Logit Group » Methodology

The pandemic has given many Canadians the opportunity to slow down the pace and enjoy personal and family time.

July 28, 2020

The pandemic has given many Canadians the opportunity to slow down the pace and enjoy personal and family time.
July 28, 2020
While there have been many negative consequences of the overall pandemic experience, there are some positive outcomes that most Canadians have experienced during this period of time.
With home isolation and social distancing in place, most Canadian residents have been afforded the opportunity to undertake activities to a greater extent than is the case during their normal routine. Indeed, during the pandemic most have relaxed more than usual, spent more quality time with family members, baked/cooked more than usual, or read more than usual. Close to half indicated that they have slept more than usual, while one-third have exercised more than they normally would. Three in ten Canadians report having developed a new friendship or deepened an existing friendship during the pandemic.

Across the country, results are generally consistent, regardless of province or gender. There are, however, some interesting differences by age. Gen Z residents are notably more likely than other Canadians to have spent quality time with friends (78%), relaxed more (79%), slept more (78%) and to have exercised more (56%). The likelihood of having baked / cooked more often is most prevalent among those under the age of 35, while those aged 25-34 are most likely to have read more (60%) during the pandemic.
This survey was conducted online July 9-11, 2020, with 1,230 Canadians 18 years of age or older, from the Logit Group’s COVID-19 Canadian Omnibus. Fielded monthly, the Logit Group’s COVID-19 Omnibus surveys Canadians to ask their opinions and behaviours related to topical issues. Results were analyzed by Narrative Research. Data was weighted based on the 2016 Census, by gender, age, and region to reflect these population characteristics in each province. As a non-probability sample (i.e., a panel sample where residents have joined a panel to share their opinions), and in accordance with CRIC Public Opinion Research Standards, a margin of error is not applied.
Narrative Research (www.narrativeresearch.ca), is one of Canada’s leading public opinion and market research companies. As a non-partisan, 100% Canadian-owned research company, Narrative Research is dedicated to providing clients with state-of-the-art research and strategic consulting services.
The Logit Group (https://logitgroup.com/) is a leading North American data collection and market research execution company headquartered in Toronto, conducting large-scale projects for a variety of well-known research agencies and brands. Logit employs industry-best technologies across an array of methodologies, and is independent, experienced and quality-oriented.

Follow us on Twitter at @EveryNarrative and @LogitGroup
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For more information, please contact:
Margaret Brigley, CEO, Narrative Research – 902.222.7066, mbrigley@narrativeresearch.ca
OR
Margaret Chapman, COO, Narrative Research – 902.222.4048, mchapman@narrativeresearch.ca
OR
Sam Pisani, Managing Partner, Logit Group – 416.629.4116, sam.pisani@logitgroup.com

Canadians support making the wearing of masks mandatory in public places in their province.

