Peter Harrison of BrainJuicer UK presented “The Researchification of Games” at ESOMAR 3D today. BrainJuicer believes that incorporating gaming into market research may solve the most basic crisis of our industry …the fact that we ask research participants (via surveys and communities) to answer questions in a purely theoretical context, while people’s basic, everyday decisions are made largely based upon emotion.  Harrison asked a troublesome question:  does current theoretical-based research have any value?  The value, he said, that gamification brings to the research equation is its ability to generate emotion (or at least a certain amount of it) by creating win/lose scenarios.  This line of reasoning challenges a longstanding tenet of market research – that the context of data collection should be as neutral as possible.

The argument has strong merit, but gamification has its own consequences as well, and this point was addressed in another ESOMAR 3D presentation, “How Far Is Too Far” by element54’s Bernie Malinoff.   Malinoff reported that the introduction of gaming scenarios, and Flash, significantly lengthens the time that it takes a respondent to complete a survey – and many in the industry feel that surveys are already too long. It also introduces new forms of data bias, including forms that we are not even aware of yet, because of rapid technology change. When table grids are replaced with sliders, results will not benchmark. Gamification requires great creativity to be successful, but it doesn’t scale, and Malinoff argues for efficiency and scalability in research design.

Ultimately, research projects have always come down to costs and timing.  “Out of the box” programming is not truly possible in gamification, and therefore gamification is going to require a new resource set in the industry – one which will result lengthier programming time and increased costs, because all programming will be customized. But if the gamified surveys are sufficiently interesting, the participants may become voluntary (although this implies non-representative).  If gamification becomes a mainstream market research methodology, the research experience – both for participants and for researchers – will be very different than it is today.

ESOMAR Congress 2011 took place last week in Amsterdam, and as usual, it did not disappoint in providing thought-provoking sessions. Some very interesting and entertaining presentations were given on new and emerging research techniques – most notably gamification and behavioral economics – and the overall tone of the event was one of renewed creativity.

Whereas a majority of the U.S. industry conferences this year continued to place a heavy emphasis on mobile and social media research implementation, Congress aimed to put these topics into wider context. Assuming the conference sessions are reflective of a broader sentiment in the region, European researchers are less concerned with the effectiveness of the various platforms utilized to facilitate research, and now are more interested in the expanding the methodologies employed to translate data into insight.

Deborah Sleep of Engage Research and Jon Puleston of GMI (whose paper The Game Experiments won the award for best methodological paper) presented data that their “gamified” surveys resulted not only in increased response rates, but also in an increased level of detail for individual question responses. Stephen Phillips and Abigail Hill of Spring Research (who won the award for Best Paper Overall with Research in a World of Irrational Expectations) offered a highly engaging presentation on behavioral economics and stated that too often researchers construct models based on our own expectations of the results, and thus force respondents to answer questions within the constraints that we created. Behavioral economics, they shared, instead starts with the data and then experiments with various models to see which most accurately reflect consumer behavior – resulting in more accurate insights.

Obviously both of these topics are relatively new for the market research industry, and much more education is needed to define what gamification and behavioral economics truly are and are not, as well as how to apply them. But the Congress presentations – and the dialogues that they inspired – clearly illuminate that there are always new methodologies for researchers to discover and utilize in the quest for insight and impact. Let’s see where we head next…

Good news for market research fans in the US! ESOMAR decided to condense the best presentations from its previous events with an ESOMAR Best Of road tour – coming to a location near you. The kick-off was this week in New York, with more US cities to be added, and possibly other international destinations as well. Here is a brief recap of the most thought provoking presentations…

Frederic John of MasterCard focused on the fact that market research has never been “at the table” so to speak for major business decision-making events. Moving from the “order taker” of the 70s to providing “insights” today, he emphasized that the market research industry must move to become “the guardian of the corporation.” How to get there? Better panel quality was the #1 point he hit home – the only means to be able to rely on research findings.

John’s ideas couldn’t have meshed better with the presentation by Steve Gittelman of Mktg. Inc. Using a model that combines behavioral data with demographic profiling, Gittelman showed inconsistent data findings depending upon the panel source – and even within the same panel when tracking through time. The findings replicated across international regions, and unfortunately, the stronger/more popular the use of online panels in a particular region, the greater the variance in findings over time.

