Three Tips for Getting More Useful Qualitative Reports

We recently decided to do a little research of our own on the qualitative research landscape. Based on this series of in-depth interviews with client-side researchers, we have isolated three ways to ensure that all of your hard work done in the planning, design and execution of qualitative projects pays off with truly useful reports.

1) Make sure reports are easy to read, easy to share and easy to use: In order to get reports that can be used easily by your internal clients, it is important to understand, and share with your research partner; a) who the end users are b) what their preferences and requirements are for content and format; and c) the information they need to have to make their decisions.

A great starting point is to always require the report in PowerPoint and include an executive summary of the key points and what they mean for the business. In researchers own words:

• Ive had some really crappy reports 35 pages of text. We are in an environment where it is very important what the presentation looked like, I think it was a pre-requisite for the job that the executives have ADD.
  
• The main thing we need is quality reports. Something that functions on its own well. A 2-page summary, about what we did, what we learned& We are too busy to revise and type out our own summaries and reports.
  
• It should say here are the results, and here is what we are going to do with the findings.
  
• What we really like is when the vendor is unbiased and says, based on this research, you should or should not do this.

2) Use the RFP process to ensure its more than a fishing expedition: The simplest way to get focused reporting and execute more useful interviews and groups is to flesh out the ways that the research will be used and include them in the RFP process. Even if you are sole-sourcing a project, putting the goals on paper helps ensure that you will get what you need and that everyone is on the same page.

Sharing this with your partners and internal clients allows everyone to voice their needs and concerns prior to spending any money, and enables researchers to develop a plan that is designed to answer a specific question or questions.

• Take time before sending a proposal, question me, have a preliminary conversation. Vendors who call me before they submit the proposal to clarify, are the ones who win my business.
  
• Dissect the issues and create a proposal on what the research objectives should be. Synthesize what you heard at the meeting.
  
• We like it when the vendor presents a few different options, creativity from the vendor when it comes to finding a solution to our small market sizes really helps.
  
• The vendors ability to go above and beyond whats in the RFP, and provide some value-add that we hadnt thought about&this makes me know that the person on the other end is creative.

3) Know exactly who you are working with: First, you need to decide and communicate beforehand whether you want a final report from your partner or just want them to summarize the groups/interviews. Based on that, ask for bios of the people who will actually be executing the project, their industry experience, and sample reports.

Some firms will have a bank of moderators and interviewers who can run the project, but you want to work with the most appropriate one. If you are looking for someone to do more than just summarize the groups or interviews, you need to work with a team who can put the findings in context and link them to decisions.

• A lot of marketing research firms dont have a niche within our particular industry& Industry experience is a pretty big thing& We want to be learning from them, their insights from working with other similar clients.
  
• Weve run into so many issues with people who havent interviewed our target market where they end up mispronouncing a word, and lose credibility.
  
• Theyre honest with me if I come up with an idea that is silly, she would say, I see where you are going with that, but you might want to consider x,y,z. Ive found that to work for other similar clients.

 

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