This Manifesto is born in a time when qualitative research is experiencing a period of stalemate, anchored in the past, unable to understand the changes taking place in the culture and the new opportunities offered by the web, the social media and technology. The content of this Manifesto is the result of the development of ideas and thoughts generated through some online forums (conducted in September 2013) with the best qualitative researchers, consultants of the main Italian research institutes.

 

The context: need for change

1. Qualitative research requires a new foundation
2. Web, mobile and social media have changed our lives
3. Consumers, businesses and marketing have changed, but qualitative research is stuck in the 60s
4. The main limitation of qualitative research today is related to the quality
5. New foundations for the relationship between companies, institutions and consumers are required: welcome, co-creation!
6. “Content is king” also applies to the qualitative research
7. Research must become a proper marketing consulting
8. Web and social media are object and research tool at the same time for qualitative research
9. In the web age, tools are available to everyone: the real difference is made by the people and their ability to use them properly
10. Qualitative research is knowledge, discovery, creation, curiosity

Co-create: the relationship between the players

11. The quality of a research depends on the clarity of the client’s brief
12. A deep exchange between company and researcher is needed from the construction of the research project
13. The workshop as a base for co-creation, from the stage of briefing
14. A clear information on what research can realistically offer avoid “inflated goals”, making the research superficial and/or not manageable
15. Involve and in-form the client about all the steps of the research (not only the brief) makes him more competent and able to formulate objectives that can be pursued
16. The relationship between institute and researchers consultants must become more interactive, more about partnerships and close collaboration
17. The institute can become an aggregator of researchers consultants with different skills to better face different needs, methodologies, market sectors
18. A multidisciplinary approach is required, for a complete counseling
19. Close relation with who creates and manages communication: from a simple evaluation of communication, qualitative research can become an integral part of the creative, proactive and generative process of a product/brand
20. Work with unconventional marketing agencies is required: the research itself can be seen as a marketing and communication process

The recruiting: towards new paradigms

21. The correct recruiting of interviewees contributes to the success of a qualitative research 22. Recruiting is a delicate and complex activity; it needs to be evaluated and it requires the proper timing
23. The institutional controls on recruiting quality (Assirm/Cerqua) are not sufficient to avoid the phenomenon of “professional respondents”
24. The professional respondent is a “chameleon” who can disguise himself, reinventing identities, roles, professions always new
25. The ideal respondent matches not only the required criteria (on target), but is also able to offer a proactive and creative contribution. The professionals of the research, as long as on target, can sometimes be more useful and productive than a “virgin” but uncooperative interviewee
26. A panel of “smart” respondents, carefully selected and tested, can be an important additional value also in qualitative research
27. The quality of recruiting can be improved by circularity of information between recruiter, research director and client
28. Direct recruitment at the sale point ensures respondents on target, caught shopping the product
29. Through the web (Skype, forums, WhatsApp), respondents can be reached in areas/cities not regularly used for the traditional field of qualitative research
30. Today, web and social networks are not used enough for recruiting: Facebook, Twitter and blogs are ideal spaces for a targeted and effective recruiting, with a spontaneously collaborative target, motivated to express an opinion

The research setting

31. The prerequisite for a good research are involvement and adequate information about background, objectives and scenery, provided to all the players of the research
32. The research gets better results if it is enjoyable for everyone: researchers, respondents and clients
33. Gamification of qualitative research: promote in the participants, through the game, the ability to generate creative and stimulating material, making the research more enjoyable and engaging
34. A relationship with the respondents through the media routinely used by them (smartphone, social media, WhatsApp) provides “more realistic” relationship and results
35. The quality of the researches also depends on knowing how to choose: the most competent consultants, the most appropriate/innovative methodologies, the most productive materials and stimuli

Focus groups: new approaches

36. Focus groups must be rethought in order to be adapted to the changes of current cultural context and to the media evolution
37. Focus groups’ duration must be limited: 2 hours as the ideal timing
38. The productivity of groups is not proportional to the number of its participants: the best group dynamics emerge with 6 people
39. The “ghost of the client” behind the one-way mirror can inhibit the participants: sometimes a more discreet view in remote or participation within the group can be better
40. From the groups halls/facilities to the “comfortable lounges” to create a positive atmosphere and put participants at ease
41. The choice of pleasant and different location (even beaches!) is welcome, if coherent with the place of consumption and the characteristics of the product tested
42. Combining the research at an event ensures pleasure, fun and coherence with the product/brand of the event
43. The moderation of focus groups is often too standard, rigid and static: more freedom, dynamism and “improvisation” are necessary
44. The discussion’s outline should really act as a source of inspiration, not a strict route with precise timing set
45. We should limit the traditional projective tests and give more space to creative stimuli, also through tablets and technologies
46. The art of focus moderation: a balance between stimulating and engaging participants, gathering and raising their unexpected contribution, always keeping in mind the strategic objectives of the research
47. There is the “right” moderator corresponding to each type of research for specific experience, gender and age
48. A good recorder is very important: the notes taken at the computer constitute an important ground for the researcher’s report

