Mining for emotional insights in qualitative research can be a lot of fun, but it takes a skilled moderator and different techniques to really get the job done right. Here are some approaches that work really well for me and hopefully you’ve seen or done them in some of your market research.
Picture Projectives – Using pictures to capture feelings and attitudes about a situation or product.
Collages – Using a lot of pictures to explore a situation or issue.
Emoticons for Contextual Situations – Using facial expressions to help identify feelings about an issue. These can be particularly helpful in phone interviews where you can’t see a face or with children who can more easily their feelings in a much simpler way.
Laddering – Using baseline functional benefits and continually probing until the underlying emotional benefit is reached.
Word Bubble Cartoons – Using drawn “conversations†with self or others to gather insights.
Archetype or Tarot Card Associations – Using pictures with words that might characterize a feeling or emotion around a situation.
So make sure your qualitative researcher is getting you to a smarter place by moving beyond the obvious in your concept development efforts.
