Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is thorough.  It emphasizes finding out about the subjects you are studying through ways that the subject's will have the ability to remain in their natural element.  Normally, qualitative research is done through interviews, focus groups, etc.  It's a way to find out about your subjects through detailed questions and ideally detailed answers.  Quantitative research normally uses surveys, and during that type of research one normally doesn't find out as thorough answers as one using qualitative research would.

Public relations courses often express different types of qualitative research and how in the PR industry it is used.  I never realized until learning so much about different kinds of research, just how much the fashion PR industry utilizes qualitative research.  By using qualitative research we look to understand certain behaviors and the reasoning behind why those behaviors occur.  In the fashion world, styles are changing so fast that it is often difficult to keep up for customers—let alone the designers who are faced with pressures to create the most up-to-date looks to keep their clients pleased and well-dressed.  Fashion designers are constantly coming up with different ideas, probably more than the average person could even imagine.  However, a designer can come up with as many ideas as he or she would like, but if it’s only as good as the people who buy the clothes.  Take Mark Fast for example.  Fast has lines of new clothing but still holds onto a whole line of classic looks.  When thinking of what new styles to create for the season, designers need to think of if their target market is actually going to wear the new trends.  Designers need to gain insight on what their customers want next, what they have liked in the past, and what they have not liked all in an attempt to get a better idea of what trends are going to work.

Focus groups are a perfect use of qualitative research for designers.  With a group of 6-10 of their customers, focus groups can provide information about what the target market (as reflected from those particular customers) likes when they look for a new dress or pair of shoes.  They can express that they love when a certain dress is versatile enough to wear it to Sunday brunch or to a fancy cocktail party, or on the opposite end of the spectrum address that they like dresses that are fancy and perfectly suited for a very special event.  Gaining insight through focus groups can serve a great purpose for designers when they are creating/working on pieces.



Research is necessary, we get that.  For designers, qualitative research may be the very best kind they have access to.  Gaining their public's insight is only going to help their collection.