Qualitative Research Blog

You Get to the Truth Faster and More Authentically

In-person sessions cut through the noise. With direct eye contact and visible body language, moderators like me can build trust and rapport very quickly. This connection is key to exploring difficult topics.

More importantly, participants are less likely to "embellish," or flat-out lie, when they are looking a moderator in the eye. I consistently observed participants "catching" themselves in an inaccurate response, immediately saying, "Wait, that's not true, let me try again..." That moment of self-correction leads to the most authentic, thoughtful responses – that’s the kind of data that truly shifts a brand's strategy.

Fraud Is Impossible to Commit (For Now!)

As AI tools and deceptive tactics advance, Fraud and respondent misrepresentation are a growing and damaging problem in online research. Our credibility hinges on speaking to real consumers.

The simple, beautiful truth? You cannot have a computer walk into a physical research facility and pretend to be a person. It's also nearly impossible for the same individual to try to join the study twice. When you recruit to seat a physical group, you eliminate the risk of online trickery, ensuring your foundational data is clean and reputable.

Storytelling Is Intuitive and Compelling

As qualitative researchers, we are translators of human emotion into actionable items. When I sit across the table, I don't just hear a consumer's story—I feel it. I log the nuances, the mannerisms, the struggles, and the successes deep into my subconscious.

After my recent in-person groups, I could name every participant and recall their sentiment without re-reading a single transcript. This connection gives me a strong sense of responsibility to tell their stories completely. It results in reports that are more deeply informed and passionate, making the findings far more compelling and memorable for our clients.

Backroom Client Conversations Turbo-Charge Report Writing

The time spent with clients in the physical backroom is an often-overlooked superpower. By listening to them talk about their company culture, language, and internal dynamics, I get a crash course in their world.

It's like getting a shortcut on the Candy Land boardgame—landing on the space to bridge to a further-along-part of the game. I got to “shortcut” to the cultural context of their business, allowing me to frame my findings and recommendations in language that is instantly recognizable and actionable to them. This reduces the need for edits and rewrites from the clients’ perspective, making the final report more relevant and much more efficient to implement.

The Power of Being Fully Present

As online moderators, we are juggling a dozen things at once: reading backroom chats, probing for feedback, following the guide, and managing technology—all while keeping a smile and making eye contact with the camera.

In a physical focus group, all those concerns melt away. I'm not worried about Wi-Fi disruption or managing shared stimuli; I get to be 100% present with the participants for the full two hours. This undivided attention allows me to hear what they truly need and want. Moreover, using physical exercises like flip charts, workbooks, and product interaction keeps the participants present, too, while gathering richer, multi-faceted data that is surprisingly easy to analyze efficiently after the groups wrap.