Liz Sanders is an experimental psychologist and a pioneer in generative design research. She is the founder of Make Tools, which leverages participatory human-centered methods for innovation and to address the big challenges we face in today’s world. Liz is also a professor within the Design Department at The Ohio State University. QRCA VIEWS Luminaries Feature Editor Kay Corry Aubrey recently spoke with Liz about her work in a field that she helped to create, related to qualitative research.
Quant Lens
Synthetic Data: Friend or Foe?
Synthetic data is moving from buzzword to practical helper for qual. This article demystifies what it is (and isn’t), distinguishes spreadsheet-style synthetic datasets from narrative synthetic personas, and shows when to use each—screeners, guide tests, privacy-safe storytelling, and bridging gaps between qual/quant—without replacing live human voices. You’ll get starter use cases, guardrails (seed quality, labeling, sanity checks), a beginner’s playbook, and hybrid workflows so synthetic data lightens the load while real conversations do the delicate listening. […]
Toolbox
To Boost Your Creativity, Take a More Direct Approach
The key to being more creative is to learn what constitutes creativity—flexibility, fluency, originality, and elaboration. Renee Hopkins of Decision Analyst discusses how to build these skills and increase your creativity directly and deliberately. […]
Business Matters
Improv Mindset: 4 Principles to Build Your Qualitative Skills
Qualitative research is a form of applied improvisation: even though moderators prepare extensively, almost anything can happen in an actual conversation, and we have to be able to react in the moment—all while putting on a show for our highly-engaged client “audience.” Actor Will Dennis describes how deliberately adopting an “improv mindset” can further bolster our qualitative skills, offering exercises to help us listen more attentively, make our respondents look good, and reconsider how spontaneous dialogue can turn into opportunities for more genuine and authentic conversations with participants. […]
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