What has been buzzed about for quite some time became official last week when Google announced its new Consumer Surveys tool. Google will now enable companies to field quick and simple surveys at a very low cost, enable participating publishers a new means of monetizing their premium content, and enable online users to gain access to that premium content via their survey participation rather than by paying a fee.

Precisely how Google’s decision to move deeper into the market research space will influence our industry remains to be seen, but it is clear that certain facets of the research sector will be impacted faster and more deeply than others. The Google Consumer Surveys model offers only one question at a time, so clearly it will not serve companies seeking comprehensive, detailed research solutions. Yet for those companies utilizing DIY solutions such as SurveyMonkey®, Google’s $0.10-0.50 per complete price is going to be very appealing, and it may well cause a major shift among the self-serve segment of the industry – particularly for low-incidence or other well-defined populations.

Also greatly impacted may be the lower cost panel providers; for who is able to compete with Google in terms of sample size? And while many within market research have long argued that all panels bring some form of bias to their data sets, Google is able to rightfully claim the largest and most diverse group of potential respondents, period. What is not yet clear is how much visibility Google Consumer Surveys customers will have into the sample composition, so at least in the short term the panel companies can leverage that advantage.

Just as the core MR industry is subjected to scrutiny regarding whether survey respondents are unique and truthful, the accuracy of the Google Consumer Surveys data may be called into question as well; once users realize they can gain free access to premium content that they used to pay for, and with no customary cash or other incentive, they may not take the survey as seriously as one in which such incentives are present.  Google will likely counter that the one-question-only model addresses this potential issue – it is only one quick question after all, and free access to desirable content is a great incentive to answer thoughtfully.

Google’s research methodology is not new, but rather a mirror of a growing trend among tech companies that are offering up (in this case, on behalf of others) a single, salient question or greatly streamlined survey.  With mobile device use representing an increasingly large percentage of the respondent base, and the social media generation more attuned to giving their input in the form of chatter, the one-question survey is likely to become a staple of ongoing tracking for many types of surveys going forward. The complexity of the solution lies within the sampling framework, the marrying of data sets, and the backend analysis – all of which Google is in good stead to offer.

This model is not limited to Google, of course.  Our industry has been offered similar presentations by Facebook, the now-diminished MySpace, and other major Internet players over the recent past.  What is clear is that he who holds the data is no longer the market research industry, and that monetization models for search engine, advertising, social, and other types of data will increasingly impact our industry and business practices in the future.

Last October we published a blog post that called for A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Action Please concerning the most pressing issues in market research for 2011. This was an informal appeal to the industry to move away from conceptual and theory-based presentations and papers about why market research practices must evolve, and instead start offering tangible recommendations about how to survive the evolution. After having attended CASRO’s annual Online Research Conference in Las Vegas last week, Kinesis is encouraged that the industry is now also subscribing to this mantra. Session presenters took on several of the hot-button topics that are changing the face of market research, and they offered true insight based on studies and analyses conducted by their companies.

Sean Conry of Techneos Systems and Patricia Graham of Knowledge Networks presented a case study about the principle considerations of implementing mobile research, and provided detailed results of their case study project and its business implications. The NPD Group’s Inna Burdein looked at how panelist reporting habits change as they become tenured, and how research results are affected. Melanie Courtwright and Chuck Miller from DMS Insights compared four of the most commonly used respondent validation programs to understand the validation metrics used by each and the resulting validation rates provided. These, and many other sessions, were truly insightful and had a lot of “action” included within their conversation.

Interestingly, the session topics that CASRO elected to feature at the conference mirror many of the topics addressed here on the Kinesis blog in recent months. We see this as further validation of the direction we are moving with our solution offerings. In the last year Kinesis has introduced new mobile research apps, expanded our multimode survey functionality, incorporated new technologies such respondent validation, and greatly expanded the capabilities of our panel management software. Kinesis is on pulse with the direction the MR industry is heading, and we will continue to add our own action-filled conversations to the mix. Next up: Tariq Mirza, Kinesis’ Managing Director of Europe, will present “Bridging the Mobile Gap: The Journey from Why to How in Mobile Research” at the Swedish Market Research Day on March 17. Also, look for Kinesis President Leslie Townsend to be among the session presenters at the Marketing Research Association’s Annual Conference in June (details to follow).