What percentage of your team’s qualitative research projects exceed expectations? What percent fall short? The brutal reality is that qualitative research is hard, and as a team leader, it’s challenging when these projects don’t consistently hit the high standards you expect. And diagnosing these shortfalls can be challenging. From over ten years of delivering market research training, we’ve learned that it’s not necessarily a question of overall talent—it’s often about ensuring every team member is fully equipped with up-to-date best practices and methodological knowledge. Let’s pinpoint where your team might need support so you can craft a targeted plan for consistent performance.
Understanding the Challenges
Qualitative research is complex. It’s more than conducting interviews or coding text—it’s about applying best practices at every stage of the process. Having a hard time deciding where a refresh on skills and best practices would have the most impact? Consider this list:
- Research Design & Methodology:
- Does your team have a clear framework for when to recommend qualitative versus quantitative methods?
- Are they equipped to explain and justify their recommended methodologies to stakeholders?
- Selecting the Right Options:
- Is there a consistent process for determining whether in-person or online qualitative research will yield better insights?
- Does the team know when a group discussion might generate richer data compared to one-on-one interviews?
- Sampling Methods:
- How confident are you that team members are thoroughly considering sampling and screening options to recruit appropriately qualified research participants?
- Do team members sometimes set so many screeners and quotas that they inadvertently introduce bias?
- Effective Moderation:
- When moderating IDIs or focus groups, do team members project an engaging tone that is confident and warm? Or do they seem nervous and ill-prepared?
- Do team members effectively use non-leading tactics to probe beyond superficial responses?
- Data Analysis & Reporting:
- Are best practices in place to prioritize thorough and objective analysis that will optimize data quality?
- Can team members accurately identify significant patterns and themes that may point to strategic business opportunities?
The challenges are real, and the process of gathering and analyzing qualitative data can be demanding. Patience and ongoing skill development are essential for turning raw data into insights that drive market research excellence.
Developing Qualitative Research Expertise
Your team’s capabilities can grow through various channels: hands-on experience, effective mentorship, active participation in industry conferences, and dedicated training programs. Formal training, and we are admittedly biased, provides a structured path to mastering best practices. It’s an investment in the team’s ability to tackle complex projects with confidence and precision.
By strengthening core competencies in qualitative research design, data collection, analysis, and reporting, your team will be better positioned to produce insights that truly resonate with stakeholders. This commitment to ongoing development is key to overcoming current challenges and achieving market research excellence.
We’re Here to Support Your Research Team
We understand the hurdles you face and the dedication it takes to lead a successful qualitative research team. Our approach is practical, grounded in real-world, evidence-based best practices that have helped many teams raise their game. With focused training and support, you can improve data quality, streamline your processes, and build a team that consistently delivers qualitative research that exceeds expectations.
A good foundational course is Focus Groups: Project Design & Management. Focus groups are not only a common market research method, but many of the best practices can be applied to other qualitative techniques too. In addition to five video lessons, this course includes downloadable job aids to use as a reference in all phases of these projects, from selecting and managing facilities to ensuring quality information is collected.
IDIs are a popular method but can be stressful for less experienced researchers. It can be difficult to confidently handle the various challenges that arise during live interviews. Whether it’s asking effective probing questions or managing difficult participants, making the leap from learning to doing is always harder than it sounds. Here, the solution is practice, practice, practice. For these cases, we recommend our course, the Qualitative Interviewing Mastery Lab. The course includes access to IDI Rockstar Pro—our advanced AI tool that lets researchers role-play IDIs with avatars acting as research participants. This allows the researcher to practice interviewing techniques like probing and clarifying in a risk-free environment, before working with human participants.
Writing excellent qualitative research reports is not easy. A recommended course is Writing Qualitative Research Reports to guide your team on how to analyze qualitative information and create powerful reports. Both new and experienced researchers can benefit from strengthening their key finding statements and recommendations. Visual Storytelling for Market Research & Insights is a great add-on to this course for those delivering research-backed insights to executive leaders.
As qualitative research evolves, it is important to keep on top of the newer qualitative methods available today. Mobile & Online Qualitative Research will broaden the number of approaches your team can consider when faced with a daunting set of research needs.
In qualitative research, managing client or stakeholder expectations can be challenging—clients may understand survey research much better than the nuances of qualitative. Client Management Skills for Market Researchers can help your team deliver quality research while effectively setting and managing client expectations—and optimizing satisfaction.
These are just a select few of the courses available to supercharge your research team. For more information, check out Research Rockstar Qualitative Courses or contact us here.
