Archive for the ‘Research’ Category

The Researcher’s Christmas List

Published on Dec 19th, 2011 by Jack

Just like children across the globe, there are things market researchers want for Christmas! So considering experiences garnered from 2011, here are three things that market researchers would like for Christmas this year:

Removal of Negative Research PR

In a society where data is a powerful tool, it is common for research to make the news. Unfortunately, 2011 was not a good year for research PR. The 2011 Census garnered many negative headlines regarding length, cost and its ‘real value’. David Cameron’s Happiness Index also created a wave of negative PR regarding cost, validity and predictability of findings. Negative media reports regarding research can cast a shadow over the whole research process. How can this be prevented in 2012? This is largely the responsibility of The ONS – their work is published to an audience of millions, so any issues regarding research design and validity should be quashed prior to publicising elements of the research process – saving government (and market) researchers the burden of negative PR.

Do-it-Yourself but Do-it-Properly

In recent years research agencies have feared the growth of DIY research tools such as Survey Monkey. Now, with more advanced DIY packages available, DIY surveys in the research community are widespread relative to their penetration 5 years ago. To those using DIY surveys, when designing such studies and reporting the findings, do so in a manner akin to professional researchers – by seeking guidance if needs be – this will not only enhance the quality of the research you are doing, but also uphold positivity about the research process whilst giving DIY research more credit.

Licence to Experiment

2011 has been another breakthrough year for research technologies – gamification of research has grown in popularity, infographics have become widespread, 3D research technologies have improved significantly and social media research has continued to go from strength to strength. However, the widespread utilisation of these approaches has been held back by reluctance on the part of research buyers to invest in methods ‘beyond the norm’. If research buyers could share the experimental mentality of agencies in 2012 the benefits of new, engaging and innovative methods can be pushed to the limelight whilst delivering relevant insights.

So what would be the net result of Father Christmas giving these gifts to market researchers?

  • Research will have a better public reputation as being an outlet able to provide robust and relevant insights with a choice of professional, innovative tools or simpler, but still effective DIY options
  • Effective DIY research would become prevalent – at no expense to the reputation of professional researchers
  • Research can show its innovative ways to research buyers – whilst attracting potential research users in the process

These might be a bit more sophisticated than the rumoured 2011 top present (a ‘Doggie Doo’), but what’s the harm in asking….

 

We Think Much Less Than We Think We Think – A Subconscious Reality

Published on Nov 8th, 2011 by Nichola

This seemed to be the over-arching theme of the excellent IJMR Research Methods Forum I attended on 1st November, and was central to the presentation given by Orlando Wood, Managing Director of BrianJuicer Labs.

In essence, eight speakers spent the day answering the question ‘Does Research Reflect Reality?’ each according to their own area of expertise. Although each speaker had a different take on the extent to which we access the truth through market research, all agreed on one central idea;

Market researchers have a tendency to overlook the fact that much of day to day consumer behaviour and decision making is carried out instinctively, without any form of conscious, effortful or analytical thought, and, as such, it is of limited use to ask consumers to examine this behaviour or decision making as if they had been conscious of it at the time.

So where do we find the answers?

It is up to the researcher to decode the consumer behaviour they examine, and to try and access the implicit, instinctive reactions and decisions that underlie that behaviour. We cannot rely on the consumer to examine their own subconscious.

Indeed, Professor Gemma Calvert, Managing Director of Neurosense, gave some very useful examples of how these implicit consumer reactions can be accessed through neuroscience.

An old problem

Although there were some exciting and compelling arguments put forward at the IJMR forum, this problem is not entirely new; researchers have come under fire for ignoring the role of the subconscious before, and have sought and found some useful solutions, both qualitatively through projective techniques, and quantitatively by measuring reaction times for example.

However, in the end it takes longer and costs more to unearth the subconscious than to examine the conscious, and unfortunately budgets and deadlines can be unforgiving. Many neuroscience techniques remain frustratingly complex, and, as such, are impractical for use in a market research context.

Therefore, researchers are constantly seeking innovative methodologies to deliver research that is efficient and cost-effective while successfully unlocking insights that lie beyond the reach of consumer consciousness.

The other side of the coin

During our search for the implicit and instinctive, we should never stop asking consumers for their own interpretations of their behaviour.

As Graham Page, Executive Vice President of Consumer Neuroscience pointed out;

It may be true that we ‘think much less than we think we think’ but this is not to say that we NEVER think.

