Third Culture / Dialog & Insights, Inc.

• Group Discussions...organized in community-based sites when traditional facilities are not the best idea
• Ethnography...so research can teach us what we don't already know
• In-depth Interviews...conducted by researchers chosen for their unique ability to integrate with respondents for insight based on rapport and trust
• Shop-alongs / walk-alongs...we'll accompany community members to their favorite haunts, through a shopping or job-hunting experience or even on the web to learn more about how these everyday activities are seen from their eyes.

Cultural minorities do integrate, and in a conventional focus group facility, they speak from that part of themselves.  In certain situations, learnings are richest if we take our group discussions into their worlds.  Whether in a community member's living room, at a neighborhood watering hole or in a community center basement, we will help you learn about the part of their world you do not get to see elsewhere.

Did you know that, stored just right, your typical store-bought banana can be ripened to achieve the sweet-stickyness Caribbean nationals are used to?  And that black women spend hundreds each year on hair products that only their neighborhood produce markets carry? To speak nothing of the innovative money transfer solutions and telecommunications cocktails that can only be uncovered by seeing these "compensatory behaviors" in action.  Ethnography provides a rare opportunity to identify unmet needs and way to corner a foothold in these growth markets of the future.

Typical qualitative research wisdom has it that, for some topics, the intimacy of a one-on-one discussion with a skilled interviewer is key to getting as close as possible to truths about values, attitudes and what one holds most dear.  When speaking to a member of a minority group, a sense of cultural affinity is also essential to building trust and rapport with respondents.  Hence the need for a research team with the unique access and ability to integrate that is central to our business model.