Quite a lot, and it’s really important to know the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative research.

It cannot predict what people will actually buy once a product is in market. What it can do is explain why customers make the choices they do, what changes those choices, and which of your assumptions carry the most risk. It’s also pretty good at predicting why customers might not buy the product at all.

It cannot give you a statistically reliable price point. It will tell you how price changes perceived value, and where a number stops feeling reasonable. If you need a precise threshold, that is a quantitative study and we will say so.

It cannot tell you how many or how large something is or will be. Qualitative work explains the why behind a behaviour. It does not size it.

And it cannot make the decision for you. Research narrows the range of sensible options and shows you what you would be betting on. Someone still has to place the bet.

We are wary of research that promises certainty. The useful output is a smaller set of better-understood risks, not a guarantee.