Qualitative Research

Qualitative research

Qualitative research is all about observing and speaking with people about how and why they use a software or hardware. For good qualitative research, you will need to adopt different methods, different data sources, often have multiple teammates with whom you can compare your observations and discoveries.

Human behavior and UX

People with a background in psychology, ethnography, anthropology make great qualitative researchers and are often the main figures in these research teams. The more you know about human behavior throughout time, different environments, and cultures, the more you will be able to understand the user's behavior. Learn more about this: “Behave", Robert Sapolsky

Qualitative research methods

Let's discuss some qualitative research methods!

Individual interviews

Individual interviews can be conducted in person, over the phone, or by a video call.

Focus groups

Focus groups can be conducted both in-person and online. The aim is to learn about users’ thoughts and feelings about a product/service, also testing and exploring new or old products, new features, etc.

In-person Observation “Shop-Alongs”

Watching the consumer's reactions to the product in-store gives us the chance to see customers’ shopping behavior, as opposed to just what they would claim on a written survey, diary, interview. You can learn more about it from this book: “Thinking, Fast and Slow”, Daniel Kahneman

In-home Video, Journals and Diary

In-home video: allows you to observe how users interact with your product in their environment, in their day-to-day life.

Journals and diary: potential users or old users keep a diary/journal documenting their experience with your product for a short or long period. This can be done by writing, self-recording audio, or video.

Exercise: Open Card Sorting

You can do this exercise by yourself, or with a friend/s.

We will do this exercise for an Online Tech E-commerce Website

You can use an online tool to do this exercise or write down everything on sticky notes, or any paper. I am using https://www.optimalworkshop.com to construct the card sorting exercise. It has a free trial too, so check it out.

We are using the open card sorting method, instead of closed card sorting. Meaning, we will let participants decide what cards go together, and also come up with names for each group they form.

We have 20 cards that have to be grouped in a way that make sense to us, so we can best organize our website menu.

Once we have grouped the cards, we need to come up with names that best describe each group.

If you worked with a friend, you can send them the exercise via a sharing link

Studies > Recruit > Copy Link and share with participants.

Once they click/open the link, they will end up here, and they can start the test. You can also edit this welcome text if you want. Navigate the options yourself and find out more.

Once they finish and submit the exercise, you will have access to all the data in your studies dashboard.

It's good practice to do the card sorting exercise with at least 2-5 people, especially from your targeted users. If this is not possible to have access to targeted users, doing the exercise with friends or random users, it's still a plus.

Conclusion

Qualitative research often provides new valuable findings that are great growth opportunities for businesses. Also, if this is done right, it can help businesses build successful products from the start, and avoid major failures in the market.