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Two Marketing Research Axioms Worth Remembering
First Research Axiom: You will never fully recover from a badly written questionnaire. 1. No amount of analysis, regardless of how brilliantly done 2. No manipulation of the attributes, regardless of how cleverly done 3. No degree of insight, regardless of the intellect applied Nothing will save you from a poorly executed research foundation. Your building will collapse! If there is one area of the market research process I know, it is best practices related to questionnaire design. This is a task often given insufficient time and effort. Research sponsors and the research professional that conduct studies often underestimate the time it will take to develop a well architected and effective research instrument. I am always amazed when project leaders relegate this task to a status that is anything less than the highest priority. The attitude is “Let’s get the questionnaire done so we can get on with the important tasks of analysis and reporting.” The presumption that analysis work is the most important part of the research process and that interpreting the data is where the action is has always been a mystery to me. Have we not immersed research students in the concept of garbage-in garbage-out? Are the new internet tools a substitute for the work of critical thinking and aligning the research instrument to the objectives of a study with the goal of answering the business questions that stakeholders paid to learn? My apologies, if I have crossed the line into ranting. However, my anecdotal research-on-research including the use of a multi-point questionnaire audit has shown me that even well seasoned researchers are less diligent about quality than you would expect. Research is not only science it is an art and if the proper fundamentals are not applied the final results are less than artful. I will end my ranting with an analogy [but you’ll hear from me again on this topic]. If you have not studied or practiced putting your thoughts into poetry, would you expect to publish a book of poems if the head of your marketing department asked you to do so? Developing a good quality questionnaire probably takes less talent than being a good poet, but it’s pretty close. Hold on we’re not done yet here is another problem from which you cannot fully recover. A poor questionnaire design is only one fatal mistake that a researcher can make here is another one. The lack of good solid sample design can also be a deep hole into which you can fall. Thus, we need another Research Axiom for you to consider. Research Axiom Two: You can never fully recover from a sample that lacks validity; and once again: 1. No amount of analysis, regardless of how brilliantly done 2. No manipulation of the attributes, regardless of how cleverly done 3. No degree of insight, regardless of the intellect applied Nothing can save you from a poorly designed sampling approach! The value of sample development is not appreciated nearly enough and neither are the skills related to creating a valid samples. Research managers, analysts, and all the research team members that lose sleep over the quality of the sample resources at their disposal and who work hard to provide great samples for each research project they execute, are worth their weight in platinum. Numerous challenges to quality sample development are always hanging over our heads. If research teams conducting studies do not pay close attention to this critically important task, the chances of delivering useful results are likely to diminish quickly. One situation you never want to find yourself in is presenting the research implications to a room full of executives when from the middle of the room an Senior VP asks you, “Are you sure about these results? Who were these peoples? They don’t appear to have any connection to our market or our products.” If you can immediately reply, “We believe the respondents in this study are highly qualified” and then give a well articulated account of the quality assurance steps taken to verify the validity of the sample, you have become a hero. However, if you hesitate and cannot support the validity of the sample, you have lost your sponsor’s confidence – there is no more to say. In minds, the stakeholders the respondents do not represent the people they want to reach – the day ends sadly. Perhaps, you do not care about the quality of the research you conduct, if so shame on you, but at least recognize that quality sampling is a necessity for self-preservation. I think I’ve made my point! Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com For more details on how to design questionnaires see the featured resource on our home page www.AtHeath.com If you prefer, contact Carey for more information. He has 20 years experience and two advanced degrees in research. Please visit www.AtHeath.com and Market Research Resource Center and Expert Community. Our blog "The Research Playbook" may also be of interest researchplaybook.wordpress.com |
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