Mobile Qualitative Research: Can you hear me now?
When anyone in our industry utters the words “mobile research” at a conference or company meeting, most ears in the room tend to tune in.
As it was in the beginning of web-based research methodologies, quantitative researchers were some of the first to experiment wide-scale with mobile research. The promise of being able to engage a survey respondent in a new and exciting way was far too tempting not to try, and over the past few years most major survey platforms now offer their own version of mobile-enabled surveys.
Qualitative researchers found the leap to mobile a bit more challenging. Some forward-thinking qual researchers began experimenting with mobile engagement methods from the very first day of mobile phones (even back in the 1990’s!). While the idea of capturing consumer insights through mobile devices had obvious implications, many early mobile qual pioneers found that collecting the right kind of data, easily and efficiently, to be a daunting task. Some relied on the early-stage mobile quant surveys, others went so far as to actually buy “research phones” and sent texts and voice calls manually to participants. It wasn’t until the last 2-3 years that qual research technology providers began offering solutions specifically for qual research that allowed them to capture deep insights effectively. With the availability of these tools, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the prevalence of mobile qual research projects.
Mobile Qual Today
Today’s mobile qualitative software platforms have evolved into effective mobile engagement tools. Three of the more commonly seen types of “mobile qual” solutions available to researchers are:
1. SMS/MMS
2. Mobile Applications (e.g. iPhone app or mobile-browser based web application)
3. Voice-based call-in services
SMS/MMS (Text and Picture Messaging)
We’re all familiar with the common text or picture message. It’s hard to find a phone that can’t send a text message, and because you can be certain that nearly every one of your potential respondents has a cell phone, utilizing a text-messaging based tool virtually eliminates any issues with representativeness, and training. The researcher typically logs in to a web-based portal, uploads a list of respondent names, demographics, and phone numbers, and begins programming a mobile discussion guide. The respondent simply receives standard text and picture messages from the researcher, and responds back as they would to a text from a friend.
Typically, we see most mobile projects running 5-10 days, with researchers sending out 5-7 questions per day. This allows the researcher to collect a variety of data-points. You can ask specific questions around meal-times; ask about TV shows watched during primetime, or send messages over the weekend while people are out shopping. All of their responses, and with some of the more sophisticated tools, their mobile photos are captured back in the researcher’s main web portal, where they can sort/filter the data and even send immediate probes to respondents.
Mobile Applications
Researchers who may feel like the shorter length of a text message might limit engagement can look at some of the providers that offer a mobile app. These can come in many, many flavors, but most commonly are either the now-ubiquitous iPhone/Android app, or a custom-built webpage formatted for mobile devices. Depending on the mobile application’s configuration, these apps can allow not only text and picture submissions, but video and geolocation data as well. However, the increased capabilities of these applications come at a price; your participant has to have a web-enabled or smartphone, and in some cases must have a specific type of phone to access all of the mobile app features. While today, we see fewer of these mobile apps used for these reasons, as smartphones become a majority, we believe this method will outpace SMS/MMS-based studies.
Voice-based Services
One of the earliest mobile data collections methods was basically a voicemail box where participants called in their response. Today’s mobile research platforms have moved past those rather simplistic beginnings to include IVR (interactive voice response) systems. You may be more familiar with IVR from your interactions with your bank or cable company’s phone system; “Press 1 for billing, 2 to for accounting…” Voice-based research services usually include a mix of IVR-type responses (think rating/ranking scales) and transcribe voice messages. One big advantage of this method is that participants don’t have to be expert typist to get the message across; everyone knows how to leave a voicemail!
Pros/Cons of Mobile Today
While we’ve reached a point where there are a wide variety of technology offerings to suit your mobile research needs, we are still in many ways learning about this new medium and how it may be used in research.
One of the most obvious ways we know we haven’t quite reached the peak of mobile qualitative comes down to one simple fact; over 80% of the studies we see at 20|20 are Hybrid projects that rely on a secondary method (online boards/face-to-face research) along with the mobile data collection. In most cases, the hybrid approach is chosen because the mobile interactions don’t provide the full depth of insight that many researchers are accustomed to gathering. Because of the nature of text-messages and tiny keyboards, the participant responses tend to be succinct touchpoints with less detail than you typically find in a bulletin-board, online focus group, or face-to-face group. The dual-method approach allows researchers to capture deeper conversation along with the rich texture afforded by in-the-moment mobile responses.
Even though most in the industry aren’t ready to wholeheartedly abandon other methods in favor of mobile technologies, it’s easy to see the promise mobile research has for the future.
First of all, mobile research allows researchers to engage respondents quickly and easily during most any activity, and we’re finding that the in-the-moment insight can sometimes yield surprising new information. Since participants take their phones with them wherever they go, and for the most part are within arms reach of their devices the majority of the day, mobile research allows engagement in the mornings, during the day, and at home in the evenings. While this might not seem like such a revolutionary concept, we find by capturing that feedback as an event is occurring (or within minutes of it) can provide a much more accurate picture of the consumer’s behavior, thought process, and emotional state than we ever thought possible.
It’s coming as quite a shock to many researchers that participant’s reported behavior in qualitative journals or diaries isn’t the exact picture that’s painted when you are capturing activity as it’s occurring. We’ve seen many studies where participant’s mobile responses don’t match what the client had seen in similar diary-based studies, and viewed pictures of products in people’s homes the researcher never expected this demographic to purchase. Because the mobile methodologies make it easy for the participants to respond, and because we aren’t relying on participants to recall activities from hours or days ago, in many cases, researchers can view a more complete, unfiltered view of consumer behavior.
Second, mobile research is showing us there are opportunities to gather information we never dreamed of before. For example, a recent study we conducted followed moms during the day as they shopped for their families. They were asked to send us a mobile update every time they purchased food; including where they were, what items they intended to purchase, when they entered the store, what items were purchased, and other unplanned purchases they made. The researcher was surprised to see many of the moms posting updates from farm-fresh markets and roadside produce stands— an activity previously not identified as a competitive product purchase, but was clearly a large part of the mom’s shopping habits.
Another study followed young men as they shopped for cars; they were asked to take a photo or post an update of each automotive advertisement they saw during a 3-day weekend. The researchers were able to capture an entire 72-hours worth of ad exposure ranging from printed ads in the newspaper to online banners and TV commercials. What other medium would allow you to capture such a well-rounded view of the participant’s daily routines and activities?
Finally, one often overlooked but monumentally important aspect of all research is the participant experience. We’ve found that participants actually enjoy interacting with the research when it’s delivered through their mobile device. First, the mobile device gives them an easy, top-of-mind way to document their activities, as compared to paper journals or other more tedious methods of data collection. And second, the mobile methods feel much more like a conversation to a “real live person” than more traditional means. Many research participants have commented to us that they felt like they were having a conversation with their moderator and looked forward to getting more messages— it was almost fun to have someone following them along, asking questions as they went about their lives.
While it’s clear that mobile qualitative research “has arrived”, it’s still very much in its infancy. In the coming months and years researchers will find new and creative ways to engage participants wherever they go, opening up whole new worlds of insight for tomorrow’s marketers.
This article, published in the December 2011 issue of MRA Alert! Magazine, was written by Amanda Mills, Account Executive for 20|20 Technology.
