can tell if someone is lying. She wouldconvince me. She seems very nice, probably veryhonest, clear, and she makes good eye contact.”

• “Honest, believable; no doubt that she wouldtell the truth. Very approachable, very polite.Very nice person. I would definitely want tohear more from her.”

• “The way she’s dressed, just rushed out to runan errand. I do that, and I’d be wearing some-

thing like that with my hair a little messy.”• “She looks like she could have high cholesterol.

She’s not as trim as she could be, so she couldstill have it.”

Other clues of believability are more subtle.These include things like the subtle flaring of the nostrils, slight tilting of the head and posturalcues like leaning slightly forward, whichcommunicate positively.

Another way you know that you are on theright track is in listening to the quality of responsefrom the interviewee. When emotionally engaged,via likeability and believability, respondents answermore quickly and with more detailed stories fromtheir own perspective than those having a moreintellectual (and thus less action-inducing) response.

Eye contact, authenticity and persuasiveemotional power are communicateddifferently when actors are in couples.So far, our discussion has focused on a solitaryactor or actress reading a message directly into thecamera. But what about when couples appeartogether? How are authenticity and emotionalimpact delivered then?

It turns out that while occasional eye contactthrough the eye of the camera is still importantin these situations, much more important (par-ticularly when the acting team is presented as a“couple”) is their ability to truly communicatethat their “other” (fellow actor or actress) is themost important person in the interaction. Theyhave to radiate “chemistry.”

This is demonstrated by turning their bodiestowards each other and by reaching out to theother with glances, gentle touching and whatappear to be genuine embraces. These behaviorsseem to allow viewers to put themselves into thepicture and identify with what they perceive to beloving relationships. Respondents can then identifywith the problem and the emotions expressedabout it, and they can feel concern, some sense ofurgency and the relief and confidence of findinga good solution.

In couples-casting research, believabilityis dependent upon the interaction of thecouples and perceived compatibility ofcharacter traits.It is interesting to note that, in couples-castingresearch, outstanding stand-alone actors coupledwith different “mates” may not perform as well asthey do solo. (Hmmm. Sounds like an interestingcommentary on the human condition to me!)

The same actor perceived as warm, appealingand believable with one actress, for example,

In addition to making consistentdirect eye contact with thecamera, believable characterstend to use a minimum of handand body gestures.

Secrets to TV Advertising Casting C O N T I N U E D


may be perceived as too aggressive and irritablewith another. Or a woman might seem to roll hereyes too much with one man, but appear loveableand credible with another.

Rolling of the eyes is interpreted as contempt,according to relationship researcher John Gottman,Ph.D. Couples who demonstrate this behavior arehighly likely to end up in a separation because ofthe disparaging affect on self-esteem and trust.(Note: Dr. Gottman has studied what he calls the"masters and disasters" of marriage. Ordinarypeople from the general public took part in long-term studies, and Dr. Gottman learned what makesmarriages fail, what makes them succeed and whatcan make marriages a source of great meaning. Byexamining partners’ heart rates, facial expressionsand how they talk about their relationship to eachother and to other people, Dr. Gottman is able topredict with more than 90 percent accuracy whichcouples will make it and which will not. Thesefindings have relevance for all communications.)

Similarly, respondents react more favorably andemotionally to couples that are well matched onlooks, height, color coordination of their clothingand, most importantly, “authentic rapport.”

If you have a variety of actors and actresses readtogether in different combinations and then showrespondents a reel with all the various permutations,respondents will pick up on the mismatchedcouples. They may say something like, “This isobviously a first failed marriage,” and later, seeingthe same man or woman with a “better match,”will describe them as a “second marriage… amuch better choice!”

“He married the first one for her looks. Shewas a sorority girl, cheerleader and spoiled brat.

He always felt like he had to keep up appearances.She wanted the security of the money. She startedmessing around on him and finally left for abigger bank account. He was crushed at first.But now he is with his soul mate. You can tell bythe way they are dressed, almost matching plaidshirts and jeans, low key, casual, comfortable.They look so comfortable together. They enjoysnuggling up in front of the TV with a beer. Lookat how they look at each other with warmth.They beam at each other.”

What winning couples have in common is acommunicated “chemistry.” They look like theytruly care about each other, and they showsupport for each other. Their warmth and touchof humor in their delivery are seen as naturaland compelling. Well-matched couples seem toglow and come alive with genuine rapport ineach other’s presence. In hearing consumers’thoughts about the reel, one creative directormused, “You know, they did seem to have alittle flirtation going. It was palpable.”

SummaryThe keys to a compelling casting decision arelikeability, believability and authenticity asdemonstrated via open eye contact, avoidance of exaggerated gestures and the ability to bepresent with the camera as if talking to anotherreal human being.

The intangible something, the connection tothe advertisement’s targeted audience, clearlyrests on what I mentioned earlier: relationship.Your ad, to be most effective, should not “feel”like selling, so much as telling a story, one thatthe audience will buy into on a basic, emotional,human level. Finding the right people to tellyour brand’s story and make it irresistible is like casting a motion picture, TV show ortheatrical production: the right actor(s) canmake the end product desirable in the right way for the right reasons, and the wrong onescan have the opposite effect. Who better toassess this precious connection than the personwho is an integral part of this relationship —your consumer.

In couples-casting research,believability is dependent uponthe interaction of the couplesand perceived compatibility ofcharacter traits.

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average, people do not like to change. A vast body of research tells usthat people like to feel they generally know the things that are importantto know, embrace personal preferences that reflect considered judgment

and have habits and practices that provide reasonable solutions to the challengesof their lives. Our perceptions and opinions about the world provide stability andpredictability in our experiences, and we are understandably reluctant to makechanges in these viewpoints.

B Y D A V I D F O R B E S , P H . D .The Qualitative Insights Consortium • Lexington, MA • [email protected]

B Y J U D I T H R E T E N S K Y

The Qualitative Insights Consortium • Lexington, MA • [email protected]

Typically, good adver-tising must come in

“under the radar” —be persuasive to itsviewers in ways that

are subtle — con-veying messages that

are implicit more oftenthan explicit, appealingto emotions as much

as or more than tointellect, and affecting

motivations that aredeep, rather than

superficial.

On

UNDER THE RADAR —Meeting the Challenge of Validity in AssessingAdvertising Communication and Impact


Advertising, at times, seeks to reinforce currentperceptions and/or behavior, but more often it seeksto bring about change — to change opinions,change perceptions, change behaviors — in waysthat create positive opportunities for the advertiser.The natural human resistance to change makes thistask a hard one to accomplish. Typically, goodadvertising must come in “under the radar” —be persuasive to its viewers in ways that are subtle— conveying messages that are implicit more oftenthan explicit, appealing to emotions as much asor more than to intellect, and affecting motivationsthat are deep, rather than superficial.

In this article, we will deal with one particulartype of research where these psychological factsabout advertising are important to bear in mind— the “communication check.”

Advertising and Its Implicationsfor the Communication CheckCommunication checks typically take place whenadvertising professionals have reached a fairly spe-cific vision about the tactics that an actual ad (orcampaign of ads) will use. Copy has been written,and ideas about images have been conceived. The“check” is used to gain a preliminary look at howthe ad will actually “work” — what messages itwill convey and how those messages will be received.

Often, the communication check is viewed asa very straightforward, simple research exerciseof showing respondents stimuli and asking themabout their reactions. However, the communicationcheck can be quickly recognized as a much morechallenging and less straightforward researchexercise if we think about the psychologicalcircumstances surrounding how advertising works.Remember that people don’t like to change.Recognize that this means that people have a strongdesire to present themselves to those around themas unchanging. How often have we heard respond-ents say, "I am not influenced by advertising"?

The implications for a simple communicationcheck become clear:

• Respondents will most often be unwilling— or unable — to give accurate reportsabout their reactions to advertising, in caseswhere these reactions involve persuasion orattitude change.

• Respondents’ answers to direct questionsabout advertising messages are not a goodprimary focus for research, since theimportant communications of advertisingmost often take place below the consciousintellectual level.

• Respondents’ direct reports aboutadvertising impact are also not a goodindicator of real impact, since the kinds ofimpact good advertising can create are

precisely those that respondents won’t wantto acknowledge.

How then, given these constraints, should we proceed?

Just as advertising must come in “under theradar” to create attitude change, advertisingresearchers must come in “under the radar” toassess whether change is created. Below, we discussan approach to advertising communication/impact research to maximize the validity oflearning in advertising communication checks,given the true complexity of this undertaking.

The Stimuli Are the FocusFor advertising communication research, one muststrive to create stimuli that are as executionallydeveloped as possible. The media really are themessage in many respects, and if we place too muchdemand on the consumer to “imagine” advertisingelements, we will be dealing with the wrong partsof their psyche and getting responses that havelittle to do with potential advertising impact.

Only well-developed executions — animatics or“steal-o-matics” — will deliver the underlyingstrategy complete with tonality and implication,using words, images and music in a way thatcan come in “under the radar” of the researchrespondent just as an actual ad will do. The moreour research stimuli work like finished advertising,the more valid our findings about communicationand impact will be.

Individual Depth InterviewsAre the Method of ChoiceFocus groups and individual interviews providevery different contexts for learning, and each ofthese methods has a good usage in advertisingresearch. However, for communication/impactresearch, individual depth interviews are the clearmethod of choice:

• Using depth interviews allows the researcherto focus continually on a single respondent,exploring the full sequence of one individual’sthoughts and feelings on an issue, withoutdistraction or “contamination” fromanother viewpoint.

The “communication check”is used to gain a preliminarylook at how an ad will actually“work” — what messages itwill convey and how thosemessages will be received.

Under the Radar — C O N T I N U E D


• Only with in-depth interviews can theresearcher get to the deeper thoughts andfeelings that are often the “pay dirt” ofsuccessful advertising communication.

• Despite their seeming economies, groupdiscussions of advertising communicationwill restrain the conversation to the surface,intellectual reactions. Discussion in a groupcontext will also minimize the likelihood ofany respondent reporting persuasion or attitudechange as a result of advertising exposure.

Focus groups are not the best tool for advertisingcommunication research. It is individual depth inter-views that can take the researcher to the deeperpsychological levels where impact takes place.

Expose Stimuli Just Once to StartIt is often tempting to expose an advertisementmore than once at the start of an interview. Thisinstinct comes from (1) a recognition that consumerswill typically see an ad more than once over thecourse of a campaign and (2) a desire to “jumpstart” learning about the incremental impact ofadvertising viewed repeatedly over time.

If advertisements were nothing more than text,this approach might indeed make sense. Since theyare not just text but multiple media, however, amultiple exposure at the start of a research inter-view will distort the findings:

• The mind of the consumer who is exposedonce to an ad will process the advertising ina way that reflects the balance of impactbetween all elements (imagery, tonality andtext) of the advertising.

• A repeat exposure of advertising stimuli to“be sure the respondent gets it” will create avery different balance of impact between theelements of the advertising. This will changethe path of mental processing and, thus, createa different pattern of impact from the stimulusthat will exist in the real world.

• Reactions to a single advertising exposurewill follow paths the respondent mightfollow when viewing the ad in the real world;multiple exposures at the start of an interviewwill reduce the validity of communicationresearch.

Be Completely Unaided As Much As PossibleIt is very valuable to learn precisely what sort ofmental state the respondent is in after exposureto the advertising. The best way to get at thismental state is by getting the respondent to begintalking out loud right away without any newstimulus. Any specific questions from the researcherwill potentially be a distracting new stimulus, takingthe respondent’s mind off the track it is on afterviewing the ad.

