3 types of collaboration with customers as "co-researchers"

There will always be a gap between what a consumer is sharing and how a researcher understands it, according to authors of a recent article in Quirk’s Marketing Research Review.

This disparity is created by a gap in culture, generation or objective knowledge.

These different gaps make it difficult for a researcher to put things in the right perspective.

But consumers can help us out.

By becoming our co-researchers, they complement the researcher’s tasks and help to find more and new insights that would otherwise not have been captured. Customers feel empowered and honored when they are asked to become co-researchers. There are many ways to collaborate with co-researchers throughout the research process, from moderation until reporting.

In this article, the experience of research firm InSites Consulting using co-researchers is illustrated in three case studies from Campbell’s, Air France and KLM, and Philips.

Here is a summary to 3 types of collaboration:

 

5 kinds of case studies to understand and benchmark current clinical practice with N-of-8

With the array of information available now through journals, seminars, societies, textbooks, and online searches, to name just a few sources, it is understandably difficult to determine on your own what constitutes relevant current practice and what does not.

The first step in approaching this task may be to clarify the differences among basic research methodologies and to examine how different methodologies are designed to answer different types of practice questions.

Qualitative research is not typically designed or intended to yield causal conclusions. It is generally intended to describe or explain behavior and thus should not be used to make conclusions about motivation or influence.

That said, qualitative research contributes a great deal of essential information.

With the N-of-8 techniques I developed, you can explore attitudes, opinions, beliefs, perceptions, interactions, practice structure, and behaviors in various settings.

A case may be based on:

1. an individual customer, who has an established routine
2. a practicing group of physicians or researchers, who have created common protocols
3. a hospital, that uses a documented treatment algorithm or formulary
4. a professional society, which has published practice guidelines
5. an event, that exemplifies the experiences of the group

For example, I worked with a client with a treatment for a rare medical condition and collaborated with several research partners to report an analysis of eight cases of practices. Specifically, we collected observations of in-office activities, interviews with generalists and specialists, patient notes, videotapes of interactions, and other materials. The purpose of this study was to thoroughly examine the actual behaviors in these cases.

We gained valuable insight into the nature of diagnosis, patient communication, and most important, ideas for product packaging and training before the brand launch.

The major purpose of N-of-8 research is to understand current practice, product usage, and customer behavior.