Accelerant Research

Online vs. F2F Qualitative Research Methods: The Game-Changing Impact of Social Media

2011-07-13T15:29:00.000-07:00

INTRODUCTION
In-person methods for qualitative research are no longer the sole means by which investigators can collect their data. Interviews with study participants do not have to be done face to face; instead, web-based computer-mediated environments can serve as the site where interactions between moderators and participants can ensue, questions can be posed and answers can be obtained.

The opportunity to migrate qualitative research away from traditional methods and toward the use of online platforms is provided by the confluence of internet and digital technology, broad band connectivity, and people’s apparently sufficient comfort level with blogging. These factors have resulted in paving the way for a viable, alternative methodology that provides qualitative research professionals with access to human experiences on a scale and with a reach that is currently immeasurable.

The purpose of this article is to draw attention to and elaborate on these emergent societal and technological factors that have given rise to the use of online methodology for qualitative research. The effects of these factors are examined in terms of quality, cost, and speed criteria in a discussion of the comparison of qualitative studies that use online and in-person methods of data collection.

THE GROWTH OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media usage has developed and become widespread very quickly. Social networks, blogsites, and other online “beehives” appear to be all around us as millions of people adopt social media sites as their primary source of all kinds of information. What’s more is that social media adoption continues to increase tremendously. “Blogging” as a behavior, currently under the scrutiny of many different types of social scientists, has become widespread and continues to grow.

In the beginning of 2009, Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, equated Facebook to a nation saying it would be the 8th largest country in the world. As of 2010, it would stand as the third largest country in the world, right behind China and India and ahead of the United States with 700,000,000 users. It was not long ago that social media made big news when it overtook email in terms of online activity. Now, it is the #1 activity online and it continues to grow at a rapid pace both in the United States and around the world.

Social media marketing has reacted to this trend showing its own growth on a similar trajectory. Research indicates that spending on social media and conversational marketing will outpace that of traditional marketing by 2012, according to a study conducted by TWI Surveys, Inc. on behalf of the Society for New Communications Research. Forrester, too, echoes this claim in its own research findings in a recent study.

THE OPPORTUNITY FOR ONLINE METHODOLOGY IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
The explosive growth of social media usage and blogging behavior suggests that society has become “comfortable” engaging in these activities. Indeed, a 2010 study by Nielsen showed that Americans spend 25% of their time on social media and blog sites. Our own experiences at Accelerant Research conducting immersive qualitative research (https://www.blognogresearch.com/) shows us that people are adept at communicating their thoughts, feelings, intentions, and actions, as well as their deepest fears and greatest aspirations in a “computer-mediated environment.” But, what exactly is involved in blogging? What do people do on Facebook that is related, somehow, to research?

In essence, blogging includes obtaining online information (text-, video-, audio-based) as well as inputting one’s own information, in any of those formats, in that medium. Put more simply, sometimes it involves viewing videos and images, listening to recordings, and reading text, and other times it includes inputting any of those formats of data oneself, to some Internet-based location, to be shared with others.

Now compare these blogging activities to those involved in qualitative research in which a moderator poses questions to study participants and receives answers to those questions from them. A discussion ensues between the moderator and participant fueled by a series of questions and responses between parties. Sometimes the moderator shows participants some “things” and has them provide their attitudes and opinions. Other times the moderator might require the participants to provide “things” to be seen, heard, and/or discussed. Thus, there is parity between the typical activities involved in blogging and in qualitative research, and nowadays, the personal computer and Internet can facilitate the activities involved in qualitative research.

Imagine a shift from the traditional, face-to-face (F2F) methodology, which has dominated qualitative research for decades, to the Internet. This shift should be a safe one given people’s general comfort level communicating within this medium. But, would some part of the human condition be lost in the process?

Taking a balanced perspective, we see that on the one hand, the social space of computer-mediated communications was once considered lean, cold, and superficial. Relative to in-person communications, online communicators were presumed to suffer from a reduction in social cues and unable to transmit nonverbal information such as voice inflection, accents, facial expressions, posture, body language, and touching. On the other hand, society has adapted and developed ways to express these nonverbal cues in written form. To do so, society uses new symbols and electronic paralanguage such as emoticons, special character strings, intentional misspellings, absence or presence of corrections, capitalizations, as well as with images and sounds.

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF IN-PERSON QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Market researchers have used focus groups and in-depth interviews (IDIs) for their qualitative research needs for the past several decades. These techniques serve a variety of purposes, e.g., to understand in greater detail the findings that emerged from an initial wave of quantitative research, or to inform the content of a survey that will be used in a subsequent phase of quantitative research. Sometimes these qualitative studies are “standalone” initiatives that come neither before nor after a quantitative research phase. On these occasions, their design and scope are sufficient to achieve the study objectives. Regardless of where qualitative research studies fit in the sequence of an integrated research program, these qualitative techniques are distinguished from quantitative studies by what they yield: data that reflect the rich (symbolic) world that underlies consumer needs, desires, and brand decision criteria; not estimates or inferences of population parameters from sample statistics.

However, these tried-and-true qualitative methods, while effective for what they are designed to produce, do have their inherent flaws. They are artificial and contrived because they require the respondent to be removed from the actual consumer behavior during interviewing, i.e., data are collected in a de-contextualized setting. As such, this common byproduct of standard qualitative research designs attenuates the researcher’s ability to gather data in a natural setting.

Also, moderators, interviewers and ethnographers are considered obtrusive since they are required to be present with and “get in the face” of respondents. Whether interviews are conducted in-person or via telephone, moderators pose their questions and (hope to) get honest answers while limiting exposure of respondents to the data-biasing influences of their presence, e.g., social desirability. They also rely heavily on the memory capacity of respondents since most studies require respondents to travel back in time in their minds, recall relevant experiences, and provide their input and perspectives based on those memories.

Ethnography, in particular, is a highly useful method in focusing on consumer behavior in that behavior is observed, participants are interviewed and the subject matter is studied in a naturalistic setting (e.g., home, place of business, etc.). However, the very presence of the ethnographer fosters social desirability and other response sets, perhaps to the greatest extent relative to other qualitative study designs, due to the depth of immersion the ethnographer plunges into the respondent’s living space. Also, ethnographies are highly time-consuming, logistically complex, limited in geography to key cities, and usually quite expensive.

DISTINCT ADVANTAGES OF ONLINE QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Several of the flaws and inherent drawbacks of in-person methods of qualitative research can be reduced or eliminated while other aspects enhanced through the use of online, blog-based research. It is conceivable that a website can be designed to have a similar look and feel to social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn so that the general population can easily navigate within it and respondents can fulfill their study-related responsibilities and receive their incentive for doing so. The moderator can post content from the question guide they developed for the study to the site, and participants recruited to the study can enter, see the moderator’s posted questions, and respond to them accordingly.

The full confluence of effects that makes online qualitative research such a viable method is seen when one adds the widespread penetration of broadband connectivity and pervasiveness of digital technology to the existing comfort level and alacrity that society has developed for computer-mediated interpersonal communication. A vision starts to emerge that shows distinct advantages of Internet-based methods over those that use in-person interviewing.

Imagine online qualitative studies that encroach upon the most in-depth form of qualitative, namely the ethnography. For example, in focus groups, only verbal and non-verbal data are collected. In ethnographies, verbal and non-verbal data are collected, but this input is augmented and synergized with artifacts and objects representing symbols of the culture of the behavior under study. In this way, the ethnography is arguably the most in-depth form of qualitative research.

Instead, an online “blognography” can be conducted in which study participants are required to snap photos and create videos to document and represent the subject under study. They would be instructed to upload these multimedia data to the online research platform along with their text-based responses to questions and other instructions posted by the online moderator/blognographer. These multimedia data would serve as ethnographic artifacts and contain all the complementary characteristics of data that augment the insights obtainable by text alone.

Surely, we’re in a state of technology-ready conditions by which we can provide to consumers images, photos, videos, and other types of stimuli for them to use as the basis for their attitudes and opinions. Likewise, consumers are equipped to provide the same types of stimuli to us researchers as they can upload their content onto research sites, as they do in Facebook or YouTube, to be viewed and analyzed by the qualitative researcher. Even more importantly, we are in a state of “consumer-ready” conditions, too. People are simply comfortable and inclined to pull out their cell phones, snap photos, shoot videos, and send them as electronic attachments to friends, social media sites, and blogsites, and then go to those sites and opine on some subject using their home PCs or through text-messaging with their smart phones.

In addition, the Internet affords a stronger sense of anonymity among study participants and that typical response biases such as social desirability and other “faking strategies” are virtually eliminated online. Qualitative data collected online tend to be “brutally honest” in nature as respondents feel wrapped in a cocoon of privacy and facelessness and have no apprehension about telling a moderator anything. As such, these data may be more valid than what is collected in focus group facilities that heavily utilize F2F interactions. Furthermore, depending on the nature of the study, respondents’ homes may actually be the place where the behavior under study takes place naturally and be the optimal site for data collection, yielding a high level of ecological validity.

In contrast, standard facilities used for focus groups or in-depth individual interviews (IDIs) are contrived and artificial settings in which to collect qualitative research data, and do not necessarily foster conditions for people to speak up and be heard. These conditions amount to a special room with video and audio recording equipment, a one-way mirror behind which observers are seated. For all intents and purposes, respondents are completely removed from the site at which the behavior under study occurs in nature.

With regard to the amount of data that are produced, an online study will, by design, allow all participants to speak at the same time since question guide content is posted on the site and awaits the participant’s login during some time period communicated during recruitment. In contrast, focus groups and IDIs, by design, only allow one person to speak at a time. The typical respondent has only about 10 minutes to provide his/her input during a 2-hour focus group while that participant’s online counterpart has about 10 times that amount of input time.

What is more about the advantages of online regarding data is that transcriptions are automatically procured and are integrated with quantitative data collected during recruitment which enables sorting of text and other data into subgroups for comparative purposes.

Of course, traveling, scheduling, arranging, coordinating and all the logistics involved in all parties’ involvement with in-person methods are eliminated. As such, no time is lost on travel as it means time out of the office, being away from home and family, nor is there any carbon footprint produced. But of major importance is the fact that study costs can be sharply reduced by using an online method for qualitative research. In the table below, relative to six focus groups, each with nine participants and lasting two hours, an online qualitative method requires one-third the cost, 40% less time, and will yield more than twice the amount of data. Please note that total study time includes data analysis and delivery of a comprehensive report on the results of the study that includes a summary, set of recommendations, and detailed findings.

The distinct advantages of the online method of qualitative research over in-person include:

Computer-mediated interactions foster candidness, thoughtfulness, and essay-type responses
Time is used efficiently and more data are collected
Biasing effects due to the physical presence of others are eliminated
Data can be collected in a naturalistic setting and at the time of the event under study
Multi-media and text-based data are collected and integrated
Data are better organized and easily sortable for subgroup analyses
Automatic transcription
Logistics are minimized
Less expensive
No travel, no time out of the office, and no carbon footprint

LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY HAS BEEN DONE MANY TIMES BEFORE

Embracing new technologies to improve market research practices has a long history in our industry. From a review of the history of market research over the past few decades, it is immediately apparent that advances in technology have created a number of improved study conditions in efficiency, cost and control.

When market research began, the sole method for data collection was in-person. Eventually, the advent of computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) gave rise to enhancements in key study dimensions. This new technology provided greater control of data collection and systematic treatment of respondents, more precise measurement, improved sample usage and quota structure management, flawless execution of skip patterns embedded in surveys, closer representation of a sample to a target population, and faster data delivery. Of course, CATI was considerably less expensive than in-person, too, all things being equal. Then, online research became a revolution for the market industry, bringing with it even better improvements along these lines and, again, drastically drove down study costs.

So, the idea of leveraging technology to improve conditions for market research to be performed is about as old as the industry itself. As such, one might argue that it behooves the professional market researcher to be vigilant in seeking opportunities to leverage technology to improve quality, reduce time spent and associated costs. However, while history shows that technology improvements have provided distinct benefits for quantitative research, perhaps the time is upon us for qualitative research to reap similar benefits. Surely, online focus groups have been around for quite some time, typically done as a substitute for standard, facility-based ones when the target population is geographically dispersed. But the confluence of conditions that have turned millions of people into “professional bloggers” and the current status of Internet connectivity and digital technology has made the notion of conducting online ethnographies, IDIs, and group discussions very plausible, if not compelling.

IN CONCULSION

As it is, ever-increasing numbers of consumers are becoming comfortable and adept at blogging their opinions each day. With the advancement in digital technology and broadband connectivity, consumers are able to view research stimuli that are sent to them, and also upload images and video they send in to studies that serve as important data and are tied to their text-based input. In these exchanges, the qualitative researcher can obtain rich, symbolic data, create field notes, and collect the artifacts that would otherwise be provided in a traditional ethnography. More to the point, that researcher does so without the obtrusiveness of being on-site, eliminates the cost and logistical restrictions of traveling and scheduling, and yet is still able to immerse him or herself in the culture of the behavior under study.

Market researchers have long known that in achieving certain objectives of any given study, certain trade-off decisions are needed to be made in setting an appropriate course of action to proceed. These trade-offs are typically a matter of balancing quality, speed, and cost, e.g., a study needs to be high quality and completed quickly, therefore it will be expensive. Rarely does it occur when market researchers can offer a scenario without any trade-offs, but rather obtain something better, faster, and less expensive. Yet, these are exactly the benefits that can be enjoyed by using blogspace as the data collection medium for qualitative research as opposed to in-person, in-home, or other forms of on-site, in-person, F2F research methods. In essence, today’s technology-enhanced online qualitative studies enable researchers to have their cake and the opportunity to eat it, too.

BlogNog Qualitative Research Platform FREE to Non-Profit Organizations

2011-07-08T12:31:00.000-07:00

CHARLOTTE, NC July 8, 2011 – After the strong response to February’s announcement offering the use of its proprietary online qualitative research platform – BlogNog – free of charge for academic-related purposes, Accelerant Research has decided to extend this free usage offer to non-profit organizations as well.

Specifically, Accelerant Research is making BlogNog available at no cost for employees of non-profits and any consultants or agencies conducting qualitative research in support of a non-profit organization.

As Dr. Paul Rubenstein, President of Accelerant Research, puts it, “non-profits often have the same primary research needs as major corporations, but are typically unable to fulfill these needs due to budgetary constraints. Accelerant Research wants to allow these organizations to benefit from the rich insights that can only be gathered via qualitative research methods. Doing so allows non-profits to make more informed business decisions and put their limited resources to better use.”

Dr. Rubenstein continues, “due to factors that include the growth in social media usage, the widespread penetration of broadband connectivity, and the advent of digital technology, the luxury of shifting methods from face-to-face to online is a reality for conducting qualitative research, nowadays. In so doing, important benefits such as enhanced quality of data, lower study costs and faster delivery of results can be obtained. In spite of these lower costs, many non-profits simply cannot afford to undertake qualitative research initiatives. At Accelerant Research, we hope that by offering a free facility for these organizations to conduct qualitative research, we will help to narrow the intelligence gathering gap that currently exists between the haves and the have-nots (i.e., non-profits and academics), advancing our own market/human resources research industry in the process.”

For additional information about BlogNog, you can visit http://www.blognogresearch.com/, email info@accelerantresearch.com, or dial 866-683-7407.

About Accelerant Research:
Accelerant Research is a full-service marketing research and consulting firm headquartered in Charlotte, NC, which specializes in customer loyalty, product development, customer satisfaction measurement, modeling, tracking, online qualitative research, omnibus research, and brand analytics.

Media Contact:
Paul Rubenstein, Ph.D.
President
Accelerant Research
704-206-8501
paulr@accelerantresearch.com
http://www.accelerantresearch.com/

We Got New Stinkin Badges

2011-06-28T06:30:00.000-07:00

Check out our badges on the right of the screen, with links to Quirk's, Next Gen Market Research, GreenBook, and Alltop. They're all very informative research-related resources that have recently featured our blog content.

Plus, we'll take any excuse to link to this classic clip:

Check out our white paper on GreenBook.org

2011-06-27T08:52:00.000-07:00

We had one of our white papers published on GreenBook’s site recently. The white paper is entitled Research on Research: A Case Study Examination of the Quality, Cost, & Speed of Online Qualitative Research. The article spurred a very interesting reaction piece by Susan Abbott of Abbott Research and some great conversation by other folks in the industry about the benefits of online qualitative research, such as those provided by Accelerant's own BlogNog platform (http://www.blognogresearch.com/).

Incidentally, if you haven’t checked out GreenBook’s site (http://www.greenbook.org/), you definitely should. They have some fantastic content for research professionals and end-users, including a great blog and the newly-launched NewQualitativeResearch.org.

Employees No Longer Fearing Layoffs – Job Expectations Increasing

2011-06-01T06:31:00.000-07:00

Job attitudes research shows that US employees are confident in current job security but have high expectations for the future.

CHARLOTTE, NC June 1, 2011 – American workers are easing their worries about layoffs and beginning to focus their attention on career advancement again, according to the recent Job Attitudes in a Post-Recession Economy study conducted by Accelerant Research. The study, which included a quantitative survey and in-depth qualitative interviews of American workers, revealed heightened confidence and optimism in the workplace as well as insight into what employers should be keeping top-of-mind.

The vast majority of US workers (86%) are confident that they can continue working at their employer as long as they perform satisfactorily. This increased sense of security on the tail end of ‘The Great Recession’ is giving way to high expectations of what future employment should look like. Nearly two-thirds of employees (64%) believe that their employment situation will improve in the next five years.

Other points of optimism relate to compensation, in which 76% of workers expect their income to increase in the next five years, and 29% believe their income will do so by more than 25%. “This quality of attitude about a better tomorrow shows the resiliency of the American public,” explains Dr. Paul Rubenstein, Accelerant Research’s President. “Despite the economic upheaval over the past two years, Americans expect that their lot in life will improve over time.”

While the survey findings were highly encouraging for employees, the data also showed key areas of concern for employers in the coming years, such as losing talented employees. The data showed that nearly three out of five workers surveyed (57%) believe that there are better jobs available than their current position.

During the recent SIOP (Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology) conference in Chicago, Dr. Andrea S. Goldberg, President of Digital Culture Consulting, LLC shared these research results and added “attracting and retaining the most talented individuals in the labor force, both currently employed and unemployed, will be key for organizations as we climb out of this economic period. One important way for organizations to create competitive advantage is to embrace and strategically use social media to foster positive employment brands as well as to use various social media sites to attract the best candidates.”

About the research: Accelerant Research (www.AccelerantResearch.com) conducted the Job Attitudes in a Post-Recession Economy survey online among a demographically representative sample of Americans 21 years of age or older who are currently employed and work at least 20 hours per week. Accelerant Research partnered with Survey Sampling International (www.surveysampling.com) to recruit qualified participants for this study and Fresno, CA-based Decipher Inc. (www.decipherinc.com) for web survey programming and hosting. After completing the survey, a subset of 50 participants were recruited to participate in in-depth qualitative interviews, which were conducted via BlogNog (www.BlogNogResearch.com), Accelerant Research’s proprietary platform for online qualitative research. For more information about the survey or the follow-up ethnographic interviews, please contact Accelerant Research at info@accelerantresearch.com or (866) 683-7407.

About Accelerant Research:
Accelerant Research is a full-service marketing research and consulting firm headquartered in Charlotte, NC, which specializes in customer loyalty, product development, customer satisfaction measurement, modeling, tracking, online qualitative research, omnibus research, and brand analytics.

Media Contact:
Paul Rubenstein, Ph.D.
President
Accelerant Research
704-206-8501
paulr@accelerantresearch.com
http://www.accelerantresearch.com/

BlogNog Rolls Out Enhanced Tools for Online Qualitative Ad Testing and Concept Development

2011-04-12T13:28:00.000-07:00

Accelerant Research's online qualitative platform, BlogNog, was conceived and developed to enhance the quality of data relative to traditional, F2F focus groups and IDIs. Shifting methods from focus group facilities to the Internet not only creates certain advantages regarding the overall quality of the research, but also reduces the time needed to conduct a study, and significantly drives down costs. Simply put, BlogNog was designed by qualitative researchers to help other qualitative researchers apply the principles of qualitative research that came forth from traditional methodologies to an online setting, while reaping the benefits provided by its technology. And now BlogNog has a set of new features that make this reality even better.

As qualitative research consultants or client-side qualitative research end-users, we’ve all tested print stimuli (product concept descriptions, print ads, webpage design mock-ups, etc.) in focus groups or in-depth interviews. When exposing these “hard-copy” stimuli, it is common to have participants take a pen and mark up their page, highlighting words or images that they either like or dislike, and taking notes about why they liked or disliked these elements.

With its enhanced Image and Text Tracking functions, BlogNog is able to facilitate those same activities in an online setting, allowing participants to virtually mark up a given stimulus by highlighting meaningful words, phrases, or images. These marked-up stimuli can be seen for each individual participant, and in aggregate, in the form of a cumulative heat map that summarizes the group’s collective impressions. These Image and Text Tracking functions in BlogNog mirror the hand-tallying that so many of us have done on scratch pads in the backroom of focus group facilities. The result is an improved data collection process that yields eye-catching output, and the activity itself is fun and engaging for respondents, too.

Below is a series of screenshots of these activities within BlogNog. These types of exercises can be easily included in any BlogNog study for any type of visual stimulus. For more information about these or any features of BlogNog, or to set up a live BlogNog demo to see these and other features in action, please visit http://www.blognogresearch.com/ or feel free to reach out to us directly at info@accelerantresearch.com or (866) 683-7407.

Text Tracking Example (Individual Participant's Output):

Text Tracking Example (Heat Map Summary Across Participants):

Image Tracking Example (Individual Participant's Output):

Image Tracking Example (Heat Map Summary Across Participants):

The NGMR Top-5-Hot vs Top-5-Not

2011-03-08T04:58:00.000-08:00

Here's our take on the top 5 hot vs. not goings on in the world of research (in no particular order)...

HOT

The continued acceptance of online methods to the arsenal of qualitative research tools. In a recent article, we examined the viability of online qual as an alternative or complement to traditional methods...pretty interesting stuff.
Mobile Research. So many qualitative and quantitative research possibilities are opening up due to increasing adoption of smartphones and other mobile devices.
The continued pursuit of faster, cheaper, and higher quality research offerings, and the challenge for research suppliers to provide such offerings
Ubiquity of broadband connectivity, creating the ability to reach once offline-only respondent segments online. We're not there yet, but hopefully connectivity gap will continue to narrow.
Qual/Quant hybrid methodologies. All of the above opening up the possibility for really cool research study designs.

NOT

Net Promoter. For the love of God, haven't we seen enough evidence to proceed with caution in using this as a standalone measure? Consider emotional loyalty as an alternative.
Fresh baked cookies at focus group facilities. No good can come of these, and it seems like more and more facilities are serving them. I lose all control when the warm cookies hit the back room. Anything that makes me look like Messy Marvin from the old Hershey's Syrup commercials in front of my clients can't be good for our industry.
Supply Chain Management. It seems like corporate research teams are feeling a growing amount of influence from Supply Chain. I'm all for scrutiny of research agencies...it makes our industry stronger. However, research isn't office stationery, and it shouldn't be commoditized as if it were. Doing so waters down the insights that corporate researchers rely on to meet their internal business partners' needs.
Lily White Online Panels. As mentioned above, hopefully the lack of diversity in online panels is in the process of becoming a thing of the past.
Cookie Cutter Research Programs. One size no longer fits all.

Focus Group Humor

2011-02-16T06:16:00.000-08:00

BlogNog Offered Free of Charge: Online platform for qualitative research FREE for students and faculty

2011-02-09T09:34:00.000-08:00

CHARLOTTE, NC February 9, 2011 – Accelerant Research is offering the use of its proprietary online qualitative research platform – BlogNog – free of charge to students and faculty for academic-related purposes.

Due to factors that include the explosion in social media usage, the widespread penetration of broadband connectivity and the advent of digital technology, the ability of researchers to shift methods from face-to-face to online is a reality for conducting qualitative research, nowadays. In so doing, important benefits such as enhanced quality of data, lower study costs and faster delivery of results can be obtained.

In view of these compelling benefits of conducting qualitative research online that are gained by organizations and research professionals, the partners at Accelerant Research (Paul Rubenstein and Bill McDowell) have decided to contribute to the forces at work to drive this “research methodology shift.”

Specifically, Accelerant Research is making BlogNog available to any student or faculty member for free when they need to conduct qualitative research for project coursework, journal publication, thesis, or dissertation.

“Let’s face it, research professionals all begin as students,” explained Dr. Paul Rubenstein, President of Accelerant Research. “We were all there once, and usually had scant budgetary resources available to us to fund our work. Therefore, we want to make BlogNog available to students so that they may learn about and embrace this technology and freely explore the possibilities and potential it represents.”

“Likewise, we offer it free of charge to faculty to facilitate their students’ adoption of online qualitative research methods and to enhance their own class agendas for the benefit of their students and school program. In the end, we will be gratified if students add these capabilities to their skill set during their preparation as career research professionals and be honored when they do so.”

For additional information about BlogNog, you can visit http://www.blognogresearch.com/, email info@accelerantresearch.com, or dial 866-683-7407.

About Accelerant Research:
Accelerant Research is a full-service marketing research and consulting firm headquartered in Charlotte, NC, which specializes in customer loyalty, product development, customer satisfaction measurement, modeling, tracking, online qualitative research, omnibus research, and brand analytics.

Media Contact:
Paul Rubenstein, Ph.D.
President
Accelerant Research
704-206-8501
paulr@accelerantresearch.com
http://www.accelerantresearch.com/

Accelerant Research Rolls Out BlogNog™ Version 2.0

2010-10-20T11:25:00.000-07:00

Several new features are included in the second generation of the BlogNog™ online qualitative research platform.

CHARLOTTE, NC October 20, 2010 – From its original design in 2008, BlogNog™ was built to facilitate even the most in-depth qualitative marketing research studies. BlogNog™ was conceived by career research professionals (not IT specialists whose background is in programming online quantitative surveys) whose goal was to improve upon the deficiencies of existing bulletin board platforms by optimizing the experience of respondents, client observers, and most importantly, qualitative research professionals who have to moderate the group of respondents, analyze the data, and write a report on study findings. In essence, the goal of designing BlogNog™ was to optimally leverage the social media phenomenon and make things as easy as possible for the moderator and respondents.

Users have come to consider BlogNog™ to be:

Far more engaging than bulletin board formats
Immersive like ethnographies should be
Longitudinal like ethnographies aspire to be
State-of-the-art in its design and functions
Simple in uploading question guide content with rich text formatting without requiring HTML programming knowledge
Intuitive for participants and observers
Similar to Facebook, LinkedIn in its use
Powerful with virtually unlimited capacity
Flexible to provide custom solutions to atypical project needs
Entirely anonymous and amenable to highly sensitive topics
Parallel to traditional, F2F methods in many ways
Exempt from the need for technical support
Convenient
Fast loading
Able to provide complete transcripts automatically
Sharply lower cost
Transparently priced
Green
Fun for respondents from consumer and B2B populations

With the release of BlogNog™ V 2.0, a leap-frog in technology has made BlogNog™ far more advanced than any other online platform in the market! Its newest features include:

Shopper Insights™ mobile capabilities for Mystery Shopping and Shop-Alongs
(Q3)™ to link qualitative and quantitative phases of integrated research plans
Multilingual capability for use among different cultures and consumer segments, globally
Multi-dimensional respondent grouping function for drill-down analysis
Participant Wall™ analysis for end-to-end view of individual respondent data
Custom Branding for placement of client organization name, logo, color(s)
Dial-testing, drag-n-drop sorting, image/text tracking, perception mapping, collage building, and custom flash programming

Last, Accelerant Research continues to offer full services for study design prescriptions, participant recruitment (phone, online, in-person) and incentive fulfillment, and a wide variety of qualitative research techniques including projective testing.

For additional information, you can download a brief description of BlogNog™ and some of its potential applications in our brochure at http://www.blognogresearch.com or contact us directly at info@accelerantresearch.com or dial 704-206-8500 to schedule a BlogNog™ test drive.

About Accelerant Research:
Accelerant Research is a full-service marketing research and consulting firm headquartered in Charlotte, NC, which specializes in customer loyalty, product development, customer satisfaction measurement, modeling, tracking, online qualitative research, omnibus research, and brand analytics.

Media Contact:
Paul Rubenstein, Ph.D.
President
Accelerant Research
704-206-8501
paulr@accelerantresearch.com
http://www.accelerantresearch.com/

Research on Research: An Examination of the Quality, Cost, & Speed of Online Qualitative Research

2010-06-25T13:30:00.000-07:00

CLICK HERE FOR A DOWNLOADABLE PDF VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE

INTRODUCTION
For decades, face-to-face (F2F) interviewing, as the method for conducting qualitative research, has been viewed as the optimal condition for collecting data. By being present at the time data are collected, a skilled qualitative research consultant (QRC) can listen to and understand the direct answers that participants give to the QRC’s questions and combine those data with visual cues from non-verbal behavior such as body language and facial expressions, as well as with word emphasis and voice inflection. In so doing, that QRC may get a deeper understanding and a clearer view of participants’ attitudes, self-reported behavior, and the emotional basis for their actions, over and above what is afforded by verbal data alone.

Yet, when we review the history of quantitative market research, we see that what began as F2F interviewing (whether done by door-to-door or mall intercepts), eventually shifted to different methodologies which capitalized on advances in technology. These became opportunities for our industry to drive down study costs and time requirements. Over time, study methods migrated to computer assisted telephone interviews (CATI) which, in turn, was followed by the Internet. Each shift was caused by the cost and time benefits to organizations that commissioned research, as well as the proven viability of the method to the market research industry. Nowadays, it is only under special circumstances that a quantitative study will deploy a F2F method, having to do with certain characteristics of the target population or the test stimuli or some other unique set of conditions.

Granted, quantitative research does not have at its core the quality standard of yielding data that are in-depth and emotionally-based as does its qualitative counterpart. Rather, quantitative data that are high quality are closely representative of a population so that statistical tests of significance can be performed and inferences can be drawn. In contrast, qualitative research must yield data that reflect the dynamic interrelationships between an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and actions. These studies are designed to pose short, open-ended questions, receive detailed answers and, based on those answers, probe with other questions that may not necessarily have been planned before the outset of the study. The QRC must use special interviewing skills that enable the discussion to veer into unplanned directions and otherwise seize opportunities for a deeper glimpse into the inner workings of study participants’ hearts and minds.

Perhaps now we have reached a point during which new technologies may be used in qualitative research to provide similar reductions in cost and time and provide more options to QRCs in offering new, alternative solutions to clients’ needs that may be more appropriate than traditional ones alone. For that matter, these same technologies could also be used to augment qualitative research by combining them with F2F participant interaction. Study costs and cycle times may be sharply reduced, surely. But if the quality of the data was comparable or represented a worthwhile trade-off, the entire market research industry and all of its participating members would benefit. QRCs, in particular would be able to provide solutions to clients that may be more appropriate to the study objectives using entirely non-F2F or hybrid methods, and this would enable them to provide better service. Also, there would be increased capacity by freeing up time that would be otherwise spent traveling. Less considered but of distinct importance is that the carbon footprint associated with a given study can be reduced or virtually eliminated, too. So, the question may be asked “are there Internet-based technologies that can be leveraged to conduct in-depth qualitative research in a way that affords the professional QRC the opportunity to exercise all the alacrity and prowess that is brought to bear in a typical F2F study?”

