Q&A with Michelle Dion about the Qualitative Suite at Spark: a centre for social research innovation

The Qualitative Suite at Spark: a centre for social research innovation, has been through a technology refresh and is available this summer for free to Faculty of Social Sciences faculty, graduate students, and researcher teams who want to host focus groups or one-on-one interviews on campus.

We spoke to Dr. Michelle Dion about what researchers can expect, how to book, and why she’s so excited about this project.

What is the Qualitative Suite? What can researchers expect from the space?

The Qualitative Suite has multiple spaces for researchers to record the audio and video of one-on-one or small group interviews and larger focus groups.

The spaces have the latest recording technology that blends into the environment, putting your research participants at ease while maximizing your ability to analyze both the audio and video of your session.

We also have a mobile 50-inch monitor that can be used to share presentations or other content with research participants.

A viewing room with one-way mirror in the larger space allows collaborators the option of watching a session in real-time as well.

What challenges does the suite help to address?

We think the space addresses a couple of challenges that researchers who want to record their local interviews or focus groups face.

The first is just having a modern, professional, and welcoming space for research participants, rather than meeting in a regular office, classroom, or public space on campus. Our spaces are comfortable and easy to access in L. R. Wilson Hall.

But the technology, particularly video, is the real draw. We can provide not only high-quality audio, but also video recordings of the sessions, which opens up lots of new possibilities. For instance, researchers will be able to track speakers more accurately in group interviews and also analyze changes in body language, gestures, and other types of non-verbal communication. That’s something you can’t get if you’re recording audio of an interview with your iPhone.

Why do you think this is so exciting?

We’re excited to make the Qualitative Suite available to researchers at McMaster and beyond because we think it can deepen the insights researchers get from their interviews and focus groups.

Researchers spend so much time and energy recruiting participants for their studies, only to end up with tinny audio recordings made with smart phones or obtrusive recorders. We think having access to spaces and technology that rival those of professional marketing firms has the potential to unlock new understandings of interview and focus group data, and we’re excited about the creative ways McMaster researchers will use the spaces to enhance their research.

How can researchers use the suite?

This summer, as part of our Grand Opening of the Qualitative Suite, researchers in the Faculty of Social Sciences can use the space for free.

Just get in touch with me or Allison Van, Spark’s Executive Director, to discuss your needs and schedule. Then, you recruit your participants, get ready to run your interviews or focus groups, and we take care of the rest, giving you your audio and video files within days of your sessions.

We also have materials available for research ethics, if researchers don’t yet have human participant approvals. If a researcher would prefer that Spark staff conduct the interviews or focus groups, we have experienced staff who can do this as well, for a fee.

What’s the future of the space?

Though our Grand Opening deal this summer is restricted to researchers affiliated with the Faculty of Social Sciences, anyone can reserve the space for their study, even if they’re not at McMaster.

Going forward, use of the space will be fee-based, with steep discounts for students and others in the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Beyond that, we’re excited to see what types of innovative and impactful research will grow out of the studies conducted in the space.

If you’re curious about these possibilities, or how the Qualitative Suite can be used to enhance your research insights, get in touch with myself or Allison! This is one of the key things that we at Spark offer: conversations about your research, and how innovations (like the Qualitative Suite) can advance your research agenda.