Tired of Playing Let’s Make a Deal with Your Research?
New online research approaches—like the one Dialsmith is partnering with Invoke Solutions to deliver—are nix-ing the need to play “Let’s Make a Deal” with your research.
(Image courtesy of Worldvision Enterprises, Inc.)
A classic dilemma researchers often face is deciding what kinds of insights—qual or quant—are best suited to meet their research objectives. (Want to see what’s behind door #1 or door #2?) Adding to the challenge, researchers continue to get pinched by increasingly demanding client expectations for bigger and more diverse sample, faster turnaround times and so on. Well, never fear researchers… new technology is here.
Earlier this year, Dialsmith teamed up with Invoke Solutions to deliver a webinar that showcased an innovative approach that integrates Invoke’s online Large-Scale Focus Groups with online dial testing powered by Perception Analyzer Online. The webinar gave viewers the opportunity to observe a live research event in action and get a feel for what researchers can get out of teaming up these complimentary tools.
The study topic for the live event was, “Where Millenials Get Their News,” and while the research results were pretty interesting, the bigger takeaway for attendees was what benefits this integrated approach has for conducting research.
First, researchers can ask open-ended questions and gather moment-to-moment dial reactions to video or audio—just like in an offline focus group—but to a much larger and/or more regionally diverse audience, making the feedback more quantitatively reliable in nature. The online focus group can consist of anywhere between 75 and 500 participants, who can be located in any region, state, or country.
Second, researchers can observe the group and results reporting from anywhere. Since the focus group is conducted online and in real-time, researchers have the ability to analyze live feedback as well as discuss and react to the results as they’re happening.
Want to see it in action? Here’s a recorded version of a live Invoke research event.
To date, we have a handful of these projects under our belt. The online survey component provides valuable insight into the minds of participants (there’s your qual), and the dial testing reveals the in-the-moment, visceral reactions that sample group members are having to what they are seeing and/or hearing (and your quant). Additionally, these sessions can be executed in a fraction of the time (and typically the cost) of offline groups–ain’t the Internet grand?
So qualitative or quantitative? Under a time-crunch and need it done as cost-effectively as possible? Can’t get all of your participants and researchers in the same place at the same time? No problem. New approaches and tools, like those offered by Invoke and Dialsmith, means you no longer need to play “Let’s Make a Deal” or tell your client, “it just can’t be done.” No need to choose door #1 or door #2 when you can now have both.
