Abstract:

Clients love qualitative researchers for one very strong reason. Underneath the sheen of being complex data guzzlers, we love simplicity. For all the emphasis on big data and the complicated web of sales, share, customer satisfaction data; someone has to provide a creative periscope to look into this and make sense. And it is for this precise reason that qualitative research has often held a seat at the table of CMOs. But in the race to build a science out of qualitative, most providers are now boxing themselves into being methodology providers. This paper provides a viewpoint on what qual can learn from musicians, who regularly find ways to reinvent themselves.