Editor's note: Paul Tuchman is president of Outsmart Marketing, Minneapolis.
The entire team is in sync on the objectives. The screener is working well and finding the right participants. Everyone has weighed in on the discussion guide and the final version is ready.
Now comes the fun part: the insights and learning that will make a difference for a brand or product or service or company.
If I’m honest, there’s actually one more experience to look forward to: the personal satisfaction and strength I gain from each group or interview. As I think about 27 years of moderating – 27 years of asking questions, pausing as thoughts sink in and gel, listening with an active mind and inquisitive spirit, encouraging feedback with sincere eye contact and a gentle smile – I have to confess that I get much from each consumer encounter that has nothing to do with my client or the topic we’re researching.
Qualitative research – the process of engaging others in thought, opinion and action – also helps restore my faith in my fellow human beings. Especially in these divisive and polarized times, I find comfort and strength in the basic lessons I relearn about women and men every time I facilitate a project.
Humans are not solitary beings; we need others to reach our full potential.
While IDIs are sometimes the right methodology, more often there’s amazing insight and understanding from the social interactions in a focus group. Properly moderated, the group becomes so much more than a collection of individuals; it evolves into a cohort that shares, builds and creates together, reinforcing the truth that we can do more and we can become more when we work together.
People want to interact and share on a real level, not just on social media.
There’s something powerful about talking directly with others, when they hear your voice and you see and sense their reactions. In one project, when men and women talked about their struggles to lose weight and the happier, healthier future they imagined for themselves, seeing others face-to-face – and recognizing themselves in their seatmates – brought the conversation to life. Looking into a person’s eyes can be so much more powerful and long-lasting than interacting with a computer screen or smartphone.
Support and encouragement are repaid a thousand times over.
I will never forget the middle-aged woman studying at long last for the undergraduate degree that she had abandoned decades before. Her hopes and dreams and pride flowed spontaneously because she sensed that the whole room was pulling for her.
Smiles and laughter can be more powerful than words.
It’s not always what you ask, it’s how you ask it. What’s the tone behind your words? What’s the unspoken message you send? Smiles and laughter in particular can make a difference: they relax everyone and light up the room and the mood they create helps move people to a place where thoughts and feelings emerge more easily and more spontaneously.
Patience will be rewarded.
I remember interviewing a mother of three young children who ignored her own serious medical needs because she needed the money to feed her kids. It took some time and there were uncomfortable moments for both of us but eventually my patience and empathy yielded one of the most ”real” conversations I’ve ever had. It was eye-opening for me and cathartic for her.
Powerful things can happen
I became a qualitative research consultant because I thrive on inquisitiveness and inquiry; I have always wanted to know and understand the “why” behind the “what.” Getting beneath the surface, into the feelings and emotions and experiences that inform our every move, is where the real fun lies and where powerful things can happen.
I have learned and continue to learn a lot about human behavior that is directly valuable to my clients but as I have matured in my profession, I find myself marveling more and more at what I am also learning about the complexity and strength and resiliency of my fellow human beings.
“What a piece of work” we are, wrote Shakespeare. That is the truth I uncover every day, the truth that opens my eyes wider each morning, the truth that brings a smile to my face and gives me renewed hope that, despite all the challenges that face our nation and our world, we will without a doubt be okay in the end.