conversations are the new research
DESCRIPTION
Presentation delivered to QRCA (qualitative research consultants assoc) at their annual conference in Atlanta, Nov 2006, as part of the AQR @ QRCA plenary sessionTRANSCRIPT
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A presentation by
Kevin McLean, Wardle McLean, UK
Conversations ..Conversations ..
.. a New Model for .. a New Model for Qualitative ResearchQualitative Research
www.wardlemclean.co.uk www.theartofconversation.net
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Introduction
• We are part of something bigger
than we realise
• Reframe qualitative research
• Recognise our skills, raise our status
via ‘conversations’
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IntroductionFocus groups Fist fightsPoems
BrainwavesHunger pangs Meetings
Brands
Prayer
Indecision
Trust
FrowningRacing
Democracy
Climate change
Blogs
.. are all ‘conversations’
Kissing
Arguing
Colonialism
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IntroductionWhat would you call a good conversation?
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Structure
1. A short history of conversations
2. Communication and attitudes
3. Brands and marketing
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1. A short history of conversations
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In the (very) beginning• The very first conversation was ...?
‘John, how’d you do that fire thing, again’ ?
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In the (very) beginning
• Voiced utterance, plus gestures
• Physical, social context (grooming)
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In the (very) beginning
The birth of jazz© Larson
Origin
Usage
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Therefore...
• Conversations are what make us human
• Conversations are not only verbal
• We are essentially social beings
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Therefore...
• We learn through imitation … … interacting with others
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Learning through conversation
Socrates (469 - 399 BC)Dialogues:
‘extended conversations ... aimed at understanding ... through a dialectical method’
Still relevant today:- democracy / free market
- debate choices
- question producers and politicians
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Learning through conversation
Socrates, the first QRC? going further for less
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Learning through conversation
Beware the barrenness of a busy life
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is a habit
Wisdom begins in wonder
(Socrates)
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Conversations that changed history
• The Earth is flat
• The universe revolves around the Earth
• Europe / USA rules the world
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Conversations that changed history
Crick and Watson discovered DNA via conversations
Linus Pauling tried to figure it all out
‘Because Pauling was so smart, he didn’t feel the need to talk to anyone’ (Watson)
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Conversations that changed history
‘(Crick) asked naïve questions .. in order to understand things. Conversations yielded new insights’ Theodore Zeldin
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2. Communication and attitudes
• Three kinds of language:– representational– structural– immediate
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Communication
Representational
dominant over-reliant misleading
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Communication
Structural
body-to-bodycomes firstunder-estimated
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Communication
Immediate
basic/powerfulpure emotion/feeling
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Communication
“93% of all communication is non-verbal”
AGREE / DISAGREE?
It’s not what you say, it’s the way that you say it
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Attitudes• ‘What is your attitude to ..?’
• Attitudes as:– inside us– observable– measurable– immutable– ‘ours’
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Attitudes• Do you have attitudes ..
.. or do attitudes have you?
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Attitudes
• Attitudes as:– made up, made to order– adapted/adopted– having a life of their own – part of a conversation
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ConclusionThree kinds of language...
representational
structural
immediate
… are connected, all part of our conversation
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Conclusion
• We know ourselves, our beliefs, through conversation
• ‘Quallies’ are trained in the art of conversation– we can truly get to know people– if we practise good conversation
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Part 3. Brands and marketing
Welcome to the revolution!
1950s today
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Mark
ets
are
con
vers
ati
on
s
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Before:
Brands
Consumers
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Now:
People Brands
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‘Commercial conversations’Market research … has traditionally been about figuring out how to get customers to buy what businesses want to make, rather than helping businesses to make what customers want to buy.
Commerce is going to increasingly shift away from older forms of communication … towards something that resembles a real conversation.
James Surowiecki, author, ‘Wisdom of the Crowds’
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About brands• Brands are not things
• They are constructed from two kinds of networks– internal network
– external network
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Brands on the internal network
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one neuron LOTS of neurons
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A challenge to us all?
• ‘Neuromarketing’– brain scans are the
answer
• Professor Zaltman– my way or the highway
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A professor speaks
‘How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market’– ‘Technology is revolutionizing our ability to
understand customers. Insights about the workings of the cognitive unconscious ... and the neurobiology of figurative thinking, for instance, have already outdated most thinking and current practices’
– ie focus groups are redundant / do not work
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Au contraire, professor
• ‘Herd - how to change mass behaviour by harnessing our true nature’– by Mark Earls (pub. Wiley, Feb 07)– behaviour NOT reducible to brains /
our unconscious but is socially determined
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not just brains, our nervous system
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1 2
3 4
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EXTERNAL (SOCIAL) NETWORK IN ACTION
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The point is
• Conversations are– within us and between us
– mental / physical, personal / social
• Qualitative research can tap into them– when it is done well
– inside and (especially) outside the studio
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And..
• We know that what people say differs from what they do– there are no guarantees– good conversations take us all forward– not just verbal (physical, emotional)– not just in studios (out there)– not just Questions and Answers
• Too often we have done average work, which holds us back
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Grand conclusions
Conversations
OpenMap on to networks
Build rapportBetween equals
Liberating
Q & A
CloseImpose a structure
Hinder, alienatePower relationsDisempowering
Q & A
CloseImpose a structure
Hinder, alienatePower relationsDisempowering
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Grand conclusions
Conversations
Rich, rewardingSpace, freedom
Lead somewhereYield truths
Q & A
Confined, frustratingForced, feel trapped
Start and finishEncourage lies
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By Kevin McLeankevin@wardlemclean.co.ukwww.wardlemclean.co.ukwww.theartofconversation.net
TO GOOD CONVERSATIONS!