Going off-piste: could a little less structure in your research take you further?

In this episode, healthcare and social researcher Rick Harris dares(!) to challenge the established the interview transcript as the 'gold-standard' of qualitative research insight. Rick argues that a transcript may miss many critical clues, and even limit the data available for analysis.  Instead, he proposes incorporating in more of the raw non-spoken data - heresy to some? 

In this podcast, I consider whether my own formal research training of nearly 30 years ago, and whether its robust structure may have held me back in the way I approached the value and application of my findings. As the years have rolled by, I have seen research techniques become increasingly more fluid, mixed-method, and open-ended. I firmly believe this is doing more good than harm, and conclude by encouraging researchers and those who commission them to be brave, and venture off the beaten track. Be brave!

This episode explodes the idea that customers are either loyal to a brand...or they're not. Far from it! This podcast will show how customers move around in their loyalty behaviour, and how firms can use customer segmentation techniques to manage this transition. It's a concept that has been around for nearly 20 years (originally built by management consultants McKinsey) but something of a best-kept secret.  So - check it out, and use it to your advantage!

Employee surveys are a great learning opportunity for businesses to understand how employees feel about working at an organisation.  And comments made by employees in surveys are often the richest, most insightful data of all. But that detail brings complexity and headaches in how you analyse and act upon what's being highlighted. This podcast provides some essential tips for how to analyse and respond to what employees are telling you.

In this episode, I talk about the research objective - a seemingly simple description that will have huge implications for how fresh and insightful your research findings will end up being! I'll use some topical examples about Covid-19 to illustrate how adjusting the research objective can lead your work down a more open-ended, person centred route. And I'll also share some practical examples of how to 'flow' an in-depth interview, to make it feel more like a natural discussion, and less like an interrogation!

This episode provides a quick overview of what this podcast, An Eye For Detail, is all about. It is written and recorded by Rick Harris, Founder of Customer Faithful - a UK-based, research-led consultancy, specialising in research techniques for uncovering the lived experiences of patients, customers, members, guests and other end users. Rick has over 20 years experience in the research industry, focusing on healthcare, retail, leisure and travel sectors.  Rick set up the company in 2009 with the goal of enabling companies to become 'customer faithful' i.e. being true to the needs and experiences of those who bought and used products and services. Rick is a member of the British Healthcare Business Intelligence Association (BHBIA), the Market Research Society and The Royal Society for Medicine. He is also an NHS Public Governor for the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT).