ARC provides desk research services that tap our internal sources, our our clients’ internal sources – as well as leveraging the external market data and news services we subscribe to.
ARC’s Qualitative Research, is more subjective than our Quantitative Research yet still uses field-tested and proven methods of collecting information, mainly through individual, in-depth interviews and focus groups. The nature of this type of research is often exploratory and open-ended. Small numbers of people are interviewed in-depth and/or a relatively small number of focus groups are conducted.
Participants are asked to respond to general questions, and the interviewer or group moderator probes and explores their responses to identify and define peoples’ perceptions, opinions and feelings about the topic or idea being discussed and to determine the degree of agreement that exists in the group. The quality of the findings from qualitative research is directly dependent upon the skill, experience and sensitivity of the interviewer or group moderator. ARC provides over 1000 experienced field researchers, who can speak in all languages in Afghanistan including Dari, Pashtu, Urdu, Turkmani, and English. We also provide highly sensitive female interviews to interact with women in culturally appropriate ways, and interviewers from different cultures and tribes who are able to gain the trust of the individuals being interviewed.
The Critical Nature of Trust and Confidentiality
An essential key to success in Qualitative Research with people is confidentiality. Survey respondents and participants in in-depth interviews and focus groups are often asked to give open, honest personal responses about sensitive issues, concerns, perceptions and opinions on a variety of topics.
To acquire the truth from people, our highly experienced professional s are able to not only assure, but to absolutely guarantee, that a participant’s identity will be kept confidential and fully protected. Confidentiality is one of the primary reasons, in addition to their specialized qualifications, that governments, organizations and corporations turn to ARC to conduct organizational communications research and measurement.