Research
Blogs

"You gotta be yo self, no point in actin'"

8-Sep-2011

As curators of atrocious corporate research rap (or CR-RAP) videos, we’re embarrassed to say this one from Alterian, dating back to February 2010, passed us by.

10 for 2010 via TrendsSpotting

22-Dec-2009

Ten social media trends and how they're relevant to market research.

6% of people will say anything!

12-Jul-2010

Steve is looking at the small group of people who say silly things in any survey….

A close scrape

12-Oct-2010

A Wall Street Journal article about web scraping prompts a return to the question of whether social media data is easy pickings for researchers, or a potential minefield of bad PR?

A frugal future is no bad thing

1-Jul-2009

An interesting lunch with B, who is VP of a research software provider, visiting London. “So, what are the changes you see in research software” he asks, and I find myself answering the question at some length on the changes I don’t see happening.

A hero for our times

24-Sep-2009

Neil McAllister created the superhero Action Item in 2000 – and for those of you too young to have seen it first time round, when all 27 people who were attached to the internet emailed it to each other, it’s even more relevant today than it was then.

A question of free speech

27-Apr-2011

The US Supreme Court this week heard arguments for and against attempts by the state of Vermont to block the use of physician prescribing data for marketing purposes – with some justices apparently leaning towards the view that to do so would restrict free speech.

A recent engagement

25-Sep-2009

When did we start talking about stakeholder engagement?

A surfeit of surveys?

30-Jun-2011

Vincent Golding of consultancy SmartSat has a letter in today’s Financial Times, defending research from attack.

All for the client?

24-Sep-2009

Another merger announcement that is done for the benefit of the client? Do we really believe this stuff.....

All together now

8-Dec-2009

Synergy is a weasel word for making people redundant and selling the buildings that they worked in, and also a vague placeholder for we want some of their stuff to make our stuff work better. In the first case, using it avoids awkward words like redundancy that make people glum, and in the second, it avoids actually telling us what they are going to do.

And the nominees are...

23-Mar-2011

The Research 2011 conference awards shortlist has just been announced.

Another hacking attempt

19-Apr-2011

Confirmit has held its second hackathon, this time in Yaroslavl, Russia – with the winning idea a community panel plug-in that gives panellists the ability to link their profiles to Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Are politicians scared of being caught spinning statistics?

25-Nov-2011

The government has once again attracted the attention of the UK Statistics Authority for its handling of official figures.

Are you what you do?

12-Mar-2010

The days of asking consumers what they buy, which media they consume and where they shop will soon be long gone. This will create a big whole in research industry revenues as marketers revel in rapid, granular data from other sources.

Ask a stupid question

20-Nov-2009

We’re a little late in highlighting this nugget of survey abuse, but it’s definitely one worth covering. The culprit this time is one who we think really should know better: the service veterans’ charity Erskine.

Attracting unwanted attention

18-Mar-2011

A company has launched with a web analytics tool that promises to turn advertisers into ‘Peeping Toms’. That’s not exactly the image the industry needs to convey to stay on the right side of legislators.

Austerity Christmas: Hope and traditional values dominate

5-Dec-2011

A qualitative research study that we will publish this week shows how Britons plan to reject traditional consumption and spend Christmas reconnecting with the things and people that matter most to them.

Awards night

16-Dec-2009

Steve reflects on the industry’s annual awards night

Baby Seven Billion and her message to brands

2-Nov-2011

Marketers need to look beyond the headline population growth figures to work out where in the world their biggest growth potential lies, says Lyndsay Peck.

Bad data can mean more than bad research

27-Jan-2010

A US researcher has pleaded guilty to fraud after falsifying research - but misleading results can still be damaging even if the inaccuracies are not wilfully created. Are we doing all we can to prevent them? Probably not.

Banking on relationships

6-Jan-2010

relationships are the new rock and roll

Better than expected

5-Nov-2010

In November 2003 we made a stab at forecasting what the world of research would be like in 2013. Seven years on, we consider the progress of our predictions. So far, so good.

