Editor’s note: Barbara Allan is CEO of Sunbelt Research, a Jupiter, Fla., research firm. She is a member of the Qualitative Research Consultants Association.

A client has just called, and wants to know how people with a high net-worth, excluding real estate, will react to a new product line.

What is your next move? You could start by booking a traditional focus group facility. Or, as more and more moderators are starting to do, book online groups in a virtual facility.

And let us not forget, smaller groups conducted in facilities, such as mini groups, triads, dyads, and one-on-ones. All are options open to any experienced moderator.

Now, let’s make the project a bit more interesting, by mentioning that none of the people your client wants to talk to live in the same area, and none are computer-savvy types eagerly awaiting an online research experience.

Under these circumstances you might consider calling the client back and saying you have decided to pass on the project. But wait, help is at hand, in the form of telephone depth sessions.

Telephone depth sessions combine the probing benefits of traditional focus groups with the confidentiality provided by one-on-one telephone interviews. Topics which may not be appropriate for an open forum discussion can easily be broached during telephone depth sessions.

Therefore, if you don’t mind missing a few crowded, never-on-time flights, staying up late conducting groups, and getting up early to catch a flight to the next city, telephone depth sessions may be an option for you. Naturally, there is a catch: You have to supply your own M&Ms.

A few months ago, a financial service organization came to us with a request. They asked us to conduct a study among respondents with assets, excluding real estate and business ownership, in excess of $3 million.

We certainly did not have to be told that these are not the...