Mixed-Method Research

Dig deeper with a subset of respondents. This quick-turn mixed-method approach enables us to further engage a subgroup of quantitative research respondents by promoting them to participate in a qualitative follow-up, such as an in-depth interview, immediately after they complete a survey. Hybrid research approaches like this enable us to report on statistically significant findings while also uncovering the “why” behind them.

Build on qualitative insights. We design qualitative engagements that generate diagnostic feedback on everything from creative concepts to app prototypes, and build in follow-up survey-based engagements with those same respondents to gather reactions to updated assets. This ensures changes our clients make in pursuit of clarity and resonance are landing with respondents as they should. For some projects, we may recommend a separate quantitative research phase to validate qualitative insights at scale with a larger sample, creating a more comprehensive hybrid research approach.

Add nuance to your quantitative findings with this hybrid research approach. When statistical significance is essential, but the qualitative flavor is needed to inform our recommendations, we design quantitative surveys that capture qualitative insights using video responses, text open-ends, and image uploads. These engagements add depth to the insights we analyze and report on, helping humanize our quantitative findings and shed light on the “whys” behind respondents’ answers.

Gather foundational insights fast. With this mixed-method approach, we design a survey with all open-ended questions and then field it with a qualitative sample of respondents. This approach allows us to capture a range of perspectives across multiple topics, and to do so much more quickly than we would with traditional in-depth interviews. Qualitative sprints often serve as an exploratory phase, allowing us to identify key themes that can be validated in larger-scale quantitative studies.

Explore and learn from experiences over time. Our diary studies use a mixed-method research approach, combining quantitative and qualitative question types to gather insights from a sample of respondents over a set period—from hours to weeks. This allows us to tease out actionable insights from both structured and unstructured data. This hybrid research methodology is ideal for projects in which we want to understand a particular journey and identify opportunities to intervene to improve it.

Often our clients need to conduct qualitative research before quantitative research—or vice versa. We collaborate closely to determine the best approach based on their specific questions and goals.