QRCA Views Fall 2011 : Page 42

• teCh tALk • Diaries B y D ana S lauGhter Slaughter Branding • Dallas, tX • dana@slaughterbranding.com anD NewQual K riStin S chwitzer Beacon research • Annapolis, mD • kristin@beacon-research.com Shifts in qualitative diary work have been enabled by “newqual” approaches, includ-ing online, video, audio and mobile formats, which leverage technology to get closer to the actual consumer experience. Q ualitative researchers have long considered diaries a useful ele-ment for insight gathering. Tradi-tionally, respondents wrote their entries in notebooks provided by the researcher and then mailed the completed note-books to the researcher for analysis or shared them during a subsequent in-person interview. Today, it is increasingly common to have respondents execute qualitative diaries without handwriting any notes at all! Additionally, the diary informa-tion collected can be viewed (or listened to) almost immediately after it is col-lected, allowing for much-more-rapid learning, as well as for on-the-fly changes to data collection. Both of these shifts in qualitative diary work have been enabled by “newqual” approaches, including online, video, audio and mobile formats, which leverage tech-nology to get closer to the actual con-sumer experience. In this article, we share some of our experiences with each of these newqual formats in the hope that it will stimulate you to toss out the old notebooks and get online instead. granular understanding of behaviors, motivations, emotions and unarticu-lated needs over a period of time. The range of common qualitative applica-tions that we will discuss include the following: • Capturing the details of behaviors of interest, especially to supplement recalled or claimed behaviors. • Observing the use of a product or service, including drivers of (or barriers to) influencers, tradeoffs, satisfiers/dissatisfiers, etc. • Sensitizing respondents to a topic before “going deeper” in a subse-quent one-on-one interview or even possibly a group discussion. • Gathering “stories” that can be used as the basis for communications, strategic positioning or new-prod-uct insights. • Simply “bringing the consumer to life” as a foundation for greater empathy. technology, transparency and reach Uses of diaries Fundamentally, qualitative diaries are used to better empathize with consumer experiences and to gain a deeper, more Consumers today are openly recounting their lives on Facebook and YouTube in a diary-like fashion, including sharing stories and snippets that relate to many classical diary topics. Already, 48% of the U.S. population posts snapshots 42 QRCA VIEWS FALL 2011 www.qrca.org