The best approach is to literally turn to therespondent who has viewed an advertising stimuluswith an expectant facial expression and then letthe respondent start talking. Short of this, therequest “Talk to me…” should begin the debrief.

It is important to fight the urge to begin theinterview from the marketer’s perspective (i.e.,by asking the respondent, “What was the mainmessage?”). Rather, look at reactions from theconsumer’s perspective by allowing him or her tobegin the discussion. The respondent may talkabout the advertising message right away, orabout a salient image, or about something elseentirely — but whatever the content, you can besure that this is the first level of impact thestimulus had.

Remain unaided as long as there is morefeedback coming. When the first totally unaidedresponses begin to run down, eliciting more witha simple “Anything else?” will often get therespondent to provide an additional level ofspontaneous detail. “What else is going throughyour head right now” is a bit more structured,but it still leaves the field as open as possible forany type of response.

Begin Aided ProbingRemember that the moment the research beginsasking specific questions, the respondent’s trainof thought will be affected by the questions.Accordingly, once an interview moves to aidedprobing, it is important to use probes that are aslikely as possible to aid the respondent in accuratelyreconstructing their spontaneous lines of thought.

Follow up the unaided content first. Materialthat has already been provided by the respond-ent in the completely unaided portion of theinterview is the best place to start for maximumvalidity. Probes of this unaided material shouldbe constructed to “fill out” the unaided responses

C O N T I N U E D Under the Radar —

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CNN006in the areas where psychology tells usthat valid content will exist:

• Every psychological reaction to anadvertising stimulus has, in principle,three components:

THE PERCEPTION — what wasseen or heard

THE COGNITION — ideastriggered by the perception

THE EMOTION — feeling statestriggered by the cognition

• Follow up unaided content usingthis model:

Structure Aided Probes to Reflect the Processing SequenceIt is virtually always necessary toconclude an advertising communica-tion check with some directly aidedprobes to get feedback from therespondent in areas where no spon-taneous feedback has been received(e.g., clients will have interest inreactions to a specific stimulus element — image or line — that may nevercome up). Again, we recommendfollowing the natural processingsequence in attempting to reconstructreal respondent reactions:

• Start with perception — “Did yousee/hear _______?”

• Move to cognition — “What didthat make you think?”

• Then move to emotion — “Howdoes that thought make you feel?”

IF THE UNAIDEDMENTION IS:

Something theysaw or heard

Something theythought

Something they felt

FOLLOW UP WITH:

Cognition: “What didthat make you think?”Emotion: “How did youfeel right then?”

Perception: “What didyou see or hear that ledto that thought?”Emotion: “How did youfeel right then?”

Cognition: “What didyou think that madeyou feel ___?”Emotion: “What was itin the ad that led tothat thought?”

Under the Radar — C O N T I N U E D


Working in the Real WorldWhile we strongly believe that the aboveguidelines maximize the validity of learning inadvertising communication checks, we alsorecognize the need to work in the real world,where pressures of schedules and budgets must be acknowledged:

• Time constraints may require that clientsgain early feedback about advertising when it is still in a very rough stage.

• Time and cost constraints may lead clientsto elect focus groups as a research method.

In the context of these very real, real-worldconstraints, we offer the following:

Using Rough StimuliWhen the stimulus is in the early stages of devel-opment, we need to work to minimize demandson the respondent to imagine, or “make real,”what is being put before them. If it is not possibleto have stimuli that have been developed at leastto animatic or “steal-o-matic” form, we shouldstill try to protect ourselves as much as possiblefrom random “imagination effects.”

Showing mood photos to the respondent,tape-recording the audio elements to capture the voices/tone, playing background music of the type likely to be used in the finished ad —all these steps will help to enrich the stimulus,limit idiosyncratic respondent interpretation and make feedback more valid. If stimuli aresufficiently rough that we have concerns aboutrespondents being able to “put it all together,”then exposing the stimuli more than once (whilenot ideal in principle) may still be preferable tointerviewing a confused respondent.

Using Focus GroupsWhen pressure from time or budget constraintsleads clients to select focus groups as the interviewmethod, again we must adapt research principlesto suit practice. In this case, it is key that we getas much genuine individual feedback as possiblefrom each respondent and that we minimize thedistortions of individual reactions that may becreated by talk among group members.

To adjust for this, a written exercise should becompleted before the group begins discussion ofa stimulus. After the stimulus is presented, partici-pants are asked to record their reactions, startingwith an unaided invitation and then touching onall three elements of processing:

• "Write one or two sentences about what isgoing on in your head right now — whateveryou are thinking after watching/listening…”PAUSE FOR RESPONDENTS TO WRITE,THEN ASK RESPONDENTS ALSO TOWRITE THEIR ANSWERS TO:

• “What did you notice as youwatched/listened?”

• “What thoughts went through your mind?”• “How did this make you feel?”This written exercise can then become the

basis for probing as the group discusses thestimuli, allowing each respondent to contributefrom his/her own distinctive personal viewpoint.

SummaryThe advertising communication check ispotentially a very challenging research endeavor,where natural psychological tendencies forreacting to advertising pose a serious challenge to the validity of research results. There areprinciples for approaching this task to createmaximum validity:

• Use stimuli that are as executionally devel-oped as possible, with text, imagery andmusic all doing their role in the complexcommunication task.

• Conduct individual, depth interviews when-ever possible to allow for fullexploration of the deeper levels of reaction where advertising most often does its work.

• Use completely unaided probing when-ever possible, as long as possible.

• Follow the natural processing sequencewhenever probing directly, moving fromperceptions to thoughts to feelings, to helprespondents reconstruct real responsesrather than create fictional ones.

• When constraints on these principles areunavoidable, continue to work as hard aspossible toward a method that preserves the essence of the goals:• Require minimal respondent

“imagination” work.• Seek unaided responses wherever possible.• Pursue deeper levels of reaction as the

primary focus.

Focus groups are not the besttool for advertising communica-tion research. It is individualdepth interviews that can takethe researcher to the deeperpsychological levels whereimpact takes place.

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has been over a year since the formation of the QRCA Latino SIG, the firstofficial Special Interest Group of the QRCA. The idea of forming an allianceof Latino qualitative research consultants had been tossed around for years.

Part of the motivation came from the desire of U.S. consultants to collaboratewith each other on ways to effectively conduct research among U.S. Hispanics.

B Y R I C A R D O A N T O N I O L ó P E Z

Chair, QRCA Latino SIG • [email protected]

Despite popularbelief, Hispanic is

not a race. This is probably the

single most criticalmisconception that

can significantlyaffect a research

project.

It

U.S. HISPANIC MARKET —Qualitative Research Practices & Suggestions


Conducting research with Latinos in the U.S.entails having competencies that are not generallygained through general market research experience.Not surprisingly, one of the main objectives ofthe Latino SIG is to educate researchers on howto conduct research with Hispanics in the U.S.This article outlines a series of practices andsuggestions that can serve as a guide for anyresearcher venturing into this complex Americanmarket segment.

Dealing with U.S. Hispanic Idiosyncrasies and MisconceptionsThe U.S. Hispanic market is not a homogeneousgroup of consumers; rather, it is a very fragmentedand multifaceted tapestry of Latino backgroundsthat include as many as 20 countries of origin,many levels of acculturation, geographic differences,educational and income disparities, languagevariations and many different ethnic and racialinfluences. To do research with Latinos, the QRCmust have a basic understanding of the Hispanicmarket and must set aside preconceived notionsthat may apply only to a particular segment ofthe Latino community.

Marketers sometimes carry with them manymisconceptions regarding the Hispanic marketthat can greatly affect a research project. Thesemisconceptions are sometimes even present inLatino marketers who know little about Latinocities or segments other than their own. As aresult, the job of the QRC often goes beyondmoderating and consulting and into the realm of education and sociology.

One question that always pops up is the appro-priateness of using the term “Latino” versus theterm “Hispanic.” Which one is the correct term?The answer is both. The terms “Latino” and“Hispanic” are used synonymously in businessand are both generally accepted when referringto the U.S. Latino community. However, in theLatino consumer’s perspective, the term “Latino”is often preferred, as it is the correct Spanishword to define people who come from LatinAmerica. “Hispanic” as a term is rarely used inLatin America, and it sounds odd in Spanish.

Despite popular belief, Hispanic is not a race.This is probably the single most critical miscon-ception that can significantly affect a researchproject. The term should never be used in con-junction with race categories like “Black” or“Caucasian.” Not only is it technically incorrectto use the term as a race category, but it alsocreates confusion among research respondentsbecause some Latinos have come to believe thattheir race is “Hispanic,” while others vehementlyoppose selecting “Hispanic” as their race.Misunderstanding of this issue can lead serious

validity concerns in screening respondents forqualitative research studies.

Research Design and MethodologyIn designing a Latino research study, it is importantto select the right markets because market differ-ences can be quite drastic in the Hispanic commun-ity. Besides the usual geographic differences, thereare often significant differences in acculturationlevels, education, number of years in the U.S. andthe Latino country of origin. It is therefore generallyunadvisable to conduct research in only onemarket and then use it to infer the opinions ofthe Hispanic market as a whole.

This is especially the case with a market likeMiami, which, while remaining a very importantLatino city, is completely different from othercities with large Hispanic populations. The U.S.Census Bureau provides detailed information onall U.S. Hispanic markets through its website:www.census.gov.

Here are some of suggestions that can help atthe design and methodology stage:

• In deciding the makeup of focus groups, it ispreferable to avoid very disparate levels ofeducation and/or broad age ranges. If partic-ipants are not screened accordingly, it is notunusual to end up recruiting a participantwith a 4th-grade education and another onewith a Ph.D. Mixed-gender groups can alsobe problematic in certain situations wherethere are clear Latino social tenets on maleversus female behavior.

• It is extremely important to pay attention tolanguage proficiency at the design stage. Agroup session with “bilingual” participantswhere some speak very little English andothers speak very little Spanish does not workwell. Even more difficult is a Spanish-languagegroup that includes some bilingual participantswho switch back and forth from English toSpanish and other participants who do notspeak English at all.

• In designing the interviewing guide, avoidthe tendency to include questions for everypossible information need. This tendency isvery prevalent in Hispanic research becausecompanies have more limited budgets forLatino research studies or have never con-ducted Hispanic research before.

• Consider focus groups on Saturdays. ManyLatinos have difficulty attending a sessionduring the workweek because of transportationand childcare issues.

• Written exercises can present problems inconducting Hispanic research because of loweducation levels and illiteracy among Latinos.In addition, some second-generation Latinos

U.S. Hispanic Market C O N T I N U E D


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who prefer to speak Spanish cannot read orwrite appropriately in Spanish because theywere never offered the opportunity to learnSpanish in school (as it is not a required partof the curriculum in most U.S. schools).

• Structured homework exercises like diariesor complicated assignments are usuallyineffective with Hispanics because Latinosprefer an approach that is more informal/less structured.

• Latino respondents often react better to lessstructured/less formal methodologies that do not require entering a corporate officebuilding and sitting around a conferencetable. This is especially important in tryingto enlist the opinion of illegal immigrantswho fear deportation. If using a traditionalfacility is necessary, a living-room-stylesetup can help transcend the corporateboardroom image.

