Qualitative Research Report
Qualitative Report Guidelines
Research Methods in Integrated Marketing Communications
This document is meant to help you with your qualitative report. You should also refer to the folder “A” reports to see examples of reports that were well done. They are not for MAC but they are good to follow in terms of organization and content areas.
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Basic Parameters:
Refer to Lesson 5 for structure o the report.
YOU MUST ATTACH YOUR MODERATORS GUIDE TO THE REPORT IN THE APPENDIX
The goal of this report is to have interviewed at least 7 people in your target audience so that you have arrived at:
A new potential positioning statement and/or tagline for MAC, and
Ideas for how to communicate this new tagline/positioning (for example, how to use social media, what type of promotion to do)
You must clearly state the above in your report in the conclusions/recommendations sections.
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Tips:
Saying MAC should reformulate is not a positioning.
A positioning is a way a brand talks about itself as compared to its competitors. An example might be Nike, “Just Do It”. Nike is a brand for a person who gets up and goes, who embraces trying new things.
You should have a new potential way that MAC can position itself based on what those you interviewed said.
Example: if you heard that the target customer likes natural make up and prefers natural looks over bold looks, so that her makeup builds her confidence, your new potential positioning could be “MAC is a brand for a woman who likes to create natural looks that enhance her natural beauty”. Your potential tagline might be “MAC For the Natural Beauty in You”
If your target customer has taken part in make- up demos in store and likes that, then you might say in your report that MAC should do demos at Sephora showing how natural looks can be created using MAC. WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS THAT WHAT YOU SAY IS BASED ON WHAT THE TARGET CUSTOMER YOU INTERVIEWED SAID. YOU CANNOT MAKE THINGS UP THAT SOUND GOOD TO YOU!! YOUR CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS MUST COME FROM WHAT YOUR RESERARCH FOUND.
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How to Write the Findings Section:
For each topic area in your moderators’ guide you must have a finding in the report, based on what you heard.
That finding should have a statement that I call a “conclusive statement” that says what the conclusion of what you heard means, followed by support for that statement. The blue arrows below are the conclusive statements and the bullets below each are the support.
Below are two examples:
★ Consumers shop in store. Only as a last resort would they look online for a product.
○ All mentioned Sephora when asked where they buy makeup.
○ A quarter of respondents mentioned Ulta.
○ When searching for drugstore brands, CVS and Walgreens were mentioned the most.
★ There is a market for all natural and organic brands in the industry. Women want to wear cruelty-free, organic makeup that is good for their skin and morally comfortable but they feel there is a lack of options in the market.
○ All women responded saying they appreciate cruelty free products and wish more brands were.
○ All respondents who said they want more organic brands don’t currently wear natural makeup because they feel it is not available.
REMEMBER YOU NEED TO COME UP WITH A NEW POSITIONING/TAGLINE AND IMC IDEAS BASED ON WHAT YOU HEARD IN THE ONE ON ONE INTERVIEWS AND CLEARLY STATE IT IN THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS SECTION OF YOUR REPORT.
YOU MUST REPORT ON EACH AREA OF THE MODERATORS GUIDE IN THE FINIDNGS SECTION AND ATTACH YOUR MODERATORS GUIDE TO THE REPORT.