Interviews are one-on-one conversations conducted virtually or in-person that bring to the surface personal experiences, emotions, and decision-making in a trusted setting, whether online or in-person. IDIs are typically the best tool for deeply understanding individual journeys and discussing sensitive topics.

These group conversations reveal how people build, challenge, and validate ideas together. Groups can be conducted online or in-person, and can yield insight into attitudes, behaviors, social influences, and shared priorities. Focus groups can also be an effective tool for exploring sensitive topics, if the discussion is designed to create a small community that allows for peer sharing and support without shame or embarrassment.

Small conversations of two or three people can be particularly valuable to understand the dynamic in a relationship. Small-group interviews may include 2-3 people from the same segment, patient/caregiver, parent/child, or physician/nurse. Such pairings can reveal relationship dynamics, negotiations, and support systems in action.

Ethnography can mean literally following and observing people in natural settings (home, store, job, etc.) or collecting video and textual responses over time that reflect a respondent’s lived experience. Ethnography provides insight into the context in which decisions are made and experiences take place, creating a fuller picture of a person’s life.

Best conducted in a one-on-one setting to allow for careful and incremental review of a process or experience, journey studies are centered on a detailed exploration of steps, pain points, and turning points in health, product, or brand experiences. Ultimately, they yield empathy-driven maps that highlight opportunities for improvement and support.

Boards follow respondents as they engage in asynchronous discussions and exercises over days or weeks. These methods are effective for conducting qualitative research with larger groups and provide opportunity for reflection, iteration, and creative input across time zones and contexts. The longer duration of these studies also allows for a wider set of objectives to be explored.

Metaphors, imagery, storytelling, and other exercises help participants express what’s hard to say directly, or what might even sit below the conscious awareness of a respondent. Projective techniques can provide important access to underlying emotions, motivations, and symbolic drivers of behavior.

These important sessions feature real-time evaluation of products, interfaces, or communications, virtually or in-person, depending on the product or system being evaluated. These projects provide immediate feedback on clarity, comprehension, and barriers to use.

These highly collaborative sessions encourage participants to work together to shape, refine, and prioritize ideas. By directly involving users in innovation, concepts can become products that are more reality-based, relevant, and valuable to potential users.