April 24, 2006, Metropolitan Washington, DC - RIVA Training Institute, a global market research training firm, this winter awarded a Master Moderator Certificate™ to Gloria Canteñs-Purchon, Qualitative Research Director of Insights Marketing Group, Inc. (www.insights-marketing.com).  This makes IMG home to the only two Hispanic moderators in the US to receive the certification.

A full-service market research firm, Insights Marketing Group specializes in qualitative consumer research and diagnostic advertising research. They are located in Miami, Florida.

Ms. Cantens Purchon, one of a total of nine moderators in the US to earn the certificate, is also one of only two Hispanics in North America to achieve this distinction; the first was Belkist Padilla, President and Principal of IMG. Gloria is a bilingual qualitative research moderator (Spanish and English). She earned her Master Moderator Certificate™ through comprehensive RIVA course work capped by passing extensive written and practicum examinations.

According to Naomi Henderson, founder of RIVA, “simply leading hundreds of groups over 10 or 15 years doesn't automatically qualify one as a Master Moderator if new skills have not been acquired and adapted to the ever-changing conditions in the world of qualitative research. In general, the following elements make a Master Moderator.

• Willingness to take risks and stretch conventional research boundaries
• Continuous search for training and learning opportunities from other related disciplines
• Constant acquisition of new ways to interact with groups of individuals in qualitative settings
• Development of more efficient methods to collect data in the 90 minutes allotted in standard two-hour focus group sessions
• Offering clients variations on classic focus group formats (e.g., super groups, creativity sessions, piggyback groups, etc.).”

RIVA Training Institute has specialized in qualitative research and moderator training for twenty-two years. It currently offers courses in Metropolitan Washington, DC and San Diego, California.