• While conducting research at nontraditionalsetups can greatly assist in making Latinosfeel comfortable, the QRC needs to take intoaccount the importance of having the client

involved in the research process by giving theclient the opportunity to effectively observea live interview. This is especially significantin Latino research where clients are often newto the market and can greatly benefit fromfirsthand involvement. It is difficult includingclients in nontraditional venues, however,because of the need for an interpreter.

• Methodologies that allow interviewing Latinosin their own environment, like in-home inter-views and ethnographies, work very wellbecause they help avoid the feeling ofinadequacy that is often experienced byLatinos in the more structured corporate(institutional, in their mind) research facility.

Latino RecruitmentRecruiters hired to field Hispanic market studiesshould be experienced in recruiting Latinos. Theyneed to understand how to relate to the respondentsand how to employ Latino communication skills.

These skills often include a more informal/personal recruitment approach. Experienced Latinorecruiters understand the importance of being

C O N T I N U E D U.S. Hispanic Market


SVY006MDC001

respectful, kind and reassuring. They allow res-pondents to be honest, and their recruitmentapproach minimizes the Latino tendency to say(just to “be nice”) that they can come to theinterview and then fail to show up.

Just having one Spanish-speaking recruiter doesnot make a facility capable of recruiting Latinos:the recruiter must be qualified in Hispanic recruit-ment. Here are some suggestions in the area ofrecruitment:

• Respondents recruited to participate inSpanish-language interviews should berecruited in Spanish.

• The screener should be developed by takinginto account the cultural nuances of the Latinocommunity. It is generally agreed, for example,that asking the respondents to identify theirrace is problematic at best because there is alot of confusion regarding race. Instead, it isbetter to have the respondents identify them-selves as Latino and to then ask other questionsto determine their acculturation level, numberof years in the U.S., language preference, etc.Income is usually problematic because many

have difficulty understanding the concept of household income. It is also not a goodmeasure of social status because many highlyeducated new immigrants have dispropor-tionably low income levels, and others withvery low education may earn high incomesin demanding blue-collar jobs.

• If writing exercises cannot be avoided, thescreener should inform the prospective par-ticipants that reading and writing in thelanguage of the group will be required. Thisgives people who have difficulty with readingand writing the opportunity to opt outwithout embarrassment.

• Latinos are notorious for being late, and someof that reputation is well deserved. The practiceof holding a raffle for an additional cash incen-tive among people arriving on time (usually15–30 minutes before the group) works verywell with Latinos and helps improve show rate.

Facility and Other Fieldwork IssuesUsing an experienced Hispanic market recruiterand understanding the cultural issues that can



affect recruitment are crucial. Many qualitativeresearch facilities understand the importance ofusing a professional Latino recruiter, and theyhandle their Hispanic recruitment needs by subcon-tracting their Latino recruitment services.

Offering Hispanic qualitative field services,however, goes beyond recruitment; there are manyother facility and fieldwork issues that must betaken into account. Here are some suggestions:

• When working with Hispanic mothers, it issometimes advisable to provide childcareservice at the facility. The facility should beprepared to handle participants who showup with their children.

• Providing transportation to and from thefacility significantly increases the show rateand helps include participants that would be otherwise unable to attend.

• It is extremely advisable to insist on a bilingualhost for welcoming and re-screening Spanish-dominant participants. A friendly and talkativeHispanic host or hostess can also make par-ticipants feel comfortable from the get-go bymaking them feel welcomed and by treatingthem as houseguests.

• Latino participants are often not familiar withthe office layouts in corporate-type buildingsand find themselves intimidated when tryingto find the research facility. In these cases, ithelps tremendously to have a bilingual hostor hostess in the lobby area and to post signsin both languages directing the respondentsto the facility.

Language and InterpreterWhile people from different Latino countriesspeak with different accents and sometimes usedifferent words when referring to familiar things,there is primarily one Spanish language, and the

differences are not dialects of the language. Thisis another common misconception. While the useof the Spanish language can vary from countryto country, it all follows the regulations of theSpanish Royal Academy and is taught uniformlyin all Spanish-speaking countries.

There are, however, a few other languagesspoken in Latin America (e.g., the native Mayalanguages spoken in parts of Guatemala), andthe people who speak these languages are notgenerally included in U.S. Hispanic research. Onevery important segment that is generally excludedare the people from Brazil because they speakPortuguese. Research with Portuguese speakersin the U.S. is always conducted separately fromthat of the Hispanic segment and necessitates aQRC who is fluent in the language.

Conducting research with Hispanics “inlanguage” results in yet another set of issues that a researcher must take into account:

• The researcher should plan on having allmaterials translated (concept statements,pre-group exercises, storyboards, etc.) if themethodology includes Spanish-dominantinterviews. The moderator or interpretershould not be expected to translate materialsbefore the groups or on the fly.

• For in-language groups, hire a qualified/experienced simultaneous interpreter. Thejob of the QRC is often dependent on thecompetency of the interpreter because theclient grasps only what the interpreter isable to translate. Interpreters must be capableof translating continuous conversationstreams. Professional interpreters withexperience in other fields that allow for a pause for translation (e.g., courtinterpreters) may have difficulty handlingcontinuous conversation. Good qualitativeresearch interpreters know how to readnonverbal cues and use nuances andemotions as they interpret the language.This is extremely important in conveyingLatino opinions that very often includemore meaning than what is simply beingverbalized. Being able to catch the emotionsand feelings behind a statement can makean enormous difference.

• Strongly advise against the client tendency toinvite a Spanish-speaking company employee toserve as a back-room translator. Just speakingthe language does not mean that you are ableto translate a conversation.

• Interpreters that are excellent translating fromEnglish to Spanish may not be competenttranslating from Spanish to English. Thereverse is also true. Check that the interpreteris competent working in the desired flow ofthe translation.

Methodologies that allowinterviewing Latinos in theirown environment, like in-homeinterviews and ethnographies,work very well because theyhelp avoid the feeling ofinadequacy that is oftenexperienced by Latinos in themore structured corporate(institutional, in their mind)research facility.

C O N T I N U E D U.S. Hispanic Market


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• Instruct the client on the importance of not interrupting the interpreter or asking questions that can disrupt thecommunication flow.

• Ensure that the facility can provide the interpreter equipmentif an interpreter is needed. The equipment should include, atthe very minimum, a headset for the interpreter and a way ofrecording the language translation. Optimal equipment includesheadsets for everyone in the viewing room and the ability tochoose the language (room language versus interpreter’s voice).Check that someone in the facility knows how to use the equip-ment and can fix unexpected equipment problems before andduring the interviews.

Moderating LatinosThe language, country of origin and accent of the QRC usually donot pose a problem in moderating Latinos with different backgroundcharacteristics. As long as the QRC can speak Spanish correctlyand is somewhat familiar with the most common colloquial wordsused in Mexico and the Caribbean Latino countries, he or she caneffectively facilitate a Latino interview. However, in moderatingLatino groups, it is important for the QRC to be an experiencedresearch professional who is able to establish an “emotional Latino connection.”



Hispanics generally interact at an emotional level.In order to open up and share, they need to feelconnected with the interviewer. This connection isnot always easy to achieve with traditional qual-itative research approaches. Many Latino QRCsfind themselves sharing their own personal storiesin order to establish a strong emotional connection.Many also work very hard to bring themselves tothe level of the respondent in order to deal withcultural class barriers.

Here are some suggestions in moderating Latinos:• Treat the respondents as if they were guests in

your house. Every QRC has his or her own styleof making respondents feel comfortable, but itis important to relate “in culture,” which (forLatinos) is at a more emotional level. It may behelpful to allow them to eat during the groupsor to offer drinks and/or snacks as if you wereentertaining. Some experienced Latino QRCslike to greet participants by shaking hands at thedoor and thanking them for coming.

• Some Latinos have a tendency to be overly respect-ful when communicating with individuals whoare perceived to have a higher socioeconomicstatus. In moderating Latino groups, it is crucial

for the moderator to avoid being perceived ashaving a higher status or authority. High-fashionclothing, expensive jewelry, a bigger chair orother status symbols should be avoided if atall possible.

• Latinos are generally less familiar than non-Hispanics with marketing and opinion research.It is beneficial to briefly educate the respondentson the value of their opinions. This gives par-ticipants permission to be honest and to thinkmore broadly when providing their feedback.

• Interviewing techniques that require a lot ofin-depth probing like laddering can be difficultwith Latinos who are not accustomed tocommunicating in such a structured linearfashion. Free association, mind mapping andother less linear techniques are more in linewith the Latino tendency to communicatethrough tangents and storytelling.

• Simple projective techniques like describing abrand as if it were a car or an animal can beeffective in drawing opinions from the lesseducated Latinos who have difficulty artic-ulating. However, more complicated projectivesthat involve visualization can be very difficult to

conduct among Latinos. His-panics often have difficulty“playing the game” andcannot visualize beyond thephysical attributes of theproduct or brand.

• Moderating Latinos invar-iably involves allowing fortangents and storytelling.The client must be aware of the need for the QRC toallow the communication to flow in a Latino style.The guide in a Latino group rarely flows in thelinear/structured fashion in which it was designed.

• Experienced Latino QRCsare also adept in readingbody language/nonverbaland emotional cues from the participants and attranslating this learning byrepeating what was heardfor confirmation or throughthe analysis and report.

• Latino communication ofteninvolves informal joking andpoking fun. An experiencedQRC can use humor and“chispa” (Latino wit) to hisor her advantage as a way of warming up a group.

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SummaryIn closing, it is important toemphasize that these practicesand suggestions are not rigidtenets to follow in conductingU.S. Hispanic qualitativeresearch, and they are notintended as an industry codeof conduct. Every QRC hashis or her own style andapproach, and there are manyways of achieving the sameexcellent results. The infor-mation contained in thisarticle came largely from anonline discussion with manymembers of the QRCALatino SIG. The goal of theQRCA Latino SIG is toensure that the issues coveredin this article are taken intoaccount when conductingresearch with U.S. Latinos.

Thanks to the all membersof the QRCA Latino SIG:Jennifer Abad; Isabel Aneyba,MBA; Guy C. Antonioli II;Farnaz Badie; Cris A. Bain-Borrego; Elisabeth Beristan-Moreiras; Marta F. Bethart;Marco Cabrera Medaglia,MA; Enrique F. Castillo,Ph.D.; Enrique DomingoMBA; Gloria Dupre; RicardoEscobedo V; JackelineFernandez, MBA; Rose MarieG. Fontana, Ph.D.; LindaGreenberg, Ph.D.; EveHalterman, MBA; FelipeKorzenny, Ph.D., MA; NancyH. Lang, MBA; Louise A.Lhullier, Ph.D.; Claudia M.Liemann; Ricardo A López;James M. Loretta; Maritza E.Matheus; Julie A. Medalis;Francesca Moscatelli, MA;Nhora B. Murphy; BeatrizNoriega Antonioli; DivaMaria T. Oliveira; BelkistPadilla; Lilian Pagan; MariaL. Parra; Angela Paura;Charlene R. Perea; PatriciaPerea; Horacio Segal; Dana B.Slaughter; Timm R. Sweeney;Elba Valle; Astrid Velazquez;Adriana Waterston; Iris Yim;Martha G. Zipper.

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• INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH •


hen you expand your business offerings to countries outside the U.S.,first ask, “Will I apply my cookie-cutter approach to other countries, oram I willing to adapt and learn?” If you are willing to learn and adapt

to operate successfully, then you are on your way to meeting clients’ needsand profitability.

B Y B R I D G I D M I C H A U D

Direct Resource, Inc. • Chicago, IL • [email protected]

English is notgenerally the first

language of ourinternationalpartners. Our

responsibility incommunicating isto communicate

effectively.