Newqual Diaries

Dana Slaughter

Shifts in qualitative diary work have been enabled by “newqual” approaches, including online, video, audio and mobile formats, which leverage technology to get closer to the actual consumer experience. Qualitative researchers have long considered diaries a useful element for insight gathering. Traditionally, respondents wrote their entries in notebooks provided by the researcher and then mailed the completed notebooks to the researcher for analysis or shared them during a subsequent inperson interview. Today, it is increasingly common to have respondents execute qualitative diaries without handwriting any notes at all! Additionally, the diary information collected can be viewed (or listened to) almost immediately after it is collected, allowing for much-more-rapid learning, as well as for on-the-fly changes to data collection. Both of these shifts in qualitative diary work have been enabled by “newqual” approaches, including online, video, audio and mobile formats, which leverage technology to get closer to the actual consumer experience. In this article, we share some of our experiences with each of these newqual formats in the hope that it will stimulate you to toss out the old notebooks and get online instead. Uses of diaries Fundamentally, qualitative diaries are used to better empathize with consumer experiences and to gain a deeper, more granular understanding of behaviors, motivations, emotions and unarticulated needs over a period of time. The range of common qualitative applications that we will discuss include the following: • Capturing the details of behaviors of interest, especially to supplement recalled or claimed behaviors. • Observing the use of a product or service, including drivers of (or barriers to) influencers, tradeoffs, satisfiers/dissatisfiers, etc. • Sensitizing respondents to a topic before “going deeper” in a subsequent one-on-one interview or even possibly a group discussion. • Gathering “stories” that can be used as the basis for communications, strategic positioning or new-product insights. • Simply “bringing the consumer to life” as a foundation for greater empathy. technology, transparency and reach Consumers today are openly recounting their lives on Facebook and YouTube in a diary-like fashion, including sharing stories and snippets that relate to many classical diary topics. Already, 48% of the U.S. population posts snapshots Capturing their daily lives on Facebook. Many post pleasant musings, like praise for a favorite restaurant or movie. It is common for people to share more intimate moments in their lives, including videos highlighting a growing child’s accomplishments. Many also share more introspective reflections, like their latest views on work-life balance. This increasing comfort with personal transparency online has afforded qualitative researchers a new method for gathering deep and rich information about personal routines and emotions. This comfort with transparency is not restricted, however, to just the online environment. Rather, it extends into the mobile environment. It is staggering to realize that 98% of Americans have a mobile phone (many with picture/SMS and video capability), 30% of which are smartphones with email and web-surfing capabilities. This functionality allows people to capture and share what is happening in their lives from wherever they are — and in an increasingly media-rich way. Newqual platform providers in the past year have sought to tap into this trend by allowing researchers to leverage the range of communication technologies on mobile devices — SMS, MMS, video, email, web-based, app-based and voicemail. With the permeation of technologies that encourage us to capture and share our lives, evolving the traditional qualitative research diary to follow these trends seems not only natural but also essential. Online diaries Among the newqual diary formats, online diaries are the most popular. Online diaries, which sprang from personal blogs, pre-date the other newqual formats. Online diaries are a good choice when there is a long series of specific questions for each entry (i.e., too tedious to answer by audio, mobile or video). They also are appropriate when there is a need to capture imagery (such as photos and online images) with the written entry. Online diaries are usually set up in one of two ways, with the researcher providing either (1) one or two sentences of direction that allow participants to elaborate and share as much or as little as they would like or (2) a specific set of questions to answer for each diary entry. Either way can be effective, depending upon the diary objectives. In the former, participants write their blog entry from memory, ideally on the same day that the event occurred. This is less taxing for the participant, but it often lacks consistent details across entries and across participants. In the latter format (a specific set of questions), participants can be provided with note-taking pages that are printouts of the online questions, and they can be asked to record their answers “in the moment.” Participants later transfer these notes to the online site. Online diaries are the one newqual format in which the old pen and paper are still a handy aid to data collection, and they facilitate the capturing of more details and improve the accuracy and consistency of responses. A successful application of an online diary we executed was studying wine-drinking occasions, where participants showed us a varied range of those moments over two weeks. They took a photo of each occasion, provided an emotional image to capture feelings in the moment and answered a series of questions detailing the who, what, where, when, etc. Both the photos and emotional images illuminated the rituals and motivations for the wine moments, fulfilling the desired level of detail for the client. Video diaries For decades, qualitative ethnographic researchers have video-recorded Consumers in their homes for hours on end. Videographers provided the equipment and expertise to professionally capture these in-home sessions. Now, with smart phones, wireless webcams and handheld camcorders, it has never been easier for consumers to generate their own video. And, with the launch of YouTube in 2005, the popularity of making and sharing videos has skyrocketed. In fact, as of May 2011, YouTube is now the third most popular web destination, behind Google and Facebook. With this as a backdrop, selfrecorded video diaries are now emerging as a popular tool for researchers. Examples of research applications that are a good fit with video diaries include: • a “Day in the Life of” activity • longitudinal consumer behavior (typically one to two weeks) • current product use • home-use testing of new products • deep-dive target profiling Giving participants a video camera as part of their incentive is highly motivating, largely because