Qualitative research tools

Interviews are the best way to collect qualitative data and make yourself a background about an industry where you have no experience. 

Where to find the industry experts for your interview? 

• A colleague: in large consulting companies there is always a guy sitting on the other side of the world who is expert on what you search. Many times finding these people is not easy because the intranet is rarely up-to-date and very efficient. 
• A client: there is for sure someone working at your client who was doing his job for 10+ years and knows what he is doing. SOmetimes these people are low in the organization and therefore their voice is left unheard. It is your challenge to find them and get out from them the best ideas on how to improve things. 
• A global expert: You want to reach the global expert on the topic you are looking for? There are many external agencies that put you in touch with them, such as AlphaSights. Be aware though that to talk 1h with these ex-CEOs will cost you quite a lot. 
• Your network: If you are out of budget and do not have an expert colleague or client to rely on, just open your Linkedin and search. You can for example check specialised magazines or blogs, that talk about your specific topic, see who are the people posting or who are the people referred as “experts” and just reach them out. These people are mostly passionate about their topic and might be happy to talk about it with you. 

Hi there,

Interviews are the most common. These can be client interviews, internal interviews (calls with Partners in the practice area or people who worked with the client before), expert (external) calls, etc.

Combination of using internal expert network, colleagues, firm's publications.

Always ask for permission internally before you reach out to external sources.

Hi!

Interviews are definitely the most common tool. Expert calls are also widely used as well as other internal knowledge (e.g. benchmarks).

Best,

Anto

• Expert calls: Most common and widely accepted method of qualitative research. There are expert networks such as GLG that connect you with experts in your specific area of inquiry. You ask them questions, they answer, you note, you make slides, etc.
• Internal research teams: Most consulting firms have back-end teams that support research and information gathering. Leverage them.
• Research agencies: Depending on your office location and company, you will also have access to 3rd party research agencies that will act similar to the internal research teams but can be leveraged in case of traffic jams

Eventually, most qualitative research needs to end-up in a format that supports decision making. This can be through tick-mark matrices, pros/cons tables, deal-breaker arguments, or executive decision.