As it is, social media usage has developed and become widespread very quickly. Social networks, blogsites, and other online “beehives” appear to be all around us. Millions of people continue to adopt social media sites as their primary source of all kinds of information. Over the past few years, more and more of the general population has embraced the social networking phenomenon. Blogging, for example, has become widespread and continues to grow. The term “blog” (a portmanteau of the term "web log") is a type of website usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. This term only recently came into existence, but now is a household word. For all intents and purposes, blogging has become a comfortable, almost natural form of interpersonal communication in today’s society.

So, if blogging is as common a behavior as we assume, we can combine the ease with which general consumers blog with current mainstream technologies, such as broadband connectivity and digital technology, and use it to facilitate qualitative studies in market research. The potential benefits of doing so include those for organizations, QRCs, and the market research industry as a whole.

Based on these observed conditions, we set out to test the viability of an online platform to facilitate a truly in-depth study in qualitative research, an ethnography, which we reasoned would be the optimal litmus test of these assumptions. In essence, if we were successful in conducting a “BlogNography,” we would have demonstrated that we can use technology to improve conditions for qualitative research in general. It was our main goal in this research to test and then tell, what we think, is a very compelling story to research professionals. That is, conditions have emerged in society and in technology that, when aligned, can alter the way in which qualitative research is done. The benefits to be gained are as great and similar in nature to those enjoyed by changes in methodology in quantitative research. As such, our mission now is to begin the process of raising industry-wide consciousness to the benefits of replacing in-person qualitative research with online platforms that are designed to capitalize on society’s comfort level with blogging and enable consumers to share their lives, stories, aspirations, fears, and hopes using textual and visual data.

BACKGROUND

What is more basic and fundamental to our lives than the American family? How better can we understand what is important to the family than by studying them while under challenging conditions, such as dinner time in the home? We chose this topic because we sensed that it would be rich and fertile ground for us to explore. We assumed that if we were successful in achieving what qualitative research is designed for (to develop an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such behavior) using the Internet rather than face-to-face methods, it would be a clear demonstration of the viability of the online medium for qualitative research.

Life today typically contains several competing objectives and goals. Raising children, jobs, school, friends, extra-curricular activities, volunteerism, homework, relaxation, and sleep all have the potential to impinge upon the day and its schedule and demand attention at the expense of the other pressing needs. Since we are all part of a family, we know that there are many factors that shape, mold, facilitate, inhibit and impinge upon how the “typical dinner” is executed in a family. Consider social needs, historical traditions, biological and nutritional requirements, financial and budgetary limitations, religious practices, physical space, gender roles, political divisions of labor, time pressures, occupational characteristics, and not least of all, culinary skills. The constellation of all these factors contributes to the unique manner in which dinner is done for each individual family, and their blogging provided a looking-glass into their experiences and associated emotional content.

The dinner process provides a direct view of the real value placed by the family on getting together, conversing, exchanging experiences, discussing plans, developing strategies, and surviving as a family unit. There is only so much time and, more and more these days, there is less free time. Arguably, dinner is the event during the day when the distinguishing characteristics of any family unit is most starkly evident. Indeed, the way a family processes dinner manifests and reveals what is most important to the group and to the individuals that are members. Combining their blogs with our ethnographic research approach yielded a “BlogNography” on the American family as we immersed ourselves in their lives through cyberspace and witnessed their account of whether and to what extent their lives have changed and on what path they are heading in the future.

To facilitate this endeavor, we used BlogNog (see http://blognogresearch.com/), an online platform specifically designed to capitalize on today’s blogging phenomenon and able to leverage the widespread access in homes to broadband connectivity and digital technology to test the viability of conducting an online ethnography.

METHODOLOGY

We recruited 250 respondents to this study vis-à-vis the following screening criteria:

Aged 18 or older
Not employed in food service industry
Not employed in sensitive industry (advertising/public relations, market research)
Presence of at least one child aged 17 years old or less in the household
Access to the Internet and to a digital camera or mobile phone camera, knowledge of how to upload photos onto a computer, and agreement to do so

The data collection process lasted one week beginning January 14, 2010 and ending January 21, 2010. Each respondent was given three (3) distinct assignments in which to participate, and we inserted specific probing questions to individual respondents based on their blogged responses to our standard questions over the course of this time period. On average, each participant spent a total of 60 to 90 minutes in fulfilling their requirements for this study. Special services were provided, with our appreciation, by Decipher who programmed the screener and managed the recruitment process for us. Likewise, Survey Sampling International provided the list of its panel members from which we randomly sampled to enlist our study respondents. The following is an outline of the Discussion Guide.

ASSIGNMENT 1: Present

Take photos of the inside of the refrigerator, freezer, and pantry (or other places in which you store dry goods) and upload them to your computer, then to your account in BlogNog.

Describe your typical dinner process beginning with grocery shopping, then meal preparation, serving, eating and cleaning up. Include answers to who, what, where, when, and how.

ASSIGNMENT 2: Past and Future

Describe the typical dinner process of your family when you were a child along the same lines as above and compare that to the current dinner process. Then predict the future dinner process for your child(ren) and comment on the influences of current practices on the future.

ASSIGNMENT 3: Projectives using Archetypal Symbols

Choose separate images that best represent:

1. your typical dinner process

2. you in relation to your typical dinner process

3. your IDEAL dinner process

4. how you would be transformed by the IDEAL dinner process if it existed nowadays

DETAILED FINDINGS: CURRENT DINNER PRACTICES

Nowadays, getting dinner on the table is not a simple matter; perhaps it never was. Several important factors play a significant role in how the dinner process for any given family unfolds. For some, it is easier than for others, but most balance their job schedule, budget, living condition, cooking space, and culinary skill against their needs for tradition, customs, food preference, nutrition and family togetherness. Also, they do this while abiding by the laws of physics, in terms of time and space, to prepare, serve, eat, and clean up after the meal is consumed.

Some general information was found, such as that “Moms” are still the household member that is the primary dinner chef. It is mainly her that cooks the bacon regardless of whether she brings it home or not. However, more frequently men and children are responsible for supporting roles in the process, nowadays, whether it is in preparation, serving and/or clean up. According to these consumers’ recollections, their mother was usually the one responsible for dinner when they were children.

Another piece of general information found is that people’s schedules have more influence on dinner than it did when these consumers were children growing up in their homes. As such, there is a greater societal reliance on prepared foods from various providers such as grocery stores’ prepared or frozen meals, restaurants’ eat-in or take-out, fast food, drive-thru, etc.

"As much as I wish we can eat like a typical family around the dinner table, we usually eat working on the computer or watching TV. Maybe I’m a bit lazy. I truly dislike the fact that we are not like the traditional family that eats at the dinner table, as I did as a child. I feel like a failure both as a woman and as a wife and mother because of my inabilities. This is not how I want my daughter to think "family life" is supposed to be. Because I am not creative enough nor a well enough cook, our meals usual consist of things like Hamburger Helper, Betty Crocker prepared meal kits or kits I can throw in the crock pot. On occasion I will throw something together from a recipe book but it never comes out right. My ideal dinner would be the whole family gathered around the table to a "nice" well-balance home cooked meal. Talking about our days as we enjoy each other's company. We hardly ever go out to eat simply because I cannot afford it. I just recently lost my job and money is very tight. Clean up usually falls upon me too. Since we do not have a dish washer, I have a whole day (sometimes 2 or 3 days) of dishes that have to be washed by hand."

As family members describe their dinner process, they reveal aspects of their family life that are deeply felt, and it is these aspects that most poignantly describe their plight in life. As they do so, what emerges are a set of factors of varying levels of impact on each family’s unique dinner process. These factors can be dichotomized as external – somewhat beyond the family’s control, such as their budget and job schedule and internal – those factors that families impose upon themselves and somewhat within their control, such as nutrition requirements, family traditions and culinary skill. Below is a description of how each of these factors affects the dinner process of the American Family as well as how they interact with each other in some cases.

External Factors

Budget

When budget is not an issue, a family can do whatever it wants in terms of what is eaten and how much it costs. But for most, budget is an important factor such that families must balance the cost of food against their preferences and other financial obligations. Many report they cannot afford to eat out, so often times they cook meals from the food they purchase at a grocery store. Those meals, too, are usually kept simple and relatively inexpensive.

"Cheap ingredients as possible. Use a lot of frozen veggies and try to use chicken more than red meat. Lots of stir fries. Cook at home 99% of time to save money. Buy anything possible on clearance. Currently have 60 plus packages of smoked salmon b/c they were 75% off, make good gifts, keep for years and are healthful. No one is a picky eater, thank goodness. Ideal dinner is home-made sushi. We all enjoy making it, it's delicious and healthful and a whole lot cheaper than going out for sushi, which I've only done once in the past 8 years because I can't afford to."

"We usually eat rice, meat/poultry, beans, pasta and some fish (I usually do not change the foods due to my Autistic children). My partner and children help in the kitchen; whether it is cleaning, prepping or actual cooking of the dinner. We do not go out for dinner due to costs and behavioral issue with my youngest daughter."

Work Schedule

One’s work schedule often plays a major role in the dinner process of the household member in charge of dinner. Arrival time at home has a tendency to dictate what is prepared and eaten. The later that time is in the evening, the more one will rely on quickly prepared meals or ones prepared by someone else, such as restaurant take-out, frozen meals, or grocery store-bought.

"Most the time we don't have enough time to do a homemade meal so we buy a lot of frozen, or canned goods like soups, burritos and chimichangas, or frozen pastas with pre-made canned sauces. On nights we do have time, I'll do from scratch potatoes au gratin or we'll throw together tacos."

Culinary Skill

Those who know how to cook usually enjoy doing so and approach the dinner process with more freedom to accommodate other causal factors such as time and money. Often, they enlist the help of children so that they can teach them how to do it for themselves when they grow up.

"My mom and grandma cooked together as a team and all the smells made our house a home. I try to do the same thing with my children. Cooking to me is a passion and I love to cook. I do not see it as a chore but a loving gesture for my family."

Those that are cooking-challenged are trapped by their lack of skill and struggle with the process, often relying on more expensive prepared meals or less tasty frozen or canned goods.

"I really am not a good cook so dinners are kept simple, spaghetti with sauce, tacos, meatloaf, potatoes, pork chops, kraft mac and cheese, baked chicken from the supermarket, and if time is a huge factor then some type of Tyson chicken, salads, veggies."

Internal Factors

Nutrition

Nutrition-conscious dinner chefs talk about their record of providing “full” or “balanced” meals consisting of meat, chicken, or fish, vegetables and a starch such as pasta or rice. They do so with pride in knowing they are caring for their family and insuring that, for at least one meal in the day, their family is receiving the proper nutrition for healthy living.

"Typical dinner is always eaten at home with the whole family present. We eat out maybe once a year. Everything is made from scratch, no potatoes from a box. I (mom & wife) usually prepare one meal for the entire family and I clean up afterwards. The meals are nutritionally balanced (contain a serving from each of the 4 main food groups)."

Others lament the fact that processed or fast food is too much a part of their diet. They realize this is not the healthiest way to live but do so out of convenience or some other limiting factor.

Family Traditions

Family traditions may be formed on the basis of childhood memories and experiences or from current factors that have emerged to influence today’s dinner process, i.e., attributable to present factors such as budget, time, or space. For the former, dinner chefs expend effort towards keeping old traditions alive for their children because they feel it is important, keeps ethnic, racial, or religious customs alive and prevents them from extinction, reinforces members’ identity and roots, and sometimes even makes them feel young again. New traditions, on the other hand, can be as simple as “Wednesday is spaghetti night” or “we always watch TV when we eat dinner.”

Without fail, family traditions, whether they are old or young, are always considered to be precious. They are referenced as a source of identification for the group and cherished in some way, but only when the family actually comes together for dinner.

"For dinner time every night we eat together even though it is just the two of us, my daughter and I. We normally eat dinner around 5pm every night and my daughter sets the table with forks, cups and plates. We have a meat, a side of usually a carbohydrate (mashed potatoes, rice, couscous, etc.) and a vegetable. I make dinner and then I clean up the table and do the dishes after dinner while my daughter goes and does her homework. My daughter and I discuss our day and if anything is troubling us or has made us very happy that day. This is our time, besides story time, that we spend totally engaged with each other and have no distractions. The phone doesn't get answered if it rings and the TV is off. These are the ideal dinners, in my mind. It couldn't get any better unless of course someone else was doing the cooking and cleaning up."

For those who go their own way for dinner, there are no traditions, past or present, which are cited as a reference point for how dinner is executed nowadays.

"I think it is bad to not all eat together. We no longer communicate with other members of the family. We are off on our own, watching TV, reading or on the computer, instead of talking. Also, when we are all off doing our own thing, the kids do not learn anything about preparing the meals."

Religious Practices

Giving thanks and saying grace over the meal is offered as part of the family dinner process in certain cases. This is a special case of a family tradition that is cherished and deliberately practiced so that it is perpetuated in future family generations.

"I do prefer that we eat at the table b/c it guarantees that we will say grace before our meal. I prepare the meals at least 95% of the time so I usually get my way. This is very important to me because that’s the way I grew up. "

"I come from a typical Italian family. The women in my family are the most prominent cooks. However in my own family my mother also taught me to cook, but then I show my brothers and mom did as well. While the food is being put on the table the kids and others in family go wash up and come to the table. We then ask someone to say the blessing (my stepdads not really into this but he try's for the kids). This is the way we were brought up and there’s not too many family's that do this any more. They are 8 yrs. twins (boy & girl) No matter what is cooked that night it's expected to be eaten to an empty plate or you get again for your next meal no waste in our house. In a way it's good because none of us go anywhere and say sorry I don't like that, we at least try. Thanks to family-manners and old way !!!"

Togetherness

Some families absolutely require all members assemble for dinner at the same time on a nightly basis. Some go to great lengths to do so at the expense of their time and money.

"We are a family of 4 and usually live a life that is very hectic but the rule for dinner at our house is that we all eat together unless it's absolutely un-avoidable. Because of the hectic lifestyle we live a typical dinner is usually fast-food or dinner at a casual restaurant like Applebee's (our favorite restaurant). As far as what we eat it's something from the regular menu at one of these restaurants."

"We eat together as a family every night because we believe it is important for our children to have routines, time with their parents, time to share about their day, and time to eat without the television or other distractions."

However, many families are usually not together at all. These families either do not have any kind of formal meal preparation or one dinner chef prepares food that is reheated by others later on in the evening. Conflicting schedules among family members accounts for this outcome in almost all cases.

"Do we eat together? No, because we are hungry at different times. What is usually eaten? Quick meals (i.e. cereal, frozen dinner, etc...) Cook at home or go out? Eat a lot of meals out, because of sporadic and busy schedules."

Still others, in recalling their past, are hell bent on changing conditions for their own family in terms of togetherness. They are highly motivated to improve the dinner experience, whether by enforcing more schedule synchronization, making the experience a more favorable one for the family members, or improving the food that is shared.

"We did not eat dinner together. Most often ate when we wanted to go make something for ourselves. If dinner was prepared for the family it was prepared and cleaned by my mother. During dinner we would eat alone or in front of the television. I personally wanted to have family meals. At least one meal a day that everyone came together to recap on what happened. I would have liked to have more balanced meals and not something a child could think of and prepare themselves. So that’s how I run things in my home – the right way."

Some even have profoundly negative memories associated with dinner in the distant past and have taken great effort to positively change things and erase those memories.

"We ate together a couple times a week. Often it was fend for yourself. I believe this is because both my parents worked and were overwhelmed. Dinner was unpleasant b/c of the high level of stress and an unhealthy view of food. When a full meal was cooked it was usually baked ham, chicken and broccoli, broiled fish and other yummy well-balanced meals. When it was fend for yourself, it was microwavable meals or snacks, at least once or twice a week we ate fast food meals. (McDonald's, Hardees, or Burger Kind) My stepmother usually prepared the meals and the kids took turns cleaning up as part of our chores. We usually either all ate in the living room watching T.V. or in separate rooms watching T.V. or doing homework. My sister and I found dinner unpleasant b/c we were often criticized for our portions and commented about our weight, even though in hindsight we were within a normal weight range for our age and height. My sister and I are still rather bitter about dinner time in our family so we both try very hard to change things for our own family and children. I’d rather not even think about those days b/c I get angry."

