Publications
Magazines Authors ArticlesLatest Articles
Library Articles Event Reviews Course Reviews Technology ReviewsResources
Glossary of terms Past, Present, Future A typical qual project Recruiter Accred (RAS)Quick Answers
Running Projects Running Groups Careers in Qual Books and Reading ListSeen and heard
Group discussions have always dominated the qual arena. Now other techniques are making a comeback, expanding and complementing what we can learn from groups.
Alicia Clegg interviewed a number of AQR spokespeople for her article in Marketing Week (19 April), exploring new and revamped directions for qualitative research.
Observation and 'participant' observation (the researcher joins in!) are increasingly being used to examine consumer choices and behaviour that are difficult to access in a group.
"There are some thoughts that people only have when they are actually involved in a situation," says Philly Desai. "If, however, you show them a video of what they were doing it can set the thoughts in train again." It can also generate ideas.
"Observation can act as a stimulus to thinking building hypotheses that can be verified later by more conventional research," says Matt Kingdon. Projective techniques have long been used in groups to encourage people to respond more instinctively, now hybrids of observation and projective techniques are being explored.
Louella Miles
Copyright © Association for Qualitative Research, 2001
About the author

Louella Miles
Louella Miles, the editor of In Brief since July 1996, is a business journalist of some 20 years experience, focusing mainly on marketing-related topics. Louella is the co-founder of the professional writing service, Writers 4 Management, and along with her business partner Laura Mazur has written Conversations with Marketing Masters, published by John Wiley in January 2007, and Conversations with Green Gurus in 2009.
AQR Member Profile
Louella Miles
Articles by this author
September 2020
Future Gazing
June 2020
Standouts from Impact
January 2019
Choose your words carefully
June 2018
Nuggets from point of impact
April 2018
Moving on up at IIex Europe
Full Index for this author
85 articles by Louella Miles