The attendance and energy at the MRA Annual Conference (and from what we heard, CASRO as well) suggests that the market research industry is back in full swing with a focus upon new methodologies, particularly around social media, as well as around new technologies, including mobile data collection modes.

For those of you who could not attend but follow Kinesis activities, mobile technology was our focus this year.  As attendees approached our booth, a large percentage perceive that migration to mobile technology is about engagement of the respondent.  With this assumption in mind, the natural concerns become representativeness of the sample, and the lack of available public access panels.  The effort is upon trying to control the respondent experience.

Our message is a different one.   We are gradually losing control of the respondent experience.  Panelists will check their email on the device of their choosing – it could be a PC, a netbook, an iPad, a mobile phone, or a gaming console.  Our task is to support as many devices and browsers as possible so as to reduce non-response bias  and to provide a path for a natural migration that will occur with us or without us.  Similarly, communities and social media will occur on the device that the respondent selects – not the researcher.  Through meta-data that we and others capture, we have seen an increasing percentage of respondents coming in on mobile devices/using mobile browsers, indicating a willingness of at least some respondents to bear the cost of taking a survey on a mobile device.  For some, it may be the only choice; for others, it is the most convenient way to provide feedback on products/services of interest by using stray moments more productively.  For others, the incentive or the novelty of the experience may also be a factor.

Mobile data collection presents many challenges – especially for the 15+ minute survey – but to NOT support mobile functionality is an increasingly unattractive alternative.  As this trend increases, mobile aps that provide a richer experience will emerge, and the meta-data surrounding location capture will provide rich new insights to researchers.