At Sicché, we are all senior researchers with at least 15 years of experience in the qualitative research sector. We have worked as consultants for various research agencies, and some of us have been part of internal teams, experiencing research from different perspectives. Over the years, we have conducted fieldwork of every kind: traditional focus groups, in-depth interviews, ethnographies, shop-alongs, online communities, digital diaries. We have experimented with innovative methodologies and refined classic ones, worked in person and online, adapting to changes in the sector without ever losing sight of what truly matters.
Our common thread has always been the same: putting quality of work at the center, deep motivational analysis, authentic listening to people, careful observation of behaviors. We know well that finding meaningful insights, discovering those qualitative small data that make the difference for our clients, is not a matter of magic or speed. It's a process. And as such, it requires time, effort, analytical capability, and comparison among researchers. This awareness guides every choice we make at Sicché.
Yet, we live in a paradox. Today there's so much talk about qualitative analysis, qualitative insights, deep understanding of consumers. But at the same time, qualitative tools proliferate where moderation is entrusted to AI automation that follows rigid scripts, with no possibility for the researcher to probe deeper or follow up. We see synthetic respondents – artificially created by artificial intelligence – presented as credible alternatives to real people. And we witness a sort of quantitative drift in qualitative research: open-ended questions treated "at scale," analyzed en masse, as if they were simple numerical variables with some text attached.
One has to wonder: is this really the new direction for qualitative research? Does qual-at-scale represent the future of our sector? Are AI-moderated interviews really the best qualitative moderator one can have? 🤔 Must we resign ourselves to sacrificing depth on the altar of speed and scalability?
Fortunately, the answer is no. This is demonstrated by signals coming from the market: the constant increase in demand for in-depth individual interviews, the return to classic in-person focus groups, the strong reliance on ethnography and shop-alongs. But also pre-tasks and online diaries, qualitative communities with videos, voice recordings, photos... The most attentive clients know that certain insights don't emerge from superficial or simulated interactions, but from authentic encounters with people, from the researcher's ability to grasp nuances, contradictions, emotions that no algorithm can intercept. Because it would intercept what has already been said, what represents the average of thought, not the insight.
This is where our vision with Sicché comes in. We have created a platform for qualitative analysis that can be used completely autonomously by the researcher, or integrated with in-person phases – face-to-face interviews, traditional focus groups – to explore specific themes individually and asynchronously. Think of pre-tasks that prepare respondents before a focus group, diaries that capture experiences as they happen, follow-ups that allow you to return to emerged themes and dig deeper.
Unlike other tools on the market, Sicché doesn't promise insights ready instantly. It doesn't tell you it can conduct qualitative market research completely autonomously. It doesn't perform magic and doesn't claim to replace the researcher. Simply put, it's one of the easiest platforms to use – for both respondents and researchers – with real qualitative tools and not just open-ended questions with voice responses. It allows you to conduct very simple or extremely complex research, including longitudinal studies. The integrated AI functions help the researcher get an initial sense: identifying emerging macro-themes, spotting differences between clusters or sub-targets, organizing large amounts of material. But they are support tools, not substitutes for critical thinking.
Thanks also to our consulting services, methodological support, and strategic advice, we accompany researchers in their daily work. Because true insights are born from deep understanding, from the expert analysis of the researcher who – thanks to our platform – sees their work simplified and optimized, freed from technical burdens to focus on what they do best: listening, interpreting, making sense.
With Sicché, qualitative research remains at the center. No promises of insights that are actually AI-generated summaries, but a concrete tool to do your qualitative analysis work in the best possible way.