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

As mentioned, the entire study was conducted online as respondents, representing their own respective family, blogged responses to our questions about the entire process of dinner in their homes: from grocery shopping to food preparation, serving, eating, and cleaning up. We studied their memories of their families when they were children growing up, and finally, posed several questions to have them predict what it will be like for their children when they have families of their own.

We set out to test whether in-depth qualitative research can be conducted online in a manner that produces consumer insights at least as well as traditional in-person methods while capitalizing on current technologies that can improve other research study factors such as cost, speed, effort, and data quality. Since blogging is a mode of communication that has been so widely adopted and comfortable for many consumers, we set our sights on performing the optimal litmus test – an online ethnography; one in which participants were required to tell us about some of the most poignant experiences from their past, confess to aspects of their present lives that they feel are less than perfect, and share their deepest desires for the future, not only for themselves, but more importantly, for their children. We collected hundreds of artifacts in the form of photos of participants’ homes, where they store, prepare, and eat their dinners. Indeed, we received more than we bargained for.

The consumer insights unearthed in this study are foundational in nature. That is to say, they are the kind of data that are used to provide a framework for the development of organizational initiatives such as a creative brief for advertising strategies or the grist for ideation sessions to seed product development pipelines. Quite easily, other objectives could have easily been brought to bear in this study, such as customer experience, naming/positioning, copy testing, and concept/product testing. But doing so was out of scope for this study whose sole purpose was to execute and witness whether online qualitative research, even ethnography, was reachable.

Our conclusion is that it is. Moreover, consumers seem to enjoy the assignments and their participation was worthwhile.

"I did enjoy this survey!!! You really made me look hard at my family's dinner habits and made me think about what I could do to possibly change our family meal time."

"This was a wonderful study, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Very creative!"

"Thank you for the opportunity to participate. This was fun."

"I did enjoy this survey, I realized that I need to make some changes with my family meal time."

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Ethnography conducted successfully online
Rich, symbolic, emotional-based data were collected
Data were gathered in the context of the subject of study where artifacts were gathered
250 participants involved and all data were collected in one week
Online platform served as blogspace (http://www.blognogresearch.com/) for participants to tell their stories
Hundreds of photos, videos and mountains of text-based data gathered
Projective technique was utilized
New solutions and enhanced service to clients’ needs may be provided
Could be used to inform the design of quant survey for subsequent phase of research
Could be used to provide the basis for creative brief development
Could be used to provide grist for product development ideation
Could be used for competitive intelligence gathering
No traveling, no scheduling, no logistical constraints
Fun and engaging for respondents despite the amount of work they were required to do
Entirely “green” – virtually no carbon footprint

If we assume that the quality of the data in this study are comparable to that which could have been collected using a traditional in-person process of conducting these ethnographic interviews, then a review of cost and time requirements will provide a more thorough evaluation of the viability of this methodology. The table below is an attempt to directly compare cost and time factors among standard qualitative research methods by holding constant the number of respondents involved in a given study.

While there may be variations on both cost and time from one study to another or one research provider or another, the cell entries in the above table are only estimates based on general experiences and conventional wisdom in the market research industry.

In essence, for approximately the same cost of a round of six focus groups, an online ethnography can be conducted yielding over ten times the amount of respondent input. Generating that much more data drives down the cost per minute per respondent by over 90%. In addition, the total amount of time required to complete the study is reduced by one to two weeks. Likewise, in comparison to F2F ethnography, conducting an online ethnography can cut the cost of the study by about 80% and deliver a final report four times as fast.

This is not to say that all qualitative studies would be better served by an online method. Rather, the online technology that exists today may serve to provide new options, alternatives, and enhanced solutions, whether done in substitution for F2F or in combination with that method. As such, QRCs who embrace the new technologies may be in a position to better serve their clients. Client organizations may benefit through more in-depth consumer insights and more bang for the research buck, speedier-to-market solutions, enhanced geographic reach, and less wear and tear and downtime on its members.

CLICK HERE FOR A DOWNLOADABLE PDF VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE

Nearly One in Three Americans Finds Political Advertising ‘Totally Unbelievable’

2010-06-08T10:40:00.000-07:00

Survey results indicate low believability in advertisements relating to politics, financial services, and energy companies.

CHARLOTTE, NC June 8, 2010 – In spite of the PR beatings financial services companies, energy companies, and automobile manufacturers have taken in recent months, political advertising is perceived as far less trustworthy than advertising from these or other sources, according to the results of a recent survey conducted by Charlotte-based Accelerant Research. Thirty percent of respondents indicated that political advertisements are ‘totally unbelievable,’ compared to 16% for energy/oil company ads, 14% for credit cards, 11% for investment companies, and 5% for automobile manufacturers.

Interestingly, auto manufacturers’ advertising messages are viewed with less skepticism than other troubled sectors. “Despite the recent domestic auto company bailouts and Toyota’s ongoing quality struggles, Americans still place a relatively strong amount of faith in the communications of these brands,” explained Dr. Paul Rubenstein, President of Accelerant Research.

Other key findings of this research included:

As household income increases, so does trust in political advertising. 34% of respondents with annual household income under $30,000 indicate that political advertisements are ‘totally unbelievable,’ a proportion which declines across income levels to 25% among those earning $150,000 or more per year.
Younger Americans find political advertising more trustworthy. Only 16% of 18-24 year olds agree that political ads are ‘totally unbelievable,’ compared to 37% of those over 65.
The most believable advertisers included in this survey were public service announcements/non-profit organizations (16% receiving a score of 9 or 10 on the same 10-point believability scale), restaurants (15%), soft drinks (15%), apparel/shoes (15%), and electronics (14%).

Accelerant Research conducted this survey online among a demographically representative sample of 1,830 Americans, age 18 and older. The survey was conducted in June, 2010 and has a margin of error of approximately 2.3 percentage points.

About Accelerant Research:

Accelerant Research is a full-service marketing research and consulting firm headquartered in Charlotte, NC, which specializes in customer loyalty, product development, customer satisfaction measurement, modeling, tracking, online qualitative research, omnibus research, and brand analytics.

Media Contact:

Paul Rubenstein, Ph.D.
President
Accelerant Research
704-206-8501
paulr@accelerantresearch.com
http://www.accelerantresearch.com/

Accelerant Research Webcast: American Dinner Process Ethnography Results

2010-04-02T05:48:00.000-07:00

Last week at the ARF's Re:think 2010 conference, Accelerant Research President, Paul Rubenstein presented findings from a recent online ethnography (or BlogNography) of the dinner processes of American Families. The study served as both an interesting look into family dynamics, as well as a testing ground for the types of insights that can be collected via online qualitative methods. The findings from this study are presented in the following videos. Note: if you have difficulty viewing YouTube videos for any reason (e.g., corporate firewall restrictions), there is an alternative video player version below as well.

Part 1 of 3: 'What's for Dinner' Ethnography Webcast

Part 2 of 3: 'What's for Dinner' Ethnography Webcast

Part 3 of 3: 'What's for Dinner' Ethnography Webcast

As a YouTube Alternative, click on the player below:

The Whys and Wherefores of RFPs in Market Research – Part II

2010-03-29T06:48:00.000-07:00

In the last article on this subject (CLICK HERE FOR PART I), we outlined many of the key benefits to corporate-side market research professionals of using Requests for Proposals (RFPs) to engage research firms in the planning and executing of research studies. To reiterate, the main purpose of an RFP for a market research study is to be able to get a fair (read: apples-to-apples) comparison of the quality, cost, and length of time required for the study that each research firm proposes, so that judging the winner becomes an easier, more straightforward decision to make.

In this installment, we have outlined a process for developing an RFP that is general enough to be portable across qualitative and quantitative research in any industry. But before we get into the specifics for each section of an RFP, there are a few noteworthy, general rules of thumb that may serve as guideposts or overarching principles of RFP development, and hopefully benefit the RFP writer as such.

First and foremost, try to put in as many study specifications as possible, even if they are revised before fielding the study. Make it a requirement that each proposal address these specifications, even if they are included only as a “straw man” example. Simply put, if you request what you want and the reasons for it, suppliers will respond in kind since proposal writers are literally “programmed” to respond to the details and specifics in the content of the RFP document. This practice will improve the calibration of the comparisons of each proposal to the others as you weigh the merits contained in each in terms of quality, cost, and timing.

Here’s another technique that has been used by us and others from whom we’ve learned: when you meet with internal business clients to address research requests before the RFP is developed, use the sections of a standard RFP as the agenda for the meeting. That is: background, objectives, approach, methodology, survey topics, analytic plan, time requirements, deliverables, and price or budget. In the end, your dialog time will be well spent and you will have minimized the risk of ultimately delivering insights that were not wanted or not worth the cost. In addition, after meeting with internal clients, you will have a skeleton draft of the RFP itself, thus facilitating the development of the RFP for distribution to key suppliers to whom you will invite to propose.

BACKGROUND

The background section is an important component of the RFP as it provides the business context in which the request is being made by the organization and enables the research supplier to understand the underlying reasons as to why the study is being sponsored. This section represents an opportunity to educate research firms on multiple levels. First, the background section, when couched in specific business terms that are used by and important to the organization, impart key business needs. These needs represent corporate cultural characteristics that enable research suppliers to get closer to the business itself, and when expressed, can become a foundational learning opportunity and foster strategic partnership relations between suppliers and their clients. Secondly, the specific language that is used in this section teaches suppliers the “lexicon of the organization” and further deepens the suppliers’ understanding of its culture.

OBJECTIVES

The objectives section, another important aspect of the RFP for framing the study and receiving a set of proposals that can be directly compared, is worth the effort to think through as comprehensively as possible. However, these objectives should be used to list study objectives that are tied to business needs, not business objectives which are more appropriately found in the background section. In other words, a market research study will never produce a business result, but can inform business decisions on how to achieve business results. For example, in the objectives section of an RFP, it is not appropriate to list “produce a 20% increase in product sales by 1st quarter 2010.” It is appropriate to list “uncover consumers’ behavioral and attitudinal barriers to increased product sales in order for 1st quarter 2010 product sales to be reached.”

METHODOLOGY

In the methodology section of an RFP, study design aspects that carry implications for costs and time requirements are shown. This is a very important section of the RFP where the merits of different proposals can be identified on sight. In this section, the RFP should specify as much of the design of the study that has been thought through, agreed upon, and understood within the relative confines of time and budget constraints.

To the fullest extent possible, the method should be specified as qualitative, quantitative, or both, as well as which particular type of focus groups, IDIs, online, phone (CATI), etc. Other specifications that may have been thought through beforehand and can be noted in the RFP includes the length of interviews, the number of open-ended questions, and whether or not customer/respondent lists will be provided by the organization.

SAMPLE CONFIGURATION

The sample configuration section of the RFP is a section that carries significant cost and time implications for any given research study. Again, if the goal of an RFP is to solicit comparable proposals from multiple suppliers, the more detailed information that can be provided in this section, the more easily proposals can be compared fairly. Even if what is provided is meant to be a “straw man” design, it is still worth including it to obtain proposal comparability. Moreover, if the research firm recommends a different design and sample configuration, usually they will provide costs for what is requested in the RFP and then re-price whatever they recommend.

A key aspect of this section to include is the number of interviews required in total and by subgroup. Explicitly state whether sample sizes or proportions are subject to hard or loose quotas or whether subgroup representation can result at random and be augmented, if necessary. Another important aspect from a cost standpoint is the incidence rate of certain groups of interest. If this can be stated up front in the RFP, it will surely pay dividends in being able to clearly compare costs in one proposal to the next, since incidence of subgroups have a sharp influence on overall study costs.

ANALYTIC PLAN

The analytic plan section of an RFP is to state whether something more than the standard univariate and cross-tabulated analyses are required. Since more advanced statistical techniques may be required, the RFP writer will be served by including this as explicitly as possible. Also, if multivariate techniques are needed, one should also request that the proposal identify who is (or are) the statistician that will perform these analyses, his or her background, experience, and training, as these qualifications can be directly compared.

TIME SCHEDULE

If the RFP is for a study that already has time limitations before it begins, include some text stating exactly what those requirements are. To that end, the RFP writer can provide an entire time schedule from start to finish, marking each particular study milestone (e.g., survey development, data collection, final report delivery) with an associated time allotment, or specific calendar dates. This will avoid miscommunication of study requirements and otherwise catch the chosen research supplier flat-footed at the start of the study. Also, with knowledge in advance of the study’s time limitations, the methodology and sample configuration should be chosen to accommodate the schedule. Not doing so is a tell-tale sign that that proposal should not be chosen.

The final few sections of an RFP are relatively simple and do not necessitate elaborating upon in this newsletter. So, in closing, RFPs may be written very prescriptively, imparting several things on multiple bases such as the how the subject matter fits with the business goals, research objectives, and corporate culture. Considered study designs, methods, sample configurations, and other project specifications, when provided in an RFP, will benefit the organization and the research manager by ensuring that proposals that are given in response will be highly comparable, and the real value of one proposal over another will be evident.

In-Person vs. Online Qualitative Research Methods: Is there really a trade-off?

2010-03-17T08:30:00.000-07:00

In-Person Qualitative Research

For decades, an in-person setting for conducting qualitative research has been seen as the optimal condition for the most in-depth method of collecting data. By being present at the time data are collected, a skilled moderator can listen to and understand the direct answers that participants give to the moderator’s questions and combine those data with visual cues from non-verbal behavior such as body language and facial expressions, as well as with word emphasis and voice inflection. In so doing, that moderator gets a deeper understanding and a clearer view of participants’ attitudes, self-reported behavior, and the emotional basis for their actions, over and above what is afforded by verbal data alone. Surely, this is a characteristic of in-person methodology of qualitative research that cannot be argued. However, considering all that has to be done (and paid for) in order to obtain these subtleties and nuances of “non-verbal data,” the question as to whether it is worth it may be posed.

If we list all the things necessary to collect non-verbal data in a qualitative research study, they will include:

• Requiring all that is involved in the travel aspects of in-person data collection such as the costs of airfare and lodging, rental cars or taxis, meals, getting to one’s hotel, finding the facility, working late into the night, being out of the office, getting through airport security, and potentially dealing with different time zones and associated fatigue

• Paying a focus group facility more than an online panel company to use its database to recruit participants

• Needing two weeks (industry standard) for recruitment rather than one week if an online panel company is used for recruitment purposes

• Imposing scheduling and other logistical challenges for everyone involved including the moderator, his or her client (research manager), internal corporate clients (marketing/advertising executives), and the participants

Indeed, so many different logistical factors all need to be aligned and synchronized in order for this type of study to be successful, and so many additional costs are incurred in the process. For example, take the typical scenario that unfolds in conducting a set of focus groups.

Traditional Focus Groups

The study is approved by the client and then screener development becomes the first step in order to enable the recruitment process. During that two week period of recruitment, the question guide is developed, participants are recruited, clients are notified to make travel arrangements and schedule adjustments, and everyone converges at the facility in whatever city has been designated for the groups to be held. Participants show up (hopefully) and for two hours (industry standard) the entire group is focused on the data collection process. Assuming there are ten participants in the focus group room, each one of them shares their views and opinions for about 10 to 11 minutes (assuming about 10 minutes are spent during the introductory section) to allow everyone in the group to participate.

The (pair of) groups are done for that day and data collection is either complete or, perhaps, everyone is off to a different city for other focus groups to be conducted. At some point, all data will have been collected and the moderator then begins the analysis and prepares the final report. On average, each consumer focus group conducted had an associated cost of approximately $8,000, or $800 per participant, including respondent incentive

In-Person In-Depth Interviews

In comparison, in-depth interviews (IDIs) cost about the same per interview but provide about five to six times the amount of data per respondent, assuming each IDI lasts between 50 and 60 minutes. However, even though there are “more data for the same research buck” to be had with IDIs, they are not used as often as focus group studies partly because they are more time consuming or require multiple moderators to collect the data within the same time period (if we equate four groups of 10 participants to 40 individual IDIs).