of the novelty factor. Researchers can have respondents use their cameras at home, at work, on the go or while shopping to film different aspects according to what we ask. For instance, we have asked women to demonstrate how they make homemade queso (cheese), and we have used video diaries to study morning rituals involved with getting ready for the day. We have incorporated video diaries in projects to test product trial and reaction, and to “live” with brand lovers for a complete day in order to get a rich understanding of who they are. Video diaries offer many key benefits: a practical and cost-effective way to learn over time and across geographies; high-quality data, including both verbal and nonverbal communication; and more detailed, expressive and reflective responses. Video diaries are also a userfriendly communication method for respondents (easier than writing), and clients can gather insights directly from the voice of the consumer via video reports or embedded clips in presentations. Tradeoffs, though, do come with this approach. For example, video is not for everyone, so some respondents will opt out during recruitment. Additionally, the researcher may feel that the prospect Of analyzing and editing the quantity of video footage collected is daunting. Audio diaries Audio diaries may be the least-used newqual format, possibly because there are few data-collection platforms to facilitate collecting, transcribing, probing and analyzing audio-diary entries. The platforms that are currently available allow respondents to record a voicemail from any phone. The platform provider transcribes the message within a few hours and then makes both the transcript and audio file available to the researcher and participant through a protected website. Because they allow for easy elaboration, audio diaries are especially helpful for exploring emotional motivations and gathering stories in the natural voice of the participant. They can also be used where note-taking, photos or videos might be cumbersome or inappropriate (i. e., in the supermarket or a doctor’s office). Participants typically are given a series of questions, in the form of a pocket-sized card or a short text message, to answer for each entry. They then are asked to answer the questions via voicemail. In our experience, audio diaries are quite labor-intensive for the moderator because participants tend to need individual pointers from the moderator, Which calls for a good deal of participant oversight to ensure that voicemail content meets expectations. Additionally, because it is very easy for participants to elaborate in voicemails, it is not uncommon to receive messages exceeding several minutes in length, which may be transcribed into a full page of text each. Multiply that by all of the participants in a study, and a single moderator can be easily overwhelmed. That said, we have had good results using audio diaries to go deep emotionally with consumers about experiences and their emotions before, during and after. It seems that the lack of bias and judgment afforded by an “anonymous” voicemail provides a safe space for sharing. And, over a longitudinal study, respondents tend to share more and more. Mobile diaries People are on the move today, and mobile diaries give researchers the newest tool to go where respondents are to capture their occasion-based behavior and attitudes. By using their mobile phone (a device most people carry with them throughout the day), respondents can share real-time entries with us in the moment, wherever they are. No longer do they have to carry traditional paper diaries with them. They can take out their mobile phone at any time throughout the day to communicate via texting, email, voice messaging, an app or the mobile web, using written and spoken words, pictures and even videos. The media selection depends upon the participant’s type of phone and the technology platform chosen by the researcher. The possibilities will continually improve as the research industry focuses on the application of mobile technology. Not only will more people be able to communicate in more ways, but also geo-location-based input and barcode scanning will continue to expand our possibilities with mobile diaries. Despite the many communication options available with mobile phones, texting is still the most commonly used. However, these entries are posted to an online site where participants can choose to add longer, more reflective comments. The downside of this is that SMS text messages are limited to 160 characters. Using camera phones, respondents can easily share pictures, which often say more than words. For example, in a study on teen spending behavior, we had teens submit (via their mobile phones) pictures and descriptions of everything they bought for a week. Then, in Week 2, we had them go online to respond to probes and answer additional questions. We have also successfully used mobile diaries to glimpse Super Bowl-watching behaviors, to gather feedback from observers during youth lacrosse games and to get real-time reactions from instore shoppers at the point of decision. With mobile diaries, automated reminders can be sent to participants’ phones. This eliminates a common problem with traditional diaries: forgetting to make entries. Other benefits of mobile diaries include providing a quick and easy way for respondents to share in the moment, collecting actual behavior and feelings (versus relying on memory) and offering an unobtrusive data-collection method (people commonly talk on their phone while shopping, so pulling one out for research purposes blends in beautifully!). Perhaps the most important benefit of mobile diaries is taking us into consumer moments that typically are inaccessible to researchers. Wrapping Up Consider these various diary approaches to be helpful tools in our ever-expanding qualitative research toolbox. While each can be used on its own, we have found they work best when used in tandem with other methods as part of a hybrid research design. For instance, a study might begin with participants completing a mobile diary for a week before participating in an online immersive research interview, or by creating video diaries prior to focus groups. By combining multiple methods on the same study, we are able to explore the topic more thoroughly and uncover insights that emerge from coming at the same topic from different angles. Another twist on these various diary formats is to assign them to multiple members of the same household in order to see an issue or occasion from different perspectives; this can give a more complete and realistic understanding of drivers, tensions and tradeoffs. Thanks to technology and consumer acceptance, there are many better alternatives for exploring consumer attitudes and behavior today than the traditional pencil-and-paper diary!

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