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Online qualitative research has developed in leaps and bounds over the past decade, and accelerated further due to the world’s increased digitization during the global pandemic. At Crowdtech, we strive to stay ahead of the digital curve, improving and enhancing our online research offerings wherever possible. Our innovative approach is designed to close the gap between organizations and their customers, ensuring meaningful insights through cutting-edge technology.
Running online qualitative research communities is an important element of our work. Naturally, effective moderation is critical to the success of any qualitative community, and it is our role to ensure that moderators can carry out their jobs in this space as well as possible. Since qualitative research moved online, moderators have faced the challenge of how to probe deeply and effectively, without the benefit of traditional face-to-face interaction. At Crowdtech, we provide the tools and support to make this transition seamless and effective.
Enabling moderators to probe in real-time
To address this challenge, we have integrated innovative features into our community platform that allow for real-time probing. One such feature is our Staircase tool, which facilitates customized smart-routing of questions, enabling moderators to probe individual responses in real-time before respondents move onto the next question.
Traditionally, probing occurred after respondents had progressed through a survey, recording answers ‘after the fact’. The Staircase tool changes this by allowing moderators to drill down on specific responses as they are given. This enables both the moderator and respondent to ‘walk the staircase’ together, diving deeper into particular points or topics.
This tool enhances focus on each individual question, presenting them one at a time based on previous answers. This tailored approach allows for deeper concentration and richer insights, adapted to each respondent’s input.
Allows for drilling-down in qualitative research
A further benefit of the Staircase tool that’s part of our Community platform is that it effectively brings the logic of a quantitative survey into a qualitative panel. While the two branches of research have different applications and uses, there are elements of each that can benefit the other.
Quantitative research has long had the ability to drill down for greater granularity of research. On the other hand, qualitative research has typically been on a flatter level, set up for in-depth engagement, with the opportunity to probe to a second level on an ad hoc basis. The Staircase tool now marries the best of both branches together, enabling the drilling down process to happen in the qualitative space by utilizing the survey logic of quantitative research.
This has the result of being able to address any topic or assess any attitude or behaviour at a deep qualitative level yet following a structured, quantitative approach. Furthermore, the tool’s design keeps respondent interaction focused and individualized. Respondents only see their own answers and moderation correspondence, which maintains the integrity of their personal perceptions without external influence. This method not only enhances data accuracy but also enriches the overall quality of insights collected, supporting more informed decision-making processes.
Online qualitative research achieves reach and depth
Often research solutions focus more on quantitative than qualitative work, due to the fact that the bulk of research sits within this space. At Crowdtech, we recognise that both elements are vitally important to our overall offering to clients, and as such aim to develop both to their optimal capacity. This dual focus is exemplified by our comprehensive platform, which seamlessly integrates diverse research methodologies. Therefore the Crowdtech Staircase is one of the benefits our Community platform has to offer.
Digitization has opened up qualitative research in numerous ways, but also posed some difficulties to overcome. With the development of various tools and techniques – the latest being our Staircase tool – we are confident that our online qualitative offering not only matches, but truly surpasses traditional face-to-face alternatives. This results in wider reaching surveys, faster turnaround and now, thanks to the Staircase, greater depth than ever before.
