I formed Soundings Research primarily to "fill in the blanks."
My firm continues to do quantitative market research studies for clients,
especially to define market segments, preferences and attitudes towards products and services, and to provide performance measurement (customer satisfaction,
loyalty). However, as a trained ethnographer who has over 25 years experience
designing and implementing large scale global quantitative research projects,
I have never been comfortable drawing conclusions from
data without first knowing the decision making
context within which individuals carry out their choice
making behavior. We are, after all, behavioral scientists,
and behavior is what we wish to understand and/or affect.
Qualitative research, especially on-site fieldwork using ethnographic techniques, will enable our work by providing the reasons behind the behaviors.
Quantitative research is extremely important, providing
researchers with the necessary number of
data points to spot trends and thus allow some prediction,
at least such is the hope and art of statistical modeling,
but it remains at the individual level that the complexities of
decision making come to light. Uncovering these individual
stories and placing their lessons into a context that is
informative as well as actionable is a part of the business of
Soundings Research that is most compelling and of which I am
most proud.
I invite you to send your research needs to
me for a review, vendor or client. I will let you know if your intended approach is
consistent with your information requirements. We all learn
from sharing. This service is free, so just send your questions to
me in an e-mail (click the picture) and I will reply within 24 hours, time permitting.
|