All things being equal, IDIs provide more for less considering the balance between cost and amount of data that are yielded. Focus groups are more prevalent because they can be done in a relatively shorter period of time, but do not delve as deeply into participants’ experiences and feelings since the amount of interaction-per-respondent is at least one-fifth that of IDIs. Nevertheless, both can provide non-verbal data.

Online Qualitative Bang for the Buck

Now consider collecting qualitative research data online. Assuming no webcams are used in the process, there are no non-verbal cues that can be obtained using this methodology. The subtleties and other nuance by-products yielded by the in-person method are eliminated from the data collection process. However, for approximately the same cost ($800 per participant, including incentive) each participant can be given the time to provide about 120 minutes of input. Relative to focus groups, this is about 10+ times the amount of data; compared to IDIs, it is at least twice as much.

In this case, the moderator can have a virtual discussion with each person lasting two hours. To facilitate a smooth data collection process and prevent participant drop-off, the required time participants must provide can be spread out over a few days. However, all data can be collected over the same time period (the same week). Also, the number of participants that can be included can be in sets of 10s or even 100s. Given the asynchronous interactions that occur between the moderator and the participant over the course of the study, everyone can fulfill their responsibility during a time that is convenient for them. In essence, each party involved can be either inputting or analyzing data at 3:00AM in their underwear or whatever else suits them.

Online Qualitative Data Quality

Moreover, in many ways, the quality of the data may be enhanced by the online platform and its associated study design specifications, relative to in-person methods. One of the benefits of online qualitative research is in sustaining interaction with participants, which enables us to see longitudinal behaviors, and therefore capture experiences as close as possible to the time that they happen. In reality, the things we are most interested in learning about consumers happen at times when it can be impossible to predict and schedule in advance during the course of everyday life. But with a specially designed “blogspace,” the data can be collected within the context of the phenomenon under study, e.g., in-home usage of a product. So rather than de-contextualizing data collection, as is done by using the artificial setting of a focus group facility, the moderator can be “at the right place at the right time” with those questions that align with the study objectives. In addition, memory decay is eliminated since we can be on the spot at the time the behavior in question is exhibited as opposed to asking participants to put on their memory caps and tell us the story about what happened at some point in the past that is relevant to the study, as is the case with traditional, in-person focus groups and IDIs.

Now consider the effects of the moderator’s presence during data collection, as well as those of fellow participants and clients in the back room behind the big mirror. This condition has the potential to bias data because strong social norms can lead participants to adjust or change their answers so as to appear socially acceptable or politically correct. Online methods help to break down this social desirability bias because the elimination of direct, in-person or telephone interaction provides anonymity which facilitates honesty and truthfulness and allows us to explore even the most sensitive topics.

Surely, online focus groups have been in use for a long time but are only used as a “next best thing to being there” in the case when the type of participant is geographically dispersed. These studies, too, have their own inherent flaws such as scheduling and technological challenges. But nowadays, a confluence of factors has emerged to create the conditions for a new type of online qualitative study, one that leverages the widespread comfort level with blogging and social networking behavior and the penetration of broadband connectivity and digital technology in the homes of general population consumers. In essence, even the most in-depth qualitative research of them all, namely ethnographies, can be done online.

Online Ethnographies

Consider that an ethnographer routinely immerses him or herself in the culture of the behavior under study by traveling to the participant’s home to pose questions, observe the key behavior, collect artifacts that symbolize the subject, prepare field notes, and bring all these different types of qualitative data to bear in the analysis and interpretation for the benefit of the sponsoring organization.

But to optimize the trade-off result between cost, quality, and speed in qualitative research services, a specially designed online platform may be used to achieve the same set of objectives and fulfill on even the same set of deliverables as a traditional ethnography, at a fraction of the cost and time needed. Surely, consumers are able to be recruited, incented, given a set of tasks requiring their text-based responses to questions (blogging), upload photos taken with their cell phones to a website to serve as artifacts, and share their feelings and opinions on a large set of topics. They can do this over a sustained time period and in an anonymous setting. What we leave behind in the process are those highly expensive and, otherwise, intangible qualities that only an in-person data collection method can provide – the non-verbal data.

Bottom-Line

For that matter, what are we really giving up in this “conjoint on qualitative research” that is being addressed here? Indeed, are the non-verbal data so highly valued? Are they so unique and do they provide such a competitive advantage to the organization that collects them? Really, not so much. It is on a rare occasion, at best, that the non-verbals are discussed at length among the analysts and users of all the data. Even less frequently are they mentioned in final reports or become used as part of the strategy or tactics that organizations do as a result of conducting the research. Consider instead, that quantitative research has been leveraging technology for decades, moving from in-person, to phone, to the Internet and driving down costs and study cycle times, while focus groups are still being held the same way as they have over the same decades-long time period. Bottom-line, for the same cost of a few focus groups and in less time, ethnographies can be done yielding much deeper consumer insights, without all the schlepping that has become part and parcel of what we have been doing as market research professionals for so long.

Accelerant Research in the News

2010-03-17T06:25:00.000-07:00

Fiserv Gen Y Research (conducted by Accelerant Research) Reveals Fiscal Responsibility and Digital, Mobile Mindsets CLICK HERE FOR ARTICLE

The Whys and Wherefores of RFPs in Market Research

2009-08-27T12:27:00.000-07:00

As partners of Accelerant Research, we have collectively spent 46 years in market research and managed 750+ projects across a variety of industries in corporate-side, agency-side, and supplier-side roles. As such, we have been on the sending and the receiving sides of Requests for Proposals (RFPs). Across this history, we have been involved in studies that have succeeded by all standards and studies that were less than perfect. One thing we have come to realize is that a project is only as strong as the foundation it rests on, and that foundation starts with the RFP, as it needs to scope out the business problem and situational details from which the research is designed. There are, of course, other benefits which we will also outline.

In the market research industry, so much can be accomplished by developing and using RFPs, and so much can be lost in not doing so, or not doing so well. The main purpose of an RFP for a market research study is to be able to get a fair (read: apples-to-apples) comparison of the quality, cost, and amount of study time required that each supplier proposes for your specific study needs. Theoretically, if the exact same RFP is sent to three different research firms, these three have all been given the same chance to win the study, and judging the winner becomes an easier decision to make.

There are several important benefits of using RFPs on a regular basis in managing an organization’s research needs and budget.

Our Top Ten List of RFP benefits are:

Fostering a method of fair business practice in awarding research business;
Reminding research firms that any given study is subject to the throes of competition;
Reducing the cycle time between expressing research needs and finalizing a plan;
Preventing any possible perceptions of unfair business practices or partiality;
Ensuring what you get in a study is what you wanted;
Creating the perception towards you/your organization of professionalism among RFP recipient research suppliers;
Simplifying decision-making in choosing the best research firm for the study;
Managing internal clients’ expectations for relative cost and time requirements for a given study;
Providing a clear demonstration of understanding the business purposes tied to the study itself; and
Having a written document that supports the organization if certain aspects of the working relationship with the chosen supplier go awry in the process of conducting the study.

RFPs vary in terms of how prescriptive they are. Some are written in a way that dictates in advance all aspects of the research project and leaves less room for a recipient research firm to demonstrate its unique and distinguishing characteristics and capabilities. Yet, if a given study’s objectives, methodology, and study-related specifications are sound and have all been decided upon in advance, feel free to be prescriptive with your suppliers in the RFP. On the other hand, even when you are not sure about methodology, survey length, sampling, and other cost-related study specifications, either provide a “straw-man” set of specifications that you request the supplier to judge and offer specific, recommended revisions, or state up front that you seek the input from the supplier to prescribe what is best.

The most important aspect of an RFP that should be included in any RFP is the study objectives. Simply put, there is no better way to set your supplier on a course of action than by clearly stating the study objectives. Careful and comprehensive review of these objectives with internal, end-user clients will serve to enable a supplier to figure the rest out.

However, in our experiences, most RFPs are neither entirely prescriptive nor completely non-prescriptive; instead, the vast majority are somewhere in between these polar opposites. Because of this, the corporate-side researcher should be prepared to make trade-off decisions against key supplier dimensions of quality, cost, and time requirements.

In the next post, we will continue on the subject of “The Whys and Wherefores of RFPs in Market Research” and suggest specific methods and aspects of RFP writing that are crucial to the overall success of any given study.

CLICK HERE FOR PART II OF THIS ARTICLE

Part III: Why (and how) the Growth of Social Media has Created Opportunities for Market Research

2009-07-30T14:12:00.000-07:00

In the first two articles of our series on the subject of social media research (Click here for Part I and Part II), we identified the opportunity for market research professionals to leverage the growth in social media site adoption, and then listed specific advantages of doing so, namely to: (1) enhance the quality of data collected relative to traditional qualitative research studies; (2) reduce the amount of time required to collect data; and (3) drastically drive down study costs in the process.

KEY BENEFITS OF BLOGSPACE VS. IN-PERSON METHODS

To summarize, key benefits of using “blogspace” versus in-person methods of qualitative research are shown in the table below:

Market researchers have long known that in achieving certain objectives of any given study, certain trade-off decisions are needed to be made in setting an appropriate course of action to proceed. These trade-offs are typically a matter of balancing quality, speed, and cost. Rarely does it occur when market researchers can turn to their internal clients (e.g., marketing, advertising, P&L executives) and say, “if we do it this way, we’ll get better data, reduce costs, and deliver results faster.” Yet, these are exactly the benefits that can be enjoyed by using blogspace as the data collection medium for qualitative research as opposed to in-person, in-home, or other forms of on-site research methods.

LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY HAS BEEN DONE SEVERAL TIMES BEFORE

Perhaps the above is still not compelling enough for researchers to consider using blogspace to conduct focus groups or IDIs or ethnographies. It may be that this particular innovation is perceived as risky due to its novelty and lack of tradition. However, embracing new technologies to improve market research practices has a long history in our industry. From a review of the history of market research over the past few decades, it is immediately apparent that advances in technology have created a number of improved study conditions in efficiency, cost and control.

When market research began, the sole method for data collection was in-person. Eventually, the advent of computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) gave rise to enhancements in key study dimensions. This new technology provided greater control of data collection and systematic treatment of respondents, more precise measurement, improved sample usage and quota structure management, flawless execution of skip patterns embedded in surveys, and faster data delivery. Of course, CATI was considerably less expensive than in-person, too, all things being equal. Then, online research became a revolution for the market industry, bringing with it even better improvements along these lines and, again, drastically drove down study costs.

So, the idea of leveraging technology to improve conditions for market research to be performed is about as old as the industry itself. As such, one might argue that it behooves the professional market researcher to be vigilant in seeking opportunities to leverage technology to improve quality, reduce time spent and associated costs. However, while history shows that technology improvements have provided distinct benefits for quantitative research, perhaps the time is upon us for qualitative research to reap similar benefits. Surely, online focus groups have been around for quite some time, typically done as a substitute for standard, facility-based ones when the target population is geographically dispersed. But the confluence of conditions that have turned millions of people into “professional bloggers” and the current status of Internet connectivity and digital technology has made the notion of conducting online ethnographies, IDIs, and bulletin board studies very plausible, if not compelling.

DATA BASED ON REAL-TIME EVENTS OR MEMORY OF THE PAST

As stated previously, a key distinction between traditional focus groups or IDIs and blogspace is that we can collect the data of interest in real-time, i.e., as the respondent experiences the phenomenon under study. Shopping events, as an example, is one in which so many different types of research programs set as its main study objective. Shopping experiences are studied for the purposes of customer acquisition, product development, advertising/communication development, competitive benchmarking, just to name a few familiar ones. Studying the shopping phenomenon provides a view of what individuals use as key criteria in selecting one brand over another, the sources of information that are sought and used, the number of steps and time involved, and indeed, the purchase process itself. Simply put, blogspace lends itself to collecting these data, even for the most complex type of qualitative research, namely the ethnography. Respondents can be recruited, incented, and given a set of assignments over the course of shopping experience, blog their experiences according to a blog-nographer’s questions and probes, snap and upload photos/videos that symbolize their experiences. So, if blogspace is so amenable to the immersion of the researcher into the world of the observed, just think about the possibilities for other types of studies.

SOME USES OF BLOGSPACE FOR QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Blogspace can be made to be flexible and intuitive enough to be used as a multi-purpose research vehicle. The online interface combined with the flexibility of presenting or receiving photos, videos, and other files enables it to serve a number of potential qualitative objectives. Some of the possibilities include:

New product ideation
Early stage concept and ad development
Interactive exploratory discussions on customer experiences to determine potential satisfaction and loyalty drivers
In-home product testing
Online usability testing for websites and software
Diagnostic evaluations of ads, promotions, events
Competitive intelligence gathering

The bottom-line is that we as members of the market research profession have a duty to clients that we support and to our industry in general to consider the potentially vast opportunities that are clearly evident in using blogspace for qualitative research. In contrast, a “wait and see what others do” posture may be a more risky stance to take than experimenting with new technologies, since that policy may result in an “also-ran” status.

From a practical standpoint, if study costs can be reduced, research budgets can be shifted so that certain studies that could not be funded can be by using the cost savings provided by no travel, no facility, no transcriptions necessary. At the same time, with improved data quality, supplier-side and corporate-side researchers and the business executives they serve may all be able to “have their cake and eat it, too.”

Archive of Daily Market Research Factoids from the Research Knowledge Center

2009-07-17T06:25:00.000-07:00

09/22/09

Sixty-three percent of parents with kids under 18 say that they have at least started saving for college (Source: Fidelity College Savings Survey).

09/21/09

Self-employed Americans report much higher job satisfaction (39% are ‘completely satisfied’) than those who are not self-employed (28% ‘completely satisfied’). Source: Pew Research Center

09/15/09

RT @sowebinc: Nielsen Study: 128M U.S. consumers (57%) watch TV and surf on their phones, laptops at the same time - http://bit.ly/23nOfj

09/14/09

In 2010, 15.5% of Internet users are expected to access Twitter on at least a monthly basis (Source: eMarketer).

09/11/09

The average annual percentage rate for new credit cards in the U.S. is 12.28% (Source: CreditCards.com).

09/10/09

Nearly half (45%) of U.S. employers report that they use social networks to gather information about job candidates (Source: Marketing Charts).

09/09/09

U.S. Hispanic TV households are expected to increase by 2.3% from 2009 to 2010, compared to a less than 1% increase among other ethnic groups (Source: Nielson).

09/08/09

Across age groups, The Beatles are the most liked musical performers in America, followed by The Eagles, Johnny Cash, and Michael Jackson (Source: Pew Research Center).

09/02/09

In July 2009, 67.5% of the world’s 113 billion Internet searches were conducted using Google, 7.8% with Yahoo, and 7.0% with China’s Baidu (Source: Comscore).

09/01/09

Seventy-four percent of U.S. Internet users have made an online purchase in the past 6 months (Source: eMarketer).

08/27/09

Forty-nine percent of Americans believe that global warming is the result of human activity (Source: Pew Research Center).

08/26/09

Local and national radio advertising revenue dropped 25% in the second quarter of 2009 (Source: Marketing Charts).

08/25/09

Over 27.7 million Americans participate in fantasy football leagues, with the average player belonging to 2.5 leagues (Source: USA TODAY).

08/19/09

Two-thirds of marketers report that they use some form of social media marketing. Among those who do, 74% use Facebook, 65% use YouTube, 63% use Twitter, and 60% use Linkedin (Source: Association of National Advertisers).

08/18/09

Fifty-nine percent of U.S. consumers indicate that they are more likely to purchase a product when an ad emphasizes that it is made in the U.S., and three percent report being less likely to buy such a product (Source: Adweek).

