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If you do or watch Qual research, you’ll

know some groups flow, whilst others are

painful to sit through...

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Here are some ideas about how to run

creative and revealing groups that will

deliver insight you can believe in...

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Start off your groups right, and success will

follow...

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#1 Warm-up: The Name Game – play a game with respondents that will

help them remember each others names. You’ll all bond, and the group

will go better.

#2 Warm-up: What kind of day have you had? Ask respondents to let

everyone know how they’re feeling. It builds empathy.

#3 Warm-up: Take it slow. Giving each respondent sufficient time to

‘tell their story’ at the start of a group helps them to find their voice and

gives you a chance to probe properly throughout the group.

Three Warm-ups that work...

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Have fun (but not too much) it

primes our brains for greater

creativity - according to Claudia

Hammond’s book Emotional

Rollercoaster. Small treats also

deliver better creativity – bring

chocolate and you’ll be

rewarded...

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Ask ambiguous questions – according to

Keith Sawyer in his book on Group Genius

purposefully vague questions foster creative

thinking

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Use ‘cognitive interview’

techniques to help with

accuracy of recall: ask

people to tell their story

from the middle; get

respondents to recall the

sensory context of their

experience; change

perspective – ask them to

tell the story as if it were

from someone else’s

point of view

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The Big Picture: bring life size pictures of the

shop fixture into group discussions. If you’re

discussing a brand, make sure you discuss it in

the context of where it’s usually bought

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Replicate decision making

processes by designing

games to explore consumer

choices – you’ll gain

grounded insight if you

explore behaviour – so much

better than exploring opinion

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Social Proof Reading:

When people are

uncertain what they think

or feel about an idea, they

usually defer to what the

‘alpha’ of the group is

saying (this is called social

proof). So it’s good to

check with respondents

how certain or sure they

feel about something –

many in the group might

be feeling... nothing...

about the idea

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Private Response – you want to understand the

group effect and the influence of others, but it’s

important to know what is going through an

individual’s mind as well. I’ve started using

ipads, getting respondents to record their own

personal responses to concepts on their own

tablet

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Withholding: we hold

back our thoughts all

the time, so it’s

important for the

moderator to remind

respondents it’s

something they do,

and encourage them

to think about what

they’re holding back.

Asking respondents

to fill in a thought

bubble picture helps

them reveal what

they’re thinking

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People stand up to hear

good news and sit down

to hear bad. We think

better when we are

feeling physically

alert...So researchers

need to take into account

respondents’ bodies as

well as minds when we

are moderating. We

should bring movement

into groups.

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Without words; some people

communicate better visually,

and so giving people a

chance to draw their ideas in

groups can really work.

Asking respondents to draw

a brand pack also reveals

the key iconography

associated with the brand

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Little groups...There’s gathering evidence that

smaller groups work better together. And with

mini groups you don’t get ‘social loafing’ either

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Diversity: apparently workshops and co creation

sessions work better with diverse groups working

together. Different people bring alternative

perspectives to a problem – their ideas collide

and boom! innovation results.

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There are lots more ideas about social

psychology, behavioural economics and research

techniques on the Qual Street website:

www.qual-street.co.uk.

I qual – so if you have ideas about how to

deliver research, I’d love to hear from you.

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Free Thinking

kath@qual-street.co.uk Mob: 07738 180529