Beyond polling

29-Apr-2010

We took part in a discussion on the Guardian’s website today about careers in political polling and market research. In response to a questioner about how the industry’s ability to recruit might be affected if pollsters fail to predict the election result accurately, we suggested it might be pretty damaging. But perhaps not.

Boris Johnson and the questionable questionnaire

13-Sep-2011

London Mayor Boris Johnson has embarked on a bit of election campaigning under the guise of a survey.The questionnaire posted on the Back Boris 2012 site (which came to our attention via RS Consulting on Twitter) is pretty shameless stuff – with each question preceded by a sentence detailing something wonderful Johnson has done, like this:

Brands and the cult of personality – what to learn from Steve Jobs

6-Oct-2011

How great an asset can the force of one personality be to prospects for brand success?

But seriously, folks...

23-Nov-2009

In an interview in today’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the German satirist Martin Sonneborn tells of his experience of the world of MR.

Buzz Off?

15-Feb-2010

Google Buzz shows us how little we know about how social networks operate as brands.

Can brands make you happy?

23-Mar-2011

Buried among the doom and gloom of spending cuts, rising prices and military action, the UK government recently decided that it wanted us to be happy; and, just to make sure, it is going to measure how happy we are. It’s interesting that brands don’t really overtly tell consumers they will make them happy so tend not to measure this directly. So who’s got it right?

Canadian pollsters mull methodology changes

17-Oct-2011

Canadian pollsters are “reconsidering their methods” to take into account the higher likelihood of older people and middle-class homeowners turning out to vote.

Catching-Up With The Big Players: Start with A Long Lunch.

18-Mar-2010

Some of the advantages ascribed to the major MR corporates are not as significant as might be thought, and a change of focus by mid/smaller companies could help them become more competitive. Without giving away too much, the guts of my advice to them boils down to: “lusting after your rich neighbour’s glitzy clients will only cause problems”, plus a suggestion to “have lunch with someone you have little in common with, and whose approach you may not particularly like”.

Change we can believe in?

24-Mar-2010

There was frustration with the slow pace of change in the MR industry at Research 2010 this morning.

Cheer up: Blue Monday will soon be over

15-Jan-2010

I’m not looking forward to 17 January 2010, which at this desk will be known as Crap Sunday, one day before Blue Monday, the arbitrary media invention of the most depressing day of the year.

Christmas Rush

1-Dec-2009

Steve is just glad that it is happening this year!!

Cliqing with the crowd at Christmas

23-Dec-2011

Cliq and Shopycat are two successful examples of companies leveraging the My Crowd trend, says Pete Comley.

Closing the Experience Gap

22-Feb-2010

A recent survey demonstrates the continuing wide disparity between business and customer versions of reality!

Coffee house culture

19-Nov-2009

Last night on Radio 4, Adam Hart-Davis’ The Eureka Years looked at 1650, when an exciting new drink called ‘coffee’ was transforming Britain’s intellectual culture.

Commercialising insight – agencies not included?

22-Mar-2011

A trio of clients – Lego’s Gitte Kolt Rasmussen, Samsung Design Europe’s Paul De’Ath and New Look’s Oliver Lucas – took to the stage to discuss how their firms use consumer insight. Agencies in the audience may have been disappointed to find where they stand in the long term

ComScore data not so sweet for BlackBerry

29-Jul-2011

The Independent reports on data squabbles between BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM) and ComScore over the latest figures for smartphone use in the UK.

Connect the Dots

1-Mar-2010

In this blog, Martin Hayward sets out to raise awareness of, and stimulate debate around, the growing body of new data and insights that is challenging the usefulness of and even the need for many of the staple research approaches that have supported the industry since its inception.

Could corporates really bring brands to market as quickly as The Apprentice?

9-Aug-2011

Talkback Thames, the makers of The Apprentice, are preparing to make two food brands, created for this year’s show, into real-world products. But how easy is it for entrepreneurial ideas to win out in many of our larger organisations?

Customers have emotions too

14-Oct-2009

Perhaps there are a few marketeers out there who still believe that customers only ever make rational decisions but for most of us perhaps a little late, we are finally asking the question, how do our clients and customers feel about us?