July 23, 2020

The vast majority of Canadians support making the wearing of masks mandatory in public places in their province, to help contain the COVID-19 virus.
July 20, 2020
When asked to what extent Canadians support or oppose making the wearing of masks mandatory in public places, findings indicate there is clear support for the use of masks in efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19. Indeed, more than eight in ten Canadian residents (83%) indicate some degree of support, with most voicing complete support. Only one in ten (12%) express any opposition to the idea.
Across the country, there is a high degree of consistency in this view, although residents of Ontario and Quebec are most likely to express complete support for this concept. In contrast, support is less pronounced in Atlantic Canada with two in ten voicing some level of opposition to the idea. This is not surprising given the lower incidence of COVID-19 in that region.
Overall support for making mask-wearing mandatory is generally consistent regardless of age, gender or household income, although those aged 55yrs+ are most likely to voice complete support.
This survey was conducted online July 9-11, 2020, with 1,230 Canadians 18 years of age or older, from the Logit Group’s COVID-19 Canadian Omnibus. Fielding every month, the Logit Group’s COVID-19 Omnibus surveys Canadians to ask their opinions and behaviours related to topical issues. Results were analyzed by Narrative Research. Data was weighted based on the 2016 Census, by gender, age, and region to reflect these population characteristics in each province. As a non-probability sample (i.e., a panel sample where residents have joined a panel to share their opinions), and in accordance with CRIC Public Opinion Research Standards, a margin of error is not applied.
Narrative Research (www.narrativeresearch.ca), is one of Canada’s leading public opinion and market research companies. As a non-partisan, 100% Canadian-owned research company, Narrative Research is dedicated to providing clients with state-of-the-art research and strategic consulting services.
The Logit Group (https://logitgroup.com/) is a leading North American data collection and market research execution company headquartered in Toronto, conducting large-scale projects for a variety of well-known research agencies and brands. Logit employs industry-best technologies across an array of methodologies, and is independent, experienced and quality-oriented.
Follow us on Twitter at @EveryNarrative and @LogitGroup
###
For more information, please contact:
Margaret Brigley, CEO, Narrative Research – 902.222.7066, mbrigley@narrativeresearch.ca
OR
Margaret Chapman, COO, Narrative Research – 902.222.4048, mchapman@narrativeresearch.ca
OR
Sam Pisani, Managing Partner, Logit Group – 416.629.4116, sam.pisani@logitgroup.com

Re-shaping Our Face-to-Face Protocols

June 18, 2020

The past several months has been a trying and disruptive period, both for our industry and the world. As the curve starts to level, more and more economic areas have begun the process of re-opening, marking both opportunities and challenges for us conducting in-person research.

Since March, many of us in the research world have closely monitored the recommendations of both our government and medical experts. Social distancing, disinfecting processes and general greater sense of awareness in public places have become the new norms. As consumers and research participants emerge from self-isolation into the new world, it’s important to balance our research needs with the safety and peace of mind of participants.

Our ‘COVID19 Omnibus’ showed us that a majority of participants recognize the importance of sharing their opinions at this critical time, and largely feel that now is an appropriate time to participate in research. As research leaders, it is our responsibility to ensure that appropriate quality control & safety measures can both still be implemented.

As we transition back from the lockdown, it’s important to take the following steps to ensure the health and well being of not only respondents but also supporting employees as it pertains to in-person research.

In-Person Facility Best Practices:

To ensure the safety of all individuals participating in research at in-person facilities, it’s important to ensure the following conditions are met:

Sanitize the equipment and furniture before each shift
Have respondents do a temperature check at check-in
Ensure that mask & sanitizing/washing stations are available for respondents & staff
Have respondents sign a travel & symptom waiver before entering the interviewing area
Ensure that desks / chairs follow Social Distancing rules – minimum 6 feet apart
Utilize floor signs as reminder of social distancing rules
Limit the number of participants in a room at any one time – with a staggered entry
Reconfigure facilities to ensure proper distancing between respondents & staff
Use an electronic sign in and sign out for the respondent
No hand-outs, all concepts / hand-outs will be presented electronically
Product will be served in individual self-serve units only
If utilizing HUTs after in-facility interview– sanitized product containers should be placed in carry out bags for respondents to take home.
For HUTs without in-facility interview – respondents should be pre-screened by telephone/on-line before being mailed/couriered the product to their home in a sanitized container.
If client viewing is required, a second room with monitors or virtual monitoring should be utilized.

In addition to the safety of respondents, it’s also important to consider the health and well being of employees supporting the research. The following should be used as best practices when conducting research in person.

Staff Best Practices:

Measure and report staff temperature before coming in for each shift
E-mail/text a daily travel & symptom waiver before coming in for their shift
Wear masks and gloves where possible, always while at the facility
Sanitize/wash hands frequently and after every interview
Always maintain social distancing rules – minimum 6 feet apart
Sanitize tablets / computers after each interview
For product test – materials (plates, cutlery etc.) are one time use only

The post COVID-19 world will be a vastly different one for in person interviewing. However, by following some of the best practices above we can ensure that both respondents and staff are able to conduct in person research in a safe and secure environment.

