A phone interview is underway. The interviewer is working from a questionnaire written by a researcher to gather specific information. She asks the participant: “What brands come to mind when thinking about the financial services sector?”

After the participant is done speaking, the interviewer waits a moment and then probes, “Can you think of any others?” Perhaps the interviewer continues by prompting them with the name of a specific brand that was not mentioned to gather specific feedback.

Probes and prompts are used in market research to help solicit more information from participants. Yet researchers need to be aware of when it may or may not be ethical to use prompts in research. Can it affect data outcomes? What else should we be keeping in mind? Here is a closer look at some specific factors that can influence research design and data analysis.

How to Use Probes
Probes are commonly used in market research to dig deeper, especially during one-on-one interviews. They may arise organically as a result of the conversation between an interviewer and participant or they may be built into the design of the research questionnaire for both phone interviews and online surveys in order to give respondents another opportunity to think about their answers or provide clarification for more insights.

Probes are defined as specific questions asked to encourage participants to give more information

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