Actionable Market Research: How's your marriage?
Posted by Vaughn Mordecai on Thu, Mar 25, 2010 @ 04:54 PM
As I was driving into work this morning, a story came on the radio that I found very interesting. A group of Sociologists in Switzerland had conducted a study of a "representative and longitudinal sample of 1074 cohabiting and married couples living in Switzerland" to identify traits that would predict success in marriage. I tracked down an abstract of the research article "Optimizing the marriage market: An application of the linear assignment model" scheduled to be released April 16 in the European Journal of Operational Research. The title sounds pretty...
boring...really...academic, but the results will surprise you. Though the authors of the study would never have intended it, the results of the study were pretty humorous, may have some merit, would require a fundamental change to "dating", and don't reflect very well on those of us who are male. For example:
- It was recommended that women marry men that are five years older than they are. My take on this is that maybe it would give those of us who are male a chance to "GROW UP!" before we hear it repeatedly from our wives.
- They recommended that men marry women who are 27% smarter than they are. You always hear about men trying to "MARRY UP", now there is statistical evidence that validates why men should do this. Women...find someone who is clearly less intelligent than you are and your success in marriage will increase. I'm assuming this is because of the ongoing need to have someone smart enough in the marriage to compensate for the stupid things men do, their reluctance to ever ask for directions, and their inability to use a map.
- The researchers also recommend cultural similarity...aka a cultural "MATCH UP". Specifically, they recommended that the Swiss marry other Swiss. I find this somewhat insensitive, but do the statistics lie? Can this be applied to the US...if you are looking for a marriage partner, should you avoid the Swiss entirely? What about locally, should a Utahan marry a Mississippian? It's probably a good idea for Utahan's to marry other Utahan's, no one else understands them anyway (I'm actually from Utah so I have every right to say that). Does this mean that my Utahan sons have no shot at successfully marrying (and hanging on to) amorous French women because their potential for a successful marriage is statistically unlikely to succeed (even if they could find one to court to begin with)?
Some of the most entertaining parts in the abstract of this article were the claims that Switzerland is falling "well below the social optimum." That "we reallocate approximately 68% of individuals (7 out of 10) to a new couple that we posit has a higher likelihood of survival." And, they use "a central 'agency' that would coordinate the matching of couples." Assuming that a man, a woman, and a central "agency" cooperate, partners can expect marriages to succeed 21% more frequently. Are you ready to improve your marriage by switching to someone else or are you one of the 3 who married someone (younger & smarter for the males; older & dumber for the females)?
Sometimes research is pointless and only exists for research sake or a quick clip on a local news station. Though this study makes recommendations to "optimize marriage" the operational likelihood of these changes being made...or even considered...is completely non-existent. Market research is also guilty of doing this more often than it should. How can your market research be more actionable?
- Ask market research questions that matter to you. Is your question a "need to know" or a "might want to know...maybe...someday"? If it's a "might want to know" than don't ask it. If you do ask it, you'll be driving up the length and complexity of the study and decreasing the probability the participant will stay engaged...all for information you won't likely use anytime soon.
- Research the business questions that you are willing to, or able to change. It seems a little dense, but the only way you can have actionable market research is if your market research addresses something that you are willing to do something about. If you own a burger shop, don't ask about converting it to a mechanics shop unless you're willing to live with the results. Most research mistakes in this area are much more subtle, but there are likely elements of your business that you'd refuse to change regardless of the resulting information. Why ask about them to begin with?
- Use the right market research methodology to answer your questions. Don't pigeon-hole yourself into a research collection method that works well in one situation, but provides limited or no information in another. Online surveys are not the silver-bullet for answering the mother of all research questions. There are good and bad times to use online surveys, telephone surveys, IVR surveys, face-to-face, quantitative, qualitative, focus groups, MROC's...you get the picture. Understand when to use different market research methods...if you don't know, ask someone.
- Realize that things change and need to be re-evaluated over time. What was actionable...and not acted on...at one point in time may not be the best solution three years later. Kind of like your favorite shampoo...Wash, Rinse, Repeat...Evaluate, Implement, Evaluate Again.
Do you have additional suggestions for making your market research more actionable, if you do, please comment.