Sponsor Impact report practitioners, and its about human behaviour and peoples world view. The bigger question is, what will happen to my data if people arent behaving the same way? Should I still be asking the same questions? says Cape. Kantars Puleston is trying to understand whether peoples personalities have changed during the lockdown. People are appearing more extrovert on paper, but thats because the questions are centred on things such as I like my own company, which has a has to change. But were also seeing genuinely fundamental changes in peoples world view theyre more communitarian in outlook, for example, he says. The future looks... The research industry, not through choice, has moved 10 years in just one in terms of digital transformation and experimentation. Practitioners should return to their roots as curious investigators, striving to transform these new virtual research modes into powerful tools, and ensuring they select the right modes for each brief. For example, while virtual focus groups are here to stay as a new methodology in qual researchers toolkits, they dont sound the death knell for face-to-face research modes. Is the qual toolkit as good as it was before? No, but its good enough. Tools such as large workshops and meeting people in their homes were devised for a reason. I cant honestly say it is as good as it ever was; its only as good as it can be at the moment, says Acacia Avenues Lee. For Dubreuil, its important for the industry to look way. The client wants to get from A to B, and our job as researcher is to make sure the engines working well. We need to look at the way we collect our data, and the benefits and drawbacks of each approach, so we can better understand the biases and strengths of each research mode. Staying connected with asynchronous approaches In 2005, working for Synovate, I transitioned some of the first face-to-face quant trackers online. participant engagement in the modality in which we are interacting. We have transitioned very quickly to We used propensity weighting scores a world of video calls; we bring work Rogers to balance our samples, to get approach to personal virtual and the innovation adoption curve of a more representative response online. The three areas of focus were: Understand the audience and source bias to either compensate or deliver representative response (beyond information over a series of sessions; March 2020. I message more one on one, and blend face-to-face online connection when appropriate. Our approach to digital qualitative is what about the other tools available? Using the modality to improve engagement and response think early gamification and flash tools. focus groups, and great benefits, but Its natural to take an offline approach and replicate it online, but when we ensure recruitment is representative, and understand the tools available for online qualitative, and how to optimise there is increased opportunity for context and becoming comfortable with the researcher. You can also employ a wider variety of questions, take time for more considered probing, and encounter fewer technical issues. Asynchronous approaches mean design, and more upfront effort, is Asynchronous methods mobile and video diaries offer exceptional principles are still the same. We need to with a longer engagement period change, and clients see the benefit. all of its strengths, approaches start to mainstay; however, digital qualitative obvious reasons. The transition you can cover more content; and non-verbal cues arent available. So, qual, communities, online journals, has only just started to explode, for you can collect a vast amount of focus on using the online modality and Fifteen years later, and digital quantitative methods are the With asynchronous methods, connection is very different from in moving from a live synchronous completion, asynchronous response transcripts long and unstructured. everyone participates in their own time; no different. There is a place for online response to an interactive, self- logistically challenging, however, and meetings into our homes, and our demography) The questionnaire instrument their own environment. They can be discussion boards, digital ethnography, solutions to optimise the insight of a project. Online focus groups mean we can see and hear participants, see facial and (some) non-verbal cues; clients can join in real time and researchers can see participants in more thought in approaching the guide required. What remains essential is ensuring we also focus on that moment of researcher participant connection the environment, the content, the benefits and limitations of the interaction to optimise the insight. Christian Dubreuil is senior vice-president, client solutions, at Schlesinger Group 34 Impact ISSUE 33 2021_pp26-35_Report.indd 34 26/03/2021 10:03