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Focus groups
Moderated group discussions that get people trading opinions, revealing shared perceptions and points of disagreement. Held in person or online, with live streaming so your team can follow along.
Qualitative Research
Qualitative research to understand the why behind decisions
Focus groups, in-depth interviews, observation, mystery shopping, ethnography and online communities: we listen to people to uncover the motivations numbers alone can’t show.
Illustrative quotes
Numbers show what. Qualitative research reveals why.
What it is
Qualitative research is exploratory research that uncovers the subjective and emotional factors behind decisions. Rather than measuring, it investigates how people think, feel, talk and behave around products, services, brands and communication.
Working with smaller groups and open-ended discussion guides, it captures the audience’s own language, uncovers barriers and motivations, and generates hypotheses you can later measure with quantitative research.
Qualitative or quantitative?
Two approaches that work together
| Criterion | Qualitative research | Quantitative research |
|---|---|---|
| Question it answers | Why? How? What leads to…? | How much? How many? How often? |
| Participants | Smaller groups, selected by profile | Large, representative sample |
| Instrument | Open-ended guide, led by a moderator | Structured questionnaire |
| Result | Motivations, perceptions, language and emotions | Percentages and metrics with a margin of error |
| When to use it | Explore, generate hypotheses, test ideas | Measure, size, compare and track |
Many studies combine both: qualitative explores, quantitative measures.Learn about quantitative research →
When to use it
Questions qualitative research answers
Why are customers canceling?Get to the real reasons people leave, beyond what your systems show.
How do people read our messaging?Test messages, campaigns and concepts before you invest.
What would make someone switch brands?Map triggers, barriers and choice criteria.
Does our service deliver what it promises?Assess the real experience at each touchpoint.
Which needs aren’t we meeting yet?Spot new product and service opportunities.
Does this concept make sense to our audience?Fine-tune ideas before launch or before the quantitative phase.
Techniques
Six ways to listen to your audience
Each technique reveals a different side of behavior. We combine the ones best suited to your objective, audience and timeline.
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In-depth interviews
One-on-one conversations that go deep into experiences, decisions and sensitive topics, free from group influence. A good fit for audiences that are hard to bring together.
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Observation
We watch how people actually behave where they shop, use a product or receive a service. It shows what really happens, including what participants don’t notice or don’t mention.
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Mystery shopping
Trained evaluators go through the experience as regular customers, following a standardized script, and record what they find. It shows whether the service lives up to the brand’s promise.
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Ethnography
We immerse ourselves in consumers’ daily lives, at home or at work, to understand habits, rituals and usage contexts that never come up in a conventional interview.
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Communities
Online groups that run for days or weeks, with activities, discussions and tasks. They let you track opinions over time and co-create solutions with your audience.
From conversation to insight
How a quote becomes a recommendation
Qualitative analysis sorts what people said into themes, identifies patterns and tensions, and turns them into business implications.
Transcript · Group 2Frequent shoppers
MODAnd what makes you choose where to buy?
P3I actually like the product, but the price changes every week and that makes me suspicious.
P5Same with me. I never know if I’m paying too much, so I end up going where I already know the salesperson.
P1Service matters a lot, more than promotions.
Pattern identified
Unstable prices breed distrust and push customers toward people they already know.
Insight and recommendation
Trust beats discounts: communicate a stable pricing policy and invest in customer service.
Illustrative example.
How it works
From discussion guide to recommendation
01Objectives and guideWe define what needs to be understood and write the discussion guide.
02Recruitment by profileWe screen participants against criteria that match your target audience.
03Moderation and fieldworkGroups, interviews or immersions run by experienced moderators.
04Interpretive analysisWe sort what was said into themes and identify patterns and tensions.
05Report and presentationInsights, quotes and recommendations to inform your decision.
Recruitment and ethics
The right people, treated with respect and care
Recruitment by profile
A screening questionnaire makes sure every participant matches the audience defined for the study.
Participant panel
Members of the Checon panel make it faster to recruit specific profiles.
Consent and LGPD
Participants consent to recordings and to the use of their information, which is used for research purposes only.
Live viewing
In online groups, your team can watch the discussions in real time.
What you get
Deliverables of a qualitative study
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Discussion guideValidated with the client’s team.
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RecruitmentParticipants screened by profile.
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RecordingsAudio and video, with consent.
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TranscriptsOrganized for easy reference.
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Interpretive reportThemes, insights and quotes.
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PresentationSummary and recommendations.
In communication, the viewer has the final say.What we took from this project
Client case
One extra word in the voice-over, a different company in people’s minds
- Challenge
- Find out how an institutional campaign would land with the public before it went on air.
- Method
- Qualitative pretest with online focus groups, designed to avoid leading responses.
- Result
- Guidance to refine concepts, adjust messages and choose the campaign’s positioning.
Further reading
See all articles →Articles on qualitative research
Qualitative · 5 min readOnline focus groups: doing more with lessFocus groups have always been an important qualitative research technique, given their ability to generate insights, whether for…Read the article →Commissioning · 6 min readNew times, new ways to commission researchThe pandemic (or, more specifically, social distancing) had a profound impact on how people and companies work. That much is not…Read the article →Qualitative · 5 min readCampaign pretestingOver Checon’s 25 years in the market, one of the qualitative studies we have run most often is the campaign pretest…Read the article →
Frequently asked questions
Questions about qualitative research
Question 01
What’s the difference between qualitative and quantitative research?
Qualitative research explains why. It explores motivations, perceptions and emotions with smaller groups, through focus groups, interviews and observation. Quantitative research measures. It uses representative samples and structured questionnaires to produce percentages with a margin of error. The two work together, and many studies start with qualitative research and then measure the findings quantitatively.
Talk to a specialist
Question 02
What’s the difference between a focus group and an in-depth interview?
In a focus group, a moderator leads a discussion among several participants, bringing out shared opinions and disagreements. An in-depth interview is one-on-one, which lets you explore personal experiences and sensitive topics in depth and makes it easier to include hard-to-reach audiences, such as executives and experts.
Talk to a specialist
Question 03
How many focus groups does a study need?
It depends on how many audience profiles you need to hear from and how varied you expect their opinions to be. Typically, each key segment gets more than one group so patterns can be confirmed. Checon recommends the right design in the proposal, based on the study’s objective.
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Question 04
Do online focus groups work as well as in-person ones?
Yes, for most objectives. Online groups bring together participants from different cities, cut travel costs and let your team watch live. In-person groups are still the better choice when participants need to handle or taste products, or when you want to observe reactions together.
Talk to a specialist
Question 05
How does a mystery shopping study work?
Trained evaluators pose as regular customers and go through the purchase or service experience following a standardized script. They record criteria such as wait time, courtesy, product knowledge and adherence to procedures. The results show whether the operation lives up to the brand’s promise.
Talk to a specialist
Question 06
How are participants recruited?
Participants are screened with a questionnaire, based on the profile defined for the study, and may come from the Checon participant panel or from custom recruitment. Everyone consents to taking part and to being recorded, and data is handled under Brazil’s data protection law (LGPD).
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Related solutions
Combine with other solutions
Contact
Let’s design your next study
Tell us what decision you need to make. A specialist will get back to you within 1 business day with an initial approach.
- +55 61 3542-2876
- checonpesquisa@checonpesquisa.com.br
- SEPN 513, Bloco A, Sala 206, Parte 20, nº 22, Asa Norte
CEP 70760-521 · Brasília, DF, Brazil