Leading-Edge Research Methods

Discovering important insights into your audience, competitors, products and services is a cruicial step in identifying innovative solutions. We work comprehensively and creatively to capture data about your audience and its behaviors and preferences, satisfaction with your company, or to quantitatively and qualitatively understand the emotional and utilitarian relationships between your audience and your products and services. We rely on a proven array of tools and techniques to gather and evaluate this data in the most rigorous and effective ways possible given the constraints of your project, including:

Surveys

  • Online (email/web), Postal, On-Site, and Mixed-Mode Surveys
  • Specific Support (questionnaire design, hosting); can manage entire projects end-to-end
  • Sample Design
  • Question and Scale Construction
  • Questionnaire Development
  • Recruiting
  • Data Collection & Processing
  • Advanced Qualitative and Quantitative Analytics
  • Comprehensive Reporting

Usability Testing

  • Collect statistical evidence, qualitative feedback, and observational data of users’ interactions with physical or digital products and services
  • Candidates for usability testing include web site navigation, cell phone interface designs, wireless PDA and navigation devices, ecommerce carts, transaction systems, in-flight entertainment systems, and many other current and future technologies
  • Assess product usability from multiple perspectives, including how quickly users can complete tasks, frequency and magnitude of mistakes made by users, learning curves, qualitative feedback, and researcher observations

Focus Groups

  • Small, pre-screened groups in moderated, controlled environments
  • Moderators lead discussions using prepared scripts, but improvise and react to spontaneous developments and participants’ revelations
  • Available in almost any location world-wide
  • Facial expressions, specific vocabulary, social dynamics, body language, and other cues are noted and integrated into our final analysis and recommendations

Interviews

  • Used to capture more complete, nuanced data and insight than are generally available by other methods
  • Complements parallel, quantitative research efforts
  • Conducted primarily in-person or by phone

Expert Reviews

  • Review and assessment of durable, packaged, or interactive goods and services
  • Conducted by industry leaders in marketing, advertising, branding, interactive design, consumer behavior, user centered design, and other areas (based on project needs)
  • Identifies problems and challenges that may detract from overall user experience and negatively impact revenue, market share, and satisfaction
  • Comprehensive review examines visual design, information architecture, navigation, content, usability, and more

Observation of Consumer Product Use & Environmental Interaction

  • Involves observing participants over time in "natural" environments
  • Such environments include patrons in a museum, shoppers in retail establishments, or employees on a production line
  • Observations are conducted at a distance so as not to influence subjects’ behaviors

Audience Profiles

  • "Personas" are developed to establish an informed, baseline understanding of the key members of your audiences, including their behaviors, wants and needs, prime motivators, and use contexts
  • These personas are carefully crafted through interviews with key stakeholders, custom and syndicated quantitative and qualitative research, interviews, focus groups, and other methods with members of your target markets
  • Challenges and opportunities attendant upon the target medium for your product or service are key to the success of our interface designs, whether dealing with kiosks, traditional web sites, mobile phone services, or in-flight entertainment systems
  • Iterative testing and refinement occurs through the process and may involve paper prototypes, testing of layouts and navigation, or more advanced, interactive mockup