Roddy Knowles - Research Now Archives - GRBN.ORG

Tracker research in peril: Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

GRBN_News — Sun, 25 Mar 2018 23:14:52 +0000

If you’re a supplier, how many newly initiated trackers have you seen come across your desk in the past year compared with years past? If you’re an owner of research, how much value have you been getting from your ongoing tracker(s) compared with years past? In either case, I’m willing to bet that the answer is “not as many/much as I used to.” Trackers can be an incredibly valuable tool and the backbone of impactful research programs. So, why are so many languishing? If we consider the tracker in the context of broader trends, a few things come to light, including some light at the end of the tunnel.

Who’s out and who’s in?

The trackers I see, which are not anomalous, are among the longest and least mobile friendly surveys. They tend to get longer with accretion of questions over time. They almost never get shorter by removing unnecessary questions. So what? If questions get answered and demographic quotas get filled (even if they may take longer than they used to), who cares? In short, who participates in research matters. We know that people who prefer to take surveys on mobile devices are different in critical ways to those who choose to use computers. Excluding mobile participants by choice or by virtue of clinging to an unfriendly survey, the sample becomes less representative and less useful each wave. Especially with younger age cohorts, to think that those willing to complete long surveys represent their peers is misguided.

What do you need?

While today’s tracker landscape is dotted with pitfalls, there is plenty to be hopeful for. Trackers – old and new – can be reinvigorated leveraging data in smart ways. We can address some of the challenges faced by participants while also improving data quality by asking only what we need to ask. Less questions, however, doesn’t mean less data. Rather than focusing on how many questions to cram into a questionnaire, ask what types of data best support the business questions at hand. Numerous datasets exist that can be linked to survey data to galvanize it. Set aside unwieldly or flat out unanswerable questions and seek data elsewhere. Looking to the following data sources is a great place to start piecing together the puzzle:

Profile data: Most panel providers curate a rich database of attributes on a participant level such as brand preferences, employment information, and travel habits, to name a few.
Advertising data: When research evaluates the impact of advertising, which many trackers do, link actual ad exposure data to your tracker to know who was (and wasn’t) exposed to relevant ads that impact key brand metrics.
Third party data: A wealth of datasets can be matched to participants on topics such as voting history, purchase behavior, healthcare, and automotive…and the list goes on.

Where do we go from here?

Integrating survey and other types of data is critical to the future of the research industry and especially relevant to trackers. The future-focused tracker fuses strategically asked questions with multiple data streams and is underpinned by an understanding that people fuel research. We shouldn’t give up on trackers. Rather, with a bit of creativity and an eye on the questions they are meant to answer, we should bolster the role of trackers in the research toolkit. Roddy Knowles Director, Product and Innovation Research, Research Now SSI

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3 Questions You Should Be Asking Your Data Provider, But Probably Aren’t

GRBN_News — Tue, 02 May 2017 07:08:31 +0000

I’ve heard it said in many corners that the Market Research industry is in a state of transition and transformation. That’s true, though I’d also argue that’s really always the case if we are doing things right. That aside, I see many firms trying new things and exploring new types of research. At the same time, however, I find it curious that there seems to be a growing lack of concern for and dearth of knowledge about research fundamentals, specifically who is participating in research and where they come from.

“There seems to be a growing lack of concern for research fundamentals”

