Qualitative Research

Our firm is an experienced supplier of qualitative research services, including focus groups and executive one-on-one interviews. We have qualitative research experience in a variety of areas, including policy development, concept testing, creative materials testing, retail sales issues and customer service issues. Our clients consist of local, national and international companies and include public and private corporations, the media, advertising agencies, financial services and non-profit organizations.

Probe will also conduct, on behalf of clients, one-on-one in-depth interviews with executives, specialized professionals and individuals with expertise in a variety of areas. These are conducted by highly qualified interviewers, often on a face-to-face basis with the interviewee.

Focus Groups

We have conducted more than 100 focus groups in Canada and the United States for public, private and non-profit clients. Our focus groups are well regarded for producing high-quality, actionable insights. This reputation is the result of an unwavering commitment to excellence in four areas:

Recruiting: We accept focus group participants only after they have successfully completed a rigourous screening process. Screening assures that only high-calibre participants with requisite qualities of conversational expressiveness and clarity are invited to attend these groups. Unlike many other companies providing qualitative research services, no focus group participants at our sessions are recruited from a list of pre-selected participants. To this end, our random recruiting process will exclude individuals who have attended any focus group session on a similar or related topic during the past five years. Past-year participants on any topic are also excluded.

Moderator’s Guides: Our firm is proud of its expertise and success crafting powerful moderator’s guides. Designing moderator's guides that collect a wealth of valuable data requires considerable skill. Issues and concepts must be presented in an orderly and measured fashion if they are to encourage full and frank participant input. While applying structure to these discussion sessions is essential, a skilled moderator must also encourage spontaneity and maximize creative opportunities that are generated by either group participants or observers who are unobtrusively observing from a separate room.

Professional Moderators: Our moderators are members of the Qualitative Division of the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA) and, as such, are bound to respect the professional practices and protocols of that organization. Using less skilled moderators can potentially invalidate the entire qualitative research exercise as less-than-comfortable participants are less engaged in the research topic and therefore less likely to offer meaningful or truthful group input.

Reporting: Qualitative data from focus group sessions is reviewed by our researchers, who identify consistent themes as well as areas of controversy. Participants’ comments are examined carefully in order to distil “typical” responses and general levels of agreement and disagreement voiced during the discussion sessions. Owing to the dynamics involved in focus group research, the data is not quantified and handled in the same manner as survey data. Rather, an interpretive analysis is conducted, which permits the generation and validation of statements of general consensus. Focus group results include an analysis of each area of investigation identified in the moderator's guide. This report includes central observations and a synopsis of all sessions. These findings are summarized in a reader-friendly report.

One-On-One Depth Interviews

The one-on-one environment offered by the Probe's experienced executive interviewers is most appropriate for investigating complex thought processes, searching for insights and uncovering emerging lines of enquiry. We have experience conducting executive interviews with doctors and other health-care professionals, CEOs, top level executives and persons affected by addictions, just to name a few.

Probe's staff have expertise in conducting executive interviews, allowing for a great deal of latitude between respondent and interviewer while exploring the subject being researched.