Immersive research

Editor’s note: Steve August is a principal of KDA Research, San Francisco.

Since qualitative research came online in the late 1990s, focus groups, the dominant framework for offline qualitative research, have also been the dominant framework for online qualitative research. As such, the focus group has driven the development of online qualitative solutions such as bulletin board groups and chat-based groups (sometimes called online focus groups). And as Internet adoption rates have reached nearly 70 percent in the U.S., bulletin board focus groups and chat-based online focus groups have become increasingly accepted qualitative methods for qualitative researchers and the clients they serve.

However, over the past few years, two trends have converged to extend the possibilities for online qualitative research beyond the focus group framework:

Trend 1: The emergence of Web 2.0

While there are probably as many definitions of Web 2.0 as there are people who care to define it, Web 2.0 serves as a handy rubric for the current state of the online experience. Marked by high levels of broadband Internet access, ubiquitous digital media (images, video and sounds), integration of mobile digital devices (wireless phones, camera phones, PDAs), and the evolution of social software from simple forums and chats to XML-driven blogs and collective spaces like MySpace and the photo-sharing site Flickr, Web 2.0 appears to be delivering on the initial promise of the Internet.

While there is not room in this article to delineate all the facets of Web 2.0, the net effect of Web 2.0 for researchers is that we now have the tools to not only capture individual experiences in rich detail wherever and whenever they occur but also to categorize and aggregate those experiences on a scale not previously feasible.

Trend 2: Increased use of contextual methods for market research

Over the past decade, the idea of researchers leaving the focus group facility and observing customers in their natural environments has become increasingly accepted. In-depth qualitative research methods such as ethnography have repeatedly proven their worth in understanding customer behaviors, experiences and cultures and identifying opportunities for successful products, services and messaging. J.C. Penney, Starbucks, Intel and GM are just a small sampling of prominent companies that have integrated ethnography into their new-product development process.

Taken together, the fusion of contextual methods such as ethnography with Web 2.0 technology creates the opportunity for a new framework for online qualitative research. This article proposes to define the goals, characteristics and applications of this new online qualitative research framework and give it a name: immersive research.

Capture participant experiences

Whereas current online qualitative research is mainly rooted in the focus group framework, immersive research draws from a number of offline methodologies - ethnography, longitudinal qualitative studies, contextual inquiry - and blends them in a Web 2.0 online environment. Like these traditional contextual methods, the goal of immersive research is to capture participant experiences and behaviors as they happen, and make those experiences meaningful in the context of a business question.

The following are five main characteristics of immersive research:

1. Online

Immersive research is a framework for in-depth online qualitative research, and the impact of being online manifests in two important ways. First, it gives researchers the ability to simultaneously capture the experiences and behaviors of a large number of geographically dispersed participants - something that would be extraordinarily expensive to execute via offline methods. Second, because this research occurs online it enables any person within an organization, from product and marketing managers to CEOs, to access the data generated by an immersive research study. In this way, entire organizations could be immersed in the experiences of their customers. (Note: In a recent study executed by my firm, at the start of the project there were three client observers. By the end of the project there seven client observers, some of whom were working on different offerings than the group who originally commissioned the project.)

2. Primary interaction is individual

Like the offline methods it draws its inspiration from, the primary interaction for immersive research is on an individual basis. Researchers capture the experiences of individuals, often using blogs or other tools that allow private participation, and aggregate those experiences to identify patterns and themes. Because of the ease of including both individual and group interaction in the online environment, there may be group interactions that support the individual interactions.

3. Captures experiences and behaviors and emotions as they happen

Like ethnography, immersive research seeks to capture the behavioral and emotional moments in context as those moments happen. However, a big difference between ethnography and immersive research is that immersive research tends to rely almost entirely on participant self-reporting, whereas observation is the very heart of ethnography. Like ethnography, immersive research can produce two different data types. The recording of behaviors - uses, occurrences, purchases, etc. - often generates volumes of structured data delineating the what, where, when and why. On the other hand, the emotions and attitudes that accompany behaviors often generate open-ended text responses that need to be coded. The presence of both of these data types is a strong indicator of immersive research.

4. Sustained interactions

Another important aspect of immersive research is that interactions with participants are sustained long enough to capture applicable behaviors. Spending time with participants over time is an important part of capturing the natural rhythm of participant experiences. Whether it’s over the course of days, weeks or even months depends on how often experiences of interest tend to occur during the course of participants’ everyday lives.

5. Rich media used by participants

Perhaps the most powerful part of the immersive research experience is the ability to literally see through the eyes of participants. The use of digital images or video to record behaviors and experiences lets participants tell their stories with a richness that text descriptions simply cannot match. On occasion, images posted by participants can simultaneously capture both the behavior and the heart of the emotion underlying the behavior. The use of rich media by participants to convey their experiences goes a long way in creating an sense of immersion in participants’ lives.

Applications and examples

Like the in-depth qualitative research methods that it draws from, immersive research is best applied in early-stage discovery efforts, when the goal of the research is to understand the “white space” of customer experiences. The understanding generated by immersive research studies can provide the fuel for creative efforts such as creating new products, services and messaging.

Here are two brief examples of immersive research studies:

KDA Research recently executed a study over the course of 10 weeks, with two different segments of participants. Each participant was given their own private blog, where, for the duration of the study, they recorded specific information regarding a number of behaviors of interest, as well as participated in a variety of weekly research activities. Participants answered questions, created photo tours with their digital cameras and reacted to a collage of pictures. The intent of the project was to capture the day-to-day experiences and emotions of participants regarding the topic over the course of a specific season.

In another study we conducted as the first part of a three-phase rapid innovation process, two segments of participants (moms with kids; teens) documented the consumption of a particular food item over the course of one week by posting a digital photograph in their own private blogs. Participants also answered questions regarding their attitudes and preferences in their blogs. The study generated an insightful side-by-side comparison of the consumption habits and drivers of moms and teens, and helped generate a number of product concepts.

Full utilization

The idea behind the immersive research framework is to acknowledge that the fusion of Web 2.0 technology and context research methods presents the beginning of a new chapter in the evolution of online qualitative research. Where previously, online qualitative research has been predominantly rooted in the focus group framework and text-based bulletin boards and chats, this new chapter will be marked by the adaptation of in-depth qualitative frameworks and the full utilization of the latest technologies to help researchers put hundreds of customer stories at our fingertips. Online qualitative 2.0 has arrived.