Ethnography

49. Ethnography consists of a real participation in a person’s life, not a cold observation, much less an interview lasting 3 hours or more
50. The ethnographic approach requires experience, sensitivity, empathy; the best research insights come from the emotional agreement
51. Every ethnographic analysis must include a “ethnographer kit”: the audio/video recordings must be present, but never invasive

Online forums & Bulletin Boards

52. The bulletin boards are the main recent innovation in the field of qualitative research. But their features and their use are still poorly understood
53. Asynchronous interaction platforms require specific codes and rules: it is not simply to “transpose the focus groups in the forum”
54. Every forum or bulletin board must ensure an optimal user experience that allows to easily finding the way between options, links and buttons
55. There are different types of platform: for example, not all of them offer the possibility to make invisible the answers already provided by the other participants, eliminating the bias of mutual influence typical of the focus groups
56. The bulletin boards must be easily accessible via mobile, smartphone or tablet
57. The best platforms for online forums are constantly updated, according to the new requirements and opportunities provided by the web and social
58. Today there is a lack of precise references and clear paradigms to define an online forum, from the name itself (is it an online forum, a bulletin board or a online discussion group?)
59. A bulletin board requires: 15-20 active respondents, 3-7 days of lasting, 2-3 interventions/accesses per day. Each participant must provide answers to all the questions
60. Participation with nickname, typical of forum, ensures greater sincerity in the comments, especially with researches on sensitive topics
61. In forums it is possible to use specific associative visual tests and proper creative stimuli able to explore the emotional/analogical associations
62. Forums are a work in progress: track of discussion and research objectives can be reviewed in real time
63. The complexity of managing a forum is underestimated: it requires to the moderator an active and constant presence, a specific experience in the management of web relationships and in all related activities
64. The forums also require a great analysis and synthesis ability, given the amount of produced material produced, also multimedia
65. Potentially, Facebook could be a great platform to make online forum if there were no problems of data management

Innovative tools

66. Every “popular” and widespread communication tool can (indeed must!) also become a qualitative research tool. Beginning with WhatsApp
67. The so-called “online focus” based on synchronous platforms are poorly understood and haven’t been developed yet for the difficulties of managing both textual and verbal ways
68. Skype is the only platform used to conduct online interviews/mini -focus: it has the advantage of being already known and widespread
69. Nowadays, social listening and web monitoring are the prerogative of just quantitative analysis: the phenomenon of Big Data
70. The web, the largest online forum available to everyone, should be an usual source of insight also for qualitative research: from big data to smart/small data
71. Every qualitative fieldwork would benefit from a qualitative analysis of digital ethnography about the online sentiment/buzz related to the researched brand/product
72. It is also possible to interact with social media/blog users making short qualitative in-depth studies online
73. The hashtag is a valid tool to make targeted online researches, but it’s still little known and used
74. Seeing with the consumer’s eyes: it is now possible with video-glasses, very useful in mystery shopping and in ethnographic sessions
75. The smartphone, an amazing tool for qualitative survey: online diaries, geo-localization, pictures, movies are just some of the possible functions at the service of ethnographic research
76. Mixed methodologies with online and offline steps are the new landscape of qualitative research
77. The strict division between qualitative and quantitative can be surmounted: no longer one serving the other, but a more synergic approach

From research field to results

78. Everything starts from the briefing, a milestone for qualitative research to which dedicate time to properly investigate the scenery/background information
79. The debriefing meeting is at the heart of qualitative research, not a mere assemblage of various interviews, but a thorough comparison on the “why” to give a real additional value to the research results
80. Nowadays, the speed of the markets and of the modern times requires a synthetic and operative approach in returning research results
81. Diffuse and long-winded research reports are useless: short and “actionable” presentations are better
82. The organization of the content should become more functional: key results first and then further deepening, according to the Anglo-Saxon praxis
83. No to “watered” results not to contravene the expectations of the client
84. Also the presentation of results must be adequate: not only Power Point, but also more interactive and multimedia tools like Prezi, also through online shares
85. The aesthetics of the presentation is important as long as infographics and the graphic/visual aids are useful to understand the message
86. The video report makes the qualitative analysis of the results more immediate, engaging and effective
87. The TedTalks are the model for an innovative and engaging presentation
88. To complete a co-creative research, the presentation of results can and must become the starting point of a workshop (also creative) with the client
89. Involve the client in all phases of the research allows to reduce the gap of knowledge and experience of research compared to the institution and is a kind of training

Updating and sharing of knowledge

90. Updating and training for qualitative research should be found the most in extra-official ways and “related world” as social media, marketing, technology , neuroscience
91. It’s impossible to be competent in every area, but being always update on what is happening in the different fields helps to create effective multi-disciplinary teams and promotes cross-fertilization for the development of new research approaches
92. The update and the desired formations today are not “bottom –up” but social-oriented, based on sharing, made directly in the field (experiential training) under expert supervision
93. The Manifesto of the Qualitative Research Refunding itself provides the nucleus for an education on the world of research
94. Nowadays, perhaps none of the main research institutes, in Italy, carry on the ideas expressed in this Manifesto
95. Sharing means spreading knowledge. Share the Manifesto!