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Tech-turbocharged: Unleashing the Power of Technology in Market Research

RG399731 — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 15:14:37 GMT

Unleashing the Power of Technology in Market Research

As 2023 marks my 30 ^th year in research, (I started out young!), it’s quite eye opening to reflect on the industry and how technology has transformed our profession.

With increasing innovation entering the MR space, and of course, the recent buzz around the potential of AI such as Chat GPT and Bing AI Chatbot, it’s startling to think of how we coped with limited technology in the 1990’s.

Here are some enlightening stories about then and now in market research:

In the 1990’s capturing Data for Quantitative surveys relied solely on interviewers standing on the street, within a store or knocking on doors with a paper questionnaire and pen. The infamous ‘clipboard’ became the symbol for market researchers and a red flag for some members of the public to turn and run in the opposite direction. It was a tough job that required lots of resilience. Nowadays, most Quant surveys are conducted online, and the clipboard is only known as a tool for cutting and pasting from documents.

Focus groups were conducted in recruiters’ homes, with the moderators ‘kit bag’ filled with small envelopes of cash incentives and a rather large tape recorder that resembled a large brick and weighed about the same. There were no cameras involved unless you booked a viewing facility, where clients could sit in and observe via a two way mirror. Whilst the traditional viewing facility still exists, I’d imagine the decline of f2f focus groups has significantly impacted on frequency of use. Now clients can sit comfortably at home whilst dialling in to Zoom groups – they may miss out on a takeaway, but they don’t have to be away from home for 14 hours in a day.

Thankfully, moderators no longer need a security guard to escort them around with large wads of cash incentives, as we move to digital payments, although the leftover incentives, or magic fivers as coined in one agency I worked in, were one of the perks of the job for some!

Whilst certain projects still require f2f interviewing, in most cases researchers can build a rapport and get a group into the ‘performing’ stage in a digital context. For participants, there is much less anxiety in engaging in a digital group, not having to go to another location and sit in with a group of strangers who may or may not share similar views. It takes a lot of confidence to vocalise one’s own true feelings and opinions in that type of setting and that can often be overlooked.

If you didn’t have hours on end to listen back to groups, typists were used to provide transcripts which you then had to examine and mark up with your trusty set of highlighters. Now we have AI tools like Zoom and Otter that can provide transcripts in an instant. Are they perfect? Well, no – they are often a constant source of amusement turning innocent statements into something odd, sexual or downright devious but even at 85% accuracy they are still very usable.

Presentations took extra time to allow for acetate printing for use on projectors, and God help you if you spotted a last minute typo. We moved on to using our own projectors which were the size of a large printer in the early days. Now we can rock up to debriefs light-handed with just ourselves or at the very most with a light laptop to hand. We may not even need to leave our home office.

Ethnography would have involved ‘living in’ with research participants to observe their behaviour in a natural environment, although I was never convinced that it was too natural having a stranger watch your every move. Nowadays there are an array of recording devices and online ethnographic platforms and tools that are much less intrusive. All in all, these tools have made a significant impact in addressing the ‘real vs reported’ issue present in research, where consumers often don’t really understand their own behaviour as they operate daily tasks such as commuting or grocery shopping in autopilot or what our industry now knows as System 1 behaviour.

Looking at Market Research today it is exciting to have a lot of these tools and digital capabilities to hand to better understand consumers, increase client and agency collaboration, and to make projects more efficient in general. However, there are still ‘bottlenecks’ in the research process that technology is yet to overcome, such as charting – with the magic wand still being elusive here.

As a freelance research consultant, with the huge swing to digital, at times I can feel a bit like Sandra Bullock in ‘The Net’ film – holed up in a small office, with the pizza delivery man being the only company, and who might now be replaced by a drone (a bit dramatic as I do have a family, but you get the gist). It would be nice to find more of a balance of f2f and digital, and there is nothing quite like a f2f workshop session with physical stimulus and breakout groups.