Data deluge and insight

9-Mar-2010

More data does not equal better insight

Decooda bags $20k insight innovation prize

4-Nov-2011

A company that started out analysing social media won the NewMR Insight Innovation Competition for its MR Assistant, which automates the coding of open-ended responses within surveys.

Design and customer insight are not mutually incompatible

18-Oct-2011

James Dyson said recently you ignore good design at your peril and that breakthrough products come from taking intuitive risks, not from listening to focus groups. So what is the role of research in supporting great, innovative design?

Digging deep to win

10-Feb-2012

This week’s Economist has a fascinating article on the secretive work of the analysis team within the Obama 2012 re-election campaign.

Do researchers get social media?

6-Sep-2010

A study being run by members of the London Co-Creation hub is looking at how market researchers use social media, and whether they’re any good at it.

Doing something funny for money? Is Comic Relief's relationship with brands going too far?

14-Mar-2011

More so than ever this year, it seems, there are Comic Relief products on our shelves that make you question the extent of genuine altruism and the extent to which there is a rush for any brand to link itself to the charity campaign.

Double standards, triple costs

11-Jan-2010

Avoid the temptation to develop systems from scratch, says Oracle, and they have a point.

Electionwatch

16-Apr-2010

We look at the role research is playing in the 2010 general election, and the impact the election is having on research. This blog is no longer active.

Encouraging co-creation between research and respondents

27-Jan-2010

Getting consumers to co-create products and advertising campaigns is gaining traction – but what about co-creation in a research setting? Can respondents play a bigger role in the design and development of research tools, techniques and projects themselves?

Engaging thoughts

1-Mar-2011

Lyndsay Peck is a director of Engage Research, a London-based consumer insight specialist working primarily in the drinks and media sectors. She blogs about topical brand issues and how research can be used to enhance a brand’s understanding of consumer perceptions, attitudes and actions.

Ex-NetRatings boss and the bomb collar scare

16-Aug-2011

A couple of weeks ago, you may recall, there was a harrowing story about an 18-year-old woman from Sydney who, in a suspected extortion attempt at her home, had what was thought to be a bomb strapped to her neck. The bomb was later revealed to be a fake.

Failing communities

3-Nov-2011

“We have made more mistakes than anyone else,” said Communispace CEO Diane Hessan, kicking off her talk at Festival of NewMR 2011 about what can go wrong within market research online communities.

Faint traces of buttock

20-Jan-2010

As the CEOs of the large US banks appear in front of their senior politicians to admit to as little as possible – while approving billions in bonuses from trading in a market created and supported almost entirely by central banks – it’s worth having a look in the press to see what’s motivating our CEOs to do good.

Fight fire...with Facebook?

10-Jun-2010

Protesting is easy...to ignore.

Filling the Talent Gap – Breaking Asia’s Vicious Circle

19-Feb-2010

While market research managers elsewhere are keeping a tight lid on hiring, in Asia-Pacific, Talent Management and Retention is still remains a headache. If research agencies do not tackle this issue head on, they are likely to miss out on the region’s huge potential.

Four trends reshaping MROCs

15-Dec-2010

What’s next for market research online communities? Jeffrey Henning listens in as Forrester Research’s Tamara Barber indulges in a bout of trendspotting.

Friendship groups are fun!

12-Feb-2010

Steve has just finished running some friendship groups and was reminded of how fun and effective they are.

From Roots to Shoots - Asia's Talent Challenge Third & Final Part

8-Mar-2010

The depth of research talent in Asia is not as deep as the magnitude and complexity of the market warrants. Given recent trends, if things continue as they are, the situation is unlikely to improve and could get worse. Measures are needed to both establish fundamental standards in the industry as well as to ensure ongoing career development is offered to those remaining in the industry. Otherwise, even if entry levels are raised we will still suffer from the problem of the ‘missing ...

Gamification or funification?

13-Oct-2011

There’s lots of talk about gamification in research – but is it really gaming, or is it more about making surveys more fun?

