Abstract:

How do we confront the unexpected? Sometimes on the road to the final report, we encounter surprise insights that speak to an entirely different set of business issues, and we are forced to choose what we do with this new information. This presentation tells the multi-faceted story of how Facebook researchers and their trusted qualitative partners encountered surprise insights over the course of two mixed method digital qual studies. On one level it's the story of the power of mixed method research to capture insights that could not be surfaced by just one approach. On another level, it's the story of how we as researchers must be open to the unexpected insights we uncover, and how pursuing the surprising can prove to ultimately deliver the biggest business impact.