About Aref Munshi

As Vice President, Sales & Research Services for The Logit Group, Aref Munshi’s main responsibility is managing existing clients. In his current role, his main responsibilities include managing existing clients, where he is a client advocate and research problem solver; he has been providing qualitative and quantitative support services to clients across the healthcare, consumer & business industries. With over 30 years of data collection experience, Aref’s strength is his holistic market research skill set.

Communication is key: But how much is too much?

June 2, 2020

Without a doubt, one of the most important aspects of any project managers job is to keep clients informed about a project’s progress. Whether it’s programming questions, discoveries during testing, or issues encountered during field, it’s essential to keep clients in the loop so that they can make an informed decision. However, it’s equally important to understand when we cross the line from insightful questions to a perceived lack of preparation from our clients.
Every one of our clients is important and understanding that every project is significant goes a long way in building trust and confidence with them. Part of that trust and confidence comes from ensuring that clients are not needlessly stressing over project details that are outside their scope.
Following some guidelines for communication goes a long way and can set the project and client relationship up for success in the long run. Here are three key communication takeaways for ensuring a projects success:

Stick to a Schedule
At the outset of a project, come up with a schedule that works for both your client as well as your team. It’s a hard balance between quality and speed – do it right or do it fast? – delivering both is the new norm and it’s important to set everyone up for success by establishing timelines and expectations early in the process. Once the timeline has been established, work towards it by keep your team up to date and prompting clients for any materials needed.
Schedule Changes
As with many projects, there can be delays; be it on your end or the client’s. In any case, it is important to always include a buffer of 1-2 days. If you find yourself in a situation where that buffer has been used, inform your client and your team. Sometimes it’s possible to tell that there will be schedule changes once important deadlines have been missed. Determine next steps. When will outstanding deadlines be met? Will field time be reduced? Will the survey be shortened to reduce programming hours? Figuring out what needs to be modified will pave the way for a revised schedule. Communicate internally and let your client know the impacts of a schedule change.
ETAs
Like we established, things change. What is important is determining a rough schedule that outlines the time it will take to complete each stage of a project and most importantly, leave some buffer in the schedule. Letting clients know how long it will take to review their files, programming, field work, and any data/coding will take. Then also go a step beyond. If it becomes apparent programming will take longer, let clients know. Maybe the work they have sent over requires custom scripting that will take time to program and test. It is equally possible that an alternative solution is available and will take less time to program. Present timelines on both and allow your client to have the final word.

About Gurpreet Kaur

Gurpreet is a graduate of Humber College’s Research Analyst program. She’s been in market research for 2 years. In her current role as Project Manager at Logit she primarily oversees quantitative tracker and ad hoc web based studies with a focus on sports, financial institutions and travel.

Weathering COVID-19 – Business Development Strategy During a Difficult Time

May 13, 2020

I often thought the world would be a much better place if all politicians were, by law, required to have a history degree. The relevant knowledge and trends they could draw from to help shape insights, process and a successful path forward would really serve us all. As researchers, this is language that’s all too familiar to us…

With Covid-19, we’re in an unprecedented time, but we are uniquely qualified to handle this challenge.

With a growing trend towards sensationalized data and soundbites, we as a society are constantly inundated by main stream media with sobering assessments and un-fact checked hypotheses that drive fear and further enflame the situation. Covid-19 has become commoditized, making it easy to get caught up in the vortex around the pandemic. It’s important to understand that in these times, the best way to thrive is to think outside the box and to adopt a fresh perspective.

We need to focus on what we can control in an environment that has taken so much of it away. It’s difficult to develop business while managing our own personal feelings and worry for our families and colleagues, but we’re objective thinkers. We make decisions and recommend directions based on market conditions. We need to employ this thinking for ourselves and understand that there are growth areas, and in fact, it’s never been more important and a better time to conduct most lines of research.