08/17/09

Fifty-nine percent of U.S. marketing executives are more upbeat about the economy than they were one quarter ago (Source: Brandweek).

08/14/09

Fifteen percent of American’s believe their country’s health care system is the “best in the world” (Source: Pew Research Center).

08/13/09

Direct mail volume is expected to decline by as much as 10% in 2009 (Source: Adweek).

08/12/09

Spending among affluent Americans (i.e., those earning $100,000+ per year) on outdoor living items increased 33% in the first quarter of 2009 over the same period last year (Source: Home Channel News).

08/11/09

In a recent survey among management, marketing, and HR executives, 8 out of 10 report having concerns about social media, 51% worry that social media reduces employee productivity, and 49% believe social media could harm company reputation (Source: PRSA).

08/10/09

After years of steep declines, newspaper ad revenues are predicted to level off in 2009 and actually increase by 2.4% in 2010 (Source: Marketing Charts).

08/07/09

A recent Adweek study among Linkedin users finds that 8% of respondents agree that the presence of a celebrity spokesperson makes them more likely to purchase a product (Source Marketing Charts).

08/06/09

Fifty-six percent of market research organizations laid off at least one employee in the first half of 2009, while 40% hired at least one employee (Source: MarketResearchCareers).

08/05/09

Forty-three percent of U.S. Internet users visited social networking sites in Q2 2009, compared to 27% in Q2 2008 (Source: eMarketer).

08/04/09

One in ten U.S. workers has taken a second job in the past year to help make ends meet (Source: CareerBuilder).

07/30/09

Seventy-nine percent of U.K. consumers prefer doing their online shopping at work (Source: UtalkMarketing.com).

07/29/09

Sales of Back to School supplies are expected to increase this year by between 0.4% and 1.3%, well below the 2.4% increase from 2007 to 2008 (Source: Nielson).

07/28/09

Election Day, 2008 was the happiest day of the past four years, and Michael Jackson’s death was one of the unhappiest, according to a “hedonometer” built by scientists at the University of Vermont (Source: Physorg.com).

07/27/09

Apple has a 91% share of the $1,000-plus computer market, up from 66% in Q1 2008 (Source: The Business Insider).

07/21/09

Consumers who access their financial accounts via mobile device do so most frequently at home (31%), followed by while running errands (25%), while commuting (15%), and at work (11%). Source: Comscore
07/20/09

The top reasons U.S. Internet users mention for going online are to pass time (100%), educate self (96%), connect with others (92%), research (89%), and share (86%). Source: eMarketer.

07/17/09

Two-thirds of consumers agree that “Advertising funds low-cost and free content on the Internet, TV, newspapers and other media” (Source Mediaweek).

07/16/09

Notebook computers are expected to outsell desktops for the first time in 2009 (Source: EETimes).

07/15/09

Smartphones are used by 40% of worldwide mobile phone users (13% use iPhone, 9% use Blackberry). Source: eMarketer.

07/14/09

Marketing budgets in the U.K. continue to decline in Q2, 2009, although at a slower pace than in recent quarters (Source: MrWeb).

07/13/09

The most closely followed U.S. news stories of the past week were Michael Jackson, the economy, Iraq troop withdrawal, Iran, and the Connecticut firefighter Supreme Court ruling (Source: Pew Research Center).

07/10/09

Twenty-eight percent of U.S. residents over 65 report having used the Internet in the past day, while 75% of those 18-29 have done so (Source: eMarketer).

07/09/09

Only 12% of U.S. teens have no regular access to a mobile device (Source: eMarketer).

07/08/09
“Seventy-three percent of consumers surveyed in the United States, France and Great Britain say that more stringent standards are required before they will trust the security of their credit card transactions” (Source: Business Intelligence Middle East).

07/07/09

“The total number of ads being skipped via DVRs is currently only about 6%, but that number will rise to between 16% and 18% in two years” (Source: MediaBuyerPlanner).

07/06/09

Twenty percent of Americans report having smoked any cigarettes in the past week (Source: Roper Center for Public Opinion Research).

07/03/09

Fifty-five percent of Twitter users have never tweeted (Source: Marketing Charts).

07/02/09

For Independence Day, 63% of U.S. consumers plan to attend barbecues, 43% will watch community fireworks displays, 12% will go to parades, and 11% have travel plans (Source: eMarketer).

07/01/09

Nearly two-thirds (65%) of mobile device owners report being concerned about the security of their device according to a recent survey commissioned by messaging security company Cloudmark, Inc.

06/30/09

Last week’s most closely followed news stories in the U.S. were the economy, Iranian protests, health care reform, and North Korean threats (Source: The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press).

06/29/09

Total revenue of the top 50 U.S. marketing research companies in 2008 was $18.7 billion (Source: 6.30.09 Marketing News).

06/26/09

Hispanic Americans make up 12% of the U.S. Internet population, and that proportion is expected to grow to 14% by 2013 (Source: eMarketer).

06/25/09

“Four out of 10 Blackberry and other smartphone users say they would switch to Apple’s iPhone as their next smartphone purchase, while only 14% of non-Blackberry smartphone users would switch to a Blackberry” (Source: Marketing Charts).

06/24/09

Under tougher economic conditions, 75% of consumers report having altered their purchasing behaviors over the past year (Source: Adweek).

06/23/09

Sixty-eight percent of American households play computer or video games (Source: Entertainment Software Association).

06/22/09

The top five searches for the week ending June 19^th on Ask.com were Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Craigslist, and eMail.

06/19/09

Cliff Huxtable from The Cosby Show tops the list of all-time favorite TV fathers, followed by Ward Cleaver (Leave it to Beaver), Jim Anderson (Father Knows Best), Andy Taylor (The Andy Griffith Show), and Ozzie Nelson (The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet). Source: Marketing Charts

06/18/09

In May 2009, Facebook surpassed MySpace to become the most popular U.S. social media website in terms of unique visitors (70.278MM vs. 70.255MM, respectively). Source: eMarketer

06/17/09

The most blogged-about news topics in the month of May were Memorial Day, Star Trek, Barack Obama, Dick Cheney, and Notre Dame (Source: Marketing Charts).

06/16/09

On average, men who use Twitter have 15% more followers than women, despite the fact that women make up 55% of Twitter users (Source: Harvard Business Publishing).

06/15/09

Hispanics make up 22% of children under age 18 in the U.S., which has increased from 9% in 1980 (Source: Pew Research Center).

06/12/09

The ten consumer brands with the strongest equity are Plain M&M’s, Hershey’s Kisses, Arm & Hammer Baking Soda, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Candy Bars, Kleenex Tissues, Campbell’s Soup, Google, Peanut M&M’s, and Crayola Crayons (Source: Marketing Charts).

06/11/09

According to the Vitrue 100, an annual ranking of the top 100 “social” brands, iPhone, CNN, Apple, Disney, and Xbox were the top 5 social brands of 2008.

06/10/09

76% of consumers claim that they are willing to pay more for environmentally-friendly products (Source: Brandweek)

06/09/09

The average consumer logs 8.5 hours per day of “screen time” (i.e., in front of a TV, computer, mobile device, etc.). Those in the 45-54 age group do so for over 9.5 hours a day (Source: Council for Research Excellence).

06/08/09

Nearly one in ten youth gamers is actually addicted to video games (Source: Science Daily).

06/05/09

The average consumer is expected to spend $90.89 this year on Father's Day gifts, which is about a 4% decrease from 2008. The most popular gifts will be a special outing (dinner, sporting event, etc.), clothing, gift cards, and electronics (Source: National Retail Federation).

06/04/09

“Each 1% increase in advertising produces a roughly 0.1 point change in sales or market share.” This is one of many topics touched on in an AdAge article previewing the June issue of the Journal of Advertising Research.

06/03/09

Organic foods make up about 3.5% of the total U.S. food sales and have increased 15.8% over the past year (Source: AgriNews).

06/02/09

Corporate sponsorship spending is expected to increase 15% worldwide this year to $44 billion, while North America will see about a 2% increase to $17 billion (Source: Adweek).

06/01/09

Taking pictures and text messaging are the most popular mobile activities for mobile phone users, with 68% taking pictures and 65% texting on a frequent or occasional basis (Source eMarketer).

05/29/09

The median age of consumer magazine readers has increased by more than three years since 2001 (Source: Marketing Charts).

05/28/09

According to the National Retail Federation, the top five global retailers are Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (U.S.), Carrefour S.A. (France), Tesco plc (U.K.), Metro AG (Germany), and The Home Depot, Inc. (U.S.).

05/27/09

Nine percent of Internet users visit online classified ad sites on a given day, which has more than doubled over the past four years (Source: The Wall Street Journal).

05/26/09

Half of all smokers claim that they “frequently experience stress in their daily lives,” compared to 35% of former smokers and 31% of non-smokers (Source: Pew Research Center).

05/22/09

The average graduation gift spend in 2009 is expected to be about $88, down from $100 last year (Source: National Retail Federation).

05/21/09

Less than 5% of social media users “regularly turn to these sites for guidance on purchase decisions” (Source: AdWeek)

05/20/09

Only 2.3% of affluent Americans have plans to purchase a vacation home in the next year, down from 10.5% in 2005 (Source: American Chronicle).

05/19/09

Young adults rate good quality, trustworthiness, and working well as the most desirable features of a brand, according to a study by MTV Networks (Source: eMarketer).

05/18/09

China, the United States, and Japan are the countries with the largest online populations, with 253 million, 223 million, and 88 million respective Internet users (Source CIA’s World Factbook).

05/15/09

Only 28% of adults born in Alaska still reside there, making it the least “sticky” state in the U.S. (Source: Pew Research Center).

05/14/09

On average, iPhone apps receive 19.9 total uses and 9.6 minutes per use (Source: Marketing Charts).

05/13/09

“The median household income for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders ($55,026) is 28% higher than the U.S. average.” (Source: Asian-American Market Profile by Magazine Publishers of America)

05/12/09

Only 26% of small B2B marketers plan to reduce advertising spending in 2009, compared to 40% of large B2B advertisers (Source: BtoB Magazine).

05/11/09

More than 80% of Americans are more conscious of their spending habits today than at the beginning of 2009, according to a recent Bank of America survey.

05/08/09

“The Celebrity Apprentice,” “American Idol,” and “The Biggest Loser” top the list of highest number of product placement occurrences for the past month with 158, 108, and 105 occurrences, respectively (Source: Advertising Age).

05/07/09

European and American business professionals spend an average of 5 hours per week planning and rescheduling meetings (Source: Marketing Charts).

05/06/09

“60 percent of moms feel that marketers are ignoring their needs, and 73 percent feel that advertisers don't really understand what it's like to be a mom” (Source: Brandweek).

05/05/09

Ad spending in the 4^th quarter of 2008 fell 9.2% from the previous year, with the auto advertising category seeing the deepest declines at 15% (Source: The Wall Street Journal).

05/04/09

If Mom was hoping for an iPhone for Mother’s Day, this may not be the year, with consumer electronics spending predicted to drop 37% for Mother’s Day 2009 (Source: TWICE).

05/01/09

Canada’s current unemployment rate is 8.0%, according to Statistics Canada.

04/30/09

Household appliances like TVs, clothes dryers, microwaves, and dishwashers are more likely to be viewed as luxury items in 2009 than in recent years, reversing a trend over the previous decade of these items increasingly being perceived as necessities (Source: Pew Research Center).

04/29/09

eMarketer predicts that 10.8% of Internet users (18.1 million) will be Twitter users in 2010 (i.e., access the site at least once per month).

04/28/09

In 2008, 43% of survey research was conducted online, about 80% of which was B2C (Source: BtoBOnline).

04/27/09

New twist on outdoor advertising -- floating logos (Flogos) made from helium-filled soap bubbles (Source: Springwise).

04/24/09

March sales for Advil PM were up 16% over year ago, and Tylenol PM sales were up 6%, likely due to more sleepless nights caused by economic concerns (Source: The New York Times).

04/23/09

It’s estimated that “41% of all US video streams will go through YouTube in 2009, and the site will see 375 million unique viewers worldwide.” (Source: eMarketer)

04/22/09

Four out of five Americans feel a sense of attachment to an old t-shirt, and shirts acquired on vacation are the most popular (Source: Marketing Charts)

04/21/09

The number of green product launches in 2009 is expected to triple over last year (Source: Ad Age).

04/20/09

“The US Hispanic online population reached a record 20.3 million visitors in February 2009, experiencing 6% growth over the same period in 2008” (Source: Marketing Charts).

04/17/09

Eight out of 10 homeowners planning a DIY lawn or garden project in the next 12 months, according to a recent study by Lowe’s.

04/16/09

New Product Development – This is an interesting spin on parental control of teens spending. BillMyParents requires parental approval of kids’ online shopping transactions before actual purchases can be made (Source: Springwise).

04/15/09

Males make up 48.2% of the U.S. Internet population, compared to 49.3% of the total U.S. population (Source: eMarketer)

04/14/09

According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, the age group which has seen the biggest jump in internet usage since 2005 is 70-75 year olds (26% internet penetration in 2005 and 45% at present).

04/13/09

The rate of homeownership in the U.S. at the end of 2008 was 67.5%, with the highest regional rates in the Midwest and South and lowest in the West and Northeast. (Source: U.S. Census Bureau)

04/10/09

U.S. average hourly earnings for March = $18.50, according to the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

04/09/09

What happens to early adopters when the mass market embraces a new brand? Two Wharton marketing professors discuss in this video.

04/08/09

The top 5 U.S. advertisers in Hispanic media are Lexicon Marketing, Procter & Gamble, AT&T, General Motors, and Broadcasting Media Partners (Univision). (Source: Ad Age’s 2008 Hispanic Fact Pack)

04/07/09

Four out of five market research professionals expect their jobs to be more difficult in 2009, with an increasing need to provide more research insight under tighter budget constraints. (Source: MarketResearchCareers.com)

04/06/09

Americans are more likely to agree that now is a good time to buy a home (75%) than to buy stocks (39%), according to the Pew Research Center.

04/03/09

The countries with the highest annual population growth rates are UAE, Niger, and Kuwait (3.69%, 3.68%, and 3.55%, respectively). The US comes in at 0.98% (#130 on the list), China at 0.66% (#147), and Japan at -0.19% (#220). (Source: The CIA’s World Factbook).

04/02/09

The most recalled prescription drug TV ad in 2008 was from Cialis, followed by Cymbalta and Loestrin24 Fe (Source: Brandweek)

04/01/09

In 2008, $13.5 billion was spent on search marketing in North America, according to eMarketer.

3/31/09

According to the US Small Business Administration, in 2003 6.8% of women in the labor force were self-employed, compared with 12.4% of men.

3/30/09

Four California DMAs (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, and San Diego) account for over one third of the total Asian-American population of the U.S. (Asian-American Market Profile by Magazine Publishers of America)

3/27/09

Major cities where Americans would most like to live are Denver, San Diego, and Seattle, according to the Pew Research Center. Detroit, Cleveland, and Cincinnati are ranked as the least favorite cities.

Part II: Why (and how) the Growth of Social Media has Created Opportunities for Market Research

2009-06-23T13:40:00.000-07:00

In the last issue of our Triangle newsletter, we introduced the opportunity for market research professionals to embrace the explosive growth in social media site adoption and leverage this phenomenon to use blogspace as a new venue by which we can collect our most insightful data. In so doing, not only are there efficiencies that can be garnered by the use of online media for research purposes, but that some studies may be better achieved through this platform relative to traditional methodologies. Primarily, these enhancements can be realized in terms of more valid data, since data collection is done unobtrusively online and avoids the effects of the physical presence of the interviewer. Other benefits are that study results may be delivered faster, there is a far easier reach of disparate markets, and overall study costs are significantly lower. In this issue of Triangle News, we’ll take a closer look at these issues through an examination of “what is and has been” versus “what can be in the future.”

