Beyond Words - Qualitative Methods for Greater Depth

Social Desirability Bias
People want to present themselves in a favorable light. They say what sounds right rather than what they truly think.

The Unconscious and Repression
Many underlying motives operate below the level of conscious awareness. Thoughts and feelings that are embarrassing, contradictory, or uncomfortable are often suppressed.

Lack of Self Reflection
Many individuals do not fully understand why they make certain decisions. They construct explanations afterward, but these accounts are rarely fully accurate.

Limited Verbal Expression
Emotions and impressions are difficult to articulate. This is especially true when the right words are missing or when experiences are complex.

Conformity Pressure in Groups
In group settings, people tend to align with others. They voice what the group expects to hear rather than what they genuinely feel.

When to use?
Sometimes, participants find it difficult to describe the character, uniqueness, and emotional impact of brands. When brands feel similar to the target groups, they have preferences but cannot explain why. In these cases, it helps to find a playful approach. Stimulating intuition to decipher subtle differences, peculiarities, and relationships.
 
In a study on the beer market, participants described all brands similarly: good beer, traditional, local. Nevertheless, they had clear favorites. When asked, it remained vague. The differences were perceptible but not nameable. We used the brand party and the group began to imagine which brands are together, which are dancing, which are watching, what topics they are discussing, and who is being admired or critically observed. Suddenly, clear brand profiles emerged, and the drivers for brand preferences became evident.

How to do it?

• Participants imagine various brands appearing as guests at a party.
• They describe their appearance, clothing, voice, behavior – and how the characters interact with each other.
• Possible scenes: dance floor, bar, discussion round, cloakroom.
• Researchers situationally pick up on what happens: “What is this character doing right now? Who approaches whom?”
• Everything is narrated freely – without evaluation or interpretation.

Why it works
People describe indirectly what they feel. Through staging in the social space, stories emerge in which evaluations, sympathies, and antipathies become clear without needing to be explicitly named. The projected scenario allows for emotional depth without rational reflection. The “as-if” format reduces social control, allows for contrast, and reveals implicit positioning.

Tips

• No analytical inquiries during the exercise. Instead of: “What does this mean?” rather: “What happens next?”
• Observe body language and role behavior: Who dominates, who withdraws?
• Do not interpret results in isolation. Patterns across multiple participants are important.
• In the evaluation, visual cluster representations (e.g., relationship networks) can be useful.
• Clients should know: This method reveals implicit dynamics, not explicit judgments. Its strength lies in sensing unconscious image structures.

When to Use?
Collages are suitable when language alone doesn't suffice. This is often the case with personal, repressed, or elusive topics. They provide new perspectives on attitudes, relationships, and inner stances. They are particularly valuable when a shift in perspective is needed or when creative processes should be initiated, for example, as a preliminary step to prototyping.

In a study on health prevention, participants accessed fears through collages that they would otherwise hardly discuss. In another study, participants created collages of their taste experiences. The goal was to assess how well the taste of a soft drink with a new formula matched the brand positioning.

How is it Done?

• Participants choose from magazines, pictures, symbols, colors, or words what intuitively appeals to them. Naturally, this can also be done on a virtual whiteboard.
• They create an image in response to a question like: "Choose representations that reflect your feeling towards the brand/product." "Create a gallery: images that make your fears palpable and images that reflect a sense of security."
• After the creative phase (5 - 20 minutes), participants present their collage.
• Researchers delve deeper and ask clarification questions.

Why Does It Work?
Pasting, arranging, creating. When hands and mind work simultaneously, it becomes easier to bypass rational censorship. In the process, emotions, motives, and creativity flow in unnoticed. This leads to wonderfully spontaneous statements with surprising depth.

What to Consider and How to Interpret?

• Formulate the task in such a way that participants select images primarily based on the feelings they evoke, rather than visible objects or motifs.
• Deliberately avoid rationalizing questions. No transition to "What does this say about Brand X?"
• Do not interpret results in isolation. Recurrent patterns, word choice, and color codes provide clues to deeper meanings. Combined with other qualitative data, a consistent picture emerges.

Application Areas
These techniques are used whenever words fall short. When emotions, values, or attitudes are present but hard to grasp. It's often about questions like: “What does the brand, product, or experience trigger in the target audience?”, “To what extent do the brand's motives and values align with those of the people?”, “How are brand preferences formed below the level of reason?”.

A manufacturer of agricultural machinery wanted to understand what design and equipment features of its vehicles evoke in farmers. Direct inquiries always yielded the same superficial answers. We used the validated image set from PIC|MOTION. The farmers engaged with it and mapped an emotional landscape of the machines. [more …]

How It's Done

• Select an appropriate image set. VAL|LERY covers the motivational space. PIC|MOTION captures the emotional impact.
• Participants intuitively select 1 to 3 motifs from the image sets, which they associate with a brand, product, or experience.
• Afterward, participants describe their selection, often without providing reasons.
• The analysis and interpretation of the data follow, using the validated meanings of the images.

