Qualitative research atelier: side-by-side from brief to report

Insight Home, Kyiv, Ukraine

It is incredibly rewarding to see how correct marketing decisions, based on research you conducted 5 or 10 years ago, continue to help brands grow. At the same time, it is painful to watch how ignorance or misinterpretation of results can destroy brands

As a practicing researcher, I have been observing two industry-wide problems for many years:

1. Under-analyzed results: Due to a constant lack of time and an overwhelming number of daily tasks, clients are significantly less involved in the research process. But qualitative research is a method that cannot be fully delegated. It requires close and constant interaction between the researcher and the client, as well as time for reflection and making sense of what was heard and seen. This is the only way qualitative projects become truly valuable for business

2. Lack of fundamental understanding of the method’s essence and potential: Because 'experience is not accumulated or passed down', the level of understanding regarding the possibilities, value and limitations of qualitative research among the younger generation of clients is dropping significantly

As a result:

• Briefs are overloaded with unnecessary details and incorrect questions for respondents, yet they lack key business and marketing objectives;

• Guides are edited for grammar or based on 'personal taste', but are not discussed in terms of their essence;

• Groups are conducted without deep client involvement. The researcher is left alone with their own vision, without considering the nuances of the client's specific business. Later, during the presentation, it turns out that critical information regarding the client's intent was never shared...

• Presentations of results are formal and, most importantly, rushed, because there are always 'more important' tasks;

• Results are misinterpreted. This creates a lack of faith in the method ('qual doesn't work'), though the problem isn't the tool, but its incorrect application.

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I sincerely want your marketing decisions and initiatives to be effective! And I have a proposal for the marketing and research teams of large local and international companies that commission qualitative research

• For young marketing and research specialists who want to understand in practice how real 'qual' works and how its results help business in today’s reality. The best school for qualitative research isn't courses or seminars - it is practice alongside an experienced mentor. That is how I was taught, how I have taught others, and it truly works

• For heads of marketing and research departments who feel the need to break out of their professional bubble and spend more time than usual looking at their business through the eyes of their customers

The Proposal: I suggest conducting a real project where you join personally or send a colleague from the research, insights or marketing department

The only condition: You or your colleague must physically be with me the entire time. We can travel together for the fieldwork (to another city or country), but all the time before and after the field, we must work side-by-side, in the real world, in Kyiv

For one month, we will spend 2–3 hours a day together, going through every stage:

• Crystallizing the brief;

• Preparing a screening that fits market realities and diving into the 'backstage' of recruitment;

• Developing a guide with clear, end-to-end logic and working through every nuance;

• Practicing moderation principles (you might even try talking to people yourself);

• Analyzing results together and writing the report

For the younger generation, this immersion into real practice is the best school possible in our profession. Of course, one project is not enough. But it is a start, because during this month I will show you the entire "backstage":

• Explain what to look for at each stage and why;

• Teach you to distinguish an imitation of research from deep work—and reality from marketing whims and fantasies;

• Demonstrate how scattered, chaotic information from people forms a much clearer and more understandable picture

  
  

For seasoned leaders who no longer need 'schooling', such a collaborative project is an opportunity to slow down for a while and feel your target audience as deeply as I do in my work. Through this close cooperation, you will better understand why, during presentations, I sometimes literally beg you not to do something, or to do something in a very specific way...

Investment:

The full cost of the research (minimum 6 focus groups) + 15% for the collaborative practice format and the 'hand-to-hand' transfer of expertise = an investment in the quality of your future decisions

The price of a mistake due to an incorrect brief, superficial assessment or wrong interpretation of results costs a business ten times more than this practical intensive

Bonus: Working from the Insight Home - fresh air, good music and clear thinking

Yes, by sending yourself or a colleague to me, you will have limited time for your regular daily work for a month (similar to taking a course). But upon returning, you will never allow 'total nonsense' in research again. I promise 😊

If this approach proves valuable to you, we can continue and conduct a series of projects with different goals and objectives

Message me to discuss the details and book your spot