The New York Times recently published this article that portrays the realities we’re seeing in field:

The Title:
Surprising Poll Results: People Are Now Happy to Pick Up the Phone

The Subtitle:
Pollsters are used to having their calls screened. But when everyone is stuck at home, a stranger with some survey questions can be a lifeline.

https://bit.ly/polling-coronavirus

The article focuses on the realities we’re finding on how ‘response rates have risen amongst people in typically tough-to-reach demographics, such as young people and those without college degrees, who are typically less likely to use landlines. Increased participation is also reported amongst cell phone users – particularly in the daytime, when in the past many respondents would most likely have been at work and unwilling to answer a call from an unknown number.’

The striking tone of the article and as those in CATI data collection research know, traditionally, older age groups take more time and are more receptive to research, more so than any other age group. With Covid-19 in our midst, we’re seeing increased cooperation across the board across all ages and ethnic groups. It’s incumbent on us to take the responsibility to continue research outreach and to help the population right itself. This example of an empowering reality can mobilize a lot of business decision makers into quick action. The question we all hear posed by Decision Makers is… ‘Is this the right time to do research?’ Yes in fact, it is.

Increased response rates are being reported across the board and span over all methodologies. Online survey response rates have surged, interactive IDI/Focus Groups are becoming the new norm and plans for onsite social distancing compliance for research are well underway and gathering momentum.

As business leaders, it’s our job to approach the emotional toll of a terrible pandemic in a clinical fashion as we’re revenue drivers. We acknowledge it’s our responsibility to create stability to ensure the health and growth of our clients. It’s also important for those who work for our Companies. It can feel heavy but I have found that shifting my focus to the emotional business needs of our clients has been helpful and very productive.

In times like this, we trust ourselves, trust the future and take charge of what we can control. Now, more than ever, it’s important to create a ‘diamond’ level experience routed in creativity and case examples that truly illustrate the state of the industry which is driven by respondents. Tasking yourself to this challenge will serve not only you, but us collectively as an industry well.

About John Wulff

John’s 25 year career has been focused on quantitative market research data collection. Holding senior positions representing some of the largest and best quantitative Online & Offline data collection companies with operations based in North & Central America and Asia.

Interviewing Hard-to-Reach Respondents During Difficult Times

April 2, 2020

Interviewing Hard-to-Reach Respondents During Difficult Times
By Arundati Dandapani

Door to door sampling was the truest, recall the veterans, who are still grappling with the challenges of an industry that has fast moved towards automation and programmatic designs. Research reveals that operational efficiency and costs have brought down the overall quality of the respondent experience, leading to a general distrust in the industry. Poor experiences have led to declining participation rates, leading to even lower response and completion rates.

Incidence rate is defined as the number or percentage of qualified people from a sample that are eligible to participate in a study. Since the onset of one of the most disruptive global health crisis in recent decades has changed the way we work, suppliers across the board report no change in IR (ease of finding qualified respondents/targetable population) or Response Rates (completion), and in some cases observing even higher response rates than before. Meeting respondents for specific market research studies however remains an ongoing challenge and difficulty for many reasons.

Are these Difficult Times?

Twelve weeks ago, there was no COVID-19 to talk about. Today, how we are doing business and market research has changed completely owing to the economic, social, and public health impacts of the current global pandemic.

“In times of COVID-19, we need to be hyper-sensitive on user experience as everyone has heightened emotions. When we poll our audience about ‘what questions do you have today’, Covid related questions are becoming major top of mind questions,” said Paul Neto of Measure Protocol. Rand Market Research confirms that nearly 80% of Canadians are concerned about the Coronavirus and are changing their behaviour due to it. “While many companies focus on Incidence Rates, the critical metric is its conversion to completion rates, as in many cases (70-90% of all surveys), participants do not complete them because of poor experiences. The industry has moved away from responsible interaction with the participant,” reminded Neto.

