Choosing a Qualitative Method: handy-dandy decision tree you can download

We talk about research quite a bit on this blog, because you can't manage the customer experience or even really think about it meaningfully if you don't start diving deep into what is actually going on.  To do that, you need research.

Now that there are so many options in using new communications technology to support research, I get a lot of questions about which method is better, and that type of thing.

You can't really do it that way, though.  You need to think about the objectives of the research before you know which approach makes the most sense. 

Handy-dandy research decision tree to help you (Click image to enlarge.)

I've put together this handy-dandy decision tree with some diagnostic questions that should help you think this through.  You can even download the PDF and stick it up on your wall, and share it with friends and colleagues who will marvel at your amazing ability to dig out useful resources.

Download qualitative_choices_decision_tree.pdf

Although the graphic looks slick, the real value is in working through the diagnostic questions.  After you have done that, you'll have a clear idea of your options. Then it's all down to budget.

How much to spend?

You can get into calculating the ROI of your research, and there are formulas. 

I have one that's really simple: I think clients should get about 10 times the payback from a project, or we're wasting their money.  So if it's a $30K project, you'd better think that great insight and great strategy should be worth about $300K to the business, either in risk avoided, effectiveness of effort, or raw revenue.

I once got into a lengthy round of negotiations with a human resource department that wanted to research some employee problems, after already having surveyed the employees. I suggested that perhaps the real problem was that the executive -- quite rightly in my view -- wanted to spend the money FIXING the issue, instead of putting more $ into research. HR didn't agree, and kept pitching the research and asking me to find a way to do it cheaper, smaller, etc. Of course the unhappy end of this story is that they kept having the management team reject their request for money, and I wasted a bunch of time scoping a project going nowhere.  All of which could have been avoided by getting clear on what was needed and why. And sometimes, more research is not actually what you need.

So use the diagnostic questions, get clear, and be a star. What could be simpler?

Addendum Sept 22:

Roger Cauvin pointed out that I missed ethnography. What the heck was I thinking?