Being able to read someone…

That’s a tough thing, right? Well, that depends. One, on who is being ‘read’ and who is reading. We all know some things are very easy to read. Let’s just say the difference between a children’s book and Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time. Some books are simple, just spell it all out and make it all clear. Others, take a good amount of background knowledge on the topic.

Regardless, reading people is like that. Some wear it all on their face or ‘hearts on their sleeve’ as they say and others are poker faced! But being able to read someone in a market research interview makes for a much fuller, more accurate take on what they are saying. Like they say, you can say the same words and mean entirely different things, depending on 1) the context around it 2) and how it is said.

While I adore transcripts as a nice way to get an idea of what was said, it would be nice if more often there was an inclusion of not only what was said, but how it was said. How did they feel the respondent was feeling at the time. Were they chuckling, were they serious throughout. Did they seem anxious? Bored?

In qualitative research, the fun is getting beneath that superficial area. It’s getting into the deep emotions, which, for many doctors especially isn’t always possible, even with the use of aides such as emoticons or words to stimulate thought.

It requires a moderator with good empathy and the ability to read people. And maybe even insert a new question or approach that will help to bring forth those feelings. This is where unfortunately not even enough training in the world can help but just having a person who has these skills.