Jackie Lorch of Dynata wrote that, “Consumers can still provide generalizable data and think objectively about their cars, TVs, household goods and other products and services, but their answers on many topics will be different while the Coronavirus crisis lasts. This reflects the reality of your customers’ experience. It is more vital than ever to keep in touch with them and not risk being left with a data “black hole” as the world recovers.”

Business as Usual Despite the Crisis

The major reported or observed change in research operations has been in the shifting of real-person fieldwork to virtual operations, affecting offline qualitative work the most (including face-to-face interviews, and focus groups). The best way to measure change is by tracking respondents over time, for example, comparing the IR in studies in the last month with the past three months of studies in field.

Whether times are good or bad, maintaining respondent interest can be a challenge for many reasons. Factors range from the source of sample (e.g., banks that use highly targeted client lists for surveys seeing higher participation), mode of survey (online is a better medium for some demographics, and has little barriers for use in difficult times like COVID-19), quality of profilers (the rarer the qualifications or behaviours, the feasibility of that sample is lower) among others.

While there are different reasons for low respondent participation, panel participation is often dependent on how the survey question is worded, and what the qualification times and windows are. Qualification includes the criteria that respondents are required to fulfill at the recruiting stage, and qualification times and windows often determine how tracking studies will be impacted, opening unique opportunities to benchmark and observe targeted respondent behaviour over time.

The potential of mode must not be overlooked. According to Randa Bell of ASDE Survey Sampler, “IVR (interactive Voice Response) presents an interesting opportunity to reach respondents in a cheaper or faster way than traditional telephone surveys, when your interviewing capacity is lowered due to physical distancing in call centers. Also, there’s the added ability to reach cell phones via IVR or SMS text messages to the younger age groups who might be sitting at home and bored with all the news and lock-down. All surveys at these times should be introduced knowing that COVID-19 is on the minds of everyone and acknowledged in the introduction.”

Doing More to Earn Respondent Trust and Retention

Businesses need to keep conducting mitigation tests to check that their field studies are on track to optimize their incidence rates. The qualifications for studies and project timelines must reflect the new reality and new needs, whether that means keeping a close tab on the COVID-19 situation as it develops, and being adaptive in response as governments and citizens work to contain the outbreak, or introducing new measures that protect the public and companies investment in the ongoing health of their respondents.

Incidence rates are reflective of the effort it takes to convert qualified persons to participate in a study. Research fieldwork and data collection methods must be adaptive to create better experiences that improve participation rates. If that in the current environment means substituting / migrating all face-to-face qualitative work with other user-friendly virtual, mobile and safe alternatives, businesses must prepare. Targeting lists and respondents effectively involves employing the optimal mix of traditional and new technologies including AI, the internet of things and blockchain to ensure user-intuitive experiences that convert to the highest participation of qualified respondents.

About Arundati

Arundati Dandapani, CMRP (@itadnura) advises non-profits and businesses with insights and storytelling. She is the founder of Generation1.ca, an online cross-sectoral resource and outlet for Canada’s newest residents, chief editor of MRIA-ARIM, and has been honoured with industry awards like the inaugural GRIT Future List Honour along with the 2020 AAPOR Burns Bud Roper Fellow and QRCA’s 2020 Young Professionals Grant. She can be reached at arundati@generation1.ca.

Keeping Your Market Research Data Safe and Secure

March 2, 2020

Market research companies are faced with varying challenges and security threats when it comes to protecting their data. Over the last two years, there have been many breaches exposing millions of data records as cybercriminals have been targeting both the public and private sectors. According to IBM’s 2019 Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average cost of a data breach worldwide is $3.9 million. For the United States, that number soars to $7.91 million.

The burden of responsibility is widening as many international regulators are now holding organizations liable for any privacy or security breaches. As custodians of sensitive client data, market research companies have a responsibility to minimize the security risk for data both in motion and at rest.