Sometimes consumers do make careful, analytical and conscious decisions that they can accurately report. Even when this is not the case, theories from consumers can help to reveal the context of their implicit decision making.

Market research has certainly been able to reveal some extremely useful insights into consumer behaviour simply through well thought out questioning and careful deduction in the past.

I am inclined to believe that the reality of consumer motivation is shaped by both conscious and subconscious thought. After all if reality does reside entirely in the subconscious we may have some bigger questions to ask.

 

 

Side-Lining Semiotics

Published on May 3rd, 2011 by Northstar UK

Why Is Semiotics Still On the Side-lines Of Research?

When semiotics is understood in a commercial rather than academic context, its value for brands seems non-negotiable. Yet, it remains at the edge of the insight playing field, still struggling to shake off its academic typecast and a reputation for being awkward. At Research 2011, semiotics was singled out as a highly undervalued tool – so is this the year for semiotics?

The Right Perspective

Contrary to traditional research practices, semiotics champions an outside-in approach – consumers don’t necessary have all the answers – shock horror! By taking an approach that acknowledges not all commercial insight is born from interacting with the consumer, you can start to see how semiotics comes into its own.

Traditional research goes straight to the consumer – what do people think and want? Whereas semiotics goes straight to culture – what is creating these thoughts and desires in the first place?

It’s often this different line of attack that I believe can be an initial hurdle for the traditional researcher, who is understandably accustomed to going straight to the consumer front line.

So What’s It All About?

It’s all about culture. The complex, intangible bubble of language, art, belief and attitude.  I particularly like this quote to describe the essence of culture, “Culture is a little like dropping an Alka-Seltzer into a glass – you don’t see it, but somehow it does something” Hans Magnus Enzensberger.

Commercial semiotics in my mind is about making sense of the fluid, implicit and unspoken nature of culture and systematically structuring it to create a valuable resource for new insights and future trends.

What Does It Actually Involve?

Semiotics word for word is the ‘study of signals’. Signals can be anything that creates or communicates meaning. Commercial semiotics looks for signals in two main areas:

The Brand In Question and Its Overall Category Mapping category signs and symbols

We look at: Products, packaging, colours, graphics, language, tone,  advertising, jingles, communications, stories, archetypes, physical  brand spaces

We ask: Is the brand coherent across all manifestations? Is the brand distinctive within its category?

Popular Culture Identifying dominant and emergent cultural codes

We look at: TV, magazines, newspapers, film, books, music, blogs, social media,  comedy, art & design, people, public spaces, fashion

We ask: Is the brand relevant within this?

After delving into these two areas, the relevant themes are identified and brought together by looking at the key signifiers, attitudes, concepts and narratives that bring these themes to life. We look at how brands, the category and popular culture all interact and relate to each other within these themes. From here, the insight drawn from the themes can be turned into specific ways forward for a brand or concept.

Semiotics can start with a brand and work outwards to wider culture, or start with a concept such as ‘health’ or ‘femininity’ in popular culture and filter down to relevant brands.

So Where Does Semiotics Fit In?

Why is all this fluffy, cultural stuff important you say? Can’t we just do a focus group and ask people what they want? Yes you could, but supplementing the close-up psychological view gleaned from qual with a wider cultural view, can only make a strategy stronger.

In a globalised and digital world where cultural considerations are paramount – it is becoming increasingly valuable to look at the cultural codes which underpin how consumers behave. This is particularly important where global or cross-cultural harmonisation of brands and communications is an issue.

Semiotics allows us to identify pertinent and emergent themes that can be harnessed or progressed by a brand and which directions their competitors are taking. It provides a good starting point to build new perspectives and positions that are relevant or better still, ahead of the curve.

Culture is often one step ahead of consumers so tapping into it means brands have an opportunity to be the leaders, not the followers, and drive consumer imagination rather than lead it.

Chasing Insights; a Question of Causality

Published on Apr 4th, 2011 by Nichola

As researchers, we all love that ‘eureka’ moment; when we catch a glimpse of an underlying truth beyond the reams of data, the endless transcripts and the lengthy debates. Numbers take on meaning and context, isolated opinions start to connect, and we are struck by a shared respondent experience, which looms larger than the enormity of individual differences. We see our sample as united by common beliefs or motivations, borne out of a shared consumer or business landscape. We’ve found a pattern!

