Mall VS. Online is a bit like Apples VS Oranges

Thursday February 21, 2008 by Marc Gatliff
This is a reply to: Using online instead of mall?

I can't say I have ever seen anything comparing mall interviewing to online interviewing. Although both are interviewing techniques, they really serve totally different purposes.

Normally, I would conduct a mall interview when I am trying to get the opinion of an "average consumer" on their own turf or when I want to show them something or have them test something. With a mall interview I have a target audience but I don't know who I'll be interviewing before hand.

With an online survey you identify your audience and choose your potential participants in advance --but you are not always sure that the person you are targeting is the person actually doing the survey. Additionally, with an online survey you can't have the same sort of open dialogue that you may have in a face-to-face interview (harder to get answers to open-ends). Finally, an online survey does not lend itself to concept or product testing.

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