When I run the research industry...
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Niels Schillewaert, managing partner at InSites Consulting, made a real splash at Research 2009 with his presentation on his vision for the research industry.
He scooped a nomination for Best Presentation at conference and we can now bring you his performance in full. He gives a bold, original and compelling view of how the research business would work if he had his hands on the reins of power.
Readers' comments (9)
Beth Rounds | 25-Aug-2009 4:55 pm
Great presentation..loved the content and the style. Thanks for changing the status quo!
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mike cooke | 26-Aug-2009 10:34 am
Niels. This is wonderful. Mike
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Claire-Juliette Beale | 26-Aug-2009 6:31 pm
Well done, and well said. Is the market indeed ready for fusion research? That will be a painful transformation, except for the few visionary companies that are born from the very concept...
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Hart | 26-Aug-2009 11:01 pm
Not statistically significant, but practically significant? Niels, are you saying if the sample is big enough, it doesn't have to be representative? Hahaha.
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Ton Otker, Loyaltypromoter | 28-Aug-2009 1:13 pm
Does Niels imply that we only need to listen to those who speak out (via twitter, facebook, communities) and forget all the rest?
It reminds me of an old saying: "friends and relatives are not a representative sample". My proposal: listen to and learn from all info-sources and then check (opinions, hypothees) carefully amongst a high quality sample. Get the best of both worlds!
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Caroline McPartland | 28-Aug-2009 6:10 pm
I think the primary implication here is that we will continue to rely on representative (statistically significant) sampling methodologies, but infuse the traditionally quantitative perspective on MR with insights from more qualitative approaches in the near future. I don't think there's any debate as to whether social media will continue to grow in relevance and popularity, and likewise, I agree with Niels in his statement that industry professionals would benefit from considering all available resources in studying consumer behavior. Indeed, the bloggers and message-posters are not wholly representative by themselves, but the tenor of their voices is often indicative of a greater stream of thought (likely echoed throughout the population). Great presentation; Thank you for putting this out there!
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Jan Doornaert | 28-Aug-2009 9:28 pm
Awesome presentation there. Ground-breaking in that it questions the very foundations of marketing research - or better, how this is done today.
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Tomas Van Rossom | 3-Sep-2009 6:24 pm
It's ironic to see how consumers are challenging researchers by giving more information than ever freely available. Yet, true consumer insights remain hidden only for the most innovative analysts to discover.
Congratulations with the presentation and good look with the nomination!
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Niels Schillewaert | 8-Sep-2009 9:12 pm
@all: Thanks for the great comments and nice ideas put forward ... My message is that the story is "AND" not "OR". There will always be a place for good traditional research - but it will have to be contemporary and fused with the latest technologies.
@Hart: As Ton & Caroline state we need to tap into all sources: look at the same topic from different angles. I wanted to say that if you have 10's of thousands of posts in a community, whilst your research in qualitative we can only dream of that number of observations in quantitative research - so for sure it gives meaningful direction.
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