About the practice
Founded in 2012, Shirabe Research is a qualitative-first market research firm operating from 27 Calder Street in Northbank. We conduct unhurried, in-person customer research across five languages to uncover the practical motivations behind commercial behavior.
Studio B, before a charting session
THE PRACTICE
01 — In numbers
The operational scale of Shirabe Research is defined by four core metrics that govern how we manage our commitments. Founded in 2012, our practice has spent over twelve years refining qualitative methodologies without expanding into an impersonal agency model. Our permanent staff consists of seven dedicated researchers, moderators, and operations specialists who conduct every phase of fieldwork personally. A typical study runs for five weeks, providing sufficient duration for rigorous recruitment, fieldwork, analysis, and executive readout without dragging into organizational fatigue. Finally, our team conducts interviews and qualitative analysis across five languages, allowing us to examine customer experiences across diverse regional communities while maintaining uniform analytical precision across all findings.
founded
2012
people in the studio
7
weeks in a typical study
5
languages
5
HOW WE WORK
02 — In person, in small samples, on paper
Practice Foundation and History
Shirabe Research was established in 2012 with a deliberate qualitative-first focus. While broader market research expanded into automated telemetry and high-volume digital questionnaires, our practice committed to sitting across the table from customers. Over more than a decade of independent operation, we have maintained a compact, highly focused team of seven specialists. Our work centers on direct dialogue, in-context observation, and rigorous qualitative analysis. Headquartered on the fourth floor of 27 Calder Street in Northbank, we operate two dedicated interview studios, Studio A and Studio B, purposefully designed for quiet, focused customer interviews. We intentionally avoid speculative trend forecasting and aggregated dashboards, choosing instead to deliver deep contextual understanding that product and executive teams can verify from primary evidence.
Working In Person and on Paper
We believe that customer intent cannot be decoded through remote surveillance or detached metric logging. When a participant hesitates, shifts their posture, or sighs while examining a product, that physical reaction reveals where experience diverges from assumption. Every study we undertake relies on small, tightly screened participant samples, typically eight to twelve people for discovery engagements. Rather than processing transcripts through automated sentiment parsers, our researchers transcribe conversations verbatim and map findings by hand onto large paper charts. Pinning observations to our studio walls allows our team and visiting clients to inspect evidence collaboratively, organize thematic clusters, and debate interpretations in real space. This tactile methodology prevents premature abstraction and ensures that every final insight traces directly back to recorded testimony.