Data in motion, as its name suggests, refers to information being moved from one location to another across the internet, along networks, or from storage devices or the cloud. Protection methods are particularly critical because this data in transit tends to be thought of as less secure than data at rest, which is information simply stored or archived on hard drives, devices, or networks.

Protecting data is critical not only for its own obvious sake, but also to reassure potential survey participants who might be apprehensive about participating in your market research project due to being aware of recent data breaches in other sectors.

Some recommended measures to be implemented include:

• providing staff with cybersecurity tools to ensure ongoing compliance with best practice policies and procedures;
• lowering risk exposure by implementing technology such as intrusion detection systems (IDS), intrusion protection systems (IPS), honeypots, and firewalls;
• regularly monitoring and auditing security procedures to meet developing cyber threats;
• implementing detailed security policies that entail procedures, rules, and roles so all staff members understand that data privacy and security are priorities (e.g. policies like handling procedures, usage, privacy, social media, and user responsibilities);
• keeping informed with all cyber-threat news, updates, and applicable security patches;
• investing in data-breach or cyber-security insurance; and
• conducting penetration testing—also known as “ethical hacking,” this the practice of testing a computer system or network to find security vulnerabilities that could be exploited.

Perhaps one of the most important data security recommendations comes down to always ensuring you are working with people whose approaches and practices you can trust. The Logit Group is continually implementing new measures that comply with industry best practices and address client concerns and requirements about data security and privacy while adhering to data protection laws.

Forbes graph: https://www.statista.com/chart/9918/the-price-tag-attached-to-data-breaches/

About Shane Scott

Shane Scott has over 17 years of notable success leading a broad range of corporate and government IT initiatives while participating in the planning, analysis, and implementation of solutions in support of business objectives. As the Logit System Administrator and Support Specialist, Shane has been championed to enhance the Security, Infrastructure and System administration as the company growth continues.

Using A Mixed Methodology Approach For Emerging Markets

February 14, 2020

Mixed methodology, otherwise known as multi-mode research is a popular choice when approaching emerging markets. With varying response rates, influenced by geography, language and respondent qualification to name a few, a mixed methodology approach allows researchers to compensate for coverage biases and shortfalls.

Cultural influences play a major role in determining the type of methodology used. In emerging markets such as Indonesia and Malaysia, email invitations to VOC programs yield lower response rates in than other countries. This is caused in part by social and cultural behaviours within these countries. Due to this a mixed use methodology may be warranted.

The quality of data collection is critical, and appropriate quality control measures are implemented. For e.g. in Malaysia, data quality requires 100% monitoring to ensure compliance from both interviewers and respondents. While phone and online methodologies are ideal there are some countries such as Singapore and Myanmar where face-to-face data collection using CAPI could be used as it gives wider access to sample and it’s use is generally accepted amongst the population. For each it’s important to note the costs and time constraints. These are factors that will influence choice of methodology.

We’ve pulled together a few key observations from our work with mixed methodologies in emerging markets. Here are some factors to take into consideration when developing your study:

Questionnaire Length: It’s important to maintain consistency in the length of your survey. We’ve concluded that the optimal length is around 10 minutes. Studies have been conducted up to 30 minutes, however this is not the norm.

Combatting Rural Areas: In more secluded areas, participants tend to be more conservative in their willingness to participate in studies. We have found that the face-to-face intercept methodology is most successful, as opposed to phone and online approaches, although this option is more costly.

Language Versatility: It is important to consider regional dialects and languages when using face to face intercepts. In instances where there are multiple distinct languages across various states, having the awareness and understanding of regional differences will strengthen your response rates.

Research Execution: The more comfortable your respondents feel when engaging in a study, the more successful your responses will be. It’s vital to have local native speakers wherever your study is taking place in order to ensure clear and unbiased communication.

Observance of Cultural Nuances: Ensure that your study takes into consideration the local cultural nuances. Public holidays, political events and even cultural differences in what constitutes a weekend versus a workday are all to be factored into a study to ensure higher response rates.