Why It Works
The image sets bypass the rational filter and provide direct access to implicit knowledge. VAL|LERY draws on archetypal motifs. It is based on Bischof's Zurich Model of Social Motivation, which addresses fundamental needs like security, autonomy, and arousal. PIC|MOTION complements the spectrum with around 40 validated, emotionally charged images. These were developed based on the Circumplex Model of Emotions (Russell & Scherer).

Tips

• Moderation should remain on the level of perception and not ask for reasons. Instead: “How does the motif appear?”, “Describe the motif.”
• In the analysis: Cluster not only based on models but also recurring motifs, color schemes, contrasts, and symbol groups.
• Avoid judgments on single images. Instead, observe which motifs appear in multiple interviews and in what combination.
• Pay attention to how participants talk about the images. The dialogues are just as relevant as the image selection itself. The narratives give the images depth and provide context.
• Both image sets are ideal as an entry point into deeper methods, as once the emotional resonance is established in the interview, it can be further explored.

Areas of Application
When people primarily think in terms of problems and barriers instead of opportunities, when "Yes, but..." and "Can't be done..." set the tone, creativity is stifled. News of the future (often also known as News from the future) is used in innovation and ideation processes when bold and forward-thinking ideas are needed. NOF is also excellently suited as a prototyping tool. It sharpens rough ideas and concept drafts and enables early user feedback.

How it Works

• The team mentally leaps into the future: "Our idea is already successful. What headline appears in the newspaper?"
• This fictional news describes what has changed, who benefits, and how the team overcame obstacles.
• This is followed by translating back to today: What is truly in the idea? What interests the target audience? Do we have a shared understanding?

Why it Works
The method activates emotional images and bypasses resistance. It encourages bold thinking while also revealing where issues still lie. Instead of dwelling on problems, the team articulates a successful outcome. Looking back from the future helps identify implicit hurdles without dramatizing them. This generates clarity and strengthens the common direction. NOF operates on two levels simultaneously – consciously in the future, implicitly in the present.

Tips

• Choose concrete, vivid language. Avoid empty success phrases.
• Different headlines within the team are not a mistake, but a clue.
• It's worth asking: "What exactly is in this success?"
• The texts provide a good basis for early prototyping.

Applications
Lego® Serious Play® is suitable when groups need to collaboratively tackle complex topics and ensure equal participation. This approach is particularly useful in product development and prototyping, communication research, future inquiries, customer journey design, or brand research.

In one project, the goal was to understand the role of churches in society and design concepts for how they could regain relevance. Participants used LEGO® Serious Play® to express their visionary ideas. The outcome: individual and very diverse prototypes, which we documented in short explanatory videos.

Here's how it's done

• Each person receives access to the same LEGO® bricks.
• The facilitator poses an open, illustrative question: e.g., "Build a model that represents your relationship with the brand."
• Everyone builds simultaneously.
• Afterwards, each person presents and explains their model. No interruptions.
• The group can ask follow-up questions, but not evaluate.
• In further phases, models can be connected and expanded into joint structures.

Why it works
LEGO® Serious Play® (LSP®) works because it simultaneously engages hands and mind. Building with hands activates large parts of the brain. The method puts people into a flow state: they are focused, engaged, and fully present. This not only results in creative models but also in surprising insights. Instead of abstract discussions, participants experience their thoughts concretely and visibly. This is exactly what makes LSP® so effective for teams that want to create clarity and develop new paths together.

LSP® is particularly effective when moderated by experienced qualitative researchers. Their training in exploration and analysis helps to look beyond surface-level symbols and make visible meanings that would otherwise remain hidden.

Tips

• The topic must be tangible but leave enough room for exploration. Instead of "What is health?" better: "What do you need to feel healthy?" This way, concrete, personal models emerge.
• LSP thrives on the alternation between building, storytelling, and reflecting. It's better to ask fewer questions and allow more time for in-depth engagement, otherwise the insights remain superficial.
• The tasks should be open, action-oriented, and illustrative. Example: "Build what prevents you from acting sustainably in everyday life." This way, meaningful models emerge, not platitudes.
• Models are only part of the data. It is important to systematically capture participants' statements via audio, transcript, or protocol. Only the combination of model, language, and emotion reveals what truly lies behind.

When to Use?
When brands are at a standstill or want to explore new paths, a structural constellation brings movement into play. It reveals where the brand truly stands in the market, in the minds of the target audience, and in the shadow of competitors. Structural analyses provide answers to questions like: “Where do we stand? How close are we to our target customers? Who or what is blocking our brand from fully flourishing?