W

Pratfalls and Profit in International Research


Impactful Details

Time-Zone DifferencesBy the time Americans wake up, Europe is wellinto the workday, and Asia has completed theworkday. Isabelle Bonnet, managing director ofBSP of Paris, explains, “…we (in Paris) are atleast six hours early. So, when you want to give‘last-minute modifications’ for the questionnairethat will be used in the field the next day, donot wait until the afternoon. In France, thiswould be a disaster. At the best, we (in Paris)will still be in our office (and we will have towork all night), and at the very worst, we willbe happily at home, and the next morning will be too late.”

Communicating DatesEmailing the deadline on September 28 as being10/11 (to American eyes, due on October 11),the reaction (in France) is “… the deadline isperfect — more than a month for this study (upto November 10)!” But you are waiting for yourresults, at the latest, by October 11! Consistentuse of the written month (in this case, Octoberrather than identifying the month as 10) easilyremoves confusion.

EmailsEmail communication is deceptively easy and fastby hitting the “Send” button. As a rule of thumb,if three emails have crisscrossed each other withoutclosure, dial the telephone for a real-time conver-sation. Participate in a conversation, and thenfollow up with an email summary of the conver-sation. Also, remember to be conscious of thetime-zone difference (go to www.worldtime.comfor time /date resource information).

VocabularyI write and speak in English with our internationalpartners. For me, that luxury is very much appre-ciated. The gift of our research partners’ skill andcompetence in speaking English is just that — agift. English is not generally the first language ofour partners. Our responsibility in communicatingis to communicate effectively. This is not “dumbingdown” the vocabulary but actively workingtowards understanding.

Choose your words with care — the same wordcan have different meaning in different English-speaking cultures. I experienced a memorablegaffe when conducting a face-to-face briefing ofinterviewers in London with a cell-phone product.Yes, this was London, an English-speaking city,and Americans and the British speak the samelanguage. The interviewers giggled and snickered(discreetly), however, on several occasions while

I conducted the briefing. The giggles were not at myclever wit. Instead, my use of the words “trouser”and “pants” had a risqué interpretation. Thisrisqué comment was unintended, and it distractedfrom the real intent of the conversation.

Other vocabulary items to be aware of include:• Write out acronyms. “SEC,” for example,

does not always mean the Securities ExchangeCommission. Abbreviations do not successfullytravel across borders.

• Slang and jargon do not translate.

Holidays and FestivalsAmericans have the fewest holidays of any devel-oped country. My colleague reminds us tospecifically ask what holidays or festivals mayimpact the project schedule. Holidays in othercountries have the same effect as July 4 in theU.S. — your in-country contacts are out of theoffice, celebrating the holiday. People (includingyour respondents) are generally not amenable to completing a marketing research study during a holiday.

Consider this when wondering why an emailhas gone unanswered or when the “ideal” scheduleis labeled unworkable. Do you know when theseholidays are celebrated and businesses will be closed:Dawali/Festival of Lights in India or Golden Weekin Japan?

Pace and ToneParticipating in a conversation with a researcherfrom another country or culture requires consciouseffort on our part as Americans. A productive andefficient conversation across cultures requirestotal focus. Put down that Blackberry. Shut downyour email screen. Pull over to the side of theroad. Listen to what is said and how it is said in the conversation. Focusing on the actualinformation being conveyed versus emotionally“expressing yourself” vastly improves ourability to truly understand the purpose of the conversation.

Slow down the pace of the conversation ifyou are conducting it in English, providing theopportunity for non-English-speaking persons totranslate from their native language to English.Think carefully about what you want to say.Sort, edit and select the appropriate words andterminology so that your meaning is crystalclear. Our nominal effort is overshadowed bythe effort they are exerting to communicate inour language.

Humor does not travel well. Avoid generalitiesabout a culture or country, as “kidding” aboutthese may not be understood, nor come across asfunny, nor be appreciated. For example, someAmericans might think jokes about English teeth

Pratfalls and Profit in International Research C O N T I N U E D


are hilarious, while the English are far less likelyto be amused.

Schedule and Budget OversightsDoing business as usual, such as unthinkinglyapplying a familiar template, can result in misseddeadlines and missed budgets. Here are items notto overlook.

TranslationTranslations are the most frequently missed stepin the schedule. Translation of study materialsrequires additional time in the schedule and willaffect the budget, as will back translation. Iftranscripts are requested, keep in mind that thecost will be higher than U.S. transcripts becauseof the additional costs of translation. Also, do notforget to ask if on-site simultaneous translationwill be required.

Food (if on-site)If you are traveling in-country and you have specialfood needs, communicate them in advance. Remem-ber that what is easily and ordinarily available inAtlanta is not “ordinary” outside the U.S. (withthe exception of hotels catering to Americans, suchas the Hilton in Shanghai). The Raj in Mumbaican produce bagels and cream cheese, if requestedin advance, but this is an out-of-the-ordinary request.Instead, why not live a little? Order a local fooditem instead!

Commercial Terms/BudgetsAsk for credit terms at the time of project author-ization (or earlier). It is best to find out in advancewhat level of payment is required and at whatpoints in the project schedule. Payments mostlikely will be by international wire. Remember,sending international wire payments will requireadvance setup with your bank.

Clearly understand in what currency the costand payment are expressed. You may think youare getting a deal if the cost is 1,000 £. However,1£ and $1 U.S. are quite different (at the time ofwriting this 1,000 GBP = $2,071 US).

Target-respondent definition is an absolutenecessity at the RFQ stage. As Isabelle Bonnetexplains, “The more the request is honest, themore cost effective the quotation will be.” Ofcourse, it is tempting, especially for a study with

a difficult target, not to mention too specificallythe screener difficulties. This general request reducesthe cost of the project at the RFQ stage. But, ifyou win this time, with following requests, the“higher costs” will be applied systematically toavoid “the bad surprises of the previous study.”

PrivacyPrivacy and data protection require differentthought processes in different countries. In general,many countries have enacted legislation (not“suggested guidelines”) surrounding privacy. Pay particular attention to respondent privacysurrounding names and phone numbers whenacquiring samples. Consult with your ownqualified legal counsel for further advice. As theauthor, I am not a legal expert in the arena ofprivacy and data protection.

Sizzle or Steak? (Substance or Style)“I would say that Americans are kind of self-centered, which leads to a tendency to try toreproduce successful models in other countrieswithout attention to cultural differences” is straighttalk from one of our contributors. Conductingresearch in other countries — even English-speaking countries — is not the same as in theU.S. Learning is a shared experience. Think out-side forcing a country-specific model to anothercountry. Be the student as well as the teacher,learning from your local partners.

About including discussion of intimate issuesin qualitative surveys with expectations derivedfrom U.S. research, Luis Pilli of LARC says,“…Another issue derived from this characteristicis that, in Brazil, we are much more reluctant totalk about private issues. All in all, it is reallypossible to get deep when deploying qualitativetechniques, but we have to be more patient withparticipants. This creates stress, since it does notmatch with American style.”

Tara Lyons of Independent Field comments,“…It is surprising to me how many Americansare unwilling to conduct group discussions in arecruiter’s home or a hotel. In the U.K., viewingstudios are only now becoming the norm. Pre-viously, the vast majority of groups had takenplace in the front room or conservatory of therecruiter. A group in a viewing studio was con-sidered very special! But for Americans, viewingstudios are the norm.”

Build on What You KnowDoing business with Americans does have itsadvantages. For one, with the necessary factualarguments, Americans are quick to modifyrespondent-selection criteria, if justified. Andthey put their money where their mouths are.

Choose your words with care— the same word can havedifferent meaning in differentEnglish-speaking cultures.

C O N T I N U E D Pratfalls and Profit in International Research


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Tara Lyons says, “The great thing about workingwith Americans is that they say what they want,and they deliver when they say they will.…Communication is direct and to the point.There is not much time, and there are lots ofgoals to accomplish.”

Take-Away Notes✓ Write out the full date (i.e., November 2, 2007),

avoiding the 11/2 or 2/11 confusion.✓ Use dictionary English, avoiding slang and

jargon, and use full terms rather than relyingon acronyms.

✓ Identify the objective and goals of the projectsupporting the original study design, and askfor comments on the transferability of thedesign to each individual culture/country.

✓ Budget for extra tasks, translation of studymaterials, stimuli, etc., and budget the addedtime needed for these tasks. Budget for an on-site translator, if required.

✓ Factor in the time-zone differences and holidaysat the planning and implementation stages.

✓ Do not rely solely on email correspondences.✓ Slow down the pace and tone, and focus on

the conversation with clients and vendors.✓ Become familiar with respondent privacy

laws in the counties you are conducting the research.

SourcesThe insights shared in this article are derivedfrom multiple sources, including:

• Direct Resource Inc.’s own mis-steps andsuccesses in conducting research in variedcountries and cultures, beginning in 1992

• The patient tutoring of our cross-borderresearch team:

• Isabelle Bonnet, managing director of BSP of Paris

• Tara Lyons, managing director ofIndependent Field of London

• Luis Pilli, CEO of LARC of Sao Paulo• Raj Sharma, co-founder (and

president) of Majestic MMRS of Mumbai

ACT032

• TECH TALK •


ne of the foundations of qualitative research is the “gut reaction” — thatintangible, yet unmistakable sensation immediately following the firstglimpse of something new. It strikes instantly as an overwhelming “I must

have it” feeling or a permeating sense of “I can’t stand it.”

B Y M I K E B A R T E L S

EyeTracking, Inc. • San Diego, CA • [email protected]

The key feature ofthis methodology is the capacity to

capture details thatotherwise would be lost, without

compromising the integrity of the interview.

O

THE OBJECTIVE INTERVIEW:Using Eye Movement to CapturePre-Cognitive Reactions


The gut reaction influences purchase decisions.It colors lasting perceptions. And it serves as thecornerstone upon which marketing researchers havebalanced many of their observations for decades.No matter what the context — focus group, IDI,observational setting — the initial reaction of theconsumer to the website, product, advertisementor television program is always a critical piece forunderstanding consumer motivations.

The logic behind traditional qualitative methodsof capturing this gut reaction is fairly intuitive:present the test material to people, and then findout what they think. Sometimes, this involvesallowing a respondent to “think aloud” whileusing a website for the first time. Other times, itis as simple as showing a commercial and askingviewers to discuss their impressions alone orwith a group.

The methods are diverse, but the ultimate goalsare the same. By capturing these snapshots of per-ception, researchers gain an invaluable glimpse atthe budding attitudes and opinions of the potentialcustomer. This information is extremely importantin identifying positive and negative aesthetic,usability and design features.

Drawbacks of Traditional Research MethodsDespite the aforementioned strengths of traditionalmethods, some researchers level criticisms againstthem based on the potential for creating bias at themoment of the first impression. Social pressureand group dynamics are often cited as factorsthat can distort perceptions and reactions duringqualitative interviews.

Also, the think-aloud methodology has beensuggested to create an unrealistic scenario on whichto base research conclusions. Indeed, compellingevidence in the literature of cognitive and socialpsychology suggests that the simple act of askingsomeone to voice his or her opinion has a tendencyto influence the formation of that opinion.

These critics advocate a more passive approachto research, allowing respondents to fully interactwith a website, find a product on a crowded shelfor watch a commercial in the context of a tele-vision program without interruption. The interviewcomes only after the respondent has been givenample time to form an opinion.

