Editor’s note: Ray Fischer is the CEO of Detroit-based online marketing research platform Aha! This is an edited version of a post that originally appeared here under the title, “5 emerging trends for online qualitative research in 2015.”
2014 proved to be a great year for online qualitative research technologies as more and more marketers, agencies and researchers have discovered the benefits of using online qual to mine consumer insights. Here are my top five predictions on emerging trends for 2015.
1. Consumers will 
continue to invest in technology, further opening the window into their world.
The international landscape has changed rapidly in the past five years with the continued adoption of smartphones and broadband around the world. As recent as 2010 we were still sending out Flip video cameras so respondents could videotape and upload their world to us digitally. Now respondents have super sophisticated and inexpensive smartphones and tablets enabling them to share with greater ease. This has given researchers a larger pool of qualified respondents with the ability to connect with and deliver richer insights – faster and cheaper. As a result, digital ethnography (video) will play a greater role in the online research methods mix.
2. Client adoption and use of online qualitative will accelerate.
Reports suggests there are still some clients out there who have yet to make the leap to online qual. Shocking yes but with the online methods becoming so much more sophisticated, effective and arguably cheaper than face-to-face methods, the laggards will make the leap. 2015 will be the year that holdout marketers and researchers cross the threshold into online qual.
3. Recruiting will get better with more refined panels and better respondents.
Right now studies lasting more than one day or one activity are best recruited the old fashioned way – focus group style. The large quant sample panel providers have been understandably reluctant to cede contact/control to researchers on studies that last more than a few days. Multi-day and multi-week studies involve a very high level of engagement between the researcher and respondents, requiring a higher level of connectivity that focus group style recruiting delivers. Unfortunately, focus group style recruiting is typically more expensive than quant sample. I believe this will begin to change in the coming year as the quant sample houses push to get in on the online qual action, modifying some of their respondent contact/control constraints to make longitudinal studies more viable and less expensive. Or traditional online qual recruiting will get less expensive. Or both!
4. Data Management tools will become more powerful and easier to use.
For those who regularly conduct online qual studies you know how much data they can produce. Text analytics software cannot write the report for you (yet!) but it certainly can help shape the narrative and give more credence to your findings. These tools continue to get more effective and easier to use. You need to try them now if you haven’t already.
5. Researchers are evolving – and new talent is entering the MR space.
Go to any conference and you will see first-hand the new wave of research talent becoming established in the industry. They are smart, open-minded and fully embrace technology and all of the promise it holds for qualitative research. They grew up on computers, tablets and smartphones, recognizing these tools as an essential part of everyday life and valuing the role these omnipresent technologies play in the lives of consumers and respondents. Their innovative ideas on how online tools work are having a dramatic impact and are shaping new methods.