For example, in the Middle East countries, a weekend is Friday/Saturday, not the typical Saturday/Sunday. In emerging markets, it’s much more common to have a larger number of public holidays. These factors all contribute to the way in which a field plan should be mapped in preparation for a study.

Political situations such as a general election can impact participation due to a large influx of social media use. Consider the type of government in power within your emerging market, as this impacts how trusting the population may be. For example, while attempting to complete a survey during a national election in Malaysia, the corruption of the government and mass amount of propaganda going out for the election meant that we had a much lower response rate during that time.
In order to ensure all possible nuances, cultural practices and language variations we need to be mindful of all options when working in emerging markets. Logit carefully factors in all of the above when recommending the appropriate methodology for each research project. With over 25 years of experience, our international research execution can help to leverage your next international study.

Interested to learn more about our services? Contact us here: http://bit.ly/bidrequest

About Oscar Fernandes

Oscar has over 25 years’ experience in market research especially in the areas of Project Management and Business Development. Before joining the firm in 2014, he held senior positions at Greenwich Associates/Corsential/Consumer Contact.

How to Gain a Competitive Edge Using MR

January 28, 2020

How to Gain a Competitive Edge Using MR

Since Daniel Starch developed his theory in the 1920s that advertising had to be seen, read, believed, remembered, and most importantly, acted upon, in order to be considered effective; companies have been using research as a means to gain a competitive edge on their competitors.

Research methodology and techniques have evolved substantially over the years most noticeably since the turn of the millennium. Conducting research has become faster, cheaper and more efficient; allowing companies of all shapes and sizes access to it. With companies conducting research in one form or another more than ever before, the challenge to gain meaningful unique data has grown ten-fold.

The pursuit of consumer insights has become an arms race, with the most successful companies finding ways to not only understand, but leverage insights at breakneck speeds. Those who have been able to harness the power of insights have flourished in the post brick and mortar retail world, while those who haven’t have faded into obscurity and obsolescence.

So how does market research play into the success of a company? And what are some areas of focus that companies can look toward in 2020 for a competitive edge?

Looking at Purchase and Usage Trends

To know where you’re going you need to know where you’ve been. By evaluating both purchasing and product usage behaviour of your current customers, you can understand the why, when and how of their consumption and through it can see trends and potential areas for change and enhancement. There are a few keyways to do this each with their own inherent benefits:

In Store Observations: Allows you to see consumers in their natural environment and gives you an understanding of their path to purchase.
Online communities: A small representative population of your consumer base. Gives you quick access to run both quantitative and qualitative data.
Point of Purchase / Interaction data: Short follow up quantitative survey delivered post interaction.
In Home Usage Tests: Diary / Log of a consumer’s interaction with your product and key takeaways of it’s use.

Gaining Competitive Insights

As important as it is to know how your consumers use your product / services, it’s also equally important to know how your consumers view you in relation to your competitors. Several ways to do this include:
MaxDiff Exercises: Respondents evaluate all possible pairs of items within the displayed set and choose the pair that reflects the maximum difference in preference or importance
Conjoint Analysis: Helps to determine how people value different attributes (feature, function, benefits) that make up an individual product or service

Leveraging Technology and Automation

As the speed of business continues to get quicker and quicker so too does the speed at which insights are gathered and put into use. The ability to leverage technology and automation has become more important amongst the ever-evolving business landscape. Here are a few areas where you can gain a competitive advantage.

Facial Coding: Allows you to capture a respondent’s emotional engagement to any stimulus in real time.
Chat Bots: Conduct qual style exercises at the size of quantitative studies

Through harnessing the research techniques above you too can ensure that your company has a competitive advantage. Want to learn more about how you can implement these on your studies, contact us to learn more.

