Abstract:

The qualitative data landscape has shifted considerably. The relevance of traditional forms of qualitative research seems to be in decline; e.g., a number of large and leading client companies are moving to reduce or eliminate focus groups. At the same time, there has been an explosion of alternative qualitative data types, such as those obtained by “listening” to the social media. There has also been a push to better integrate disparate forms of data to provide greater strategic impact. This integration has often itself been qualitative in nature; e.g., meta analyses and convergent validity. This presentation creates a generalizable but formal framework for the inclusion of qualitative data in a way that is likely to increase the strategic impact of qualitative data.