GreenBook Future List Spotlight: Katrin Krüger

Since starting your career in MRX, what would you consider to be your greatest accomplishment?

qualitative research approaches delivered next level usage and design insights. This led to a best-in-class evaluation in subsequent quantitative validation work. To be honest, I wasn’t certain about the degree of innovation needed to stand out when entering the competition. However, I am a firm believer in the fusion of tech and qualitative research – and this was an ideal opportunity to showcase the advantages of fusing the two. In the end I believe we managed to convey how new and different digital options can make research easier, fresher and – yes – more fun. In my experience this creates a new, infectious enthusiasm amongst both participants and clients, whilst losing none of the human aspect."}" data-sheets-userformat="{"2":769,"3":{"1":0},"11":0,"12":0}">Without a doubt: winning the Best Practice Award at the 20th General Online Research Conference in 2020.

I presented a case study together with my client Electrolux in which we demonstrated how a combination of Virtual Reality and creative qualitative research approaches delivered next-level usage and design insights. This led to a best-in-class evaluation in subsequent quantitative validation work.

To be honest, I wasn’t certain about the degree of innovation needed to stand out when entering the competition. However, I am a firm believer in the fusion of tech and qualitative research – and this was an ideal opportunity to showcase the advantages of fusing the two. In the end, I believe we managed to convey how new and different digital options can make research easier, fresher, and – yes – more fun. In my experience, this creates a new, infectious enthusiasm amongst both participants and clients, whilst losing none of the human aspects.

 

How has market research changed since you first started your career?

When I started working in market research about 10 years ago, digital approaches were already part of our research portfolio, but the focus was more on face-to-face methods. The last few years have witnessed an increasing shift towards digital; conducting research during the pandemic has shown us how well online depth interviews and digital focus groups can replicate outcomes from classical offline approaches.

Whilst I love experimenting with all these new digital qual options, I actually miss meeting people in person, particularly when it comes to ethnographic studies. Maybe it’s the “heart-to-heart” feeling that offline research can offer very quickly and intuitively.

One of the best parts of my job is seeing how people live, getting a glimpse behind the scenes – in Germany and across the world. You can’t help but notice small but telling details e.g. how is someone as a host? What’s the story behind the family dog? What does the magnet collection on the fridge tell us about the person buying the groceries that go in there?

It is these seemingly trivial but important aspects that make my job special – ultimately it’s through these kinds of details that we create a deeper consumer understanding. I believe that despite all the benefits that digital offers, we mustn’t neglect the very personal and human aspect that good qualitative research is all about.

 

What do you think the key characteristics or qualities of a leader are? How does this play into MRX?

It may sound obvious, or even counter-intuitive for someone in the business of listening 😉, but ultimately leadership for me is all about communication.

To be a good qualitative researcher you have to be a good communicator, you have to ask the right questions at the right time during the conversation, you have to read the respondent and make him/her feel understood to really get to the bottom of things. Communication and conversation are just as important when being a leader.

I believe in encouragement rather than pointing out mistakes, collaboration over competition, “we” over “me”. I gain inspiration and confidence from real teamwork. Our business can be quite unforgiving in terms of mistakes because it is so competitive, but I don’t think this should translate into a work atmosphere.

As a junior researcher, you need to feel that your team is behind you and will help you rectify your mistakes and learn from them. Only if you feel your strengths are recognized can you build up the confidence to really grow professionally.

 

Where do you see the future of insights heading in the next 10 years?

I strongly believe qualitative research will continue to grow in importance.

More and more tech companies are realizing that relying just on numbers – including behavioral data – will only get them so far. Numbers don’t get to the “why.”

Both newer tech companies and more established legacy-style clients approach us with qual challenges because they accept that numbers on their own are not enough. Tracking data is important, sure – but what do you do with this data when you lack an understanding of how a consumer felt when using your product, or how it fits into their daily lives? Sure, UX research is already well-established in the tech scene – but there is so much more qualitative research has to offer.

So in this context, I believe that online and digital approaches will continue to be a trend and develop further – but the key will be to pair these with classic, proven qualitative techniques. Technology evolves, but the importance of human insights remains core. Everything starts with a human insight – which researchers need to generate and uncover. That’s where qualitative research comes in.