Business Matters

What Am I Buying and Why: An Insurance Primer

Calvin Gilman explains the types of small-business insurance that may be most relevant for qualitative researchers operating small businesses. Calvin aims to arm readers with some tools that will help them become more savvy consumers of insurance, and give them a better understanding of the risks that face their businesses and methods to mitigate those risks. He discusses contract insurance, professional liability, and the growing issue of cyber liability coverage. Qualitative professionals should discuss these issues with insurance brokers to determine coverage options and premiums available, and should also discuss risk management with their entire qualitative research teams. […]

Conference

Celebrating 40 Years of Qualitative Excellence – 2023 Annual Conference

Our 2023 conference theme, “Eyes, Ears, Senses, Oh My! Powering Up for the Future of Qual,” is about honing our skills for the next 40 years, which will undoubtedly be centered on a digital-first and tech-enabled world. Charlotte, North Carolina, is the perfect backdrop for this context, given it is one of the fastest-growing southern U.S. cities and caters to a wide variety of industries from banking, energy, and you guessed it—technology. […]

Toolbox

Conducting an Experience Investigation: A CX Approach That Adds Depth and Dimensionality to the Discovery Phase of Your Research

Show your clients a vivid picture of what it’s like to be one of their customers by delivering an Experience Investigation. Using a Customer Experience (CX) mindset, go beyond rational and conscious observations to better understand how expectations, emotions, subconscious clues, and behavioral psychology affect how customers feel toward a company. The article is a useful primer on how to pay attention to, capture, and evaluate the signals firsthand that create the emotions that can either attract or repel customers. […]

Global

Crossing Over from Traditional Qualitative to User Experience Research: The Journey with a Thousand Faces

There is increasing demand for user experience (UX) research, and qualitative researchers’ unique expertise in understanding human behavior can help bring this type of research to the next level. The author focuses on the use of three frameworks that explain the “whys”—and this understanding is equally significant when consumers are interacting with technology as when they interact with other products and services. The author provides examples that have proven to be very useful in her experience exploring customer journeys within shopping apps and streaming platforms. […]