How often one gets a brief to do a ‘conjoint exercise’, ‘psychographic segmentation’ or ‘3 FGDs with housewives’ !


Doing research is not about doing ‘conjoint’ or ‘FGDs with housewives’ but about selecting appropriate methodology (HOW to do research) to answer the research needs. How do you decide HOW to do your market research? This is the foundation of how actionable the research outputs is likely to be. Traditional approach to research is to put up ‘pressure cooker’ FGDs if qualitative inputs are required and ‘micro wave’ structured interviews if quantification if required. However, the choice of methodology is much more complicated than that.

We at AZ Research Partners believe in first clearly articulating the research needs and how the research outputs can provide actionable inputs to the client. This then defines the optimal way of conducting the research. Optimal methodology for a research is often a trade off between the most effective way to capture required data versus the logistics of capturing the same.


       Efficacy of methodology to capture required data is determined by taking into consideration aspects like:
              What kind of outputs are required –
                      is it exploratory or evaluative in nature
                      what research tools are required to be used for the same
                      whether width of information coverage is more critical or robustness of sample size

              What are the audience nuances –
                      what kind of environment / company / questioning etc would the respondent would be comfortable
                      what is their comprehension level on the topic to be discussed
                      how open are they to discuss the research topic
                      are they likely to have articulated in their minds the kind of answers we seek – are we seeking to know the conscious or the sub-conscious of the                                     respondent

 

       Logistical viability of methodology for capturing data needs to consider these aspects
                    What are time and investment constraints
                    How big is the universe of the Target Group – how easy will it be to reach them
                    How much time will the Target Group give – how much time will we get with them in each interaction
                    Have the research tools proposed been validated with the Target Group in the cultural context

 

In the face of Target Audience segments continuously changing the crux of  obtaining actionable information lies in choosing the correct research methodology.+


To understand the various methodologies we recommend basis our experience in AZ Research Partners, read on the details of methodologies given below.