In summary, we have welcomed all these technological advancements as a positive step forward for the Market Research Industry. Of course, there are always winners and losers when technological advancements come into play, but I for one will keep on embracing each one, and see them as a way forward for a better work/ life balance. I’m all for efficiencies, so if Chat GPT can help me write up a strong proposal or discussion guide, then bring it on. In fact I used Chat GPT to come up with a snappy name for this blog, saving me some time on procrastinating over titles.

I think my 30 years in research can still add a lot of value and richness at all stages of the research process, particularly in terms of really understanding human behaviour and how brands should interpret all available information, turning data and insights into actions that strengthen their strategic plans.

Does 30 years as a market researcher make me better than those with less experience? Absolutely not.

However, it is a myth that more mature researchers are averse to technology – the above clearly demonstrates that we have been embracing technology for the last 30 years, and we don’t intend to stop now. Our experience in adapting, adjusting, and using technology to our advantage only makes us stronger.

Qualitative Research - is not a numbers game, or is it?

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 14:19:57 GMT

Quality over Quantity

Qualitative research should never be about numbers, but we still tend to work with groups of 8 people, which was a number decided on probably in the 1970’s as the optimum group number. More recently I’ve also observed people running focus groups with 8-10 people. With the rise of Digital groups, alongside the return of f2f groups is this really the right number?

Clients can often feel they get more value for money with a larger group of people – of course more people mean more responses, right? It’s also still common for people to ask, ‘how many people said that’? Looking at volume rather than quality is often a trap we can fall into.

If you like numbers, then you can calculate that a typical focus group session will have 4-5 sections following 10-minutes of introductions and warm up – within each section you may have 10-15 questions. If you multiply that by 8 respondents, it surmounts to c.600 responses to cram into your remaining 80 minutes. Ok, so I’m being a bit facetious here as most questions gain about 2-3 responses and then the moderator will look for assent or dissent across the group, but you get the point. There is not much opportunity for everyone to contribute equally across the whole group session.

In most cases, within a group of 8 people, it is most likely that one or two people will drop out of the process naturally, despite several attempts from the moderator to include them. In my opinion, this is a waste of an incentive and a recruitment fee. Dropping out of the process can be due to a number of reasons - perhaps just lacking in confidence compared to other more vocal participants, or not having strong opinions on the subject matter. However, with too many in a focus group, participants ‘dropping out’ can also just happen due to a lack of air space for 8 people to equally contribute within the timeframe. Unless you have more than one moderator allowing for splinter groups, you will not get the value out of overloading your groups with participants.

Qualitative research should always be about ‘Understanding’, not ‘Measuring’, so why can’t we move on from the trappings of a number that was decided upon more than 50 years ago?

For regular ‘run of the mill’ research, a group of 6-7 participants will often find it easier to ‘gel together’ and reach the performing stage of the group. The performing stage is when we get to the real human truths and where the group can work collectively towards a common goal. Within a slightly reduced group size it is harder for someone to drop out of the process and easier for the moderator to acquire richer experiences and deeper thoughts. This in turn will deliver stronger insights that will help brands grow .

I’m also a firm believer that groups don’t have to be 90 minutes…but that’s another controversial topic for some other day!

The Power of You

Tue, 13 Dec 2022 10:46:02 GMT

Embracing change and unleashing your inner power

As I take some time at the end of the year to reflect on my slight change in career path, I can see many parallels to my late father’s career history and journey. My dad had a huge influence on my career – he was the most inspiring person to me when I first stepped out on my own. At this next career ‘pivot’ in my life, I do miss his sage advice and positivity as I move outside of the role of larger agency ownership and management. However, his encouragement is still whispering in my ear, and I’ll be fully embracing this change in direction as he did when he took all his knowledge and expertise from the knitwear industry into the educational sector in his early 50’s. He tackled change like everything else in life, with integrity, passion and vigour.

My father started his career as an accountant in a sausage factory (there’s a quant gene in me after all). His energy, enthusiasm and dynamism as an employee and in life meant he quickly progressed in his career, which saw him getting an MBE from the Queen ‘mid-career’ for his work and role as MD of Grey Gordon, a textile company in Aberdeen. This career also earned him a spot in the weaver’s association as a Deacon and his photo will grace Trinity Hall for many years to come.

