8 Minutes 
Key Takeaways:
- Synchronous research, such as focus groups, and face-to-face interviews, requires the researcher and the participant to be active simultaneously.
- Digital asynchronous qualitative research does not require live moderating, thus offering greater flexibility and providing an average of four times the insights.
- There are pros and cons to both kinds of qualitative research. The kind of method best suited for your enterprise depends on your organization’s size and needs.
In July 2022, Ross McLean, VP of Mobile Qualitative Research at Sago, and Isaac Rogers, President, presented “The Joy of Asynchronous Research.”
Digital qualitative research allows enterprises and institutions to gather targeted insights on customer behaviors and preferences. Where synchronous research requires the researcher and the participant to be active simultaneously, digital asynchronous qualitative research offers greater flexibility and delivers an average of four times the insights.
Watch the webinar, “The Joy of Asynchronous Research” here, or read on for the full run down.
Background: Sago’s Digital Qualitative Research
Sago delivers comprehensive global data collection and market research solutions. Beyond world-class in-person facilities, Sago offers a suite of enterprise solutions to meet any qualitative or quantitative research need, from self-serve technology to full-service expertise and high-quality global respondents.
A team of approximately 100 people is dedicated to asynchronous online qualitative research at Sago. This includes research and project managers, participant and client technical support representatives, project and software designers, and engineers. Each project designer has, on average, five years of experience and more than 100 successful project designs delivered.
“We do on the order of 3,500 studies annually across our platform,” said President Isaac Rogers. “Our people are passionate about online qualitative research and helping others to reach new research heights. We find ourselves debating, cross-training, testing, and discussing research best practices daily. As a result, Sago delivers best-in-class asynchronous digital qualitative research for our client’s thanks to global recruitment expertise and industry-leading data collection platforms.”
Synchronous vs Asynchronous Qualitative Research: Is Real-Time Necessary?
The first decision to make when it comes to qualitative research is the method: synchronous live qualitative or asynchronous digital qualitative.
Do you need insights that allow you to see and interact with your respondents in real-time and in a live environment? If yes, synchronous research may be the right choice.
Enterprises opt for asynchronous research for scalability, to avoid time constraints, to gather more data, to increase flexibility for everyone involved, and to have participants show rather than tell.
See below for an explanation of each qualitative research method:
About Synchronous Qualitative ResearchSynchronous is a more sophisticated term for “live” research.
Examples of synchronous research include:
Benefits of synchronous research include:
Drawbacks with synchronous research include:
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About Asynchronous Qualitative ResearchAsynchronous research does not require live moderation, as participants respond in their own time without traveling to a research facility.
Examples of asynchronous research include:
Benefits of asynchronous research include:
Drawbacks with asynchronous research include:
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The Joy of Asynchronous Qualitative Research
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sago re-discovered the joy of asynchronous qualitative research and dedicated time and attention to growing this offering. The advantages this approach offers indicate it’s here to stay.
- Participants have the potential to “show” rather than just “tell” when responding to questions. This offers greater depth and breadth of insights for qualitative research.
- By decoupling moderators and participants with asynchronous research, participants have greater flexibility to answer questions on their own time. This drives up response rates and can improve the quality of responses thanks to reduced time pressures.
- Live moderation is no longer necessary. Data collection becomes more of a waiting process, where responses arrive throughout a set window of time.
- A final benefit with asynchronous research is greater flexibility. Enterprises and institutions are not locked into a web app or native app—both are available based on research requirements.
Live Qualitative Sessions and Smartphone Ethnography
In a live qualitative session, researchers see participants without additional context. It is a vicarious view of their world through the participant’s eyes or device’s camera lens. As participants go through the research, they say what they think is relevant. Overall, this experience is from a first-person perspective, as reported by the participant.
Smartphone ethnography involves observing people in their own environment to understand what they are experiencing, seeing, and doing. Researchers don’t live through the participants’ eyes. Instead, they draw their own conclusions. This allows researchers to make their own decisions as to what is interesting and relevant — the “ethnographic perspective.”
What Happens When Participants Show Rather Than Tell?
For researchers, almost everything is simpler when participants show rather than just tell.
Participation rates are higher with longer engagement times and more opportunities for context in research.
In fact, Sago has found that more content is covered over three days with an asynchronous research group than with a synchronous 90-minute focus group — that’s up to seven times more content!
Asynchronous research group covers up to
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“We have measured time and time again, how much more content you get from a respondent and 90-minute focus groups versus, let’s say, a three-day online discussion or a three-day asynchronous Over The Shoulder (OTS) study,” said VP Ross McLean. “It’s usually about seven times more content.”
The reason for this is participants have more time to think about and compile their responses to research questions. A reduction in time pressure means more participants engage more with each component of the research itself as well as with the peers in their group, at the same time becoming more comfortable and familiar with the researchers leading the group. |
What Happens When Participants Can Answer on Their Own Time?
When participants answer on their own time, it means:
- You are with them in the moment flexibly, rather than for a scheduled moment.
- You are with them at the right time, rather than time limited.
- Time pressure is greatly reduced, which is great for thinkers and introverts.
- Creativity is promoted rather than stifled.
- Participants can catch up asynchronously if they miss a session.
- Everyone in the research group can use their device of choice (e.g., desktop, laptop, smartphone, tablet) to simplify photo, video, and media uploads.
What Are the Benefits of Removing Live Moderation?
When you no longer need to live moderate research sessions, the benefits include:
- Infinite scalability with asynchronous data collection from participants
- No travel requirements, leading to reduced costs and scheduling effort
- Reduced inconvenience — observe a participant’s 5 a.m. coffee routine without waking up at 5 a.m. yourself
- Greatly reduced moderator stress, replaced by initial design and planning requirements for front-end data collection and research
- No issues with time zones
- Respondents can be replaced or given more time flexibility to catch up on research
- Lower costs per respondent
What are the Cons of Asynchronous Research?
Despite its numerous benefits, asynchronous research is not without its drawbacks:
- Real-time interaction is not possible due to asynchronous data collection and research.
- Researchers put in less effort coordinating a live event but have a greater requirement to design and plan questions in advance.
- Participant insights such as body language and non-verbal cues are reduced without real-time interaction.
- Upfront options for question and platform types can be overwhelming for researchers, reducing confidence when conducting research.
Contact Ross McClean at [email protected] if you have questions on qualitative research or any other related topic.
Sago Products to Support Asynchronous Qualitative Research
Sago offers a strong and wide-ranging selection of data collection and research solutions to support asynchronous qualitative research.
Notable mentions include:
- QualBoard – Smaller-scale DIY digital discussions and complex global projects are possible via QualBoard. Perform crowd surveys, lifestyle diaries, video chats, and quick polls with discussion boards to collect conversational insights from respondents.
- Online Quantitative Surveys – Access global panels of research respondents. Choose end-to-end survey options that meet your objectives, timelines, and budget. Leverage data collection automations and data science principles to maximize data quality and velocity with global reach.
To book a consultation with Sago for your next research project, contact [email protected].
