Have questions? Do not ask.

This might provoke a little but heck, I have to say this - all interrogative qualitative research is warped!
Why?
Because in our daily lives (leave aside advertisers/marketers) we never actively think about brands, advertising, products etc. the way we are asked to in any qualitative research. This could be a focus group discussion or in-depth interview or anything else that involves direct interrogation.
To top it all we are even expected to articulate our feelings just the way we are experiencing them.
But step back & think how many times do we ‘actively’ think about brands and brand preferences?
Most of the brand perceptions & preferences are subliminal. Most of the time this brand related thinking is in our subconscious.
This does not mean that we do not think or talk about brands. All it means that it is more personal. We do this with our very close friends (“I really like Nike” or “I like going to the Mango store..”) or in a spur of a moment (What bullshit, Apple ‘is’ the best computer!)
It is there but we do not actively think about it unless we are planning to buy something or there is a heated debate where someone is countering our point of view about a brand or product.
In other words we are brand active around the time of purchase or in passionate discussions about the brand or discussions about things that also touch upon brands.
While on qualitative brand or advertising research, I am assuming that the people* who are responding have strong opinion about the brand or advertising (be it love or hatred). For anyone who is indifferent to the brand (even if he qualifies the Target Group test) his views are of least significance.

(More on the 'kind of respondents' we usually get for research, later)

Also, most of us are not very articulate. The feelings, thoughts and perceptions about brands, advertising or products are very fuzzy. Thus expecting a clear articulation of ‘what we think we are feeling’ is at best impossible for an average respondent.

I think that there is a very strong case for realigning our approach to qualitative research. To discuss brands and perceptions we need to find more meaningful opportunities and places other than hotel rooms.
What is the way out then?
To start with I suggest we stop asking and start observing – this would give us many a pointers.
If we are not convinced with the validity of our observations we can always cross validate them.
No, not by asking but by planting these observations or thoughts in situations where one can expect a passionate discussion. You are right there is not way to control this, but that is the nature of natural response you can’t control it. Control it and it is not natural any more.
So the next time you have a question try and get the answer without actually asking it!