Guide is not a questionnaire

My next article from the series ‘Back to basics’ about the essential documents in qualitative research is devoted to a Moderator’s (or Discussion) Guide

A moderator’s guide is neither a quant questionnaire nor a school test, where a teacher corrects mistakes with a red ballpoint pen...

A moderator’s guide is a structured document that serves as a roadmap for conducting in-depth interviews or focus group discussions

It defines the order, principles, and logic of disclosing all topics that need to be delved into to solve the research tasks outlined in the client's Brief

A moderator’s guide serves as an agreed discussion plan for all stakeholders and is a "helping hand" for a moderator during a long and intense discussion (my FGDs usually last around 2.5 hours at an active pace)

A moderator’s guide is not a questionnaire and does not include clearly defined questions. This is a preliminary plan that can be modified at any time to achieve the best possible outcome

The value of qualitative research is that, via professional improvisation, the moderator can acquire much deeper understanding of the topic than it is possible with pre-formulated and structured questions

A moderator can ask the same question in a variety of ways, joke, provoke, use various projective technics. He or she can turn the previous "plan" upside down because felt that in this group, with these people, with such reactions and attitudes, this is what should be done... All in order to better comprehend and feel how these people think, why they react in one way or another to certain stimuli, and so on

An experienced moderator understands how to do this, whereas a Client does not. Simply because a Client is a professional in his field, and a moderator is an expert in his. Therefore, for God's sake, do not correct formulating questions in a guide! (assuming you have chosen a skilled moderator for cooperation, not a monkey who should do everything the way you wish)

If for quantitative research you choose an Agency (because of a methodology, team, ability to perform large-scale projects, and so on); for qualitative research you select a Personality, because here effectiveness strongly depends on the skills of a moderator and analyst. If you've already chosen this person based on certain criteria, don't intervene or complicate his or her work...

In order for a researcher to develop effective discussion guide, he or she needs:

• A good Brief with clear marketing objectives and research tasks, so to properly understand what, why and what for is required. Then a researcher will «translate» these tasks to the language that is effective for speaking with your target customers

• Tight cooperation with a Client throughout the whole research process, discussing anything that is significant, valuable, intriguing, unexpected, etc.

Don't comprehend something when reading a guide? Ask your researcher why he or she suggests doing it this way. A skilled qualitative researcher understands why the guide covers exactly these topics, such an order of their disclosure, such an approach to testing materials, such questions, etc.

Just open a discussion instead of mandatory corrections. We appreciate Clients who are genuinely interested in everything! We love to learn if there is someone to learn from! We are thankful when a Client suggests better solution (professionals are not gods - we make mistakes, get tired, do stupid things sometimes, of course, we are humans!) But we become really angry when a Client "turns on" a teacher and demands us doing something really stupid...

Direct questions to respondents such as "do you like this doodle on the packaging?", "will you buy if we say "XXX" in the ad?", "what should we do to make you buy us?", "what is more important to you – a brand, price, or quality?", and so on are just a waste of your budget and time

And to sum up:

• A guide is a peculiar plan that is constantly being discussed and can be drastically changed during the fieldwork

• Great qualitative research implies a lot of improvisation

• In qualitative research, the most effective way to work with a Client is through regular interaction and mutual challenge. This is the only way how meaningful discoveries happen, true comprehension arises, and clients become not only business partners, but true friends for life