Thus, I think it’s worth taking a step back and thinking about three important questions to ask your data provider(s). Before we dive in, it’s worth pointing out that the world of sample providers is more complex than it used to be. You have river sample or intercept providers who fish for participants online in a number of ways, aggregators or distributors who sell sample and hook into various sample sources without owning any of them, panel companies who own and manage their data sources, and some that don’t neatly fall into any of these categories. No matter where you get your sample, you should be asking… 1. Where do people come from? Are people coming from the river, meaning that they may be “fished” (no, not catfished) from an online source, whereby you don’t know much about them and once they are surveyed and put back into the stream they are unlikely to be caught again? Or are they sourced from a panel whereby, to continue the metaphor, they can be fished out of a discrete pond where they are tagged and can be found again if need be? Participants from these discrete ponds add a level of comfort for researchers as they are vetted and typically thought to be of higher quality. But you shouldn’t check your curiosity at the door at this point. It is worth asking your provider how they recruit people. How do people make it into the pond? Panels should be meticulously managed and maintained by implementing consistent recruitment methodology from a variety of sources. Variety in recruitment is key, as you don’t want your participants to come from a single, specific source, one that lacks diversity. 2. Who are these people? The more you know about who you are reaching, the better off you are. Thinking of how you source research participants, the depth to which they are profiled allows for more accurate, efficient, and quicker targeting while reducing the need to screen for everything. A well-maintained profiling database can also power impactful data appends. So, ask about profiling methodology, what areas relevant to your research they are profiled on, and how this data can be used to conduct smarter research. 3. What else? Let’s be honest, I could have given you 5 more questions, but I’m taking the easy way out here and placing the burden on you now. Well, it may not be a burden to researchers as I’m just asking you to be inquisitive – as should be your nature. Just as you ask questions about your data, ask questions about where it comes from. You’re not going to capture everything you need to know by asking the two questions above, but it’s a start. You may want to also ask about quality control measures, variations in recruitment methodology across time, and panel/non-panel source blending. But I think the most important thing is for you, or perhaps someone you know, to think critically and ask questions. Roddy Knowles, Director, Product and Research Methodology Research Now

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Keeping User Experience Top of Mind

GRBN_News — Mon, 30 Jan 2017 09:00:32 +0000

Over the past year, I’ve observed an increase in talk about the importance of respecting research participants and ensuring they have positive experiences. This is good. And while I’ve seen many clients continue to nod their heads in these conversations yet write longer and less palatable questionnaires than before, I have also seen many more clients move from “talk the talk” to “walk the walk.” Drawing inspiration from the aggregate data from our study, I’ve come up with are three key things to remember if you want to join those of us keeping user experience top of mind. Come on in, the water is warm!

1. Design for Mobile

In our study we saw 25% respond on a mobile device (smartphone + tablet). In some markets, people responded on mobile devices at a higher clip, such as the US (39%), China (33%), and Australia (39%). These numbers shouldn’t surprise anyone allowing and tracking mobile traffic into their studies. It reinforces that it is absolutely crucial to use survey platforms that utilize responsive, mobile-optimized design principles and ensure questions can be easily answered on a smartphone. If they are fit for a smartphone, they will be fit for a tablet or PC as well!

2. Write Questions Like a Human

One of the biggest challenges in designing for mobile is screen real estate. The amount of words you can fit on a screen dwindles significantly from what you can fit on a PC. This is a blessing and a curse. It’s a curse for those wedded to big nasty grids (which to be honest are a chore on a PC too). But it’s a blessing in that it forces researchers to write better questions. Our study found that two key drivers of someone quitting a survey relate directly to poor questionnaire design. 41% would quit a survey if the topic was too boring. And 51% would quit if the questions were too repetitive. What does this mean? It means that we need to break old habits of writing like a researcher and write more like a human. Yes, researchers can be humans too! Q1. Which of these questions would you rather respond to?

Thinking about any advertisements (e.g., television commercials, blogs, magazines, online advertisements, etc.) you have seen in the past month, please select from the list below the brands which you recall seeing.
Which brands have you seen ads for recently?

If you answered B, congratulations, you appear to be human, just like research participants. If you answered A, I think we should talk.

3. Be Honest and Ethical About Time Commitments

62% of participants said that a survey much longer than they were told will drive them to quit. Who can blame them? We need to be up front on how long a survey will take – and I’d lobby strongly that estimated LOI should come from testing on a smartphone, not a PC, or at least be adjusted for device type. If you want quality data, let people know how much time they can expect to devote to a survey. Other research has shown that bad survey taking habits increase towards the end of long surveys. Can you blame someone for speeding through the last 10 minutes of a 30 minute survey they were told would be 20 minutes long? I can’t – and neither should you. We’re looking forward to diving into the data from this study over the coming months and continuing to champion the importance of user experience and putting participants first. Please join us in fighting the good fight.

Roddy Knowles

Director, Mobile Research Products, Research Now

Roddy champions how to (and how not to) leverage mobile technology to conduct market research. He can often be found calling the industry to improve how mobile research is conducted, uncovering and encouraging ways to creatively integrate data streams, and pushing for forward-thinking and participant-centric approaches to research.

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