Optimize Data Analytics conducts hundreds of in-person focus groups every year, but increasingly some of this qualitative work is shifting to the Internet. The reasons:

• Worldwide Reach. With our global Internet panels, online qualitative research can be conducted across time zones in multiple countries and in multiple languages.
• Internet-Adapted Techniques. The online environment is not ideal for traditional qualitative methods, but we have adapted our techniques to take advantage of the Internet’s unique characteristics.
• Superior Sampling. Our online qualitative research uses probability samples to better represent the target audience and can include rural areas and smaller cities. In contrast, most in-person groups are conducted in a few major urban markets.
• Minimal Bias. Group social pressure is minimal in online qualitative research.
• Honesty. An anonymous environment can be created online that leads to openness and honesty in discussing sensitive topics, such as money, sex, politically incorrect views, etc.
• Convenience. Respondents can review the moderator’s questions and post their answers at their convenience.
• Thoughtful Responses. In online qualitative research, the respondents have more time to reflect on their answers and can, therefore, produce more thoughtful and in-depth comments than any other form of in-person qualitative.

Internet-Adapted Qualitative Techniques

Each of the following online techniques has its place, depending upon the target audience and the research objectives:

• Online Pseudo-Depth Interviews. This technique uses an online survey format and consists of 15 to 20 open-ended questions. The sample size is usually 25 to 50 target-market respondents. The interview is limited to 30 minutes in length. The goal is to create “soul searching” questions that stimulate revealing responses. Pseudo-depths offer good quality data, reasonable cost, and quick turnaround.
• Online Sentence Completion. This projective technique uses an online survey format and consists of 50 to 60 incomplete sentences that respondents must finish. The sample size is usually 50 to 75 participants, and survey length is limited to 30 minutes. The key to success lies in clever wording of the stimuli. Online sentence completion can be a standalone method or part of other qualitative techniques.
• Online Word Association. This projective technique uses an online survey format, and consists of 50 to 75 stimuli words that participants respond to by typing the first word, association, or image that comes to mind. Sample sizes range from 100 to 200, and interview length is limited to 30 minutes. This technique is best for exploring awareness, imagery, and associations linked to brands.
• Online Hypotheses Quantification. After focus groups or depth interviews, it is often wise to quantify the results. We accomplish this by identifying 50 to 100 verbatim statements that support the major hypotheses and ask a nationally representative sample of 200 to 500 consumers to agree/disagree with each statement. The statistical results are combined with the original qualitative data to create one integrated report.