A presentation by

Kevin McLean, Wardle McLean, UK

Conversations ..Conversations ..

.. a New Model for .. a New Model for Qualitative ResearchQualitative Research

www.wardlemclean.co.uk www.theartofconversation.net

Introduction

• We are part of something bigger

than we realise

• Reframe qualitative research

• Recognise our skills, raise our status

via ‘conversations’

IntroductionFocus groups Fist fightsPoems

BrainwavesHunger pangs Meetings

Brands

Prayer

Indecision

Trust

FrowningRacing

Democracy

Climate change

Blogs

.. are all ‘conversations’

Kissing

Arguing

Colonialism

IntroductionWhat would you call a good conversation?

Structure

1. A short history of conversations

2. Communication and attitudes

3. Brands and marketing

1. A short history of conversations

In the (very) beginning• The very first conversation was ...?

‘John, how’d you do that fire thing, again’ ?

In the (very) beginning

• Voiced utterance, plus gestures

• Physical, social context (grooming)

In the (very) beginning

The birth of jazz© Larson

Origin

Usage

Therefore...

• Conversations are what make us human

• Conversations are not only verbal

• We are essentially social beings

Therefore...

• We learn through imitation … … interacting with others

Learning through conversation

Socrates (469 - 399 BC)Dialogues:

‘extended conversations ... aimed at understanding ... through a dialectical method’

Still relevant today:- democracy / free market

- debate choices

- question producers and politicians

Learning through conversation

Socrates, the first QRC? going further for less

Learning through conversation

Beware the barrenness of a busy life

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is a habit

Wisdom begins in wonder

(Socrates)

Conversations that changed history

• The Earth is flat

• The universe revolves around the Earth

• Europe / USA rules the world

Conversations that changed history

Crick and Watson discovered DNA via conversations

Linus Pauling tried to figure it all out

‘Because Pauling was so smart, he didn’t feel the need to talk to anyone’ (Watson)

Conversations that changed history

‘(Crick) asked naïve questions .. in order to understand things. Conversations yielded new insights’ Theodore Zeldin

2. Communication and attitudes

• Three kinds of language:– representational– structural– immediate

Communication

Representational

dominant over-reliant misleading

Communication

Structural

body-to-bodycomes firstunder-estimated

Communication

Immediate

basic/powerfulpure emotion/feeling

Communication

“93% of all communication is non-verbal”

AGREE / DISAGREE?

It’s not what you say, it’s the way that you say it

Attitudes• ‘What is your attitude to ..?’

• Attitudes as:– inside us– observable– measurable– immutable– ‘ours’

Attitudes• Do you have attitudes ..

.. or do attitudes have you?

Attitudes

• Attitudes as:– made up, made to order– adapted/adopted– having a life of their own – part of a conversation

ConclusionThree kinds of language...

representational

structural

immediate

… are connected, all part of our conversation

Conclusion

• We know ourselves, our beliefs, through conversation

• ‘Quallies’ are trained in the art of conversation– we can truly get to know people– if we practise good conversation

Part 3. Brands and marketing

Welcome to the revolution!

1950s today

Mark

ets

are

con

vers

ati

on

s

Before:

Brands

Consumers

Now:

People Brands

‘Commercial conversations’Market research … has traditionally been about figuring out how to get customers to buy what businesses want to make, rather than helping businesses to make what customers want to buy.

Commerce is going to increasingly shift away from older forms of communication … towards something that resembles a real conversation.

James Surowiecki, author, ‘Wisdom of the Crowds’

About brands• Brands are not things

• They are constructed from two kinds of networks– internal network

– external network

Brands on the internal network

one neuron LOTS of neurons

A challenge to us all?

• ‘Neuromarketing’– brain scans are the

answer

• Professor Zaltman– my way or the highway

A professor speaks

‘How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market’– ‘Technology is revolutionizing our ability to

understand customers. Insights about the workings of the cognitive unconscious ... and the neurobiology of figurative thinking, for instance, have already outdated most thinking and current practices’

– ie focus groups are redundant / do not work

Au contraire, professor

• ‘Herd - how to change mass behaviour by harnessing our true nature’– by Mark Earls (pub. Wiley, Feb 07)– behaviour NOT reducible to brains /

our unconscious but is socially determined

not just brains, our nervous system

1 2

3 4

EXTERNAL (SOCIAL) NETWORK IN ACTION

The point is

• Conversations are– within us and between us

– mental / physical, personal / social

• Qualitative research can tap into them– when it is done well

– inside and (especially) outside the studio

And..

• We know that what people say differs from what they do– there are no guarantees– good conversations take us all forward– not just verbal (physical, emotional)– not just in studios (out there)– not just Questions and Answers

• Too often we have done average work, which holds us back

Grand conclusions

Conversations

OpenMap on to networks

Build rapportBetween equals

Liberating

Q & A

CloseImpose a structure

Hinder, alienatePower relationsDisempowering

Q & A

CloseImpose a structure

Hinder, alienatePower relationsDisempowering

Grand conclusions

Conversations

Rich, rewardingSpace, freedom

Lead somewhereYield truths

Q & A

Confined, frustratingForced, feel trapped

Start and finishEncourage lies

By Kevin McLeankevin@wardlemclean.co.ukwww.wardlemclean.co.ukwww.theartofconversation.net

TO GOOD CONVERSATIONS!