You’re conducting a marketing research interview. How do you make sure you ask the right questions?

I would say; Understand the needs of your client throughly - this will make things a lot simpler and easier for a researcher. Understand the respondent segment and then implement crisp and relevant questions ; Make it respondent friendly ; use relevant statistical models. Analyse rigorously using all possible options Am sure, things will get done.

In my experience, a great starting point is clearly defining the decision that you want to take based on the data that comes out of the research . Are you validating a hypothesis? Or are you diving into something unknown via your research? Your questionnaire design and audience selection depends a lot on that . Clearly outline what components have to be covered by your questionnaire (awareness , usage , over what time period etc?) and develop a questionnaire that not only covers those components but also collects the information without compromising the data quality .

To ensure effective marketing research, it's crucial to craft questions that align with research objectives and gather relevant insights. Start by clearly defining the research goals and target audience. Design questions that are clear, concise, and unbiased, avoiding leading or loaded language. Incorporate a mix of open-ended and closed-ended questions to encourage depth of response while allowing for quantifiable data. Pilot test the questionnaire to refine wording and ensure it elicits the desired information.

To ensure you ask the right questions in a marketing research interview: Define clear objectives. Tailor questions to objectives. Use open-ended and closed-ended questions. Avoid leading or biased questions. Pilot test questions for clarity. Keep language simple and concise. Consider respondent perspective. Prioritize key information. Balance depth and brevity. Review and revise questions as needed.

Don't take your participant's response at face value. Challenge their assumptions, find inconsistencies between their cognition, attitude and behaviour. You will discover hidden insights by revealing these inconsistencies.

Another thing to think about is environment- where is the best place to conduct the interview, for you as interviewer and also for your participant- to help them react and answer in the most helpful and conducive style. Your surroundings and theirs can impact on the answers participants feel comfortable sharing.

Alot of good suggestions have already been mentioned. I think the biggest thing is to have a clear understanding of the objectives of the research and how it will be used. This will help you keep your questionnaire focused on the need to know, rather than to know questions. Also have an idea of the outcome you are looking for. Defining the purpose of the survey will define the questions.

As per the customer needs ,it's budget,type of products or services shall decide the format ,size, area,geography ,territory etc etc

It is the purpose of the study and the depth of information that we need to capture which defines the format. While face to face gives depth, online gives flexibility but with little control of environment, telephonic gives quick short outcomes, online surveys are tenacious in nature from the perspective of the interviewer

Question prep, prompts, probes and stim are key to helping participants answer honestly to the questions you are seeking to address. And how you ask them will be hugely impacted by the interview format you’ve chosen- conducting F2F interviews offers different nuance to your questions vs other formats, for example. Avoiding/adopting industry jargon, slang and/or regional vocabulary can influence how your participants feel about answering the question and how they answer it.

While each topic and interviewee is different, over a decade of practice in interviewing has led me to some best practices. For example, I have found that 8 times out of 10, the most effective first set of questions to ask is about a participant's pizza preferences. It's a ubiquitous topic that is sure to elicit strong opinions. As a result, not unlike pizza, there is no such thing as a bad response. The clear exception is if they indicate liking pineapple as a topping, which is obviously incorrect.

Prepping questions, using prompts, probes, & encouragement is crucial for participants to answer honestly. The interview format chosen, like face to face versus others, can greatly affect the questions nuances. Also, be mindful of using industry jargon, or regional terms, as they can impact participants' comfort and responses,

It is my experience to ask open ended and quote example to understand the participants to give his openion When the question is not understood how can we expect appropriate answer

Any study which is new and had not been conducted in recent past, should get a pilot or dry run conducted prior to Mains. This gives confidence to client as well as agency and interviewers in terms of comprehension issue if any from respondent side, if length of interview is within prescribed limit, if routings are as per final script, translations are throwing up the same meaning as the English version and if any feedback is coming from on ground interviewers when they are doing a real time pilot testing

Totally agree! This is especially helpful if you’re investigating new (to you or genuine innovation) areas- hidden pitfalls can be discovered and then navigated during the live project interviews.

Yes, one should test on language, length,depth of questions. Make practical survey among all age group of participants on its understanding

Conducting market research interviews requires a special skill. You need to be friendly, make the person comfortable, and encourage them to talk. But you also need to be okay with pauses while they think or speak. Sometimes you might need to gently guide them back to the main topic without ruining the connection you've built. If you can, it's good to hire a certified moderator for this job. It's worth it.

Building rapport is critical, but can be easier said than done! Some of the best research investigators I have worked with (and learned from!) are chameleon like in their ability to engage participants- others do it naturally (I’d like to think I’m one of them) but it’s important you feel comfortable in order to help elicit the honest answers you are seeking.

Interviewing for market research is a specialized skill set. There is a balance to be struck, where you can be personable, set the respondent at ease and draw them out - and also be able to be comfortable with silence if a respondent needs to formulate their thoughts or given time to expand on what they have said. The moderator also needs to be able to occasionally redirect participants back to topic without derailing the rapport that has been built. If you have the opportunity to engage a certified moderator, this is a worthwhile investment.

Yes, it should be in a very friendly environment, with time suitability, convenience to get good out of it. Of course there should be pause in between to give time to think on to participant.

You look at objectives and use questions which have worked in the past. Make sure a lot of the questions are qualitative. Listen, probe for pain, and root causes? Are we asking the right questions.