Abstract:

Clever Kevin is MDIs cape-wearing Koala who is also an AI qualitative moderator. Clever Kevin aims to make qualitative research more attainable for a broader range of projects, bringing rich qualitative insights into more business decisions, by increasing the speed of research while also considerably lowering the cost.  Generative AI (or GenAI) has caused a paradigm shift in ways of working and the market research industry is not alone in trying to establish the best fit for these AI tools. Qualitative research presents itself as an obvious target to leverage AI benefits due to many time-consuming tasks and international barriers, such as language and culture. In this paper we explore a case study where Clever Kevin goes head-to-head with a native Thai human moderator, exploring the pros and cons of both approaches, including a blind client-assessment of results. The case study finds Clever Kevin?s Thai to be impressive, opening the door for fast-turnaround multi-country qualitative work across regions such as APAC.  The ability for consumers to partake in the research on their own time and/or terms is a huge benefit, and the instantaneous availability of interactive results is a game-changer. That said, despite the AI tools bringing the ?smarts?, there remains a role for the qualitative researcher to input their thinking. Clear research design is still required, ability to maintain sight of the core research purpose for effective reporting and understanding of the best type of research projects to utilise these impressive tools for.