Mktg. Inc. has developed an algorithm for model-based sampling that uses a combination of behavioral and demographic data, non-probabilistic in nature but tied to a probabilistic framework. Sound complicated? It is … But right now it is best opportunity we have heard for the market research industry to become the “guardian of corporate interests” – by offering a means (regardless of region of the world) to ensure that the metrics provided to our clients are indeed representative of what we are trying to measure, and can be projected to the desired based population. We say: keep listening to anything you hear about the Grand Mean Project.

AUSTIN, TX (October 8, 2010) - Kinesis Survey Technologies LLC (Kinesis), the industry leader for robust and scalable survey software and panel management software solutions, will exhibit at two upcoming market research industry events, the Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO) Annual Conference and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR) Online Research 2010 Conference.

Kinesis will showcase its premiere market research product suite at both events. Featured solutions include: the recently-released Kinesis Panel™ version 3.0, a robust and flexible panel management solution;  Kinesis Survey™, the leading multi-mode (web/mobile) survey solution; and Kinesis Community Portal™, an interactive, multi-mode solution that enables the creation of panelist community websites.

“Kinesis continually enhances our software solutions to ensure that they remain at the forefront of market research technology,” said Leslie Townsend, Kinesis President. “Kinesis has recently introduced many new features and capabilities, and we are eager to share them with the CASRO and ESOMAR participants.”

The CASRO Annual Conference entitled Beyond the Horizon: Charting the Future of Research will take place October 11-14 at the Park Hyatt Aviara Resort in San Diego. More information is available at http://casro.org/techform/2010-annualconf.cfm.  The ESOMAR Online Research Conference entitled E-Universe: The Power of Listening will be held October 17-19 at the Hotel Andels in Berlin. Details are available at: http://www.esomar.org/index.php/online-research-2010-hotel-and-venue.html.

Market researchers and other parties not in attendance at these conferences may contact the Kinesis sales team: sales@kinesissurvey.com to learn more about all Kinesis product offerings.

About Kinesis Survey Technologies
Kinesis Survey Technologies, LLC provides a comprehensive survey and panel management product suite to advance innovation in both mobile and web-based market research. Delivering intuitive, state-of-the-art applications, Kinesis software products can be effectively utilized without deep programming knowledge yet are robust enough to perform the most complex of survey and panel functions. Headquartered in Austin, TX, Kinesis offers product versions for both the market research industry and enterprise business organizations, and proudly supports next generation research applications worldwide.

The recent ESOMAR Congress in Athens delved into many new research techniques including mobile research, social media, and communities, as well as some of the more traditional research methodologies.  One particularly interesting theme was Semiotics.  The topic of semiotics seems especially appropriate at events such as ESOMAR Congress, where the audience – from exhibitors to attendees – is global and increasingly sophisticated in conducting worldwide research.

Semiotics emerges from linguistics, and the term traditionally refers to the relationship between signs and what they mean. In research, semiotics deals more with global brands and concepts, and which symbols can be used to tie them together in meaningful ways cross-culturally. When a single brand’s ad campaign is rolled out globally, marketers must determine which images convey the same meaning regardless of nationality or location – will the images signify the same thing to one person in Delhi and another person in Tuscany?

Semiotics ties into the study of cognition and the neuro-based research practices that are playing an increasingly prominent role in our industry (all aided by advancements in software design). These types of solutions are also increasingly visible at industry events. For instance, research has now progressed from the online virtual shopping question type that is embedded within a survey to a simulation of virtual shopping that takes place in a staged laboratory environment.

Software development has carried us forward to the point where vendors such as Tobii can now utilize eye tracking software during the in-store experience. This technology has the potential to significantly augment in-store scanner data. It can indicate what items shoppers focused upon but did not purchase, as well as what items shoppers were willing to go back for even though they had left the aisle. (But will we scan the aisles more thoroughly knowing we are wearing research “glasses?”)

From the topics covered at ESOMAR Congress as well as other recent industry events, it seems clear that plenty of new and emerging research techniques are being added to the mix. The world is shrinking while technology is growing at a rapid pace. Semiotics, cognitive research, mobile, social media, are making their mark now – are you ready?