Twitter Hashtag #QUAL360

November 20-21, 2013 | Singapore

Platinum Sponsor

Association Partners

Media Sponsors

1

Face Value "Capturing fleeting emotions through facial coding to add

value to Qualitative research"

PANKAJ JHA

2

Overview

• Test the response to an international toy franchise in India

• The concept was unique in its category for the India market

• We tested the concept in the form of short videos

• Primary methodology was Qualitative FGD, triads & expert interviews

• Facial coding to add value by capturing the unstated, the unspoken.

3

Tools for the study

Tools Process

Paired Triads Semi structured discussion with 3 Mothers along with their kids

Interacting with kids along their mothers helped understand their

perspective together

Triads Open ended discussion with evolved kids

Niche TG hence triads

Facial Coding Recording of facial expressions when kids were watching the concept

being shown to them as videos

Implicit responses integrated with qualitative findings

4

What was the response to the concept?

6 – 9 Years - Kids

Scary and full of negativity

Kids + mothers find it edgy

yet trendy; but not suited

for this age

14 – 15 Years - Teens

Show off value

Stylish and trendy

Eager to adopt due to the

unique nature

10 – 12 Years – Tweens

Kids find it scary and non-

attractive yet thrilling

Mothers – Low acceptance

Scary and horrifying

Horror

Scary

Evil

Scary yet unique and

fashionable

Unique

Different

Fashionable

Horror

Scary

Crazy

Dark

Why did we add Facial Coding?

6

We have experimented with a range of neuroscience methods & found facial coding as a useful supplement to our traditional research techniques

Good qualitative research practice always emphasises on the observation of the unspoken and non verbal reactions.

As people become more sophisticated, they are able to hide these, be polite, rationalise and give ‘statements’/ stated responses which are post rationalisations & not raw, implicit, heart felt emotions.

Today technology is allowing us to capture these fleeting human responses.

Extraction of main features on the face (e.g., mouth, eyebrows) and analysis of movement, shape and texture composition of these regions to identify facial action units.

Action descriptors can be abstracted into facial and head gestures (e.g., a head shake or squinting) that combine to communicate a wide variety of emotional and cognitive states.

Multiple emotional and mental states are detected, aggregated & shown in an easy to interact dashboard

The science behind facial coding

Complex science but Simple process

Emotions

experienced

Expression

aggregation

and analysis

Facial expression

recognition

Participant turns

on webcam

Facial features

identified

Easy to deploy the technology

1. Record respondents’ facial reactions to marketing stimulus

2. Code them automatically for emotional states

3. Diagnose emotional reaction moment by moment w/o verbal questions

How did facial coding add?

In qualitative discussions, all age segments had strong negative associations

BUT

Intuitive response did not show any major dislikes in any age group

They did not enjoy it at all,

not smiling during the

entire time they were

watching the concept.

Concentrating but finding it

difficult to understand what

was going on.

They thoroughly enjoyed

the concept, smiling the

most.

Their concentration

increased during parts

where new aspects were

introduced, they were

pretty well clued in.

These older kids enjoyed

some parts, smiling at

times.

They were concentrating

on a few occasions &

easily understood the

concept.

Facial coding showed

6 – 9 Years - Kids 10 – 12 Years – Tweens 14 – 15 Years - Teens

Scary and horrifying

Scary yet unique and

fashionable

Smiles – Different response across age

6-9 YO

10-12 YO

14-15 YO

Concentration – Youngest trying hard to understand the concept

6-9 YO

10-12 YO

14-15 YO

Dislikes – Low across age

6-9 YO

10-12 YO

14-15 YO

Facial Coding adds to Qualitative research

The reactions to a new idea/ revolutionary idea also some times gets

us ‘polite/safe/neutral’ stated reactions.

To get the real subconscious reactions - you need a sophisticated

tool.

The combination of Qual + Affectiva is a powerful proposition:

Consumer expressions through verbalised reactions + non-verbalised

facial expressions.

In this case, we were able to modify our recommendations looking at the

facial coding results – the concept was not perceived as negatively as the

stated responses suggested.

15

Face Value: "Capturing fleeting emotions through facial coding to add

value to Qualitative research"

PANKAJ JHA

Platinum Sponsor

Association Partners

Media Sponsors

Twitter Hashtag #QUAL360

November 20-21, 2013 | Singapore