As a moderator/interviewer, Dale has designed and conducted hundreds of qualitative research projects across a wide range of categories. Dale has experience with a broad array of qualitative formats including Focus Groups, In-Depth Personal Interviews, In-Depth Telephone Interviews, Online Bulletin Boards, Mini-Groups, and Shop-Along Studies.
Where appropriate, Dale employs a variety of projective and experimental techniques including:
- Personification, “Obituaries” and “Birth Announcements,” Collages, Thought Balloons, and mind-maps, which are used primarily to assess brand personality.
- Photo sort, in which consumers sort photographs of people to assess “user” imagery.
- Laddering, in which consumers are asked a progressive series of questions to probe for both rational as well as underlying emotional benefits associated with a product or brand.
Qualitative research is used to generate ideas, uncover the range of perceptions associated with a brand, product or service, identify key emotional “hot buttons”, understand consumer language and thought processes, and gain insight.