Gatorade ditches pre-testing for buzz-fuelled trial and error

11-Jul-2011

The clash between advertising creatives and pre-testing agencies is one of the great flashpoints of research.

Genning up on the big data privacy debate

19-Aug-2011

On Monday, there’s an online debate being held to discuss the issue of research and data privacy in a social media world. We’ll be covering the highlights on Tuesday – but if you’re planning to listen in, here’s some weekend reading for you in preparation for the event.

Getting the right results

22-Sep-2009

The University of Westminster’s Steven Barnett criticises the government’s “blatantly one-sided questionnaire” (commissioned from BMRB, where Barnett himself once worked) and the use of the results in a speech by culture secretary Ben Bradshaw.

Good luck... on your business overhaul

19-May-2011

Earlier this month, Clinton Cards, a mainstay of the British high street, posted a 3% decline in year-to-date like-for-like sales. It has announced a number of new initiatives and store improvements in order to turn trading around. Can Clinton tempt customers back to its shops, or is this a case of traditional bricks and mortar businesses being usurped by online for good?

Green shoots?

11-Sep-2009

So how are we feeling now that things are supposedly turning up?

Hacky hacky joy joy

8-Dec-2010

Researchers have many problems to contend with in their never-ending quest to uncover great consumer insights – a lack of time, a lack of resource, inadequate tools and approaches. But the biggest issue facing the industry, according to Virtual Surveys’ Rich Shaw, is a lack of ‘joy’.

Happy World Statistics Day

20-Oct-2010

Today is the first ever World Statistics Day. It mostly passed us by – as I’m sure it did many of our readers – but to mark the occasion here’s a five-minute video from the director of the United Nations Statistics Division in which he explains the importance of statistics and why they are worth celebrating.

Hidden Defectors in an Experience

4-Feb-2010

Just because people don’t complain doesn’t mean they are satisfied

How customers think, feel and behave

14-Oct-2009

This blog is all about understanding customers and clients, how to research them and what to do with the insight generated. Author Steven Walden, head of research at customer experience consultancy Beyond Philosophy, sets out to highlight some of the innovations in research that shine a light on the mind of the consumer as well as how they interact with the experiences businesses design for them.

How the game-changing game has changed for game-changers

6-Jan-2010

It comes to my notice that Google has launched a phone. But not just any old phone: Google has launched a game-changing phone.

How will iPad affect MR?

1-Jun-2010

IPad has launched in the UK. Don’t believe the nay-Sayers, this is a gadget with a future and one that could have a positive impact on MR in more ways than one.

Hung up on landlines

4-Sep-2009

The Economist is predicting the death of the landline, suggesting that the last cord in the US could be cut as soon as 2025.

If I become unhinged it's the Boston Globe's fault

28-Sep-2009

Someone pointed out this article from the Boston Globe’s The Word column in which Jan Freeman dismisses a complaint from Mr G. B., similar to mine, that people are using the word issue more often than before.

Improving your ROE (return on effort)

3-Nov-2011

Never mind ROI – Mark Earls was out to generate a better Return On Effort at the Festival of NewMR 2011 with a presentation on the importance of pattern spotting in large data sets.

In iPad we trust?

30-Jul-2010

We couldn’t help but be a little bit concerned at reports earlier this week about how the iPad had given a boost to market research interviewers, by suddenly making the public more interested in them.

Insurance man shows the power of communities

23-Mar-2010

Axa’s director of customer intelligence Darren Cornish gave a fascinating glimpse into how clients use internal staff communities to improve business.

Intimacy at scale

23-Mar-2011

Charles Leadbeater’s end-of-day keynote provided plenty of food for thought to chew over at the Research 2011 party last night.

Is Amazon on the verge of offering analytics?

5-Jan-2012

Online retailer Amazon could be about to embark on a venture that will see it offer data analytics services to businesses, according to reports.

Is anyone not in the dog house?

22-Jun-2010

We look at the trouble makers of the World Cup and find out whether watching the tournament at work will gets us sent home ahead of time just like Robbie Earle and Nicolas Anelka.