I vaguely remember going to the palace and the excitement of it all, but mostly remember the men with the funny hats outside the palace and the excitement of having knickers that matched my dress (I was only 5 after all). It was only years later I resented the fact that as the baby of the family and member number 5 that I wasn’t included in the ceremony or allowed inside the palace as only 4 could attend. I didn’t harbour that resentment for long thankfully.

I learned so much from my dad who has moulded me into the businessperson I am today.

He had so many dreams, each weekend he’d have a new idea whether it was a buying property abroad, buying a caravan, or opening a newsagent, all a bit random but the family would all join in on his excitement of each prospect. However, we soon realized that it was a bit of a lottery as to which, if any, would come true. We coined these his ‘Sunday fantasies’ and as we got into our teens probably started rolling our eyes at his next mad cap idea, knowing it was unlikely to materialize.

Nonetheless, what it did do for me was to ignite the interest in some of his passion projects for my own life path. He always wanted to start up his own company which he did several times over and each idea was brilliant, if a little ahead of its time – like Fuel Cells Scotland.

Having set up my own business in 2005, I know he lived his fantasy vicariously through me and I, in turn, channeled his energy and enthusiasm into the business. He tackled everything in life, whether it be business or leisure, with zest and dynamism, being a great role model.

Like my own journey he found himself at a junction later in his career and demonstrated a great adaptability and flexibility to transfer his skills over to the educational sector, where he achieved many great milestones.

Prior to his passing away in 2019 my attention was drawn to an event I was going to attend called the ‘Power of You’, and the organizers really wanted to know what this meant to people. At the time it really perplexed me to put into words or express what it meant. Now I know that he taught me the Power of You – that is to bring your dreams to life, taking every opportunity you can along the way, and if it works out great, if not then move on to the next one. Don’t be afraid of being creative or ahead of your time, or even failure. Embrace change, as a new chapter in your career is nothing to fear. And most importantly, have fun while you are doing it. There are lessons for all of us here, in using what or who inspires us to maximize the Power of You.

He was and still is my hero in life and ‘the Power in me’.

Gamification - adding enjoyment and engagement into Market Research

Wed, 16 Nov 2022 12:26:10 GMT

Playing games to facilitate creative thinking

It’s a wee bit depressing jumping from Covid lockdown into a COL Crisis and dare I say the R word. In the world of doom and gloom, we need to keep the faith and have a little fun with how we approach things. When we think about ‘Fun’ in the context of Market Research it doesn’t need to be gimmicky.

In fact, introducing ‘fun’ into the process of gaining insights can produce more insightful results. Encouraging playful behaviour, via gamification, has proven to enhance many aspects of business, such as employee engagement, but can also build excitement towards a particular common goal which represents a ‘win’ for the team, and perhaps earns a celebration.

Gamification in market research means applying the typical elements of game playing into a discussion guide or questionnaire. This can optimize the participant experience, increasing their motivation, engagement and enjoyment of a survey or focus group. If you think about it, would you try harder at a friendly game of darts or a competitive game where you are vying for leader board position?

Sometimes it can be as simple as presenting people with a challenge or providing a reward for things like ‘best quote / idea / insight of the day’.

It can also just be about creating a scenario such as

You are going on a trip and only have room for one ‘treat’ food, which would it be and why?
Oh no your phone has deleted all your apps, but you have 10 seconds to retrieve your top 3, which ones will you pick and why?
You are running a pizza shop and head office are giving bonuses to those who come up with new bestselling toppings, what are your three suggestions?

These simple games can really help focus the mind and get them thinking.

Are you still thinking about Pizza? ��

It’s also good to build in popular culture, using the basis of reality TV shows such as Love Island, First Dates or I’m a Celebrity. You could get them to imagine what a first date would be like with their favourite brand or retailer, or what food brand they would miss the most if they were in the jungle eating rice and beans! Another favourite is the Apprentice or Dragons Den, where they must work in teams to come up with winning business ideas. We often expect a lot from participants, perhaps too much, after all they are not marketeers. By giving them role play opportunities, or adding a competitive twist, we can help them be more creative.

