What We’re Reading: Mobility, Asking Why, Social Media Research

May 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Normally, we’d be going through our reading list on Monday mornings, but given the glorious (and extended) Memorial Day weekend here in the US, we decided to postpone our reading to Tuesday. So without further adieu, here are some highlights from our reading list this week:

  • Mobilizing Market Research, Part 3 – In this third part of a nine-part series leading up to the Market Research in the Mobile World Conference, Carrie Robbins at the GreenBook Blog details the current uses and benefits of mobile market research. If you need to catch up, be sure to take a look at Part 1: Why Go Mobile? and Part 2: Industry Insights.
  • The Insight of Why - This excellent essay by Matt Ridings of techguerilla challenges the value of simple data in the absence of critical thought – specifically, in the absence of real people asking “Why?”  As Matt says, “…if you simply take data alone, and try to parse it in different ways all you really get is ‘filtered data’.  Useful?  Sure.  Interesting? You bet.  Insightful and/or Meaningful?  That remains to be seen and is arrived at only by human investigation *and* the context of the objective.” This piece is a thought-provoking, quick read. Be sure to add it to your list.
  • What is Social Media Research? – Ray Poynter over at the Future Place blog is in the process of writing a journal piece on the current state of social media research. As part of the process, he’s broken social media research down into 3 major “buckets” and he’s looking for your help and ideas to fill them. Go help him out.

What are you reading this week? Be sure to share your favorite articles/blog posts/chat discussions/etc with us, here in the comments or via Twitter (@researchaccess).

    Filed Under: Market Research, Mobile, News, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , ,

    Zynga Goes on a Shopping Spree

    May 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

    We’ve been talking this past week about the growing trend of gamification, and its impact on markte research. If one needs evidence of this booming trend, they need only look to Mashable’s report earlier this week of social game studio Zynga’s acquisition of DNA Games. This makes for Zynga’s 14th acquisition in just 12 months.

    This shopping spree is not exactly shocking, given recent reports that estimate Zynga’s current valuation at $10 billion (yes billion, with a B). And the New York Times sees an IPO in the near future.

    Games are big business, and the reason is pretty simple – people love games. Games capture attention, motivate responses, and reward success. It will be fascinating to continue to watch how gaming infiltrates other industries and efforts, including market research. If Zynga’s booming growth is any indication, this is just the beginning.

    Filed Under: Gamification, News Tagged With: , , ,

    What We’re Reading: Working in Real-Time

    May 9, 2011 By 1 Comment

    Here at Research Access, we read quite a bit – as you can imagine. Personally, I both love and fear opening Google Reader each morning to find 1000 or so unread items from across the worlds of news, media, business, marketing, technology, and of course – research. (I also subscribe to the daily cartoon xkcd; you should check that out.)

    Anyway, as a result of all this reading, I thought I’d make it a regular habit to share some highlights of my Monday morning stroll through the blogosphere. Two articles in particular this morning form a theme that I’d like to expound on a bit: real-time data.

    Here are the two articles:
    [Read more...]

    Filed Under: Market Research, News, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , ,

    What Birtherism Teaches Us About Polling

    May 3, 2011 By 3 Comments

    Image credit: Jim Cole/AP

    Though in the past few days, given the death of Osama bin Laden, the news cycle has dramatically changed, I still wanted to draw your attention to a recent article in The Atlantic concerning the “birther” debate. Speaking for myself, and not Research Access, I feel the need to point out that I would normally never want to draw your attention to the birther debate; I think it’s political silliness. But from my perspective as editor of Research Access, this article has a real market research slant worth considering.
    [Read more...]

    Filed Under: Market Research, News Tagged With: , , , , , ,

    Release of the GreenBook Industry Trends Report

    April 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

    Great News: the Spring 2011 GreenBook Industry Trends Report (GRIT) has been released.

    You can view a digital magazine version or download a PDF of either the Executive Summary or the Full Report via the links below. You can also register to be a respondent in the next wave of the study and to receive updates as they become available by visiting http://www.greenbookblog.org/GRIT.

    Some summary from Research Access-contributor Leondard Murphy, editor of the GreenBook Blog:

    The report shows a market research industry undergoing systemic and tactical change at a pace expected to accelerate. Whether that change is welcomed as opportunity or resisted as a threat depends to a large extent on age. Younger researchers with less experience in “the old ways” are confident they can adapt, while older researchers (with some highly notable exceptions) see their professional world and some of their professional standards cast aside as irrelevant or even damaging.

