Most people attend a work conference with the expectation that they will be operating as an ambassador for their employer and that the primary opportunity before them is to network and develop mutually beneficial relationships with their peers. Being relatively new to the MR world, when my COO invited me to attend the QRCA Annual Conference in San Diego, I expected this to be fundamental to my experience. And while I did meet many peers and I was able to network and hold many conversations relating to Qualitative research, what I could not have predicted was the amplification of camaraderie and community the conference supplied to its attendees.

There were quite a few speakers who warned against the limiting factors of allowing your personal biases and prejudices to inform your decisions. This is why I found it so fitting that I fell into the trap of expecting a simple networking event and was met instead, with some of the most robust presentations, from a group of incredibly eclectic and magnetic speakers who all traveled such different walks of life and yet landed in the same spot, Market Research. Whether it was Marta Villanueva, opening up the entire event with a powerful and personal experience of being othered, or Mark Engle who took us through a journey of the peaks and valleys of life and how ultimately, laughter and humor tie us all together - I continued to be floored by the rawness of connectivity we all shared despite the myriad of topics discussed and experiences lived.

My time at the QRCA conference completely reshaped my perspective on Qualitative Research. I have spent so much time laser-focused on the granularity of screeners, quotas, and the “ideal respondent”, that I seem to have minimized the fact that what we do in Qual goes far deeper than demographics and purchasing preferences. I came to the realization that our limitation as researchers is directly proportional to the time it takes to untangle ourselves from our preconceived notions. Once we can step away from the noise, only then we can enact our most powerful tool - our ability to listen!

If you are looking to revitalize and broaden your MR purview, don’t walk but run (!) and go register for the event next year. You will not be disappointed but maybe, just like me, you will be shocked to learn just how limiting your mindset really is.

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Features:
— Expert analysis provides detailed understanding of the beneficiaries you serve, your peers in the non-profit sector, your generous donors, and more.
— Eagerness to partner with causes of all scopes and sizes, from international charities to individual teams.
— Services offered pro bono or at cost for qualifying entrants, furthering the social impact of your cause.

Projects:
— Partnering with scholars across the academic landscape, we’re efforting to humanize the transgender population by understanding how they score on normal variables of personality and gender-stereotyped behavior. This large-scale quantitative project focuses on and engages with the transgender community as people, rather than as a clinical, pathologized population. Uniting academics from Loyola Marymount University, Northeastern University, and University of Rhode Island, this work aims to add to the incomplete body of scholarship on transgender people.
— Working alongside Lindz Amer and Queer Kid Stuff, we’ve conducted a multi-part brand awareness study to establish awareness of the brand and Amer’s new book Rainbow Parenting. In over twenty in-depth interviews and a rigorous quantitative survey phase, we’ve uncovered valuable insights into opportunities for customer engagement and opportunities to bolster customer financial support.
— Supporting HoMie, an Australian-based charity tackling youth homelessness, by testing innovative software from Research Goat. By conducting in-depth interviews via a variety of methods, we’ll unearth crucial insights about the customer experience at HoMie, and follow up with a large-scale quantitative survey to understand the charity’s reach.
— Assisting Hands on Tokyo as they endeavor to address disability rights and environmental issues in Japan. In response to one of Hands on Tokyo’s inspiring live events, we delivered a video reel and additional content, both featuring enhanced accessibility for Japanese and English speakers.