Burning Questions

We need more than blue-ribbon commissions to “explore” the problem

How many times do we have to be shown there’s something wrong with self-reported data before we actually do something about it?

Below are just three instances of failure in self-reported polling data (wherein the respondent either tells the interviewer how he/she is going to vote or marks in an online or mobile survey how he/she is going to vote).

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Many of the responses to our last blog (“How Has the Mood of the Country Changed in the Past Two Years?”), included comments like “a cheery mood is not what I’m hearing,” and “please run your national survey again.”

Fair enough.  We will indeed run the survey again this year.  

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There’s been a spate of articles recently indicating that the country’s in a sour mood. Major left and right factions seem to be in unyielding disagreement with each other, leading to a sense of deadlock, hopelessness, and dread.

Hmm…that’s not what our research reveals. Just as our mid-2016 research was at variance with what the major polls were telling us, our research once again differs from the norm. Let us explain.

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In ordinary conversation people say they do.  But is there any science behind that idea?  

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Whether it’s brainwaves, skin temperature and conductance, heart rate, perspiration, pupil dilation, facial muscular contraction, or something else, the various methods of measuring biometric response for market research seem to be here to stay.  

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These days many people are trying to rescue their various forms of marketing data from the separate, often uncommunicative systems where they reside (“silos”) and integrating these data streams into a coherent framework for decision making.  Is your company doing that — un-siloing your marketing data?  

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Some people conducting customer satisfaction surveys say they can’t get accurate information because of the dominance of “ringers” – people who are either very angry or very pleased with their experience with the brand, product, or service. This leaves out the great middle – people who’ve had an experience with the brand but don’t have extremes of feeling one way or the other. This can significantly harm the accuracy of the customer satisfaction study.  

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The world of biometric research for marketing is exciting, in that it holds the promise of understanding the emotional connection to products and brands. But is it worth the trouble? There’s disagreement.  

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Sure, big data’s a buzzterm, an object of interest, and a serious discipline — all three are true.  But does dig data produce practical, understandable, common-sense wins for you and your company?  If so, tell us about those wins.  If not, tell us why you think big data doesn’t produce tangible benefits at the simple, practical level.  We’d like to hear your thoughts!

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With the advent of so many alternative market research methods — qualitative and quantitative — there’s certainly room for debate on this topic.  Tell us what you think!  If you think yes, physical focus groups are still relevant, tell us why, and what are their best uses.  If you think no, physical focus groups are no longer relevant, tell us what’s better than a physical focus group and why that’s better.  Thanks for commenting!

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