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A pet-peeve of mine is the market research industry phrase “actionable insights” which is now, in reality, mostly empty and meaningless. We are at the point where every research company, tool, and professional (even beyond those in our industry) has learned to refer to “actionable insights” as the fundamental currency of what research offers. Some…
One way you can make a research report really pop is to carefully select and edit quotes from the people involved in the study. For qualitative research, that means pulling quotes from transcripts of in-depth interviews, focus groups, online bulletin boards, social media, etc. For survey research, it means pulling quotes from open-ended questions that…
What’s a good measure of success for a research-driven thought leadership PR campaign? Some companies for whom we conduct this type of research believe it’s ink: media coverage, number of impressions, and placements in prestigious news outlets. True, these are important and achievable outcomes with thoughtful and rigorous research. But with dramatic shifts in how…
Two recent events have me thinking about AI and the problem of plausibility in market research. First, a colleague narrated a story about the first market research company he worked for 20 years ago. The owner told him that research is always tentative and uncertain, and that all we really need to achieve in our…
Many assume that rigorous market research always works with random samples or probability samples. This assumption is not true. There are many studies that require purposive sampling instead. Purposive sampling involves finding people with specific characteristics or qualities, even if they do not fully represent the whole population, because these specific people can provide unique…
I became curious last week about what happened to those research people charged with fraud last year for selling fake panelists to complete market research surveys. One by one they are pleading guilty. But there was something much more interesting for me than learning about their guilty pleas. It was the “thought experiment” it provoked…
I submitted a letter to The New Yorker about some statistics they published regarding prenuptial agreements. The numbers were obviously suspicious and most likely incorrect. They chose not to print my letter, though I believe it is worth printing here because it highlights the power of dramatic, plausible numbers and the importance of taking a…
A client had a surprising experience not long ago when a member of our multivariate analysis team showed up online to watch a live in-depth interview with a registered nurse about how prescribing decisions are made. “Who is that online with us?” the client inquired, not recognizing the name. The qualitative manager answered, “He’s on…
Despite having been on the front lines of social research for so many years, interviewing respondents personally and eliciting data through surveys, I still feel somewhat surprised and disbelieving that people really want to participate in research. But they do. Sometimes eagerly. Almost always truthfully. Surely, my surprise stems from my own reluctance to fill…
Choosing an omnibus survey can be a simple approach to getting survey data, because it is usually inexpensive and fast, and involves asking just a few questions. But there is sometimes a downside to simplicity: You have just a few questions to get that nugget of data you’re hoping to use as a news hook…