    Some of the highlight findings contained in the report include:

    • The major structural and systemic changes being faced by those in the marketing research industry.
    • Despite a backdrop of professional pessimism, anticipated levels of future research spending are actually favorable.
    • The Top 50 Market Research Firms Perceived to be Innovative.
    • Gaps between Suppliers and Buyers, tenure in the industry, age of respondents and geographic location exist when it comes to emerging technology adoption.
    • Social media, mobile, MROCs and text analytics are the newer techniques most likely to be used in the foreseeable future.
    • Utilizing the latest and most advanced technology is certainly important to both clients and suppliers, but the business relationship itself – personal service, responsiveness, and attentiveness – rises to the very top of the list of decision-making criteria.

    Downloads

    GRIT Report – Spring 2011
    EXECUTIVE version (28 pages)

    GRIT Report – Spring 2011
    FULL version (54 pages)

    GRIT Report – Spring 2011
    Interactive charts

    Filed Under: Market Research, News, Research Base Tagged With: , , , , ,

    Winners of the Research Rockstar VIP Contest

    April 5, 2011 By 1 Comment

    This week, Research Rockstar gave away three (3) FREE VIP memberships to readers of the QuestionPro, Survey Analytics, and Research Access blogs. Winners will have 24×7 access to classes on:

    • Market segmentation
    • Questionnaire planning
    • Product concept testing
    • Delivering research
    • And more

    The three winners are…drumroll… [Read more...]

    Filed Under: Events, News Tagged With:

    On the other hand, maybe QR codes are already dead

    March 31, 2011 By 2 Comments

    Earlier this week, I wrote about the impact QR codes might have on market research. The post was in response to a recent study that showed that not only is awareness of QR codes, but so is the likelihood that consumers will use QR codes (particularly with a coupon or discount incentive). The study was just another in a long line of research and editorial content that points to QR codes having a major impact on brand/consumer interaction.

    On the other hand, maybe the time for QR codes has already come and gone.
    [Read more...]

    Filed Under: Innovation, Market Research, News, Social Media Tagged With: , , ,

    ResearchBase: A New Platform for Sharing Research

    March 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

    From its inception, the mission of Research Access has been to break down the walls of the market research industry; to help practitioners and consumers alike better understand market research practices, and to create transparency in how data is collected and analyzed, as well as what it reveals.

    Today, we take the next step in that effort, with the launch of ResearchBase. With ResearchBase, we’re introducing a new platform for the sharing of market research data, including reports, analysis, and raw data. Research Access will leverage ResearchBase to share our own market research studies, but our platform is open to all. Reports, analysis and data can be made available for free, and individual components can also be sold via ResearchBase for flat-rate fees.
    [Read more...]

    Filed Under: News, Research Base Tagged With: ,

    A New Voice in Mobile Market Research

    March 22, 2011 By 1 Comment

    We’ve talked a lot over the past few months about the growing “mobile market research” space. With the continued proliferation of “smart” mobile devices, increased mobile data access, and a striking increase in people’s reliance on mobile devices for the communication (compared with traditional landlines), the need to be able to reach people via their mobile devices continues to grow by leaps and bounds.

    Given the growing importance of this topic, we’re pleased to see that one of the leaders in this space, SurveySwipe, has a blog of their own up and running. In one of their first posts, Chandika Bhandari ponders the timeline ahead for mobile market research.
    [Read more...]

    Filed Under: Mobile, News Tagged With:

    Want to Be A Research Rockstar?

    March 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

    Our Friends at Research Rockstar have made a very exciting offer for readers of Research Access.

    As you may know, Research Rockstar provides online training on market research topics. Their classes are Flash-based, interactive and most are under an hour. The classes typically sell for $129 per class or $600 for a one-year “full access” VIP membership.
    But today Research Rockstar is giving away three (3) FREE VIP memberships to readers of this blog. Winners will have 24×7 access to classes on:

    • Market segmentation
    • Questionnaire planning
    • Product concept testing
    • Delivering research
    • And more

    To enter the drawing, visit http://www.researchrockstar.com/vip-membership-drawing/.

    Three winners will be picked at random on March 31, 2011. The winners will be announced on our blog and the Research Rockstar blog in April, 2011.

    WINNER’S LIST:
    For an official announcement of the winners, visit Research Rockstar’s web site at ResearchRockstar.com on or after April 5, 2011.

    Filed Under: News Tagged With: ,
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