How to use SMS for qualitative research

October 30, 2009

Jim Bryson is founder of 20/20 Research

By Jim Bryson

The post-email generation has quickly taught the rest of us about the convenience of the “txt msg,” but can qualitative researchers really gain consumer insights from messages so short that some are called tweets?

In a word, yes.

More of these researchers who seek to understand the motivations behind decisions and behavior are using text messaging as a tool and finding it holds exciting promise.

No longer must the research be conducted at a time convenient to the researcher. Now the research query can come to the participants in real-time through their mobile devices to glean more reliable and complete information.

But how can qualitative researchers dive deep into consumers’ motivations and attitudes about products or services, often buried deep within the psyche, using short, electronic messages?

Text feeds research
Often, text messaging serves as the first phase of a more in-depth research project that might include focus groups, online bulletin board research or some other in-depth method.

In this scenario, the text messaging serves an important role for establishing behavior patterns and helping the researcher to develop hypotheses to be explored in a more in-depth setting.

While mobile text messaging has certain limitations, gathering crucial attitudinal and behavioral information exactly when it occurs is a key benefit that no other research method can provide.

For example, text messaging allows the researcher for a fast food chain to send text messages to research participants asking a question such as, “At which fast food restaurant did you have breakfast and why did you choose that one?”

Texts such as the one listed above might be sent throughout the day to understand behavior and attitudes and potentially get more candid responses.

Over the course of several days and several respondents, the researcher can build a fairly complete profile of the target market.

Similarly, researchers send text messages to shoppers, people attending events, tourists, travelers and other study participants.

Diaries are dear
Compared to diaries and other response forms, compliance with text messaging is high, usually more than 80 percent, because nearly everyone has a mobile device and these messages are so immediate and convenient for the participant to respond to with a few simple keystrokes.

Compare this method with traditional qualitative methods: researchers often rely on written diaries to track behavior and attitudes to understand a question surrounding the use of fast food restaurants.

Diary compliance is often irregular and unpredictable, as participants are asked first to remember to write it down and next to remember what, when and where they ate. Often, this does not take place until the end of the day.

Still, there are limitations to the use of texting in qualitative analysis, the primary one being the 140-character constraint and the information sharing limitations it presents.

Also, there is the lack of the researcher’s ability to observe subjects’ responses and reactions in person or in a research setting to document the cues it might yield.

While these constraints can largely be overcome through an increased sample size and extensive follow-up research, mobile texting will likely become just another valuable tool in the toolbox qualitative researchers use to answer the question, “Why?”

Jim Bryson is the Nashville, TN-based founder of 20/20 Research Inc. and a member of the Qualitative Research Consultants Association. Reach him at .

Comments on "How to use SMS for qualitative research"

1. Noel C says:

   October 31, 2009 at 10:27pm

   Great article, I love hearing about he possibilities of text messaging being used this way. Two things to note, however:
   1. Text messages allow 160 characters, not 140.
   2. There is software out there (Mosio being one) that can deliver data beyond 160 characters, enabling a more detailed experience for researchers collecting information.
   
   We've had a few researchers inquiring about ways of collecting real-time, "what are you thinking now" answers, and expect to see a lot more in the coming months. Text messaging is ubiquitous, requires no software downloads or specific types of phones and will continue to be the preferred method of communication via the mobile phone in years to come.