Market researchers have a set of methodologies for qualitative research that are both well-known in the industry and frequently used, such as focus groups, in-depth interviews (IDIs), and ethnographies. These techniques may serve a variety of purposes, e.g., to understand in greater detail the findings that emerge from quantitative research, to inform the content that will be tested in a subsequent phase of quantitative research that follows. Sometimes these qualitative studies are “standalone” initiatives that come neither before nor after a quantitative research phase. On these occasions, their design and scope are sufficient to achieve the study objectives. However, regardless of where qualitative research studies fit in the sequence of an integrated market research program, these qualitative techniques are distinguished from quantitative studies by what they yield: data that reflect the rich, perhaps symbolic world that underlies consumer needs, desires, and brand decision criteria, and not estimates or inferences of population parameters from sample statistics.

However, these tried-and-true qualitative methods, while effective for what they are designed to produce, do have their inherent flaws. They are artificial and contrived because they require the respondent to be removed from the actual consumer behavior during interviewing, i.e., data are collected in a de-contextualized setting. As such, this common byproduct of standard qualitative research designs attenuates the researcher’s ability to gather data in a natural setting. Also, moderators, interviewers and ethnographers are obtrusive because they are required to “get in the face” of respondents and, whether interviews are conducted in-person or via telephone, they pose their questions and hope to get honest answers with limited exposure to the data-biasing influences of their presence such as social desirability. They also rely heavily on the memory capacity of respondents since most studies require respondents to travel back in time, recall relevant experiences, and opine based on those memories.

Ethnography, in particular, is a highly useful method in focusing on consumer behavior that, while attempting to observe and collect data within consumers’ naturalistic setting (e.g., home, place of business, etc.). However, the very presence of the ethnographer fosters social desirability and other response sets, perhaps to the greatest extent relative to other qualitative study designs. What’s more is that they are highly time-consuming, logistically complex, limited in geography to key cities, and cost-prohibitive.

Several of these flaws and inherent biases outlined above can be reduced or eliminated while other aspects enhanced through the use of online, blog-based research. Surely, we’re in a state of technology-ready conditions by which we can provide to consumers downloading capability of photos, videos, and other types of stimuli for them to use as the basis for their attitudes and opinions. Likewise, consumers themselves are equipped to provide the same types of stimuli to us as they can upload their content onto other sites as they do in Facebook or YouTube for the viewing purposes of the qualitative researcher. Even more importantly, we’re in a state of “consumer-ready” conditions, too. People are simply comfortable and inclined to pulling out their cell phones to shoot photos and videos, sending them as attachments to blogsites, and then going to those sites and providing their opinions about the subject using their home PCs or through text-messaging with their smart phones.

As it is, consumers are becoming comfortable and adept at blogging their opinions more and more each day. With the advancement in digital technology and broadband connectivity, consumers are able to view research stimuli that are sent to them, and also upload images and video they send to us that are tied to the opinions and comments. In these exchanges, the qualitative researcher can obtain rich, symbolic data, create field notes, and collect the artifacts that would otherwise be provided in a traditional ethnography. More to the point, that researcher does so without the obtrusiveness of being on-site, eliminates the cost and logistical restrictions of traveling and scheduling, and yet is still able to immerse him or herself in the culture of the behavior under study. In essence, today’s technology-enhanced online qualitative studies enable researchers to have their cake and the opportunity to eat it, too, since these methods are amenable to data gathering that is both naturalistic and unobtrusive.

In the next (third of three) newsletters on this subject, our Triangle News will focus on some specific applications of leveraging blogspace for market research purposes. As usual, feel free to let us know what you think and offer any suggestions, ideas, and experiences of your own.

Accelerant Research in the News

2009-06-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

Results from two recent Aflac studies conducted by Accelerant Research (one among consumers and one among small business decision makers) were quoted in the May 18th “Worksite Magazine” article titled “Voluntary Insurance Benefits: Offering Real Solutions at the Worksite.” Click here for the full article.

Why (and how) the Growth of Social Media has Created Opportunities for Market Research

2009-05-27T11:57:00.000-07:00

Social media is now ubiquitous; usage of blogs, social networks, and video sharing sites is increasing rapidly. Millions of people now look to social media sites as their primary source of news, opinion, and entertainment. What’s more is that social media adoption continues to increase tremendously. “Blogging” as a behavior currently under the scrutiny of many different types of social scientists has become widespread and continues to grow. For example, three in four US online adults now use social tools to connect with each other compared with just 56% in 2007 (Forrester, 2008).

Most surprisingly, older adults are now also more likely to participate. According to comScore, more than 50% of Facebook’s users in the U.S. are over 35 years old. In fact, the single biggest age demographic in the U.S. on Facebook is now between 35 and 44; moreover, Facebook’s fastest growing demographic is actually 55+ years old.

Over the past few years, more and more of the general population has embraced the social networking phenomenon described at a cursory level above. Interestingly, according to a 2009 study by Florida State University Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication, adoption appears to be occurring at a sharper rate among minorities who report visiting social networking sites more frequently than non-Hispanic whites.

Social media marketing has reacted to this trend showing its own growth on a similar trajectory. Research indicates that spending on social media and conversational marketing will outpace that of traditional marketing by 2012, according to a study conducted by TWI Surveys, Inc. on behalf of the Society for New Communications Research. Forrester, too, echoes this claim in its own research findings in a recent study.

But, is social media, as a phenomenon, just a fad? Will household words like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter fade over time, or in just a few years? Indeed, will “blogging” behavior one day cease to exist, thus proving that, along with the Palm Pilot, while once all the rage, can virtually disappear with the advent of breakthrough technology advancements such as the Blackberry or the iPhone?

Well, as with all things in the future, no one knows for sure. But this is what we know right now:

First, it is safe to say that the very word “blog” (a contraction of the terms web and log) is a highly recognized, often used word these days, considering the growth in popularity of blogging sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
The overall familiarity of the word blog among the general population continues to grow, as does the activity of blogging, either by creating blog content, reading others’ blogs, or both.
Equally familiar is the level of understanding of the definition of the word blog, and that many people know it is a website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.
For all intents and purposes, it is safe to say that blogging has become a comfortable, almost natural form of interpersonal communication.

Therefore, it doesn’t really matter whether Facebook, LinkedIn, and other highly recognizable blog sites remain in the general public’s eye over time. What is important, if not critical to the market research profession, is that we create ways to leverage this new mode of communication by adapting or blending traditional methods of collecting opinion data with blogging behavior and the technology that supports it. In the face of the social media phenomenon, we as experts at soliciting people’s attitudes and opinions, must recognize that blogspace may represent a new venue by which we can collect our most insightful data. Furthermore, not only are there efficiencies that can be garnered by the use of online media for research purposes, but that some studies may be better achieved through this platform relative to traditional modes of operation.

Bottomline, the online medium excels at a number of things that in-person methods struggle with due to the limitations of resources of time and money and obtrusiveness to participants. The confluence of broad band connectivity, social software, rich media and wireless devices has given us access to human experiences on a scale and with a reach that is simply mind boggling. Online is really strong at sustaining interaction, seeing longitudinal behaviors, and therefore capturing experiences as close as possible to the time that they happen. And in reality, the things we are most interested in learning about our customers happen when we are not there - during the course of everyday life.

In the next installment of this newsletter, some ideas on how to leverage blogging for market research purposes will be provided. Feel free to let us know what you think and offer any ideas and experiences of your own.

Spotlight on Flash Animation for Online Surveys

2009-05-27T11:36:00.000-07:00

With the proliferation of broadband Internet access in recent years, the world of possibilities for online survey programming has become almost limitless. In the past, researchers were forced to conduct studies via slower, more expensive in-person interviews if they wanted to implement certain techniques such as dial testing for TV ads or complicated sorting exercises. While the in-person channel is absolutely still appropriate for certain types of studies, many of the techniques that were once thought of as “in-person only” can now easily be included in online surveys using the ubiquitous Adobe Flash multimedia platform. Some examples include:

Drag-and-Drop Sorting Exercises – A technique that harkens back to the classic chip allocation exercises, this method allows respondents to drag-and-drop any type of item (e.g., product attributes, brand names/logos, photos of politicians, etc.) into different buckets (e.g., scale rankings, usage occasions, etc.). In addition to being more engaging for respondents, this method also helps to reduce survey length, as respondents no longer need to navigate huge on-screen grids.
Dial Technology – Rather than being sequestered in a hotel conference room or a research facility as in the past, respondents can now view a video online and move a virtual dial up and down to indicate which specific elements of the video are more positive or negative. This is a fantastic technique for – among other uses – determining which segments of a 60-second spot are crucial to include in the abridged 30 or 15-second versions.
Image and Text Tracking – As a diagnostic tool for concept evaluation or print copy testing, respondents can click on important elements of an image or highlight the most/least meaningful text phrases, providing the research manager with more of the “why’s” behind their standard battery of survey questions.
Virtual Magazines – Rather than using static images to simulate a magazine or booklet that respondents are asked to evaluate, you can use animation to create actual turning pages to give a more realistic feel to your stimulus.
Custom Flash Programming – If you have a product concept that is too complicated for the standard one-page text description, a website idea that hasn’t actually been built yet, or an advertisement that hasn’t made it past the storyboard stage, you can create short Flash demos to provide as online survey stimuli. These can range from image slideshows (with or without audio) to fully animated interactive videos and any iteration in-between.

With all the possibilities available for online survey programming, there are really very few limits for research managers. If you can imagine it, chances are it can be executed. Accelerant Research can provide any of the above techniques, as well as countless others. Please contact us for additional details or to set up a demonstration.

May 2009 Triangle News

2009-05-07T12:42:00.000-07:00

Top Story: Have You Thought About Your Tracker Lately? (Part 3 of 3)

Last month, we issued the second of three installments of newsletters centered on identifying opportunities to drive more "bang for the research buck" on tracking studies and included some suggestions on how to execute that process. Click here for last month's article.

In this third and final installment on the subject, we will outline some of the practices required on preserving historical trends of customer satisfaction data and bridging the potential gap between results obtained from the previous research supplier to the new research firm commissioned to execute a better or more updated tracking program.

The key objective in managing these changes to an existing tracking study is to preserve historical trends that have been obtained in previous waves of research by mitigating the risks involved in this change.

Continue to full story

Accelerant News & Reviews

Spotlight on Acceler-PULSE™: My Research Budget is Tight, but My Clients Still Want to Hear the Voice of the Consumer -- Think Omnibus Surveys

There's no doubt that research managers are under increasing pressure to provide quality information and do so with a fraction of the previous year's budget. According to MarketResearchCareers.com's 2009 Industry Survey, 2009 is the first in 20 years where overall research spending is expected to decline, and four out of five market research professionals expect their jobs to be more difficult in 2009, with an increasing need to provide more research insight under tighter budget constraints.

One fast and inexpensive method that a recent Quirk's article ("Five Low-Budget Market Research Approaches," Feb-09) mentions as a way to get reliable quantitative research results is by submitting questions into omnibus surveys (i.e., sharing the fielding and data processing cost of an entire survey with other client organizations).

Continue to full story

Upcoming Events
We hope to see you at these events in May. If you happen to miss the event, catch us on Twitter for a re-cap.

Social Media /Marketing Through MySpace - May 13 at 5:30pm at Dilworth Neighborhood Grille, sponsored by Charlotte AMA More Info

Special Interest Group for Research - May 20 at 9am at Dilworth Neighborhood Grille, sponsored by Charlotte AMA More Info

From the Research Knowledge Center
Looking for links to marketing research organizations? Demographic facts and figures? Just want to know what Seth Godin has been up to? Bookmark the Research Knowledge Center in your web browser.

Recent news found on Research Knowledge Center
Market Research Factoid of the Day 4/29/09: eMarketer predicts that 10.8% of Internet users (18.1 million) will be Twitter users (i.e., access the site at least once per month) in 2010.

Pew Research Center: Luxury or Necessity? The Public Makes a U-Turn. From the kitchen to the laundry room to the home entertainment center, Americans are paring down the list of familiar household appliances they say they can't live without. Full story

Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog: Any CMO Health Check Can Uncover the Following: Chronic Social Media Phobia and Brand Equity Ulcer Full story

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Holiday Of The Month
There are many good ones in May from which to choose. Remember to do something nice for your mom.

May 4 - International Respect for Chickens Day

May 5 - Cinco de Mayo

May 8 - No Socks Day

May 10 - Mother's Day

May 16 - International Sea Monkey Day

May 25 - Memorial Day

Part III: Have you thought about your tracker lately?

2009-04-29T13:53:00.000-07:00

Last month, we issued the second of three installments of newsletters centered on identifying opportunities to drive more “bang for the research buck” on tracking studies and included some suggestions on how to execute that process. In this third and final installment on the subject, we will outline some of the practices required on preserving historical trends of customer satisfaction data and bridging the potential gap between results obtained from the previous research supplier to the new research firm commissioned to execute a better or more updated tracking program.

The key objective in managing these changes to an existing tracking study is to preserve historical trends that have been obtained in previous waves of research by mitigating the risks involved in this change. If a risk mitigation plan is not deployed, new results may not be comparable to previous ones, and the time, money, and resources spent on historical trends are wasted.

With that end in mind, the mitigation plan must be designed to identify all sources of variance (characteristics of the data and collection methods that may prevent newer data from being comparable to past data) and, one by one, eliminate or control for each source of variance to the extent possible. In the end, if there are still significant differences between past data and new data, an algorithm must be built to equate historical data to new data and enable comparability to historical trends.

The sources of variance in tracking study migration include:

Method of data collection
Survey items’ wording, scaling, and sequence/position in questionnaire
Quality and other relevant behaviors of interviewers
Changes that result from implementation of programs or other organization-related policies and processes that impact customers’ perceptions of and satisfaction with the organization
Changes in the marketplace that impact customers’ perceptions of the organization

The first three above can be considered “error variance sources” that could be eliminated. The last two sources should be considered “market-related variance sources” which cannot be eliminated but can be accounted for and controlled.

Maintaining the same data collection method and using the exact same questionnaire are key to mitigating risk and preserving historical trends because consistency in method of data collection and surveys can eliminate the first two sources of error variance. However, if the exact same surveys and exact same method are used by different suppliers, then finding significant differences between historical and new satisfaction scores can only be attributable to differences in interviewers (error variance source # 3), market-related variance sources notwithstanding.

In order to control for market-related sources of variance, we recommend conducting waves of a given tracking study in parallel – that is continue to allow the research supplier responsible for historical trends to collect data and have the new research supplier collect data in the exact same format and with the exact same population. If market-related sources of variance exist during the timing of this parallel data collection process, then those variances sources will have an equal effect on data collected by both suppliers. Therefore, these variance sources will be held constant and thus controlled for in comparing the data collected from one supplier to the other.

In terms of parallel testing outlined above, we recommend running a given tracking study in parallel for at least three months. While this may result in increased study costs, it bears the benefit of preventing the loss of historical trends, which are usually far more costly. To reduce these costs, the number of interviews administered by one of the suppliers need not be as many as the number of interviews from the other supplier.

Therefore, if all other study-related sources of error variance are eliminated and market-related sources of variance are held constant, and if significant differences are found in the parallel test, an in-depth analysis of those data is required. This analysis entails statistical testing of the scores or levels of satisfaction reported as well as the variance of each survey item’s data. While industry standard for significance testing is set at the 95% confidence level, in this case we recommend that the confidence level be reduced to 90% or even lower.

So, statistically test the differences between all attribute scores from both studies completed in parallel. Any significant differences between attribute scores should be examined and a complete EDA (Exploratory Data Analysis) should be completed on that study. However, it will also be necessary to test for differences in sample composition. This sample composition test should be completed prior to the samples being finalized, but interviewing techniques and completion rates may impact respondent composition between the studies.

At the completion of the three month parallel tracking study, a complete technical report containing any significant differences found between the two studies should be provided with complete explanations (ANCOVAs) for the differences. In the case of an attribute score being significantly different between the two studies, the historical data can be statistically adjusted.