While this hands-off approach may be usefulin creating a realistic interaction, a great deal ofimportant information may be no longer accessiblewhen respondents are finally asked to providefeedback. In the time between the first impressionand the beginning of the interview, a lot canhappen. People forget. They change their minds.They make up stories without even knowing it.The gut reaction is a fleeting impulse, and once

the moment has passed, the sensation is difficultto retrieve.

With these criticisms in mind, qualitativeresearchers have two choices: (1) jeopardize theaccuracy of the gut reaction by posing questionswhile impressions are being formed or (2)jeopardize the accuracy of the gut reaction by waiting too long to pose questions. Usingtraditional methods, this is likely to be anenduring dilemma for qualitative researchers.

A Possible AlternativeHowever, there is hope in technology. Newadvances in the field of eyetracking provide a meansof getting around this problem. A methodologycalled an ActionReview Interview™, developedby San Diego-based EyeTracking, Inc., allows arespondent to relive the gut reaction in vividdetail retrospectively.

Small, high-speed cameras are used to recordthe eye movements of a respondent as he or sheinteracts with the new stimulus. These camerasrecord every blink, scan and fixation, gatheringup to 250 data points each second. Once therespondent has finished interacting with the testmaterial — navigating the website, choosingproducts from the grocery store shelf, watchingthe television segment, etc. — the researcherconducts the interview while showing a video ofexactly where the participant was looking, secondby second, throughout the testing session.

It may sound somewhat complicated with allthis talk of sophisticated equipment and 250 datapoints per second, but the concept possesses asimple elegance: showing respondents exactlyhow they visually interacted with a product allowsthem to remember their gut reaction with farmore accuracy than any other method available.

Currently, the most common application of theActionReview Interview is in the field of web-usability research. The method allows an extremelyrealistic website interaction without risking therichness of real-time respondent observations.The respondent is allowed to interact with thesite unaided — completing tasks, stumbling with

People forget. They changetheir minds. They make upstories without even knowingit. The gut reaction is a fleetingimpulse, and, once the momenthas passed, the sensation isdifficult to retrieve.

The Objective Interview: C O N T I N U E D


new features, enjoying content and continuallyforming and revising impressions.

If later asked to recall their impressions withoutthe aid of eyetracking video, respondents tend togeneralize (i.e., “I had trouble” or “It was easy touse”). Respondents often cannot recall moment-by-moment impressions; thus, information aboutusability strengths and weaknesses is lost.

However, when the respondent is provided witha visual cue that shows in great detail where he orshe was looking, a wide array of specific informationbecomes available (i.e., “I was searching everywhere,but couldn’t find X,” “I expected Y to be in thetop navigation,” “Z was the first thing I noticed,”etc.). As each moment of the session is replayed,the respondent is able to relive that thought processand express it to the researcher to create a clearnarrative of the interaction. The researcher is thenable to couple this data with his or her ownimpressions of the actual interview to completethe picture. It is the difference between knowingsomething is not working and knowing why it is not working. The obvious benefit of knowingwhy is that you gain theinformation needed to fixthe problems.

Eyetracking in ActionThe following is an exampleof using this method toevaluate a new version ofa homepage for a popularwebsite. Respondentswith experience using theexisting website versionwere asked to complete aseries of tasks to evaluatethe new version. Thesetasks were completed

without assistance, and the moderator did not askquestions during the session.

Not surprisingly, respondents experiencedsignificant problems with the new design. Whenasked about the new version immediately afterthe interview, most respondents expressedsubstantial discontent and pleaded for the site to be returned to its previous format. Had theresearch stopped there, it is likely that we would have had to return to the client with arecommendation to scrap everything.

However, once the respondents were shownthe video of their testing session, they were ableto see the good and the bad. As they watchedtheir eyes moving around the site during theirfirst exposure, many recalled that they wereimmediately intrigued by the sleek new design.While observing their own visual interactionduring tasks, they often noticed that, inhindsight, some of the things that they wereasked to do were very intuitive. For example,they were able to explain what they wereinitially thinking when they began to search for a link to local weather. They were able toexpress how easy it was to find their inbox.They made comments like, “Oh, if I would haveseen the navigation feature initially, I could havecompleted tasks much more easily.”

There was still some dissatisfaction with thenew design, but what had started as an exercisein tearing down all that was new and unfamiliarbecame a constructive discussion of how the newdesign could be adapted to create a more com-fortable transition. Respondents were able toaccess their thoughts throughout the process byreviewing their eye movements. The gut reactionto each new feature was captured in vivid detail,while maintaining a realistic site interaction.

Additional ApplicationsIn addition to web-usability studies, thismethodology has been used to evaluate print

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advertisements, ad copy,package designs and televisioncommercials in realistic settings (i.e., in a magazine, on a shelf,within a televised segment,etc.). In all of these areas, thismethod has proven useful inhelping respondents to discuss

what catches their eye, whatthey tend to ignore and howtheir opinion is formed.

The level of elaborationpossible in reports using theActionReview Interview hasbeen far above the standard forregular IDIs or focus groups.Also, the technology seems topossess a good deal of “Wow!”value with both respondentsand clients. This is not tomention the vast amount ofadditional informationregarding usability and visi-bility that is available throughin-depth analysis of the eyedata itself.

The key feature of thismethodology is the capacity to capture details that other-wise would be lost, withoutcompromising the integrity of the interview. From the firstinstant that people encountersomething new, they arebuilding impressions. Byallowing them to relive theprocess by which theseimpressions are shaped, we can have it both ways —realistic interactions with richdetailed learnings.

The eyetrackingmethod allows anextremely realisticwebsite interactionwithout risking therichness of real-time respondentobservations.

• BUSINESS MATTERS •


part one of this article (QRCA VIEWS, Winter 2007), I reported that researchbuyers are starting with a better sense of the research problem to be solved,the outcomes needed and the timetable for completion. Buyers are also adept

at choosing the right qualitative method to meet those requirements. Now it is timeto choose a qualitative research consultant. In this part of the story, I will tell youhow they approach finding a qualified qualitative research provider.

B Y G E N E D ’ O V I D I O

Intellectual Capital Partners • San Francisco, CA • [email protected]

In this part of thestory, I will tell you how buyers

approach finding aqualified qualitativeresearch provider.

In

BUYERS’ PERSPECTIVE:If It’s Saturday,We Must Be Doing Shop-A-Longs in Singapore (Part 2)


It’s All about NetworkingFor buyers, finding a QRC is all about relationships andprior experience — with the company, in the categoryand/or in the target segment of the market. Most buyersare quick to mention informal networking as their primaryapproach to finding new qualitative research providers.As the senior insight manager with a major pharmaceuticalcompany said, “When I need a new resource, my firststep is to reach out to my internal networks within thecompany — new members of the marketing department,other brand teams or my global counterparts.”

Buyers also informally reach out to their colleaguesfrom prior jobs or to fellow members of professionalorganizations. They often turn to trusted moderatorsfor referrals to other moderators with specific skillsand/or market expertise. When pressed, they will evenpoach good moderators from other companies.

Yet, buyers in general are also looking for new,unknown and qualified resources. As the vice president of consumer research at a large apparel company said,“The old list gets worn out and needs to be constantlyrefreshed and expanded. I wish that more people wouldpick up the phone and call me.”

Raise the Level of Your GameMost buyers prefer independent consultants who canthink on their feet. It’s not the size of your organizationthat counts; it’s the size of your brain! While categoryand market expertise is important, the most valuedqualification is problem-solving ability. As John Finn,the director of Consumer Research at Playtex, told me,“I pick my consultants on the basis of problem-solvingability, not on market expertise.”

A consultant who can clearly articulate the problemand see the solution is highly valued. Susan Wagner,head of Global Research at PepsiCo, agrees, “Theresearch consultant who can interpret research results versus simple reporting moves from ‘simply a vendor’ to business partner.” She went on to say that research buyers value a moderator who is willing to probe to get insights and not just rush on to thenext question. Buyers really want someone who caninterpret the subtleties of a response — i.e., tone,manner and language.

Buyers also look for consultants who have keptthemselves up to date on current qualitative researchtechniques such as one-on-ones, shop-a-longs andethnography. If they do hire a traditional focus groupmoderator, they look for some added value — creativeexercises, respondent homework assignments, etc. —that results in deeper insights and better answers to the research problem.

And, as Woody Allen said, 80 percent of success is showing up. Trust is big with buyers. They need to know that you will do what you say you will do,when you say you will do it. Most of them are walking a high-wire act and have zero tolerance forfailure to deliver.

Preferred Vendor Lists and “My Favorites” ListWhile a few of the more conservative large corporationsmay have (and adhere to) a “preferred vendor list” ofacceptable providers, most buyers are not bound by suchconstraints and will use any provider that fits the bill.If a company list exists, it is probably not rigid, and itis more likely to be used to make sure that consultantshold certain qualifications.

We were told, though, that everyone has a de factoor informal list of preferred vendors. The list, however,is more likely to be a list of recognized experts or “myfavorites,” rather than a strict preferred vendor list. Itis not a short list, either — it is an extensive network ofresources that is being refreshed and expanded all thetime. And, if there is a list, the first thing that a buyerwill do when joining a new organization is to add hisor her favorites to that list.

In order to keep the list fresh, some buyers report abit of trial and error — taking risks on new resources,then keeping the best and tossing the rest. There is alsoa little bias against repeatedly using the same moderators,who may be getting a little “stale” or who begin to bringtoo many preconceived answers to the party.

Cost through the Buyers’ EyesClients may be beginning to challenge themselvesregarding the cost benefit of the results of traditionalfocus groups. As Janet Carr, senior vice president ofStrategy & Consumer Insights at Coach, told me, “Weconstantly challenge ourselves: are we truly gainingnew information or critical insights, or are we simplyvalidating what we already know? Are we on a fishingexpedition, or are we answering a few key questionsthat will result in taking action on Monday morning?Can we get the same results from one good focus groupversus ten to twelve more expensive one-on-ones?”

While the “newer” forms of science-based qualitativeresearch have attracted great interest and high usage,they are much more expensive than the classic “eightfocus groups in four cities” approach. In the end, thevalue of qualitative research depends on the results, notthe technique. A provider who can put himself in theshoes of the client when it comes to cost-benefit analysisand has a bias towards actionable learning is more thana preferred vendor — he becomes a valued vendor.

The same goes for pricing guidelines and discountedfees. Sure, everyone is trying to save money and get themost value from his or her research budget. However,a QRC who gives a “low ball” estimate for the projectis often suspected of not understanding the projectscope and objectives. In the end, most clients eschewpricing guidelines and strive for the best solution.

Limited Value in One-Stop ShoppingTo the probable dismay of some of the large consultancies,most buyers do not see a great deal of advantage in usingthe same resource for qualitative and quantitative research,even when one is inextricably linked to the other. On

Buyers’ Perspective C O N T I N U E D

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the contrary, most buyers recognize that the people inlarge organizations are unlikely to be excellent at both.

As a result, clients often believe it is better to “godeep and narrow,” hire the “best of breed” in eachdiscipline and integrate the results themselves, ratherthan take the easy way out by hiring just one large

company. The value of integration looks good on paper,but it is seldom fully realized.

In fact, many clients report a preference for home-based sole practitioners. As the director of marketingfor a major communications company reported, “It canbe difficult to get the full attention of a large, multifunctionalresearch company. With a sole practitioner, I have abetter chance of getting a larger share of mind.”