Truth be told, it’s not just the researchers who get a kick out of patterns, it’s human nature to search for trends and short cuts, to rationalise, generalise, sort, filter, or do anything at all really to get past the details and minutia that surround us. The idea that our social and physical world can be explained and even predicted is comforting, and indeed we must assume that this is the case if we are ever to feel any sense of control, or confidence in our decisions.

But the psychologists will tell us that our short cuts and generalisations are not always reliable. We often make poor decisions based on our own past experiences, because we group together choices and situations that in fact have little in common. It worked last time, so why shouldn’t it work again? Because the time, the place, the people involved and any number of other details are different.

In our eagerness to see even the truly random as a potential pattern, we can leap to some very unlikely conclusions. In the context of our insight-hungry research industry, we must be wary of this temptation. Under pressure to ‘add value’ and in our search for that holy-grail of an insight, we need to remember that not every trend holds the answer, and that there is such a thing as a random pattern.

Insight or Oversight?

The laws of cause and effect are a common stumbling ground when it comes to connecting the unrelated. Two measurements, behaviours or events may appear to be connected, always occurring at the same time or at the same rate, however, this does not necessarily mean that one is the cause of the other.  For example, there may be a third, hidden variable that links the two occurrences.

A strong positive correlation has been observed between the annual number of nesting storks, and the annual number of babies born in the city of Copenhagen. From this you could infer that there was some truth to the legend that storks bring babies, or if you don’t go in for legend, it could even be the babies bringing the storks. But a little scepticism, or perhaps common sense will quickly reveal that as the population grows, so too does the building construction to accommodate it, thus providing more nesting opportunities for storks who like to make their homes in the rooftops. Though the construction is linked to both the new born babies and the nesting storks, sadly the storks and the babies have no direct causal relationship.

So, before we start shouting our latest wild interpretation from the rooftops, we should consider the possibility that it may be just a red herring, or indeed a nesting stork, posing as a friendly insight.

Five Things Which Are New in the 2011 Census

Published on Mar 23rd, 2011 by Jack

Census Day for England and Wales is due to take place on March 27th 2011. As one would expect, The Census has changed greatly since its inception in 1801. For example, a major change to last year’s questionnaire was the inclusion of a question on religion. This year, several changes are afoot. But what are the changes to the 2011 Census vs. its predecessors?

Online Presence

The census has, it appears, moved with the times laid out by the modern day research industry. For the first time ever there will be an option to complete The Census online. From a respondent perspective this should make The Census less arduous and intimidating – often when an 11 page survey is placed in front of a respondent it is often greeted with a monotone sigh. Online methods should therefore, increase respondents willingness to participate. Additionally the clarity of the data gained via online methods should allow for increased accuracy. An online checking tool to monitor this process will also make research management easier for The ONS.

New Questions

As is seemingly Census tradition, there is additional content to this year’s survey. Further question subjects include; migration details, number of bedrooms owned and number of passports possessed. The benefit of these extra questions is (simply put) that the more the government knows about the nation, the more informed their decisions can be. Resultantly, policy making should become more representative of national needs due to a more encompassing data bank.

Increased Cost

As with any public spending, the finances of The Census have come under scrutiny. Despite the partial use of online data collection methods (which is usually deemed the cheapest method of data collection) the cost of The Census is reported to have doubled, at a rumoured level of £480 million. One has to question why the cost has increased despite seemingly more efficient methods. The answer to this is largely due to the cost of translation required to ensure immigrant’s information is collected. If this is so expensive then why do it you could ask? The goal of The Census is to take a snap shot of the population. What kind of snapshot of the UK in 2011 would ignore non-English speakers? A poor, unrepresentative one – hence the need to include such people and absorb the costs accordingly.

Increased Time

With the addition of the previously highlighted questions, The 2011 Census is 56 questions long and will take a household of 4 nearly 40 minutes to complete. In a society where time is precious, this is a considerable length of time. That said, with 52’59’487.66 minutes passing between Census’s – is 40 minutes too much to ask?

Increased Data Sharing

Census data is not divulged to the public until 100 years after it has been collected. However, under the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 Census data can be shared amongst the 27 EU member states and bodies of ‘approved researchers’. This does mean that, hopefully, institutes other than the UK government can benefit from the 2011 Census. However, it has also meant that Census naysayers such as NO2ID and Big Brother Watch have heightened their anti-Census sentiment.