Top 5 Market Research Predictions for 2020

January 16, 2020

Top 5 Market Research Predictions for 2020

This is the time of year when everybody seems to be making predictions. Within the realm of market research, I’ve seen quite a few articles forecasting methodologies and the impact of data privacy. From my own experience, here are five trends or changes the industry will experience in 2020.

1. Outcome- and strategy-first methodologies will be embraced.
In the coming year, business outcomes from research and insight will become even more important to drive results and profit from the data gathered. Success will be achieved through the increased integration of people, data, and technology. The combination of different data sources should enable businesses to move from insight-driven to result-driven, enabling the insight team to be one of the most important functions. For this to work in 2020, we need curious individuals who can answer the “why” question, working hand in hand with best-practice technology solutions.

2. DIY research will come into its own.
With so many start-ups and small to medium-sized businesses, there seems to be even more use cases for “do it yourself” research. Companies like SurveyMonkey, Typeform, and Zappi offer a DIY research format, allowing individuals to create their own research program without needing to discuss anything with an actual person or agency. For 2020 to be the year for DIY research, though, there must be more go-to-guides and information to help individuals conduct market research by themselves.

3. Unlocking privacy compliance will be key.
Yes, this one is probably on every prediction list over the last few years, but there’s a reason for it. Data privacy continues to be a big deal, and we are just beginning to feel the impact of the various global legislative initiatives that relate to this topic. As I like to say: “The bigger the company, the bigger the threat.”

At the moment, there seems to be no standard way of working with privacy-related requirements—different businesses are seeking different solutions for the variety of compliance issues. In 2020, I firmly believe we will see standard protocols emerge that will lead us to a less-fragmented market (and less-fragmented privacy rules, in general). However, the real value will be seen by organizations that look for ways to address compliance needs while also unlocking new potential value for data stakeholders.

4. Data science will overtake insights.
Market research has historically focused on data collection, and analysis has typically been simple. This applies to qualitative as well. In some ways, however, the market research industry was ahead of its time—the ability of decision-makers to use data to guide their decisions has lagged the capacity to collect it.

Now that the data industry is much larger, you could argue that market research is being absorbed into data science. There are huge amounts of programmers and software developers in our industry—while many are adept at selling, they know little about marketing or research. (To be fair, they usually do not refer to themselves as “marketing researchers.”)

For market research to be the golden industry, we have to go beyond mechanical data collection, simple analysis, and interpretation. Instead, we must work closely with AI, machine learning, and data scientists. However, I still feel that a market researcher with sound experience will still have an amazing career in the industry. Those able to design primary quantitative research who have a good grasp of statistics—as well as marketing and business in general—will be at an advantage, as will top-notch qualitative researchers.

5. We will reach peak innovation.
Innovation is a word I hear a lot, but it can sometime feel like people are only saying it because it’s a great marketing buzz term that makes you sound amazing and at the top of your game. The desire for market research agencies and boutiques to pump out faster and more reactive products has never been so strong. In 2020, I feel like we may well reach peak innovation, but the technology that is available today will continue to get better. This means new tools will be able to deliver timely insights that provide business results and outcome-first approaches to market research and data.

Conclusion
Overall, I feel that outcome-first methodologies will come out on top while the inclusion of DIY research will become prominent in the sector, especially for small and medium-sized businesses. Better yet, I feel like the industry hasn’t reached its summit. While it might have peaked in terms of innovation, it can still grow and improve with respect to the value it adds.

While January is a time for predictions, it’s also a time for resolutions. There are many people who still don’t see the value of market research, so I challenge you to set a goal for this year—go and change one person’s opinion of this important sector. If all those reading this can do that, our field will be off to a great 2020. Have a great year!

About Jake

Jake Pryszlak, commonly known as the Research Geek, is a 3-time award-winning market researcher, blogger and speaker. He’s a current Forbes columnist who is active across a plethora of social media channels. His aim is to share his market research knowledge with others in the industry. You can find his blog and social media channels here.

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Category: Methodology