Sole practitioners are in a position to win on speedof response and quality of client services. The exceptions

seem to exist in non-English-speaking, non-Westernand third-world markets, where language and culturemake integration a greater challenge, or in researchprojects with a wide geographic scope where numerousmoderators are need to do the job.

Quantitative and qualitative, however, do often needto be complementary. Remember, buyers are less interestedin the method used than in problem solving. They thinkabout qualitative and qualitative as all part of the sameeffort. Valued qualitative researchers are those who under-stand how to integrate one with the other or how toconduct their qualitative research with an eye towardsthe quantitative steps that are likely to follow (or arethe preceding reason for the qualitative).

Some situations, though, favor large consultancies oversole practitioners. It is hard to ignore the efficiencies gainedby using one large provider when you have multipleprojects or groups in multiple cities. Larger firms, likeSynovate, are certainly being hired for large-scalespecialized projects such as ethnography and in-storeresearch. While specialization is often what clientswant and demand, large firms can sometimes lose theholistic view of a research project, by spreading thework across too many functional specialists.

Where the Boys AreMy wife mentors a lot of young single women, most ofwhom are looking for dates. In a town like San Francisco

For buyers, finding a qualifiedQRC is all about relationshipsand prior experience — withthe company, in the categoryand in the target segment ofthe market.

C O N T I N U E D Buyers’ Perspective

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(or any large city), that can be tough. She always tellsthem, “Go where the boys are.” They are not at themuseums or the opera — instead, on just about anyFriday night, go to the St. Francis Yacht Club, which is swarming with athletic, young men. This is obvious,not rocket science.

The same goes for meeting buyers of qualitativemarket research. Most buyers spend a lot of time out in the field. They are involved with their professionsand involved with their industry. Industry and pro-fessional association conferences are where birds of a feather flock together. Many researcher buyers areinterested in innovation; they attend conferencesfocused on creativity and new product development,and they often attend conferences and share groupsfocused on those subjects.

The most frequently mentioned conferences andperiodicals include:

• Annual Conference of the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF)

• Annual Conference of the American Marketing Association (AMA)

• Annual Conference of the Ad Research Council (ARC)

• Annual Conference of the Marketing Science Institute (MSI)

• Corante’s Marketing Innovation Conference(Columbia University)

• Aberdeen’s Product Innovation Summit (held annually in Boston)

• Journal of Marketing Research• Journal of Advertising Research• Always On

(http://alwayson.goingon.com/homepage)• Coogan & Partners Share Groups

What Is the Bottom Line?That’s just it — it is all about the bottom line.Ultimately, research buyers hire qualitative research consultants to grow the top line and,ultimately, to enhance the bottom line of theirbusiness. At the highest level, they hire qual-itative research consultants not to simply conduct the research, but to help them find a unique and/or deep consumer insight that can provide them with a competitive advantage over less-enlightened competition.

Buyers approach that hiring process with a well-defined framework used to select the rightqualitative research consultant for the job, andspecialization is the order of the day. Qualitativeresearch consultants who understand a buyer’sultimate motivation will bring a deep level ofexpertise to bear on the problem — and they will be valued as partners in the challenging pursuit of competitive advantage.

CCR014

• NEWS FROM QRCA •


will be another exciting year forQRCA with the introduction andimplementation of a new initiative

that the QRCA International Committee hasrecently developed — the QRCA Global OutreachScholarship. This new scholarship will be awardedannually to one recipient who will receive freeregistration to the QRCA Annual Conference in the autumn of the year that the scholarship is awarded, as well as reimbursement of up to$1,000 (US) travel costs associated with attendingthe conference.

We now invite applications for the scholarship.Applications should be submitted in compliancewith the Scholarship Guidelines and on therequired Application Form. Applications shouldalso include a one-page Personal Statement andtwo Referee Forms completed by referees insupport of the application. The applicant’s PersonalStatement and the two Referee Forms will providethe most important criteria for selection of thesuccessful recipient.

What are the qualifying criteria? Preferencewill be given to applicants (1) from outside theU.S., U.K. and Canada, (2) who have completeduniversity-level degree study and (3) who havebeen employed in qualitative research for one totwo years. Fluency in oral and written English isalso important to enable maximum benefit to begained from the opportunity to attend the QRCAAnnual Conference. We seek applicants who havenot previously attended a QRCA Annual Confer-ence and who are either currently members ofQRCA or qualified non-members.

Want to find out more? Detailed informationabout the QRCA Global Outreach Scholarship isavailable on the QRCA website at www.qrca.org.Copies of the Application Form and ScholarshipGuidelines, which provide more detailed infor-mation about the application process and qualifyingcriteria, can be downloaded from the QRCAwebsite or obtained from Darrin Hubbard, QRCA’sassistant executive director, at QRCA InternationalHeadquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The closing date/deadline for applications isMonday, June 16, 2008. All applications andsupporting documentation must be received at

QRCA International Headquarters, in hard-copyform (by mail or by fax), no later than midnightGMT (Greenwich Mean Time, or 7:00 p.m.,Eastern Standard Time) on this date.

So, what happens next? Once the closing date for applications has passed, all applicationswill be reviewed, evaluated and ranked by theInternational Committee in accordance with theapplication process and qualifying criteria, priorto final approval being given by the QRCABoard of Directors.

The scholarship will be awarded based on the quality of the application and supportingdocumentation, along with the applicant’s abilityto meet eligibility requirements and qualifyingcriteria. The recipient of the 2008 QRCA GlobalOutreach Scholarship will be notified by June 30, 2008.

If you would like to obtain further informationabout the QRCA Global Outreach Scholarship,please visit www.qrca.org or direct any questionsor enquiries to QRCA’s assistant executive director(Darrin Hubbard, by email at [email protected] or by telephone at +1 651-290-7491).

Manuela Fletcher is tri-chair of QRCA’sInternational Committee, working alongsidePeter Lovett from the U.K. and Pat Sabena from the U.S.

New QRCA International Scholarship

2008

B Y M A N U E L A F L E T C H E R

QRCA International Committee • Wellington, New Zealand • [email protected]

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• TRAVEL & LEISURE •


2008 Joint Conference of QRCA and its European counterpart, theAssociation for Qualitative Research (AQR), will be held this May.If you have put away your passport from the Vancouver conference,

get it out again: there are few cities as charming and beautiful — and in some wayseven startling — as Barcelona.

B Y M A R Y B E T H S O L O M O N

Solomon Solutions • Jersey City, NJ • [email protected]

Barcelona today is a vibrant,

cosmopolitan,bilingual metrop-

olis of over 1.5million people.

The

BARCELONA, HERE WE COME: Get Ready for the AQR/QRCA Joint Conference in Barcelona

(If you are planning to go to the 2008 AQR/QRCA Joint Conference in Barcelona, Spain, visit http://www.aqr.qrca.org.)


Getting Around BarcelonaFrom the airport (Barcelona International Airport),it is about a 20- to 30-minute taxi ride, dependingon traffic, to the central part of Ciutat Vella (or“old city,” known as District 1), where the con-ference hotel is located. (By train or bus, it is about40–45 minutes.) It is okay to land without Euro;you can pay for everything with a credit card. Ifyou prefer, of course, you can exchange currencyat the airport for a fee.

Getting around the Barcelona metropolis isquickest by metro and prettiest by bus. If youplan to travel exclusively via metro, considerbuying the Barcelona travel card, which allowsunlimited travel along with discounts at some ofthe major tourist attractions in the city. Thesecards are available in 2-day, 3-day, 4-day and 5-day increments and range from about 9 toabout 20 Euro. They are valid on both the metroand bus networks.

Also easily accessible are taxicabs, which displaya green light when they are available. Taxis mustuse meters, and the rates are indicated on a stickerinside the car. Surcharges are placed on rides toand from the Barcelona airport, as well as foreach piece of luggage.

Barcelona’s weather in May ranges from themid-60s to around 70 degrees Fahrenheit (around18–22 degrees Celsius), so the climate duringconference time allows for plenty of comfortablefair-weather sightseeing.

The hotel where the conference will be held is the Hotel Rey Juan Carlos. Considered one of the leading hotels of the world, it is located at the Diagonal, one of Barcelona’s fashionableavenues. Surrounded by gardens and convenientto shops and transportation, the Hotel Rey JuanCarlos offers special rates for conference attendees,so be sure to book a spot in early 2008.(http://www.hrjuancarlos.com/en/index.html)

The conference hotel is located right on AvingudaDiagonal, Barcelona’s main commercial strip. Theavenue is divided into upper and lower, and eachsection has its own commercial retail complexes,such as L’illa at the upper end of Diagonal (http://www.lilla.com/eng/home.php) and Diagonal Marat the lowest (http://www.diagonalmarcentre.es).

One of the most famous landmarks in the cityis Plaça Catalunya, a popular place for touriststo meet and experience the hustle and bustle ofthe city. Arguably, the most prestigious commercialretail and international brands are located nearPlaça Catalunya, along Avinguda Passeig de Gràcia.A short walk up and down Avinguda Passeig deGràcia will give you a hint of exclusive Barcelona:renowned Gaudí buildings, fine restaurants, famousjewelry shops, cafes and hotels.

Another busy area is Las Ramblas, a series ofconnecting short streets filled with cafes and

markets. This main thoroughfare is pedestrianonly, making it easy to amble along, shoppingthe markets and enjoying the sites.

In central Barcelona’s Barri Gòtic (the “GothicQuarter”), you will find more shopping, restaurantsand sightseeing. A Spanish plaza called Plaça Reialis a favorite stop for tourists to linger and people-watch. Formerly a meeting place for those partic-ipating in the seedier sides of life, the square hasbecome popular with tourists for its cafes andgrowing nightlife off the square.

Other sections of the city include La Ribera,known for its buildings dating back to Medievaltimes, and Barceloneta, a beach neighborhoodwith a boardwalk and several nightclubs.

The CityBarcelona (the “c” is pronounced “s” or “th,”depending on whether you are speaking Catalanor Castillian) is both the capital of Catalonia (anautonomous region in the southeastern part ofSpain) and the second-largest city in the country.

Barcelona started as a port city and acquiredits identity from a vast array of people passingthrough during its long history. It was initiallysettled over 2,000 years ago in the area now knownas Ciutat Vella by the Laietani (an ancient Iberianpeople), and at Laie, an area now known asMontjuic. Legend, historical fact and conjecturehave contributed to Barcelona’s rich history, butwhat is known for certain is that multitudeshave passed through over the centuries.

Ultimately, though, Barcelona outlasted thesewaves of visitors and established itself as theheart of Catalan culture. As a result, Barcelonatoday is a vibrant, cosmopolitan, bilingualmetropolis of over 1.5 million people (as of a2006 census).

HighlightsOne of the most outstanding aspects of Barcelonathe city, and Catalonia overall, is the sheer beautyof the architecture, much of which was conceivedby Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí.

Gaudí devoted several decades — and all of thelast 15 years of his life — to La Sagrada Familia(“The Holy Family”), a Catholic basilica of grandproportions, still unfinished at the time of his deathin 1926. Though construction started on this grandstructure in 1882, it remains yet to be completed,but it is slated to be finished in another two decades,despite the absence of Gaudí’s original design ideas,which were destroyed in a 1936 civil war. Thechurch is well worth a visit, however, if only tosee an impressive example of the architecturalvision of Antoni Gaudí, who is buried there in achurch crypt.