My Research Budget is Tight, but My Clients Still Want to Hear the Voice of the Consumer -- Think Omnibus Surveys

2009-04-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

There’s no doubt that research managers are under increasing pressure to provide quality information and do so with a fraction of the previous year’s budget. According to MarketResearchCareers.com’s 2009 Industry Survey, 2009 is the first in 20 years where overall research spending is expected to decline, and four out of five market research professionals expect their jobs to be more difficult in 2009, with an increasing need to provide more research insight under tighter budget constraints.

One fast and inexpensive method that a recent Quirk’s article (“Five Low-Budget Market Research Approaches,” Feb-09) mentions as a way to get reliable quantitative research results is by submitting questions into omnibus surveys (i.e., sharing the fielding and data processing cost of an entire survey with other client organizations). Omnibuses are typically conducted online or via phone among a representative group of respondents (e.g., general market consumers, small business decision makers, etc.), and clients are allotted a block of custom questions (usually 10 or fewer) that are dedicated to their particular research objectives. One of the drawbacks of many omnibuses is their do-it-yourself nature, in that you – the client – are typically responsible for designing questions, and typical deliverables include a set of raw data tables or a data file, with which you are responsible for analysis and reporting. There are some omnibus providers that offer analysis and reporting at additional cost, and a rare few (Accelerant Research included) who include those services as standard deliverables.

As always, omnibuses are great for things like sizing a particular population or as a supplement to a larger research initiative, but if you apply some creativity to omnibus research, you might be able to meet some research objectives that you previously thought were out of the question under your current budgetary constraints. Here are some examples:

Marketing or product concept testing – Most omnibuses allow you to include text or graphical stimulus or to split your sample into multiple “cells,” which could give you the opportunity to create a mini-monadic concept test. Granted, you probably wouldn’t want to test 12 versions of a new brand positioning concept, but the robust sample sizes of omnibus surveys would allow you to test a few different versions monadically.

Brand/product awareness tracking – If you can’t afford a full-blown awareness tracking study, then you may consider using an omnibus to ask the same set of key awareness questions on a quarterly basis as an alternative to give you the trending data you require.

Qualitative insights – If you’re unable to conduct in-depth interviews or focus groups, then asking open-ended questions in an omnibus and selecting verbatim “sound bites” may be an alternative to give you the unfiltered voice of customer that your internal business partners desire.

Feedback from lower incidence groups – Again, the large sample sizes of omnibus surveys (typically 1,000 or more for general consumers) gives you the opportunity to poll relatively low incidence groups. If you’re looking for feedback from a certain target consumer, who you already know makes up about 20% of the general population, then you could include a question to identify those consumers and cut your survey results by that particular group (giving you a solid sample size of roughly 200).

Think of an omnibus as a mini-custom research study. If a full-blown study is either too slow or too costly, but the internal demand for that information is still high, then consider boiling your information needs down to a small set of critical questions and submitting them to an omnibus survey.

For more information on Accelerant Research’s Acceler-PULSE™ omnibus surveys (conducted online among either general population consumers, mass affluent consumers, or small business decision makers), which include full questionnaire design, analysis, and reporting at no additional cost, please click here: http://www.accelerantresearch.com/omnibus.html.

Self-Administered Ethnography Meets Social Network Marketing for Ford?

2009-04-10T08:13:00.001-07:00

This is an interesting initiative by Ford to promote its upcoming re-launch of the Fiesta in the U.S. They’re giving 100 new Fiestas (gas and insurance included) to drivers in exchange for their agreement to post uncensored videos, pictures, tweets, etc. online about their experience. Click here for the Wall Street Journal article about Ford’s gamble with this initiative.

By the way, the mere mention of the Ford Fiesta conjures up memories of sophomore year, having to bum a ride to school every day with the senior who drove one of these beauties:

April 2009 Triangle News

2009-04-06T05:56:00.000-07:00

Top Story: Have You Thought About Your Tracker Lately? (Part 2)
Last month, we stated that due to current economic conditions, it may be a good opportunity to revisit the value of historical data collected in a customer satisfaction tracking study, and consider whether revisions could improve the value of the data collected and reduce costs.

This month, we continue this thought by examining ways to reduce the overall cost of a tracking study:

- Reduce the length of the survey by only tracking key drivers that have a strong relationship with overall customer satisfaction,

- Review the methodology that has been used in the past and consider whether a less expensive process of data collection can be deployed without a loss of research quality, and

- Re-bid the study with a new set of research suppliers to force research firms to sharpen their pencils in pricing The third and final installment of this article series in next month's newsletter lays out how to migrate tracking studies to new methodologies and/or new suppliers while minimizing the loss of historical data. Continue to full story

Accelerant News & Reviews
Leveraging Blogspace For Ethnographic InsightAccelerant Research recently completed its first live consumer beta test for BlogNog on a study for a home improvement retail chain.

What is BlogNog? BlogNog is a blog platform used to recruit consumers to document their actions, feelings, and insight on a given assignment. This method of capturing the voice-of-the-consumer is directly relevant to how people are using the web today to write about their experiences and share their opinions.

For this particular beta test, consumers blogged as a follow-up to shopping exercises and focus groups in which they had participated. As part of the blog, they had the opportunity to upload photos, video, and files.

We love to talk about BlogNog. So, feel free to call us (704.206.8500) to talk more about future plans and development for BlogNog.

Upcoming Events
We hope to see you at these events in April. If you happen to miss the event, catch us on Twitter and our blog for a re-cap.

Marketing Social - April 1 at Pewter Roses's Tutto Mundo, sponsored by Charlotte AMA More Info

Re-Energizing Your Brand - April 8 at Dilworth Neighborhood Grille, sponsored by Charlotte AMA More Info

The Truth About Branding - April 15 at Doubletree SouthPark, sponsored by Business Marketing Association Carolinas More Info

From the Research Knowledge Center
Looking for links to marketing research organizations? Demographic facts and figures? Just want to know what Seth Godin has been up to? Bookmark the Research Knowledge Center in your web browser.

Recent news found on Research Knowledge Center
Market Research Factoid appearing March 27, 2009Major cities where Americans would most like to live are Denver, San Diego, and Seattle, according to the Pew Research Center. Detroit, Cleveland, and Cincinnati are ranked as the least favorite cities. Full story

Twitter Posts Meteoric 1,382% YoY Growth, with the number of total unique visitors increasing from 475,000 in February 2008 to seven million in February 2009. Full story

Number of US Facebook Users Over 35 Nearly Doubles in Last 60 Days (but the fastest growing demographic on Facebook is still women over 55). Full story

Holiday Of The Month
National High Five Day (NH5D) will be April 16 this year (traditionally third Thursday of April)

Visit the official website for flyers, music, videos, and suggestions on how to celebrate...like setting up a high five booth on a busy street corner. More info

Wikipedia, the official source for everything, also has step by step instructions. Even more info

Part II: Have you thought about your tracker lately?

2009-03-27T07:19:00.001-07:00

Last month, we stated that due to current economic conditions, it may be a good opportunity to revisit the value of historical data collected in a customer satisfaction tracking study, and consider whether revisions could improve the value of the data collected and reduce costs. Since the economic downturn has so deeply affected the lives of American’s by forcing a shift from borrowing and spending to sacrificing and saving, it may well be that their attitudes toward providers of a variety of products and services have also shifted, causing them to “redefine” their criteria for customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. Therefore, satisfaction measures that are currently tracked, but were identified as key drivers in a study conducted prior to recent, drastic changes in the economy may have decreased in importance, while others may have increased importance and reached the status of key driver, but are not being tracked at all. Overall, the rank order of importance of key drivers may have changed in such a way as to render current tracking programs ineffective in doing what they are designed to do: monitor the effectiveness of various customer programs and initiatives in lifting overall customer satisfaction.

Assuming it’s time to re-assess and refresh key drivers, a number of excellent opportunities emerge to manage your research budget (which may have been reduced for 2009). First, by conducting a new key driver identification study, you can leverage its findings and include only those items found to be key drivers in your tracking survey, i.e., pare down the amount of data collected to only what is needed.

This is where key driver studies pay for themselves. That is, you can avoid spending research budget on measurements of things that do not have a strong relationship with overall customer satisfaction (or other business-based dependent measure). Eliminate the “nice-to-know” survey items and keep your tracking questionnaire as brief as possible. A good rule of thumb to follow for designing surveys for customers is to keep it at 10 minutes or less. This amount of time is quite adequate to fit several topics of survey items that map back to key drivers identified in the previous study, as well as accommodate important open-ended questions in which customers get to provide their opinions and feelings in their own words.

Another opportunity is to review the methodology that has been used in the past tracking efforts and consider whether a less expensive process of data collection can be deployed without a loss of research quality, e.g., switching from CATI to web or interactive voice response (IVR), provided that sample representativeness can be maintained. Methodology changes can sometimes cut the research expenditure in half while delivering the same value.

And yet another opportunity exists during these tracker episodes in the form of re-bidding the study with a new set of research suppliers. Especially during these economic conditions, a research manager’s fiduciary responsibility to his or her employer is to drive bang for the buck on behalf of the organization’s research spend levels. Indeed, there is nothing like an RFP for a tracking study that forces research firms to sharpen their pencils in pricing its offer of tracking services, both for the incumbent supplier as well as for prospective ones, too.

In next month’s newsletter, the third and final installment of “Have you thought about your tracker lately?” will be issued. In it, the reader will see a step-by-step process laid out in which migrating from one method to another and/or one supplier to another can be done, while minimizing the loss of historical data. This migration, when done with some care, can enable an organization to maintain at least some, if not most, of its historical data provided in previous waves of tracking research.

February 2009 Triangle News

2009-03-05T07:45:00.000-08:00

Who among us couldn't use a little less clutter? This month, we introduce the Research Knowledge Center - a directory of weblinks for those employed or intrigued by the Marketing Research field. Our hope is you can bookmark this one site so you won't have to bookmark all of the sites linked within.

You can also connect with us at our blog, Linkedin, and Facebook.

Feb 28 is National Tooth Fairy Day (disputed)
Is National Tooth Fairy Day Feb 28, May 4, or even Aug 22? The debate rages on.

Apparently, the source of the controversy stems from the part of the world in which you reside. Or, perhaps dentists are colluding to build awareness and stay top-of-mind. Conspiracy theorists, the truth is out there.Until we find further documentation, feel free to celebrate on any or all of them!

Have you thought about your tracker lately?
Even though tracking studies are considered by many organizations to be one of the most important research programs to conduct, they may be wasting a lot of your research budget that could otherwise be spent in more fruitful endeavors.

Tracking studies typically represent the largest portion of an organization's research budget, but sometimes they fall victim to a condition of "status quo"...Read more

Charlotte's Positive Indicators
While the economic forecast for our nation appears chilly and overcast, there are signs to suggest Charlotte may be weathering this period better than others.

Population continues to grow. Charlotte continues to lead the nation with in-migration of young, educated workers.

Charlotte continues to have the fourth strongest housing market in the nation. 2008 saw more than 11,000 new residential units added.

There is a 3 month supply of vacant new homes in Charlotte compared to an 11 month supply nationally.

Cost of living in Charlotte continues to be nearly 6 percent below the national average.

In 2008, 1,337 businesses added 12,165 new jobs and invested over $2.3 billion in a record 27.6 million square feet of new facilities.

For more, visit the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce at:
http://www.charlottechamber.com/

Networking and Professional Development
We encourage everyone to be active with your local chapter of the American Marketing Association, the CAMA chapter for those of you in the Charlotte area. The chapter's mission is to promote education and assist in personal and professional development of marketing professionals. We hope to see you at the next networking event:Social Media Marketing - Rethinking Traditional MarketingSpeaker: Ron Edelen, Myjive Wednesday, March 11th McIntosh's Steak & Seafood at 1812 South Blvd5:30pm - 8:30pmTo learn more about this event as well as the benefits of membership, please visit CAMA online at:
http://www.charlotteama.com/

We look forward to hearing from you and serving your research needs. Our mission is to help companies grow their brands and strengthen customer ties, faster.
Best Regards,
Your friends at Accelerant Research
704-206-8500

Have you thought about your tracker lately?

2009-02-26T06:31:00.000-08:00

Even though tracking studies are considered by many organizations to be one of the most important research programs to conduct, they may be wasting a lot of your research budget that could otherwise be spent in more fruitful endeavors.

Tracking studies typically represent the largest portion of an organization’s research budget, but sometimes they fall victim to a condition of “status quo” in order to preserve historical trends which represent significant investment by the organization. On the one hand, the history that existing tracking studies may have represents a view of “from where we’ve come” and offers the best empirical basis for the potential of seeing into the future. Yet, on the other hand, revising, upgrading, or downsizing tracking studies may, in fact, represent the best opportunity to maintain the viability of an organization’s set of customer satisfaction programs and initiatives that are designed to improve customers’ perceptions and strengthen the ties that bind them to its products and services.

Given the economic conditions our nation is currently experiencing, that is, recession, deflation, increasing unemployment, tightening of credit, and other bear market characteristics, it is safe to assume that the importance of various aspects of the relationship between an organization and its customers may have changed from last year to this. As such, the exact same set of the organization’s performance measures, i.e., key drivers of overall customer satisfaction, that have been tracked in previous waves of research may no longer be valid. Indeed, the shelf life of previously identified, key drivers of satisfaction may have expired.

For example, take the case in which customer satisfaction with a checking account has been tracked for at least a year or more. Perhaps that tracker began with a key driver study that was designed to identify, among all aspects of the checking account relationship, only those aspects that showed a significant (statistical) relationship with overall satisfaction. Subsequently, it was only those key drivers that were included in the tracking study -- that is the proper way to initiate a tracking study. It may be that the initial key driver identification study did not find that the speed at which the funds from checks deposited to a customer’s account became available had a strong relationship with overall satisfaction. But now, this particular aspect may have a strong affect on overall customer satisfaction due to the recent, drastic changes in the economy, and how that has affected household budgeting.

Proceeding along with an existing tracker, without tracking on this particular aspect of a bank’s checking services, may be a major mistake. The inherent benefit of tracking on key drivers of satisfaction is to initiate programs, messages, and other organizational efforts to lift satisfaction over time. Instead, the “same old tracker” may have the organization flying blindly.

In essence, it may be time to stop tracking on things that have been heard in the past, and start fresh by listening to the new paths pinpointed by key driver research to capture the hearts and minds of customers. If you can hypothesize that the same old performance items that have been tracked have changed in importance, it’s appropriate to test that hypothesis empirically, with a new key driver identification study. If a new set of key drivers emerge, it’s time to take a long, hard look at your existing tracker and weigh the merits of this historical, trended data that are otherwise valued so dearly.

Speculation About Facebook Entering the Market Research Realm

2009-02-18T11:38:00.000-08:00

Rumors have been circulating that Facebook will begin selling targeted user lists to market researchers, although the company denies its intent to do so. Here’s the article from eMarketer.

2009-01-30T12:35:00.000-08:00

January 26, 2009

Triangle News

Quick Links:
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Welcome to this first installment of our newsletter. Future installments will feature fun facts, Accelerant sponsored research findings, and research-related articles. Enjoy. And we look forward to speaking with you soon.

Visit us at AccelerantResearch.com

We proudly announce we have launched our firm's website.
Feel free to provide any and all feedback that you feel can enhance our brand.

Click on the logo to the right, or type AccelerantResearch.com into your web browser.

Happy Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day!

Today is a very special day for those of us afflicted with a not treatable bubble wrap popping addition.

Did you know? Bubble wrap was accidentally invented in 1957. The inventors Fielding and Chavannes were trying to create a textured plastic wallpaper with paper backing that could be easily cleaned.

For your own cathartic bubble popping session, goto:
http://www.addictinggames.com/bubblewrap.html

We look forward to hearing from you and serving your research needs. Our mission is to help companies grow their brands and strengthen customer ties, faster.
Best Regards,
Your friends at Accelerant Research
704-206-8500