A pharmaceutical company wanted to determine whether and how its brands differentiated from one another in the minds of healthcare professionals. The structural constellation showed that the brands were too close together both spatially and in terms of their symbolism and appearance. Only through targeted impulses during the constellation did it become clear which brand should take on which role in the future and where strategic differentiation was necessary. The results were then integrated into the brand architecture and communication strategy.

How is it Done?

• Define the Relevant Elements
  It is determined which brands, products, target groups, values, or emotions should be represented in the constellation.
• Select Representatives or Symbolic Objects
  People or objects take on the role of these elements.
• Positioning in the Space
  Participants are intuitively positioned in the space. Their orientation, distance, or gaze direction towards each other symbolize relationships and dynamics.
• Experiencing the Positions
  Participants describe their feelings (e.g., “I feel cramped here,” “I want to distance myself,” etc.). The spatial arrangement makes tensions, proximity, or distances tangible.
• Systemic Impulses
  The moderation provides targeted impulses for change: for example, rearranging, approaching, turning away – always observing the emotional reaction.
• Reflection and Evaluation
  The experienced dynamics provide insight into implicit patterns, unspoken loyalties, or obstructive structures. These can then be jointly reflected upon and translated into concrete action ideas.

Why Does it Work?
Structural constellations reveal relationships and tensions that are often not captured through language. Participants set up brands, target groups, or roles in the space. Proximity, distance, and orientation depict unconscious relationships. Those standing in the space physically feel what certain constellations trigger. The experience generates deeper insights than many traditional formats can provide.

This combination of space, body, and experience makes structural constellations particularly effective – especially for complex branding issues and strategic decisions.

What to Watch Out For and How to Interpret?

• The method requires a safe, protected environment.
• Good rapport is the foundation of any structural constellation. The moderation requires calmness, presence, and palpable openness.
• Structural constellations require experience. Only trained moderators recognize subtle dynamics, do not over-interpret them, and guide the process safely. Pay attention to well-founded training. It determines the depth of insights.
• Avoid hasty interpretations. Instead, observe what the constellation triggers in participants. Tensions and patterns are not explained, but merely described.
• Use photos, videos, and observations from the constellation as a basis for evaluation. What matters are not individual phenomena, but recurring patterns in spatial constellations, movements, and body language. They show what truly influences the system.

When to Use?
When consumer behavior seems rational at first glance, but deeper motives are suspected. Laddering reveals the personal values and motives behind a decision. Understanding these makes it significantly easier to connect with people and develop products and services to which the target audience can form a personal relationship. Solutions that users not only use but identify with.

An insurance company wanted to understand why young adults purchase certain supplementary insurance policies, even though they rarely use them. In interviews, they initially cited practical reasons such as "a good complement to health insurance" or "you never know what might happen." Laddering revealed: the underlying need was to balance security with a sense of adventure. The desire to be independent, to break free, yet still feel protected.

How is it done?

• Respondents mention the specific benefit or advantage of a preferred product (e.g., The insurance covers many risks).
• Then they identify the opposite of the feature (e.g., I am on my own, not covered.)
• The moderator probes deeper: "How does this help you?", "What does it change?", "What do you achieve with it?" (e.g., "It makes me feel freer.")
• At each level, the opposite is also queried (e.g., What is different if you don't feel free?) 
• This creates a step-by-step chain from product feature to a central life value.

Why does it work?
The laddering technique was developed by D. Hinkle in 1965. It is based on George A. Kelly's Personal Construct Theory (1955). This theory assumes that people structure their environment through a personal system of dichotomous (i.e., opposing) constructs that are hierarchically organized. At the top are abstract, evaluative constructs that correspond to personal values.

This thought process follows an internal chain of meaning: from the visible to the meaningful. Laddering makes this path comprehensible. It brings to light what is important to people – often unconsciously, but guiding action.

What to Consider and How to Interpret?

• Vary Questions
  Playfully use alternatives like: "What does this change for you?" or "What does this do to you?" This keeps the flow without seeming monotonous. Avoid closed questions and "why" formulations.
• Strengthen Conversation Atmosphere
  Start with a casual opening or a personal question. A relaxed setting alleviates pressure and makes the conversation more natural.
• Make Answers Visible
  Sketch the ladder together. Enter statements directly. This provides structure, clarity, and confidence for both sides.
• Allow Side Paths
  If an answer leads in a new direction, follow it briefly. These side paths bring variety and often new perspectives.
• Explain the Process
  Briefly state what is coming. Those who know why questions are being asked tend to remain open and patient.
• Don't Overload
  Laddering takes time. Three to four complete ladderings per conversation are sufficient. Beyond that, monotony and fatigue threaten.
• When Is the Highest Level Reached?
  When answers become increasingly general, repetitive, or stall, you have reached the highest value (Core Value).