It is visible and evident that marketing trends are changing and evolving at a fast pace, at the same time technology is affecting that way in which research is conducted. The earlier conventional methods of qualitative research, such as, study groups, polls and observational studies have revolutionized in the light of digitization with more and wider opportunities created for researchers.
The largest growth that has opened innumerable options for researchers are social media and mobile market research. All around the world he mobile and internet technologies have brought forth the unprecedented access to the markets and the individuals. The best part of the entire provision is that whole lot o information can be obtained with minimum facility and time in the qualification of participants.
Few key trends that have gained popularity in he arena of digital qualitative research are:
- Market Research Online Communities: MROCs are a combination of social media techniques, online discussions and qualitative research so that long term benefits, in depth insights and a very smooth and simple medium by which communication can be established with the participants. The most useful feature of the format is its flexibility so that all types of audiences can be tapped through the many options ranging from what, bulletin boards so that primary research can be conducted at a minimal cost.
- Ethnography through mobile: Ethnography has prevailed in research for quite some time now but talking of mobile ethnography it has not kept it reserved for larger projects anymore. With compressed timelines and minimal budgets available, mobile ethnography creates the scope to do ethnographic studies. There isn’t any more a need to be conducting on the site contextual and immersion studies as the job can be performed through tools such as mobile polls and others of similar like. Certainly this is true that traditional ethnography has become daunting and expensive.
- Sophisticated Automation: The amount of data available for researchers has increased and at the same time software, artificial intelligence, data mining tools and trend analysis have simplified ways to uncover trends and achieve more precise results. The amount of time needed for conducting a detailed and thorough research has reduced dramatically creating more and more avenues for researchers than ever before.
I have come to believe that qualitative research has evolved from rigid complex technique to a more pragmatic and real time research type. The kind of research advancement that is being experienced in qualitative research has brought up greater penetration in the market, more openness and interaction with the consumers where new pinnacles in research have been achieved. There is a new chapter in research that has been created all together. Digitization will surely going to have an impact on qualitative research for a long time to come now.