Online Community Research software
Contents
For online research purposes, many research methods are used. One of them is the online community research software. It is the most widely adopted and successful research methodology used.
Nowadays, many leading companies are getting and using data from these online research communities.
What is Qualitative research?
Qualitative research analyzes and collects data that is not numeric, like audio, video, and text, to understand experiences, concepts, and opinions better. It provides insight into the problem, which results in creating new ideas for research. This method is usually used in social sciences and humanities.
In contrast to this, quantitative research includes collecting and analysis of numerical data.
Qualitative research approaches:
There are many approaches to qualitative research which are flexible and focus on maintaining rich meaning when interpreting data. Qualitative research aims to understand how people experience the world.
Most common among them are Narrative research, grounded theory, and action research. They seem similar but are different based on perspectives and aims.
Methods of Qualitative research:
Each of the approaches mentioned above uses one or more than one method. The most common methods are:
- Interviews, in which people ask questions in face-to-face conversation.
- Observation includes gathering what you have encountered, heard, and seen in detail.
- Surveys are also conducted by distributing questionnaires with open-ended questions.
- Focus groups aim to discuss and ask the question in a group of people.
- Secondary research includes collecting data in the form of audio, video, image, or text.
In this whole procedure, qualitative researchers consider themselves as instruments. The reason behind this is, they filter all the interpretation and observations through their lens.
Online Focus Groups:
There is a moderator in this chat, where software allows them to share stimuli with the other members. There can be 5-6 participants in the chat where they conduct in-depth conversation and discussion on specific topics.
It is of great use for the clients as well as they do not have to travel and can contribute by sending questions to the moderator through the proper platform or even send the stimuli on their own.
Online video groups and interviews:
Live qualitative research discussion can be conducted through video chat. It has many benefits like a quick response, immediate interaction, and even analyzing non-verbal gestures.It also permits one-to-one interviews on sensitive issues which can not be discussed in a group environment. You can even record the screen sharing.
Insight Communities:
These communities include groups of people who are willing to take part in multiple research projects. The reason can be financial incentives. The reason behind this is to attract the consumers, to give deep qualitative feedback on different topics.
Many brands pay for such communities to be set up and maintained for commercial research. But to keep them motivated, research alone could not engage them, so there are many fun activities and exciting questions. This ensures the productivity and creativity of the community for testing new ads or product ideas.
