NielsenIQ Internship
Qualitative Market Research
Overview
During the summer of 2021, I worked at NielsenIQ as a qualitative research intern. I learned a lot of qualitative research methods which could be applied to UX research from this internship opportunity. I was involved in 5 projects with 5 clients on different products before they enter the market/helped with the market growth of the current product. Due to confidentiality, I can't disclose the specific details of my work. However, on a high level, I can say that I used several qualitative research methods to identify customers’ needs and problems in the market, and finally propose market growth direction to the client.
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If you’re interested in learning more about my internship projects, feel free to reach out!
My Role:
Qualitative Research Intern
Duration:
June 2021 - September 2021 (3 months)
Team:
NielsenIQ Consumer Insight Department - Beijing Office
My internship duties:
Desk Research
To better understand clients’ business objectives and help their product better enter the market, I need to conduct desk research on the current market of that product, or any topics according to clients’ different needs.
Design Screening Questionnaire
To select the right participants for market research, I helped with designing screening questionnaires that aim to recruit both the current users (consumers who are using the product the client company produces) and the potential users (consumers who are using the product the competitor company produces).
Analysis of interview data
Across 3 months, I attended 33 in-depth interviews and 9 focus group interviews. These interviews were mostly focused on consumers’ brand perception, product marketing communication feedback, and current product usage and feedback. I helped with collecting the interview data and doing the coding of these interview data afterward.
Personas & Journey Mapping
Based on the interview coding, I helped with building personas and generating different journey mappings according to various personas to help the client better understand different consumers’ shopping preferences and their deciding purchasing factors.
Provide Market Growth Suggestions
Combing all the findings from desk research and interviews, I also helped with proposing suggestions on how to improve the client company’s current product/what should be done to successfully win more consumers in the market.
Reflection
Besides improving my skills in qualitative research methods, I felt that my internship also helped me be ready to join a fast-paced workspace, and there are some soft skills I learned from my internship that will help me work more effectively in the future.
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Multi-tasking ability
During my internship, there were always multiple projects that I need to work on at the same time. To hand in all deliverables on time, I need to be good at time management and set a prioritization for the tasks according to their importance and due date. When you get a planned schedule, you can always finish the assigned tasks even within a busy period.
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Never be shy to ask for clarification
Being an intern on the team, I was kind of terrified to ask questions at the beginning when there’s an ambiguity. However, after finishing the first project, I realized that asking for clarification as soon as possible will save me much more time on my work. For the projects later, I never hesitated to ask for clarifications when there was confusion, and my work process speeds up much more quickly.
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Details do matter
Being an intern, I also took the responsibility of designing and drafting the research report in the PowerPoint format which will be viewed by the client companies. Even a small typo or an inconsistent format could cause confusion for those who will view it. Details do matter a lot in the work, and it somewhat decides the quality of your work.
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*For more reflection and UX insights I gained from this internship experience, please feel free to read this Medium article I wrote:
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