Online qualitative research refers to

focus group A focus group is a group interview involving a small number of demographically similar people or participants who have other common traits/experiences. Their reactions to specific researcher/evaluator-posed questions are studied. Focus groups are ...

s, individual depth interviews ( IDIs) and other forms of

qualitative research Qualitative research is a type of research that aims to gather and analyse non-numerical (descriptive) data in order to gain an understanding of individuals' social reality, including understanding their attitudes, beliefs, and motivation. This ...

conducted online rather than face to face or via telephone.

Types of online qualitative research

In addition to online

s and IDIs, online qualitative research can include diaries,

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

s, market research

online communities An online community, also called an internet community or web community, is a community whose members interact with each other primarily via the Internet. Members of the community usually share common interests. For many, online communities may fe ...

(MROCs), and

ethnography Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

. There are two main forms of

online focus group An online focus group is one type of focus group, and is a sub-set of online research methods. They are typically an appropriate research method for consumer research, business-to-business research and political research. Typical operation A moder ...

, synchronous and asynchronous. Individual depth interviews (IDIs) - Traditionally conducted face to face or by telephone, IDIs typically involve an interview between the researcher and the research participant lasting 30–60 minutes. Diaries and blogs - In this type of research, participants record information over a given time period, as specified by the researcher. Often, this method is used to ensure that participants undertake (and make a record of) certain tasks before taking part in

focus groups A focus group is a group interview involving a small number of demographically similar people or participants who have other common traits/experiences. Their reactions to specific researcher/evaluator-posed questions are studied. Focus groups are ...

. When diaries are used, the information is not shared with other participants. Conversely, when using blogs the information is shared both with participants and researchers. Market research communities - These typically involve participants taking part in various research activities over a period of time, rather than taking part in one research event, such as an online focus group. The activities often include short

survey Survey may refer to: Statistics and human research * Statistical survey, a method for collecting quantitative information about items in a population * Survey (human research), including opinion polls Spatial measurement * Surveying, the techniq ...

s, quick polls,

online focus groups An online focus group is one type of focus group, and is a sub-set of online research methods. They are typically an appropriate research method for consumer research, business-to-business research and political research. Typical operation A moder ...

, and participant-led discussion forums. One could argue that communities are either a form of

quantitative Quantitative may refer to: * Quantitative research, scientific investigation of quantitative properties * Quantitative analysis (disambiguation) * Quantitative verse, a metrical system in poetry * Statistics, also known as quantitative analysis ...

or qualitative research, depending on the number of participants and the nature of the research tasks they undertake. Market research communities (MROC's) have seen a significant development in the U.S and are starting to reach the European market. A community can be seen as a place where "traditional" research and innovation tools are utilized in one single platform over a period of time. Short communities consist of a period of time between 3 weeks and 6 months, while an ongoing community is anything beyond 6 months. Market researchers usually adopt online communities through third-party technology suppliers.

Benefits of online qualitative research

The online approach can offer significant time and cost savings compared to other methods, and provides much greater convenience for researchers, participants and observers. It also allows for greater

sophistication Sophistication has come to mean a few things, but its original uses were a pejorative, derived from sophist, and included the idea of admixture or adulteration. Today, as researched by Faye Hammill, it is common as a measure of refinement—disp ...

in the segmentation of the

sample Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of s ...

because participants can be recruited online, whether from databases,

panel Panel may refer to: Arts and media Visual arts * Panel (comics), a single image in a comic book, comic strip or cartoon; also, a comic strip containing one such image *Panel painting, in art, either one element of a multi-element piece of art ...

s, surveys or other sources, rather than just by traditional means. Setting up and running an online qualitative research project involves far less administration than is the case with face to face qualitative research, and this makes it practical for client-side organisations to do so without a market research agency. This is further supported by the fact that the process of moderation is easier online than face to face, because the moderator is not dealing with people together in a room. In fact, one could argue that an important benefit of online qualitative research is that it is much less dependent on the moderator than is face to face research.

Online qualitative research results

It is argued by some that online qualitative research results cannot be as “good” as face to face research results, because of the absence of face to face contact between participants and a moderator. A moderator, it is argued, can interpret participants’ tone of voice or

body language Body language is a type of communication in which physical behaviors, as opposed to words, are used to express or convey information. Such behavior includes facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye movement, touch and the use of space. Th ...

in a way that is not possible online. The counter argument to this is that in a face to face environment there are numerous reasons why participants should not be as honest or forthcoming as they would be in an anonymous online environment. Therefore, the moderator is needed in order to help overcome these reasons. For example, the participant might feel their honest answer makes them look stupid, selfish or unhelpful and so they give a different answer. Or they might have a different view to the majority of the group, but are reluctant to mention it for fear of this leading to the moderator focusing on them for a long period of time.

References

{{Online research methods , state=autocollapse Qualitative research

Types of online qualitative research

Benefits of online qualitative research

Online qualitative research results

See also

References