Usability labs
Usability labs are in-person, one-on-one sessions during which the respondent interacts with a website or other interactive product. Usability labs are primarily used to evaluate a current or prototype website or other product, including its design, execution, ease of navigation, intuitiveness, appeal and opportunities for improvement. In order to produce a "best of breed" analysis, competitive sites/products are also occasionally evaluated in these sessions.
Usability labs typically last between 45 minutes and one hour, and are usually video-recorded using a scan-converted image or picture-in-picture recording.
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In-home/in-office/in-store interviews/ethnographies
Ethnographies are ideal for exploring the impact of consumers’ natural environment (home, office, store, school) on attitudes and behavior. These types of sessions also provide opportunities to learn from the environment itself, observing and recording respondents’ product and service ownership and preferences. Furthermore, when required, ethnographies allow the researcher to observe and analyze the interaction of consumers with other individuals: family members, colleagues, friends, sales representatives, etc.
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Focus groups
Focus groups are an ideal means to address a wide range of issues that require a creative, flexible or interactive methodology. For this reason, they are frequently used for concept testing, new product development research, ideation, attitude and behavior exploration, and branding and positioning analysis. The advantage of focus groups is that they provide enormous depth and breadth of analysis and allow clients to observe their target audience firsthand.
Focus group sessions usually last between 90 minutes and two hours, and consist of seven or eight participants.
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Mini-groups
Similar in structure to focus groups, mini-groups consist of fewer participants: usually between four and six. These sessions are ideal when a more in-depth understanding of individual participants is important, when the topic at hand is exceedingly complex and/or when the population is rarified/special.
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In-depth interviews
In-depth interviews are in-person, one-on-one sessions, usually conducted in a dedicated research facility (although with very senior business executives / high-end customers, these can be conducted in-office/in-store). They are ideal for any type of research that requires an extremely focused understanding of individuals' attitudes, behaviors and opinions. In-depth interviews are also useful for talking to hard-to-reach respondents (such as corporate executives, wealthy consumers, etc.) or whenever the material is of a sensitive/competitive nature.
In-depth interviews typically last between 45 minutes and one hour.
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Homework sessions
In many cases it is useful to speak to consumers who all share a common experience. This can be achieved by recruiting users / viewers who share a particular behavior, but it can also be accomplished by requiring interview or focus group participants to complete a “homework” assignment prior to the research taking place. This technique is particularly useful when the project would benefit from consumers who have considerable insight into an issue, leading to a more consultative research experience.
Homework sessions are also useful when a detailed understanding of consumers’ typical behavior in a specific area is required. In this instance, research participants can be asked to complete an ongoing questionnaire/journal that records the intricate details of their relevant behavior.
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Paired interviews / labs
Paired interviews / labs are often used when conducting research with children. These types of sessions address the same objectives as regular interviews and usability labs, but instead of recruiting a single respondent, a child and his / her friend are recruited together. This approach creates a more supportive, friendly and open environment for discussion, and yields significantly more insight than a traditional one-on-one experience with the child.
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Hybrid sessions (labs/interviews and follow-up groups)
It can often be useful to combine the individual learning of interviews or usability labs with the more dynamic and creative environment of a focus group. Hybrid sessions achieve this goal by interviewing consumers during the day and then bringing the same respondents back for a focus group in the evening.
This research method is extremely effective for research projects that have very broad objectives that require an in-depth understanding of individual behaviors and preferences, in conjunction with an exploration of new product ideas and concepts. Hybrid sessions are also used when evaluating complicated UIs and technology that can benefit from both the individual experience and group learning.
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Employee sessions
Employee sessions are similar to focus groups but are conducted with the client's own employees. These sessions usually consist of between six and nine participants and are carefully designed to ensure that participants feel free to discuss any issues (e.g., a supervisor and his/her employee are rarely put in the same group, etc.).
Employee sessions are generally used as brainstorming opportunities (idea generation) or to address company-specific issues and concerns. These sessions typically last between ninety minutes and two hours. For sensitivity reasons, these sessions are not usually video-recorded. For more information, please feel free to contact us.
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