Market Research Technology - The next thing coming?
Posted by Vaughn Mordecai on Thu, Oct 22, 2009 @ 10:00 AM
I have to admit I'm a bit of technophile. I'm not one of those guys or girls (usually guys) that locks himself away in his room at night and games until four in the morning and then tries to balance his job. However, I
do seem to have a morbid fascination with technology and, more specifically, market research technology. It stems from an experience I had at a previous employer.
In the early '90's before so much of our market research had turned to using online research methods, I had a couple of coworkers who were very bright (I still have bright coworkers at my current company...but I digress). We did a lot of telephone interviewing at the time (still do), but telephone research as a quantitative method was, by far, the most used method of data collection. At the time, these two coworkers started to develop the notion and idea that survey research could potentially be conducted using the internet as a method of collection. They felt that with the use of e-mail addresses, growing use of e-mail and websites (in the early phases), they could figure out a way to collect data without ever having to reach out to people over the phone. In retrospect...seems like a good idea. The leader of the company at the time basically told these two individuals to get back to their jobs and that telephone research was "the way we do it." Others folks (not this organization) in the market research industry followed through and developed some wonderful online research products and methods.
As the leader of a market research organization, I'm bound and determined that I won't be that guy. In the subsequent years, the organization slowly slipped away (you've heard the term adapt or die). A lot of very competent individuals emerged from the company, but very few of them stayed. One of these two individuals went on to start his own IT company, the other went to work for one of the early online research and business intelligence companies (now works with me at Discovery Research Group).
Lately, I've been working on ways to continue to expand our research capabilities (never really ends), looking closely at Social Media outlets, attending as many technology sessions as I can, and trying to create an organization based on quality, agility, and flexibility, all with the goal in mind of seeing the "next thing coming"...technology that will impact society and market research...So here's what I'd like to know:
1. Is there even a "next thing coming"? Something so revolutionary that it completely changes the landscape? What do you think it's tied to?
2. Do you think it is somehow associated with the unprecedented Social Media growth we're seeing right now? If so...how?
3. Do you think you know how it will impact Market Research methods?
I look forward to your responses.