Qualitative Research
Group Discussions & Depth Interviews — human-led conversations, AI-enhanced analysis
Some insights only emerge when a skilled moderator listens and responds in real time.
Our qualitative work combines dynamic human conversation with proven AI tools to deliver deeper understanding — faster and more cost-effectively than traditional approaches.
All sessions are personally moderated by Anne-Marie Moir, ensuring depth, nuance, and strategic clarity.
AI supports the analysis and reporting stages, improving turnaround time and reducing costs by around 20%.
Anne-Marie is the best qualitative researcher I've had working for me in the 29 years since Sweeney Research was established. Highly talented, extremely intelligent, dedicated, hard working, analytical, creative, single-minded and full of integrity. Her people skills, presentation standards and the confidence she inspires in clients are second to none.
Why Qualitative Research
Because real conversations reveal what surveys can’t.
A pre-scripted survey can only ask what you planned for.
A skilled moderator can uncover what you didn’t know to ask.
In real time, a moderator can:
- Listen for subtle cues — hesitation, humour, tension
- Follow unexpected threads as they emerge
- Ask “why?” at the perfect moment
- Probe contradictions and explore emotions
- Encourage honesty through rapport and natural dialogue
- Reframe questions when needed to get clarity
- Surface meaning, language and lived experience
This is adaptive, responsive insight — not static questioning.
Human + AI = Deeper Insight, Faster Delivery
The human focus:
- Taking the brief, designing the sample, discussion guide, recruitment and reporting
- Moderation
- Real-time listening
- Following threads
- Reading group dynamics
- Judging what matters
- Making participants feel safe enough to be honest
Where AI assists:
We use proven, carefully governed tools to support:
- thematic coding
- clustering and pattern detection
- identifying tensions and contradictions
- quoting/tagging
- drafting structured summaries
The benefit to you:
- Faster turnaround
- Reduced cost without reducing depth
- More consistent analysis across sessions
- Sharper, cleaner reports delivered sooner
AI strengthens the backend — the insight remains human.
Our Qualitative Services
Group Discussions & Mini Groups
Group discussions create a dynamic environment where ideas evolve, opinions collide, and meaning becomes clearer in conversation.
A skilled moderator can:
- surface shared beliefs and divergent opinions
- follow interesting detours and live reactions
- explore group language and emotional responses
- uncover tensions that only arise socially
- probe deeper when moments of disagreement or alignment occur
Ideal for:
- communication territories
- brand and value propositions
- early creative exploration
- message and language testing
- cultural and social meaning
- product and concept development
Whether online or in person, group dynamics often reveal insight impossible to capture alone.
Depth Interviews (IDIs)
IDIs are one-on-one conversations that allow for unfiltered honesty, emotional nuance, and detailed exploration of personal experiences.
A moderator adapts each interview based on:
- the participant’s language
- their emotional cues
- contradictions and hesitations
- the unique pathways they reveal
Ideal for:
- sensitive or private topics
- B2B or expert interviews
- customer journeys
- behaviours and decision-making
- early-stage exploratory work
- situations where social influence may affect honesty
IDIs give participants the space to think, clarify, and open up fully.
How We Work
A senior-led, adaptive approach supported by AI
1. Briefing & scoping
We clarify what you need to learn and why.
2. Discussion design
We create a guide — not a script.
This ensures structure, while allowing conversation to evolve naturally.
3. Recruitment
Through specialist recruiters, customer lists, or targeted B2B outreach.
4. Moderation
Anne-Marie moderates every session personally:
listening deeply, following emerging threads, and adapting in real time.
5. AI-assisted analysis
Proven tools help accelerate thematic coding, clustering, quote tagging and early synthesis.
6. Human insight + reporting
Anne-Marie interprets meaning, resolves contradictions, and shapes the strategic narrative.
AI accelerates the work; human judgement delivers the insight.
Integrating Qual with Redge Automated Studies
Many clients combine qualitative work with Redge’s automated studies for full-spectrum insight:
Moderated Qual → Quant
Explore and shape ideas qualitatively, then validate them at scale.
Quant → Moderated Qual
Use Redge diagnostics to identify what’s happening — then use qual to understand why.
This hybrid approach gives you speed + depth, evidence + meaning.
Who We Work With
- Insights and research teams
- Brand and marketing leaders
- Creative, media, and advertising agencies
- PR and government communication teams
- Organisations working through sensitive, strategic, or high-stakes decisions
About Your Moderator
Anne-Marie Moir — Founder, Redge
With more than 30 years of qualitative experience, Anne-Marie brings:
- warm, conversational moderation
- sharp listening and adaptive questioning
- deep behavioural understanding
- strong analytical judgement
- the ability to surface insight people didn’t know how to express
She personally moderates all sessions, then uses trusted AI tools to accelerate analysis while maintaining full human oversight.
Deliverables
Your outputs may include:
- Insight report
- Themes, tensions & motivations
- Emotional drivers & barriers
- Creative and message feedback
- Language & narrative testing
- Behavioural pathways
- Verbatim excerpts & coded themes
- Executive summary & recommendations
Want to go deeper than a survey — and get insight faster?
Let’s talk about how group discussions or IDIs, enhanced by AI-supported analysis, can deliver more depth at a lower cost.
Frequently asked questions
Here are some common questions about our Purchase Experience study.
Think of it as a complementary layer.
Automated studies deliver fast, structure insight.
Human moderated qualitative work adds human nuance and emotional depth, helping you understand why the numbers look the way they do.
Many clients combine both for a full picture.
Yes — selectively and responsibly.
We use proven AI tools tohelp draft recruitment screeners and to support the analysis stage: coding, clustering, first-draft structuring, and quote tagging.
This improves turnaround time and reduces cost, while all interpretation and reporting remains human-led.
All qualitative sessions are moderated personally by Anne-Marie Moir, bringing 30+ years of experience across brand, comms, government and behaviour change.
This ensures consistency, quality, and deep expertise throughout the project.
A human moderator can:
- read emotional cues
- follow emerging threads
- adapt questions on the spot
- explore contradictions
- reframe when clarity is needed
- probe beyond surface-level answers
This real-time responsiveness uncovers motivations and meaning that static, pre-scripted surveys simply cannot reach.
- We offer:
- Group discussions (online or in-person)
- Mini groups
- Depth interviews (IDIs)
- Hybrid (qual + Redge automated) studies
Timelines depend on recruitment, but our process is designed for speed.
With AI-supported analysis, most projects run 20% faster than traditional qual — without losing depth
Absolutely — and many of our clients prefer this.
Popular approaches include:
Qual → Quant: explore early, refine ideas, then validate at scale
Quant → Qual: use Redge diagnostics to identify what’s happening, then explore why
This hybrid model gives you the advantages of speed, structure, and emotional depth.
A clear, structured insight report including:
- themes, tensions, and motivations
- behavioural drivers
- emotional insight
- creative/message feedback
- video verbatim excerpts
- strategic recommendations
- optional stakeholder readout
We work with specialist recruiters, your member/customer lists, or targeted B2B outreach depending on the audience.
We handle the entire process end-to-end.
Costs vary by audience, recruitment method, and number of sessions.
AI-assisted analysis typically reduces the overall cost compared with traditional qualitative projects.
We’ll provide a scoped quote once we understand your needs.