Personal Strengths

 “One of my strengths is creating and using a variety of projective and creative exercises to make any type of respondent feel comfortable and willing to share his/her thoughts.”

• Flexibility: by understanding objectives and next steps for clients, I am able to be “in the moment” with respondents, using their sharing to keep moving forward. Learning and needs can and should evolve during qualitative research, and a moderator needs to roll with the flow to be most effective .
• Creativity: my facility with projective exercises allows me to adapt techniques to fit different objectives as well as varying respondent personalities. This enables me to get the most from each group.
• Experience: I have worked on such a wide variety of topics and learned from so many different kinds of respondents, that I can apply good qualitative research processes to any objective. Additionally, sharing new ideas with peers through QRCA conferences and teaching new and experienced moderators at RIVA keeps me sharp and focused on what works and why.

Research Methodologies

“Creativity and flexibility are what a qualitative consultant needs in order to design the best study for her clients. There shouldn’t be boilerplate approaches when each project’s objectives are so different.”
Years of experience allows me to design a methodology that best meets the objectives.

• Full-sized groups (7-8 respondents) are useful for gaining an understanding of different points of view and exploring a wide range of reactions because respondents can build on each others’ comments.
• Mini-groups (4-6 respondents) result in deeper kinds of responses because there’s more time for each individual to speak, while still using the energy of the group to explore new and additional perceptions.
• Paired Interviews or Triads are conducted with joint decision makers (business or personal) or with friends so that the interaction and discussion between two or three different-but-related points of view can be understood.
• Moms-and-Kids allow for learning from both points of view.  Typically I moderate a detailed discussion with Moms and then do a short exploration with kids on the same topic, winding up with a joint discussion between the kids and the moms.
• Depth interviews are valuable when one individual’s viewpoint or interpretation is needed, without the influence of others.

Experience with Different Targets

• Business owners and decision makers, professionals
• Parents and kids
• Seniors/elderly
• Gay and lesbian
• Doctors, specialists
• People suffering from physical problems, disabilities, and medical conditions
• Employees (e.g., sales reps, bartenders) on business topics to understand their perceptions of the “real world” which can be used to dimensionalize learning from customers/consumers.