As it’s approaching Christmas, we’ll be dusting off the board games and these are another great source of inspiration. You could use Taboo to get participants to describe a brand without using key words, or place retailers on a Monopoly board according to their Reputation.

There is a never-ending number of potential ways you can gamify research, and not only does this make things more exciting for the participants, but it’s also more engaging for the client. Ultimately, it’s not fun for fun sake, it really does work.

Avoiding Tangents and Time Drains in your Strategy Sessions

RG399731 — Wed, 19 Oct 2022 08:48:43 GMT

Internal Strategy sessions –helping your business grow

We all get tied up with the day to day and working ‘in’ the business – but time spent with key stakeholders working ‘on’ the business can be invaluable. Running workshops will get you on the right path for future success, whether it’s concerning internal alignment, short / longer-term goals, or dealing with an immediate crisis. The first challenge in running workshops or strategy sessions is to get the right people in the room at the same time, which is no mean feat! Once this is achieved there are still several pitfalls to avoid and navigate around.

Here are the top 5 things that can send internal strategy meetings awry

Tangents and time drains – One of the biggest challenged is effectively staying on topic, with different agendas in the room it’s easy to get distracted on other topics. Another common mistake is also spending too much time on one issue, leaving you little time to get to the crux of the issue and find solutions. You may even run out of meeting room time and have to re-organize another session
Distractions – emails, urgent calls, text messages. Sometimes, it’s just out of habit that we glance down at the phone and then we can’t seem to stop ourselves from replying - after all it only takes 2 minutes. However, without everyone fully focused, even if it’s just a few minutes, you will find topics or agendas getting lost in translation. Having dedicated ‘focus time’ is key, whilst allowing breaks to deal with urgent business issues.
Personalities / positions – stronger voices, quieter voices. It’s only natural for a more senior person to dominate sessions, even if they don’t intend to. There may be important points missed just because there is no air space, or a lack of confidence from a more introverted stakeholder means counter arguments or ideas could be missed. You want to leave the room with everyone feeling they have contributed and are on board with the next steps. However, who is going to tell the boss to pipe down?
Lack of structure – often people are coming from different points of view and different departments, which can lead to a disjointed session with unclear goals or outputs. Setting an agenda with clear outputs and goals is important – but it’s also vital to assign responsibilities to each of these to ensure the ideas created come to life.
Boredom / lack of creativity – roundtable discussions in isolation are not the best recipe for finding solutions and setting goals for your brand/ company. Sometimes we must reach further by going out of our comfort zone, into a more creative space before we find our way back to practical actions and next steps

Do you recognize some of the above? If so, then having an external person facilitate these sessions has numerous valuable benefits.

It can help with giving parity to voices and input – is there a key stakeholder that has some great ideas but doesn’t always have the confidence to voice it? Having someone manage the session means that there are key ground rules put in place to ensure confident and equal input across the board.

Having an external facilitator who can set in place tech bans and other regulations without fear of authority can really make a difference to stakeholder engagement . In most cases, we are ‘stronger together’ and strategy sessions can really help hone and clarify not only key actions, but also put timescales and teams’ responsibility alongside each one to ensure the session is not forgotten about.

And facilitators can really bring the best out in people creatively using gamification and enabling techniques. We have plenty to draw from such as PIP decks, or models like De Bono’s six thinking hats. Saying which concept you like best doesn’t require much thought – but what if you had to put your (virtual) money where your mouth is? Then you might think harder as to which ‘investment’ will give you a good return.

It’s also good to consider the right location for these sessions – ideally off site, with plenty of natural light. It’s amazing how a change in location can change the mood and mindset and create more of a buzz around the session.

Ultimately, there are times when internal sessions don’t need any external help, but for those more challenging, groundbreaking sessions, it’s an excellent worthwhile investment.

