by Sheila Keegan, Kogan Page, £24.95

Qualitative research asks the questions “what?”, “why?” and “how?”, in contrast with quantified research which concerns itself with counting “how much?” or “how many?”.

Sheila Keegan walks us through the birth of commercial qualitative research in the early 1960s, its early links to Freudian and motivational psychology, and how commercial and academic research have developed and tracked each other over time.

The meat of the book delivers a thorough, lucid description of the role of qualitative research in business, outlines techniques used to access respondents’ psyche, and how data can be transformed into a coherent insight into the consumer’s world. Unusually, the author devotes a whole chapter to the critical but often neglected topic of making the client presentation.

Although there are numerous case studies, most glossed over how qualitative research arrived at the solution, choosing instead to give greater weight to commercial outputs. I began my working life in market research and wish this book had been available then. The author seamlessly weaves in her practical experiences and wisdom, bringing the subject matter to life, something that will resonate with all qualitative practitioners and new entrants to the research industry.

Despite the publisher’s claims, do supply chain and procurement practitioners require such a detailed exposition? I very much doubt it. A key learning from the book is that this is all about people. Qualitative research is not a commodity; client marketing departments are buying the researcher, a person that they trust, value and often rely upon.

Patrick Billson
Director, Tickling The Trout