Another remarkable example of Gaudí’s workis presented in Park Güell, a park originally meant

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to be a housing estate for the wealthy, as envisionedby Eusebi de Güell, a nineteenth-century Catalancount. Park Güell eventually became a public parkaround 1923, after failing to live up to Güell’s

aristocratic vision to draw the wealthy residentsfor which he had hoped. Instead, it has becomea virtual exhibition space of Gaudí’s works.

Also, don’t miss the Plaça d'Espanya, createdin 1929 for Barcelona’s International Exhibition.It is now one of Barcelona’s largest squares at theintersection of several main thoroughfares.

Following one of those thoroughfares (AvingudaMaria Cristina) leads you directly to Font Màgica(Magic Fountain), which should be on your sched-ule for a weekend night. Font Màgica is a spec-tacular (some say over-the-top), Las Vegas-worthywater-and-light show set to music. Best seenaround sunset, shows begin at 7:00 p.m. (checklocal schedules for any changes); they run everyhalf-hour, and they last about 15 minutes each.

The large stone structure of Museu Picassohouses the largest collection of Picasso’s workanywhere, including over 3,500 works in themuseum’s permanent collection. Much of themuseum focuses on Picasso’s early years and his relationship to Barcelona, as well as what is known as Picasso’s “Blue Period,” leading up to his departure in 1904 for Paris.(http://www.museupicasso.bcn.es)

Art lovers also may want to pay a visit to the Fundació Joan Miró, a gallery housing the

The hotel where the con-ference will be held is theHotel Rey Juan Carlos.Considered one of theleading hotels of the world, it is located at the Diag-onal, one of Barcelona’sfashionable avenues.

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works of modern artist Jean Miró. The buildingwas completed in the mid-seventies and is itselfa work of modern art.(http://www.bcn.fjmiro.cat)

Keep in mind that Barcelona’s museums areusually closed on Mondays.

Final ThoughtsA cautionary note: Be careful. Tourists havebeen known to be pick-pocketed, particularlyalong Las Ramblas, even during broad daylight.Keep your possessions locked up, preferablysecured in a safe in the hotel room.

Also, familiarize yourself with the BarcelonaMetro, so that you can get around like a local.(http://www.tmb.net/en_US/home.jsp)

(Author’s note: Thanks to Barcelona localAníbal Marrón Menéndez for additionalcomments, suggestions and contributions to this article.)

Online and Print Guide Books

Check out some guidebooks — both onlineand off — to supplement your visit. Whenyou are in Barcelona, for instance, pick

up an English copy of TimeOut Barcelona, or get an advance preview on the TimeOutwebsite. (http://www.timeout.com/barcelona)

A thorough online destination guide is theFootprint Travel Guide, but print guidebooksare also available for purchase on the site.(http://www.footprintguides.com/Barcelona)

Don’t forget about the ever-reliable RoughGuides and Lonely Planet travel series, whichare easily found online at Amazon or in mostbookstores.

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• QRCA VIEWS PODCASTS •


Our Newest QRCA VIEWS

Podcasts

know many of our readers are sobusy they don’t always get around toreading QRCA VIEWS, despite their

best intentions. So, each quarter, we bring youone or more podcast interviews conducted byQRCA members with thought leaders fromqualitative research, strategic consulting, academiaand other relevant fields. A podcast can belistened to while jogging, driving, waiting in thedoctor’s office or passing time in the airportwaiting for a flight.

Our busy qualitative researchers and researchbuyers can listen to these interviews right on theQRCA website as streaming audio, or they candownload the mp3 file to their laptop or portableplayer for listening on the go. This podcast seriescan also be subscribed to in the iTunes store orusing other “podcatcher” type software.

You will find the podcasts under the Pub-lications link at www.qrca.org. At present thereare four interviews on the site. Here are thelatest two additions.

Bill Buxton: Interviewedby Kay Corry AubreyBill Buxton is a designer and a researcher con-cerned with human aspects of technology. Hiswork reflects a particular interest in the use oftechnology to support creative activities such as design, filmmaking and music. Buxton’sresearch specialties include technologies, tech-niques and theories of input to computers,technology-mediated human-human collaboration,

and ubiquitous computing. He is helping to bringdesign to an equal footing with technology atMicrosoft. His recent book, Sketching UserExperiences, was recently named by Strategy+Business Quarterly as “the best innovationbook of this year.”

Scott Berkun: Interviewed by Kay Corry AubreyAn author, consultant and software industryveteran, Scott Berkun writes books, consultswith managers and teaches creative thinking at the University of Washington. From 1994 –2003, he worked as a manager at Microsoft on projects including Internet Explorer (v1 – 5),Windows and MSN. He started his ownconsulting practice in 2003. Berkun wrote thebest seller The Art of Project Management(O'Reilly 2005), and he teaches a graduatecourse in creative thinking at the University of Washington.

His newest bestseller, The Myths of Inno-vation, about the truths of creativity andinnovation, was published in May 2007. Over the years, he has shared his wisdom on topicsranging from “how to manage smart people” to “good, evil and technology” and dozens ofother thought-provoking essays on his blog athttp://www.scottberkun.com/essays/.

QRCA members who have ideas for inter-viewing a thought leader should contact QRCAVIEWS Editor-in-Chief David Van Nuys([email protected]).

We

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• BOOK REVIEW •

Citizen Marketers – When People are the MessageBy Ben McConnell and Jackie HubaKaplan Publishing, 2007

R E V I E W B Y K A Y C O R R Y A U B R E Y

Usability Resources Inc. • Bedford,MA • [email protected]

itizen Marketers opens with the story of GeorgeMasters, a California schoolteacher who, inhis spare time over five months, created a

little bit of video that was (in effect) an ad for theApple iPod. The slick retro animation featurediPods dancing to the beat of “Tiny Machine,” a song by an ’80s pop band called the DarlingBuds. Masters showed his creation to a few Macenthusiasts to see what they thought. They wentwild. They showed the video to their friends, and within a month, a half million people hadwatched it.

For decades, television has been a dominant forcein shaping our culture with one-way communi-cation. Today’s consumers have a voice, too.Broadband connections combined with user-generated media — blogs, podcasts, videos andother free and readily available tools — are creatinga new kind of democratic marketplace. Ordinarypeople, fueled by passion but with no formal con-nection to a company, use Web 2.0 social mediato shape public perception of products and services.

Most of us are consumers, not producers, ofthis information. Citizen marketers, the ones whoshape opinion, are actually a small percentage ofthe customer base. These are the “1 percenters”— “filters, fanatics, facilitators and firecrackers,”as authors Ben McConnell and Jackie Hubadescribe them. These volunteers are driven bytheir own enthusiasm and a sense of duty to con-tribute to collective knowledge of the productsand services they seek to promote. The 1 percenterscontribute by posting news items and deliveringrants on their blogs and their websites. They canhelp create a “community” around a product. The1 percenters are the ones who launch internet“memes” (the kind of video of which Masters’“Tiny Machine” is a high-end example). Theseleap from brain to brain at electronic speed.

The 1 percenters are the early adopters and arecritical to the success of an online community.They are by no means the average customer, butthey have huge influence over their audience’sperception of a brand.

Citizen Marketersis a book about theemerging power ofthese individuals andonline communitiesto shape culture andconsumer preferences.The book is short,snappy and rich inwell-researched anec-dotes and examples.It has 32 pages ofreferences thatprovide pointers

on some of the best examples and analysis ofsocial media. This book would be a particu-larly valuable read for someone who wants to understand the dynamics of social media and how to work with it for marketing andbrand building.

The final chapter, “How to Democratize YourBusiness,” offers intriguing examples of newbusinesses that have rocketed to success byknowing how to swim in this new stream. One of the examples is Threadless.com, a T-shirtmanufacturer, which went from inception to a$20 million company by involving customers inits decision-making. Forty percent of its businessis from repeat customers. Every day, 150 peoplepost design ideas for new T-shirts, and visitorsvote on their favorite. All data contributed oneach design is shown: the number of people whohave participated, the number of days left forvoting and the number of comments people havewritten. Every week, Threadless produces alimited edition of the winning designs, using therating data as a way to gauge inventory. Thissystem has worked well for the company: 90percent of all the T-shirts it produces sell outwithin two months.

Threadless rewards people who submitwinning designs with up to $12,500, a year’ssupply of free limited-edition T-shirts and storecredit. Threadless offers customers incentives for posting pictures of themselves wearingThreadless designs. Threadless has found success by structuring customer interactions so peoplecan “act in their own self-interest on behalf of the company,” as owners Jake Nickell andJake DeHart put it. “Allow your content to be created by the community. Put your project in their hands. Let your community grow itself, then reward them for making your project possible.”

Citizen Marketers is a particularly valuableread for someone who wants to understand thedynamics of social media and how to work with it for marketing and brand building.

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The New Influencers: A Marketer’s Guide tothe New Social MediaBy Paul Gillin Quill Driver Books, 2007

R E V I E W B Y K A Y C O R R Y A U B R E Y

Usability Resources Inc. • Bedford,MA • [email protected]

aul Gillin describes marketing as the art ofestablishing relationships with customers. In this book, he explores how social

media offer unprecedented opportunities fordeveloping the type of discourse that will lead to deeper insights into customer thinking andneeds. Up until now, media conglomerates havebeen able to carefully control message andimage because of the high cost of producing and distributing media. The driving forcesbehind the explosion in social media arebandwidth and an abundance of free andpowerful communication tools.

As Gillin tells it, the new social media are far from being a free-for-all. Gillin describestheir emerging social structure and code ofethics: honesty, openness and willingness tocredit sources and avoid plagiarism. Thetransparency ethic of new social media dictates that a post can never be deleted but may bemodified. Commenting and linking to a posting are essential parts of the conversation andcommunity development. Gillin describes linking as the “currency” of the blogospherebecause the popularity of individual bloggers is measured by the number of links to their own postings.

This is a medium of young adults, the 18- to 28-year-olds who are wired for multitaskingand who spend an average of 10 hours a weekonline (but only 2 hours with traditional mediasuch as radio and TV). A recent Forrester reportcited that this group is 50 percent more likely tosend IMs, twice as likely to read blogs and threetimes as likely to use social-network sites suchas MySpace.

Like Citizen Marketers, The New Influencersdevotes quite a bit of attention to defining thegroup that gives the book its title. In general, the influencers are extremely knowledgeableabout their field of interest. They have marketknowledge and a desire to share their knowledgewith others. In a general way, they care deeplyabout their community. Bloggers, for instance,

are motivated by numerousforces: a need to express theirviews onsubjects theycare deeplyabout, todocument theirexperiences, toconnect withpeople whoshare a commoninterest and,

sometimes, to achieve fame and status withintheir community. But they are not in it for the money.

This book provides valuable informationon how to participate successfully in the mostcommon forms of social media. In his chapteron the “Tools of the Trade,” Gillin offers avery understandable overview of technologiesand techniques such as viral marketing, RSS,wikis, tagging, podcasting and aggregationengines. He offers tips on getting started (“Justjump in … Be offbeat … Start a diary …Accompany postings with audio and images”).He provides perspective through spotlightinterviews with leading figures in technologysuch as Dan Bricklin (creator of VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program available forpersonal computers).

Gillin traces how small and large corporationsuse blogs to expand their business. J.D. Iles ofSignsNeverSleep of Lincoln, NH, spends 15minutes a day blogging about the finer points ofhow he handcrafts signs. “The weblog showsmy customers what we are: a small businessthat is approachable and fun, and hopefullythey like the work we do.” Stormhoek, aSouth African wine producer, doubled its sales in England after sending free bottles ofwine to 150 bloggers. It invited bloggers toorganize dinners where Stormhoek providedthe wine.

