Emerging Methods in Qualitative Research Technology

When the large amount of information behind quality research is transformed into a story, the story needs to be complemented with high quality design to ensure it is optimized for client engagement.

Visualizing data in quantitative research gets a lot of attention in the insight industry. But communicating qualitative insight requires the same level of attention to visual communication and design. It just comes in the form of (a lot of) words and verbatim, which need to be organized and structured into a well-designed visual representation in order to make an impact. From visualizing direct consumer quotes to Word Clouds, the design skills behind communicating qualitative research should be pushed.

Although PowerPoint is a common tool for creating insights reports, it is ultimately a design software, and this means that whoever uses it effectively becomes a designer. So, here are some design principles that you need to know in order to keep your insight presentation or report clear, professional and engaging.

Hierarchy 

Designers use different design elements to curate the viewer’s experience carefully. Hierarchy is the order in which the viewer sees each aspect of the design, so the eye’s path can be controlled by factors such as size, color and positioning. This allows the viewer to see the most important information, for example the title, or the key insight from your study, before anything else. The event flyer below shows how the design works to draw the viewer’s eye from one event detail to the next.

Alignment 

Imagine driving into a parking lot and finding that all the white lines indicating parking spaces had been removed. How would you know how to navigate the mess of parked cars to find your own space? The white lines turn the parking lot into a grid system, which creates a simple and effective experience for us. Our clients desire this same simple experience when viewing a qualitative research report. Alignment guides the positioning of shapes, charts and text according to straight lines, in a grid system, making it visually appealing to the audience, and easier for the client to see the key insights upfront. However, these straight lines don’t necessarily have to be at right angles – just make sure you are consistent with the angles of all features of the design.

Balance

The way you position and use elements of the design, such as text, images and color, affects the balance of the page or slide overall. For a clear and aesthetically pleasing design, the design of both sides of the page need to be equal, although this can be done both symmetrically and asymmetrically. A symmetrical balance is when both sides match identically across a center line, while an asymmetrical design is when the sides contain different design aspects but ultimately each side has the same weight (as shown below). For asymmetrical designs you might want to consider an object’s size, how close it is to the design’s center line, and use of texture and color to create the illusion of balance.

Contrast

Clever use of color will help to highlight important aspects of the design that you want to stand out and make an impact, like a powerful quote from a consumer. Using contrasting shades (e.g. yellow and blue) will catch the audience’s eye, while using more complementary or similar tones (e.g. two different shades of blue) will be less noticeable. In qualitative research this could be useful for insight boxes or quotes that you want to catch your client’s eye immediately.

These simple design tips work together with several other principles – such as white space (to make your insight easier to digest) and proximity (to help your audience understand relationships) – to help qualitative researchers visualize their research.

While qualitative research may not require the design of statistical charts like in quantitative research, communicating qual still requires a high standard of design outputs to keep clients engaged. Making sure your presentations and reports are consistent and aesthetically pleasing, and simple and easy to navigate, will help your insights communication hold maximum engagement and really make an impact.

If you want to know more about the techniques behind successfully delivering your insight to clients, from the art of storytelling to the technology to power it, check out our white paper on insight communications here.

A major part of creating actionable insights for clients is making sure we, as qualitative researchers, communicate research findings to them effectively – and a good way of doing this is through the art of storytelling. There are a number of elements that need to be considered to make sure your story makes an impact, including structure, timing and language, as well as the medium used to tell it. But all of these factors are subjective to your audience. As a market researcher, you know that understanding your audience is a key ingredient in marketing, but it’s also integral to the storytelling process in research; a non-tailored message will likely be ignored.

So, storytelling is an essential skill for the researchers of today. And clearly, before crafting your story you need to define your audience. Find out how much the people you are creating a report or presentation for know about your topic, and where there might be barriers present in their engagement. Ask yourself what team they’re on (are they a marketer or a market researcher or in IT?), what sector your client is in (automotive vs. finance), and how much experience they have (are they C-Suite or non-management?). Once you have a firm idea of who you’re communicating with and what they want to hear, you can think about how to tailor the story to resonate with them.

Good storytelling involves structure. The reality is that if your audience is in the C-Suite they’re going to be busy and will not be able to engage with every element of your story. In this case, you must make sure the essential takeaways are upfront, so carefully plan your structure to exclude any unnecessary details. CEOs should never feel overwhelmed by data and information, and instead should be presented immediately with the main findings – the insight that will inspire them to take action.

Your audience will also shape the language of your story. If your audience has little knowledge of qualitative research, they’re unlikely to understand any technical terms – so lose the jargon. Some of the technical specifics of research may also be lost when talking to client-side researchers and marketers, so instead, use clear and simple language to define your points. Use of language is especially important if you’re speaking to the C-Suite. Make sure to use their language, as they won’t have time to spare interpreting what you’ve said or asking questions later on.

Language also comes into play when you set the scene for your story. When speaking to clients from specific industries, like automotive or finance, try to tap into the language they speak. This effort to relate to your audience and provide a snapshot of their industry will suggest your expertise in the field and will help gain your client’s trust.

The medium used to convey your story is also dependent on your audience. Has the client asked for a presentation, a full report, or just a top-line summary? The key is to optimize the options at your disposal. If you’re doing a presentation, keep it short, and then provide a follow up document with more detail. If you’re doing a report, make sure to include a summary or an infographic.

But no matter who your audience is, you need to make sure they’re full engaged with the insight and what it means for them. This can be done by combining the insight or data with visuals such as infographics, photos and videos to provide grounding examples of reality that the audience can relate to. Visuals are important when communicating insight because large quantities of written information can be overwhelming and become meaningless. Small data is especially useful when communicating qualitative research; video in particular really brings the respondents to life and allows clients to understand their customers first hand. It brings clients right into the focus room, helping them to feel invested in the actual research, and really hear what their customers are saying.

So, when telling a good story, you need to ensure your message is suitably targeted so it won’t be given the cold shoulder. Knowing who you’re speaking to will allow you to design a story that uses an approachable language style, structure and form, and that is contextualized around what the audience already knows about your topic. Ultimately, we tell stories to encourage a response from the audience, and this is no different in research, where the goal is to deliver actionable insight right to the decision makers.

If you’re interested in learning more about building impactful communications through storytelling and finding the golden thread in the information, check out our white paper on insight communications or watch our recent webinar on this topic.