AI has transformed the market research industry, and it has also accelerated another shift: qualitative research is becoming more immersive, collaborative, and more experiential.
At Vital Findings (VF), we’ve embraced AI while watching qualitative research evolve into something even more powerful. That evolution inspired us to create QualLAB™, a dedicated practice built around immersive, human-centered research designed to uncover the insights that emerge through observation, collaboration, and genuine human connection.
We sat down with Ivey Crespo, Head of QualLAB, to discuss why qualitative research is experiencing a renewed energy, where AI fits in, and why being in the room still matters.
Ivey has spent more than a decade leading qualitative research at Vital Findings, where she helps organizations uncover the human insights behind better business decisions. She holds a Master of Arts in Cultural Anthropology from Georgia State University and brings a deep understanding of human behavior to every engagement.
“QualLAB is a home for the methods that depend on genuine human connection and a reminder that as research technology evolves, it’s people that remain at the heart of what we do and why we do it.“
— Ivey Crespo
How is AI changing qualitative research?
VF: AI is everywhere in market research right now. How do you see it fitting alongside qualitative research?
Ivey: The question isn’t whether AI or qualitative research is the better approach. The question is what kind of understanding you’re trying to achieve and which method gets you there. We’re using AI methods like Digital Twins and Qual-at-Massive-Scale because they offer incredible breadth and speed. They surface valuable insights and are becoming an essential part of every researcher’s toolkit.
Where AI still has limitations is in understanding emotion, complexity, and the dynamic exchange between participants, researchers, and clients.
When you’re exploring innovation, developing new products, or tackling deeply personal topics, immersive qualitative research is still the right approach. It creates the context, collaboration, and human understanding that lead to better decisions. That’s especially true in global research, where language, culture, and lived experience shape how people communicate and what their experiences really mean.
AI helps us understand what’s already known. Qualitative research helps us discover what’s emerging. Culture evolves. Emotions shift. New generations bring entirely new perspectives. Those changes can’t be fully anticipated from existing data alone.
When the goal is innovation or understanding complex human experiences, there’s still no substitute for being in the room (or kayaking, hiking, shopping!) with the people you’re trying to understand.
Qualitative research feels different today. Why?
VF: What trends are you seeing, and where is the discipline heading?
Ivey: Traditional qualitative research is adapting. It’s evolving by leaning further into what it does best: human connection, shared meaning-making, and knowing when observation itself is the right tool.
Participants aren’t passive respondents anymore. They’re collaborators. The best research happens when a moderator and participant build understanding together rather than simply collecting answers.
That’s one of the reasons Spark Sessions have become such an important part of our work. They’re less like traditional focus groups and more like collaborative workshops where consumers, researchers, designers, and stakeholders explore ideas together. The conversations are richer, the energy is different, and the insights often emerge through interaction rather than individual responses alone.
We’re also incorporating more arts-based and expressive techniques to better understand emotion. People don’t always have the words for what they’re feeling. Sometimes drawing, creating, or reacting visually reveals insights that conversation alone never would.
Why did you create QualLAB?
VF: What led you to create a dedicated qualitative practice?
Ivey: We wanted to make a clear statement and put a stake in the ground about where we believe qualitative research is headed.
As Vital Findings expanded its AI capabilities, we saw qualitative research becoming more immersive, more collaborative, and more experiential. Clients weren’t just looking for answers anymore. They wanted to connect with their audiences, understand context, and experience the research firsthand. And that is what QualLAB was built around.
It’s a home for the methods that depend on genuine human connection, whether that’s immersive ethnography, co-creation, Spark Sessions, observation, or other approaches where meaning emerges through interaction. It’s about choosing the right method for the right challenge and creating experiences that generate better insights.
My background in anthropology has always shaped how I think about research. Meaning doesn’t exist in isolation. It’s created through context, observation, and conversation. That’s what makes qualitative research so powerful.
Where does immersive qualitative research create the most value?
VF: How have clients’ expectations changed?
Ivey: Clients aren’t waiting weeks to react to findings. They want the live feedback loop that immersive, experiential, in-person qual provides. They’re observing, asking questions, making connections, and refining ideas as the research unfolds.
Clients used to approach focus groups more as a way to test lots of ideas and see what stuck. Today, they’re much more intentional. They choose in-person research because they’re trying to solve more complex problems. They want to understand behavior, uncover unmet needs, or shape something entirely new.
When the challenge calls for empathy, collaboration, or deep human understanding, being in the room simply leads to better outcomes.
How do you make insights stick?
VF: How do you ensure research has a lasting impact inside an organization?
Ivey: Connected qualitative research is experiential storytelling.
When clients experience research firsthand, or step into the world their consumers inhabit, the insights stay with them in a way no report ever could.
That’s especially true for designers, innovators, and product teams. Watching someone struggle with a product, adapt it, or describe an unmet need creates empathy that changes how people think.
Our job is to carry that experience into everything we deliver. Whether through video, imagery, storytelling, or live observation, we want clients to remember not just what they learned, but who they learned it from.
Final thoughts
VF: To close on a personal note: What do you love most about qualitative research, and what keeps you dedicated to it?
Ivey: It always comes back to people’s stories.
From studying theater to anthropology to qualitative research, I’ve always been drawn to understanding how people experience the world. That’s what pulled me toward qual over quant. Whether we’re researching financial decisions, healthcare, or even the mayonnaise someone buys, there’s always a deeply human story underneath it.
I fell in love with anthropology because it challenged the way I saw the world. It taught me that people’s beliefs, emotions, and behaviors are shaped by culture and context, and that there isn’t just one “right” way to understand human experience. Eventually, I realized I wanted to take those ideas out of the classroom and apply them to real-world problems.
That’s what qualitative research allows me to do every day. I get to help people tell their stories, and I get to help organizations listen. For me, that’s the most meaningful part of the work—and I think it’s why qualitative research will always matter.
Interested in QualLAB?
Ready to learn more about the future of qual?
Join us on August 11 for an encore presentation of The Innovation Blind Spot: The Evolution of Qual and the Return to Immersion. Following their Quirk’s Event session, Ivey Crespo from Vital Findings and Beth Foster from The North Face will dive deeper into why leading brands are doubling down on immersive, human-moderated qual at the pivotal moments in the innovation cycle, and how these approaches uncover the insights that drive better innovation.
