New markets - new ways: Qual Research in North Africa

Qual research has changed dramatically since we started way back in 1980, as have the markets we work in these days, particularly in North Africa. To be working in developing/emergent markets, with the latest research thinking, techniques and methodologies to hand, gives our qual specialists of today a unique set of research tools which have relevance in even the youngest of these markets.

It is not that the days of focus groups and in-depth interviews are over ; they still have their place. In fact, these will always remain the staple of qual research information gathering. However, the door has opened to more innovative methodologies, more advanced techniques, which can often stretch the boundaries of what the traditional qual methods have to offer.

Markets like Libya, Sudan and Algeria are opening up, and offer tremendous scope for applying pioneering qual research techniques which can bring a depth of consumer understanding which was more unusual when entering new markets in the past. Methodologically, as well as analytically, we have a research toolbox equipped with more sophisticated tools - yet the industry is sometimes reluctant to use them.

It seems that research buyers often tend to favour what they see as the safe, or at least most familiar, options i.e. group discussions and depth interviews. This in-the-box thinking might stem from the view that all qual research should take place behind a one-way mirror. Some clients feel most reassured when they can see and hear the consumer sample for themselves.

Certainly it requires a degree of trust in your research supplier, but this is not always the most appropriate way of obtaining the information you need. After all, consumers don't live their lives behind one-way mirrors. Consumers live their lives at home…and sometimes we need to catch them at home. More out-of-the-box thinking is needed. A customized research approach, treating each project uniquely, and devising a methodology matched to the objectives, is much more likely to capture true insights into consumers' lives.

It has to be said that another constraint on the new techniques is cost. Research buyers know a benchmark for the cost of a focus group discussion. They know what to expect. They also see that price in the context of a sample of 6 to 8 people. So we sometimes see real reluctance when the cost of the researcher spending 1 day with only 1 consumer or family is more expensive. In such cases, the research buyer is placing more emphasis on quantity of interaction - the number of people we speak to - rather than the quality of the interaction and the exec hours spent on the job.

Admittedly a leap of faith in the new methods of qual research and the expertise of the new generation of qual researchers is needed.

But our argument is that e.g. only by spending more time in kitchens with housewives can we really bring a truer understanding of how they approach cooking, their relationship with the task, as well as the spices they use and the actual cooking process. This real life approach, taken from ethnography, has been shown to bring a better understanding of consumers' worlds and generate better insights which convert into commercial advantage.

When we want to understand consumers' lifestyles, we gain a significant edge by spending time with consumers in their environment. To identify new and emerging trends, we have to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right people - and that means meeting them in their own environment. This kind of qual research recognizes the value of a consumer-led experience rather than a process-led one ; and can jump-start better understanding in new emergent markets.

Such approaches open the door for more effective NPD (new product development) work, bring more genuine, authentic insights, and are capable of generating the kind of empathetic scenarios on which to build bonding advertising platforms. After all, often in the artificial environment of the group discussion, or even the one-on-one depth interview, consumers have a difficult time articulating what really takes place. Much everyday consumer behaviour happens passively i.e. without a conscious knowledge of what they are doing. Much belongs to the taken-for-granted space of the subconscious - and so genuinely cannot be recalled spontaneously in an interview. Working alongside the consumer as they go about their tasks in daily life brings the researcher the opportunity to observe these habitual behaviours and put them into context.

Increasingly we use these methods to compliment information gained in the more traditional way through group discussions and depth interviews. After all every marketer knows that what people say isn't always what they do or even mean.

In recent studies by TNS in North Africa we have simply spent days with consumers, in their world, on their terms, and immersed ourselves in their lives. And through this, we have uncovered many invaluable insights.

In the new and emergent markets, amongst the lower class and less articulate consumers, those living in remote and rural areas, all such consumers naturally have more difficulty expressing and articulating their feelings or describing behaviour in any kind of detail. Anyone who has traveled to Upper Egypt or rural Morocco will understand this. A wide variety of clients have already benefited from these innovative and tailor made methods to get that extra insight and edge.

We must always be aware of changes in methodology which might be applied in our markets too. These ethnographic approaches and consumer-led experiences are now commonplace in qual research elsewhere in the world. And for good reasons - they have been shown to bring better consumer insight. Just because we are only starting to explore new emergent markets does not mean we should always revert to the traditional and basic ways of qual research. Where more customized, more creative approaches can apply, our field network has the capability to deliver these research opportunities even across these new borders in North Africa.