Large companies such as IBM and Benettonhave launched successful blogs because they areupfront about the blog’s intent — to promotethe company’s business. If done right, blogswork well for big companies because they havethe means to create compelling content to keeppeople coming back. They provide a direct com-munication route between company executivesand customers.

The New Influencers tells you what you needto know to jump in, build your image as athought leader and leverage social media totalk directly with your customers.

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• HUMOR •


ello all, and welcome to the new QRCAVIEWS Humor column. The goal of thisrecurring column will be to leverage its

customer-driven attributes to maximize brandpatronage and loyalty — in other words, make it a funny one!

For our maiden voyage, I thought I wouldexplore some whimsical musings posted recentlyby QRCA members on the QRCA Forum, which is QRCA’s online discussion bulletin board.

First, a quick word about the QRCA Forum:it is a great place for QRCA members to gatherin order to get and give sage advice on all kindsof issues related to qualitative research. Recent postsinclude topics such as developing new projectivetechniques, how to handle particularly difficultrecruiting, which reporting formats clients preferthese days and facility recommendations in marketsoff the beaten path — all relevant, meaty discussionsthat, quite frankly, I believe make the QRCA Forumone of the many resources available to QRCAmembers that truly make us the best professionalswe can be for our clients.

Of course, most of the time, our clients aretrue partners in working towards the success of the project. Over the years, though, everyexperienced qualitative research consultant willrun into situations that are frustrating and nerve-wracking in the thick of things but afterwards,in hindsight, can be seen as pretty darn funny. A recent thread on the Forum discussed the topten signs that warn QRCs that it is going to be a difficult project. QRCA members ended upnoting way more than ten, and even though thethread was intended as a nice diversion, it stillunderscored serious, real-world issues. But whocares about serious issues right now? Let’s justhave a chuckle!

Top Signs It Is Going To Be A Difficult Project …

• The client tells you that the objective of theresearch is to show other members of the

internal team how great the campaign is(which the client contact wrote herself).

• The Request For Proposal asks how youwill develop and handle the "20–25 pagesof the Discussion Guide" — for a 60-minuteindividual depth interview.

• The client asks for specific timings to beattached to each and every question on the guide.

• The client asks if the moderator will beattending all the groups (um, so who elsewould be there to moderate?).

• The target market exists only in the client's imagination.

• The client offers assurances that therecruiting will be really easy, even though they have never done it.

• After getting the go-ahead, you have toendure a long conference call where you are grilled on your qualifications.

• The clients are reluctant to sign a contract,even though they have verbally agreed toeverything.

• You get handed off to a new primarycontact person — a new team member justhired out of the internship program.

• The project has been re-booked three times,and it still is not clear that the client canobtain the list of customers that is requiredfor recruitment.

• Client team members are at war with each other for project control, and you are the battleground.

TOP SIGNS It’s Going to be a Difficult ProjectB Y J O E L R E I S H

Next Level Research • Atlanta, GA • [email protected]

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• The clients insist on using an elaborate and outdatedalgorithm as part of the screening process.

• The most common answer the client gives to anyquestion you ask is, “Because that’s the way we’vealways done it.”

• The client agrees that your upfront out-of-pocketexpenses are supposed to be paid in advance, but once the invoice gets to Accounts Payable, the company’s “net 60-day payment policy” takes over.

• Turns out that the stimuli (art boards, TV spots, packagedesign concepts, etc.) will not be produced in time, soyou will have to “wing it.”

• The client asks for DVDs of the focus groups to be sentto him by express mail so he can view them and give hiscomments before you start your groups the next night.

• You first have to fill out just a teeny bit of paperwork tobecome an approved vendor — it won't require much,just a complete history of your company and everyproject you have ever had, detailed statements of where all the money goes, verification of millions of dollars of

insurance that you do not have, and a full hi-resolutionvideo from your most recent colonoscopy — and aftersubmitting that, you should be approved in about six months.

• The client wants to see examples of how you use graphs in focus group reports.

• Every time you mention projective techniques, the client asks, "Why can't we just ask them the $@&*%question?"

I would like to thank the following QRCA members for their contributions to the original QRCA Forum thread from which this list was gleaned: Susan Abbott, Shaili Bhatt,Phyllis Gilbert, Abby Leafe, Ricardo Lopez, Tom Lutz, Riley Rowe, David Spenser, Matt Towers, Steve Willson, Jay Zaltzman, Monica Zinchiak and yours truly.

Going forward, I will be on constant lookout for ideas for this column. So, if you have any humorous stories,observations or jokes related to qualitative research, whether you are a QRCA member, a client or a reader of another stripe, please feel free to contact me [email protected].

If we can’t laugh at ourselves, who can we laugh at?


• EDITORIAL GUIDELINES •

Call for Authors: Publishing Opportunitiesditorial content for QRCA VIEWS is managedby an editorial team that includes the editor-in-chief, managing editors, copy editor, contributing

editor, and the features editors for each of VIEWS’regular columns such as Qualitative Toolbox andTech Talk.

VIEWS editors welcome QRCA members andmembers of the marketing research community tosubmit article ideas or manuscripts for consideration.

We review each manuscript on an individual basis toensure that the article conforms to VIEWS’ mission andgoals, as well as to the topic mix needed for each issue.Occasionally, we may save a manuscript to use in afuture issue. We reserve the right to edit any manuscriptor to change the title.

Submissions should be objectively written andsupported by case-study examples. Self-serving articlesor those that promote a moderator’s or a researchcompany’s expertise will not be published in VIEWS.

Please remember that it takes a good deal of timefor our editors to read through all the submissions.We will let you know as quickly as possible whether ornot your article has been accepted for publication inQRCA VIEWS.

Submitting a ManuscriptPlease send articles via email as an attached Word fileto the attention of David Van Nuys, at [email protected].• The preferred article length is 1,500–2,500 words. • To make sure that your manuscript can be easily

identified and retrieved once it has been down-loaded in our “Article Submissions Folder,” yourWord document/file attachments should be labeledas follows:

Brief title.Last name of author.doc

• Please be sure to tag each page of your manuscriptwith a left header that identifies the article titleand author’s last name and a right header withthe page number.

• In addition to the title of the article, the front page ofyour manuscript should include the author’s full name,full company name and address, phone number andemail address.

• Please use only simple formats in your Worddocuments. Avoid using unusual indentations ortabulations as well as outline-style paragraphs withsubsets, boxes or other page graphics. When theediting process has been completed, VIEWS’ graphicdesigners will format your manuscript so that it willbe attractive and easy to read.

• Include your full name, company name and mailingaddress at the bottom of your manuscript. If your articleis published, in appreciation of your contribution, wewill send you three complimentary copies via U.S. mail.

FAQs about Article SubmissionsWill I see my article before it is published in QRCAVIEWS? Not always, as our tight publication schedulemay not allow for author review of edited manuscripts.

Will I be paid for the time and effort I put into writingthe article? Like most professional associationpublications, VIEWS does not pay contributors.However, since the magazine is distributed broadly inthe research community, you will gain a good deal ofvisibility as a result of being published in VIEWS.

Can I submit an outline for consideration before I submit the completed article? Yes, you may submit a 50-100 word description of your story idea to theappropriate features editor.

My article was published in another journal ormagazine. Can I send it to VIEWS? We do not havethe resources to deal with the complicated copyrightissues raised by articles that were published elsewhere.An article is considered “previously published” if itwas published before in another print or online tradejournal, magazine or newspaper. However, if youhave substantially rewritten the article beforesubmitting it to VIEWS, we will consider it. Shouldthis be the case with a manuscript that you aresubmitting to VIEWS, please inform us. Along withthe rewritten manuscript, please enclose a copy ofthe article as it was first published.

Writing Style Guidelines• Write in the present tense and use the active voice

as much as possible. Avoid the use of contractions,i.e., don’t, wouldn’t, can’t, etc.

• Footnotes, endnotes or lists of references are notnecessary in a trade magazine such as VIEWS.

• Make liberal use of topic subheads to help readersscan your article and follow your main points easily.

• Please direct your queries and/or submit yourmanuscript to Editor-in-Chief David Van Nuys, at [email protected].

Electronic Article ReprintsAuthors who publish in VIEWS will automaticallyreceive a free PDF file of their article, as it appearedin the magazine. For a PDF file of the article withadvertising removed, a company logo added and textreflowed, authors should contact Susie Barber, at LeadingEdge Communications, at [email protected]. The fee for the modified-article PDF is $35.

We look forward to working with you!

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123 Transcriptions/Compudex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

ActiveGroup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46, 47 & Back Coverwww.activegroup.net

Advanced Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23www.advancedfocus.com

Amy Riker Transcription Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85

Atkins Research Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90www.atkinsresearchinc.com

Baltimore Research Agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5www.baltimoreresearch.com

Bernett Research Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59www.bernett.com

C&M Research Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50

Carmen Degidio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52www.cdqual.com

Chamberlain Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79www.chamberlainresearch.com

Consumer Opinion Services, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58www.cosvc.com

Creative Consumer Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65www.ccrsurveys.com

DecisionPoint Marketing and Research, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12www.decisionpointconsulting.com

Delve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87www.delve.com

Doyle Research Associates, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78www.doyleresearch.com

Ebony Marketing Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86www.ebonymktg.com

Ecker & Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20www.eckersf.com

Field & Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85www.field-n-focus.com

Fieldwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40www.fieldwork.com

First Choice Facilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81www.firstchoicefacilities.net

Fleischman Field Research, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73www.ffrsf.com

Focus Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62www.focusfwd.com

Focus Groups of Cleveland Survey Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29www.idirectdata.com

Focus Market Research - Minneapolis & Phoenix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3www.focusmarketresearch.com

Focus Pointe Global . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33www.focuspointeglobal.com

Focus Solutions Alliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Focus Suites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71www.focussuites.com

Focuscope, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58www.focuscope.com

FocusVision Worldwide, Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Inside Front Cover, 22www.focusvision.com

Fox Research Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78www.foxresearchinc.com

Group Dynamics in Focus, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17www.groupdynamics.com

GroupNet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41www.group-net.com

Home Arts Guild Research Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12www.hagrc.com

InterClipper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69www.viccd.com

Jay Martin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80www.jsmartintranscription.com

L&E Research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21www.leresearch.com

Leibowitz Market Research Assoc., Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11www.leibowitz-research.com

Meadowlands Consumer Center, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51www.meadowcc.com

MedQuest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75www.medquest-chicago.com

Morpace International, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64www.morpace.com

MRCGroup Research Institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18www.mrcgroup.com

Murray Hill Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44www.murrayhillcenter.com

National Data Research, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31www.national-data.net

National Field & Focus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29www.nff-inc.com

Observation Baltimore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9www.observationbaltimore.com

Opinions of Sacramento . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37www.opinionsofsac.com

Perceptive Market Research, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63

PFI Research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52

Precision Research, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19www.preres.com

Qfact Marketing Research, LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39www.qfact.com

RDD VuPoint Portland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36www.rdd.info

Riva Training Institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57www.rivainc.com

Sabena Qualitative Research Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51www.qual.com

Schlesinger Associates, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Inside Back Coverwww.schlesingerassociates.com

Taylor Research, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95www.taylorresearch.com

The Focus Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7www.thefocusnetwork.com

Tragon Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31www.tragon.com

Index of Advertisers

FGC026

FSA008

FVW050

spring 2008...• from the editor-in-chief •8 qrca views spring 2008 visionary buckminister...

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