Tell a traditional market-research audience that you propose to talk with the same group of 300–500 “respondents” on a weekly, even daily, basis over the course of many months, and half the group will react in horror, voicing legitimate concerns about bias, practice effect, and unblinded studies and posing the inevitable question: “Is it qual or is it quant?”

But the other half faces the prospect of an ongoing, long-term relationship between researcher and consumers with excitement about the possibilities — for speed, iteration, longitudinal work, more naturalistic contexts and a collaborative relationship with consumers. They are more interested in actionable insights than in irrefutable data, and recognize when it’s appropriate to trade anonymity for transparency, distance for relationship, control for collaboration and randomness for shared purpose.

Drawing on both our own work and on research done by others in a new position paper, 21st Century Market Research, Manila Austin and I have tried to systematically address both the challenges to data validity posed by online communities, and the unique ways in which communities can actually enhance research quality. Most importantly, we’ve tried to formulate a new framework that transcends the “qual vs. quant” paradigm, in favor of an approach that more accurately reflects the new realities.

We hope this paper will serve to advance the healthy discussion and debate already swirling about the industry. Please fuel the conversation by sharing this position paper with your peers, and join it with your comments below.

6 Responses to “You Are Now Leaving Your Comfort Zone: 21st Century Market Research”

1. Eric S Levy says:

   June 9, 2010 at 2:20 pm

   Hear hear!

   I completely agree with your premise that pedantic or slavish attachment to traditional ways of conducting many forms of marketing research should be examined. However, I would caution that many client organizations rely upon certain types of traditional measurement programs (i.e., tracking studies) for key business functions.

   How will we migrate these clients to newer forms of “listening”?
2. Julie Wittes Schlack says:

   June 9, 2010 at 2:32 pm

   Thanks for the feedback, Eric (and as a lover of language, I’m especially appreciative of “pedantic” and “slavish” in the same sentence!) To your point, some clients remain wedded to traditional methods, and for good reason. Tracking studies can be very valuable in surfacing and monitoring trends. But even they can be conducted in more meaningful, real-time and naturalistic ways with the aid of mobile surveys or lifestreaming tools. And because most tracking studies tend to be retrospective and conditions can change so quickly, many of our clients rely on their online communities to validate and dig deeper into what their tracking studies indicate.
3. Erika Lundahl says:

   June 14, 2010 at 1:23 pm

   I think you are right on the button when discussing the collaborative relationship between the researcher and the consumer. Simon Chadwick Recently did a video interview with InsightsNow about the changing way that we should be communicating in Market Research (among other things). Check out the video, I hope it serves to also further the discussion about the new, exciting direction of market Research.

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6clSVeVhU_c
4. Manila Austin says:

   June 15, 2010 at 12:21 pm

   Hi Erika. Not surprisingly, I couldn’t agree more that the Internet and social media are allowing us to understand the consumer holistically, or “in the round”; and likewise that MR methods are rounding out to offer more robust set of tools and approaches. I am also heartened to see how the shift to collaborative inquiry. Thank you for sharing your voice (and Simon’s!).
5. 21st century market research « Curiously Persistent says:

   June 22, 2010 at 9:51 am

   [...] Simon Kendrick I’ve just finished reading Communispace’s latest position paper “You are now leaving your comfort zone: 21st century market research” (link points to their blog post, which in turn links to the pdf). It is unquestionably one [...]
6. Dr. Bob says:

   July 10, 2010 at 2:44 pm

   Interesting. I would place myself in the traditional market-research audience you discuss. However, my question would not be whether the audience participation exercise would be qual or quant, but something much more fundamental. How representative are the thoughts, perceptions, and opinions of this audience of my customer/potential customer base? Gathering ideas, floating concepts, establishing a discussion with customers is certainly legitimate and laudatory. It is when such activities are perceived as representative of some larger population that I, as a traditional market researcher, would take exception, unless I had done the fundamental work to establish the parameters. That is the crux issue that is unresolved in the industry.