The Self-employed Vampire, I mean Qual researcher

Thu, 06 Oct 2022 11:39:02 GMT

Being self-employed is scary, but worth it

Starting something new is never easy, especially in our later years. I like to coin my emotions right now as ‘Nervited’ – Nervous but Excited. No matter how successful you have been in the past, or how knowledgeable you are, you need to have a realistic approach to starting again. Being overly optimistic is great, but you need to be aware of the potential pitfalls and challenges ahead. Being overly pessimistic will never work for the self-employed, self-belief is imperative. I’m a firm believer that nothing good ever comes easy, you must put the hard work in, and I’m here for it, and ready for the task ahead of me.

Some people are built to look for security and steadiness, but I revel in the unpredictable nature of being self-employed. Call me a sadist, but for me, the freedom and flexibility of working for yourself is worth the pain points. There’s a freedom in having no judgement for embracing life as well as your career, the two intertwining more organically than a more rigid ‘work starts at 9am and finishes at 5.30pm’ type situation, even though many days can end up like this. Throughout my career I’ve always believed in flexible working, enabling you to do the things you need or want to do in and around work.

Maybe I’m different to others, but it motivates me more to work the hours that suit, whether that be a 6am start when creativity strikes, or an 8pm moment of energy. I’ve always been slightly allergic to the 9-5 role. Of course, us Qual researchers can be like vampires, only starting work when the sun sets, so getting some rest and ‘time out’ in the mornings is vital for being at our best for our clients.

Its great to see that the market research industry has moved on somewhat from the horrors of working several nights per week running groups, as this was not practical in the long term, with many researchers experiencing burnout. However, despite huge strides in flexible working hours and WFH arrangements, I still think we can all feel the pressure to ‘be at a desk’ for several hours at a time. Sometimes, there’s almost a competitiveness too in terms of how long a day people have worked, as if it is a sign of dedication and success. For me, dedication and success are all about the quality and quantity of work achieved rather than the hours put in. Don’t get me wrong, we all have slow days where we drag things out longer than needed, but we should be working towards a better work life balance and those achieving that should be admired. Kudos to those of you - both individuals and companies who are genuinely making this happen. Undoubtedly, this will shape a better future work/life balance for the next generation.

It's human nature to follow the crowd - it's much easier than going against popular opinion

Fri, 30 Sep 2022 11:38:31 GMT

What is good Qual?

Anyone who knows me knows I’m not a traditional, ‘follow the rules’ type person or researcher. I love trying new things and innovating to make sure research is kept lively and relevant for all parties involved. I’m open minded to new techniques and digital products that aid what a good qualitative researcher can glean from consumers. However, I do draw the line at some new products claiming to ‘speed up analysis’ or give you all the answers based on the written word only.

Whilst text-based analysis may help you identify that golden quote more quickly, it can also be misleading. If one opinionated participant repeatedly vocalizes the negatives, then your results based on text-based analysis will be skewed. More importantly, what we also miss is the ‘unsaid’. That all important lean forward, nodding, or eye-roll at the negative comments. The crossed or uncrossed arms, the lit-up faces, the smiles, the scowls and the general disdain. This is what really brings the analysis to life and presents a holistic view alongside the spoken word.

Some qual researchers have that natural instinct, picking up intuitively on what people are thinking based on body language. For others it’s an invaluable skill to learn. I’ve seen many cases where you can see from body language alone that what people are saying does not match how they are feeling, and it’s important to gently encourage the truth out of them. We can’t forget that it is human nature to follow the crowd to some extent and we need to enable participants to feel comfortable to speak their truth, not everyone else’s.

A good qualitative researcher should be curious, intuitive, perceptive, convivial and non-judgmental, and should be able to read a room quickly and think on their feet. It may look easy, but actively listening, managing egos and opinions, keeping one eye on the topics to be covered, ensuring equal contribution to the session and in some cases checking the back room requires a lot of experience and a degree in multi-tasking! One of my previous Qual trainees once mentioned it’s like learning to drive - having to think about gears, road position, speed, mirrors, road signs etc. – such a great analogy.

The intoxicating mix of emotions, mannerisms and language is what make Qualitative sessions so enlightening. Data is great, numbers too, but Qual is where I find my real joy.