Is research the insight chicken or egg?

26-Mar-2010

In a future where insight will be a rich mixture of behavioural data and traditional research insights, is it best to be a researcher embracing data, or a data analyst embracing research?

Is someone tracking my mobile?

20-Oct-2009

Stumbling across a Times article entitled ‘Are foreign governments tracking your mobile?’, we’ve been pondering what the future might hold for mobile as a research medium.

Is there really such a thing as customer loyalty?

9-Feb-2012

Dunkin’ Donuts has just been named by Brands Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index as number one in customer loyalty for the highly competitive US coffee sector for the sixth year in a row. But when it comes to brands are we really talking about loyalty or are we talking about convenience and opportunism on the part of the consumer?

It sounded like a good idea at the time

13-Jan-2011

Several polls this week have Labour ahead of the Conservatives – a far cry from the general election in May. Pundits are asking whether the public is turning againt the Tory cuts agenda. Pollster Nick Sparrow had previously warned such a thing would happen.

Judgement Day

11-Sep-2009

Marc Brenner spent the morning in the judging session for this year’s Research Magazine Awards. Here’s what the judges were faced with.

Keeping interest

9-Jul-2010

With the end in sight, how have our online participants dealt with the bitter blow of a countries exit from the tournament and has this impacted on a willingness to participate?

Kick off

11-Jun-2010

This week we kicked off our World Cup Panel, which will be the source of my ramblings and anecdotes over the next five weeks. Let me introduce myself: I’m a quallie nicknamed Webbers, and I love football. So what better way to spend these tournament days than to blend my two loves together.

Lead! A sea change is coming

14-Sep-2011

Ian Lewis dissects the findings of Cambiar’s Future of Research Study. He warns corporate researchers to become great consultants – or risk being replaced by one.

Less of more-with-less is more

24-Sep-2009

Please god, someone get us out of the this recession quick. I don’t think I can stand to hear anyone else telling me to do more with less.

Let's Not Get Irrational About Emotions

20-May-2010

Loose definition and use of the concept of “emotion” in market research risks confusing marketers, and encouraging faddish and poorly thought out research practices. Emotional response is too often represented as somehow being necessarily “deeper”, “more important”, or “harder to uncover” than anything from the frontal cortex. This is simply untrue, and unfortunately leads to marketers often taking a simplistic approach to targeting consumers.

Lipstick on a pig

6-Jul-2009

Do respondents prefer their surveys boring?

Listening to the wrong people

28-Jan-2011

With very little being spent on public opinion research, the Canadian government seems to be turning to media monitoring services to meet their information needs. But this approach doesn’t play well with the press.

London's not the only show in town

10-May-2011

Is London a special case in the marketing mix compared with populations elsewhere in the country with a less multi-cultural demographic?

Looking forward to 2009

6-Jan-2009

So this will be the year when we test the old adage about research spend holding up in a recession.

Loser-generated content

8-Dec-2009

The Guardian’s Charlie Brooker has written a rather enjoyable rant about ads featuring what he terms ‘loser-generated content’.

Making things better and making better things

24-Mar-2010

Nick Coates, chair of the Big Brands Co-Creation showcase, kicked off his session with the warning that ‘if you think co-creation is going to go away, you can think again.’

Manipulative teens

5-Mar-2010

It is taken for granted these days that teenagers sling information around on the internet with complete abandon and disregard. “Look at me!” they cry.  “I have 517 Facebook friends!” I contend David Aaronovitch’s most recent view that: “As a teenager I told my parents absolutely nothing ...

Measures of happiness

16-Sep-2009

As GDP comes under the spotlght for being too narrow, let’s not underestimate the importance of other measures and the role survey research can play.

Measuring Emotions

3-Nov-2009

Capturing emotional response is not easy. But worse than that there is a basic misunderstanding of the role emotions play.

Mediawatch

2-Sep-2009

The Mediawatch Blog provides running commentary on what’s being written and said about research. The idea is to keep you up to date on what’s being said, and help oil the wheels of discussion and debate.

Mobile fallout - to be ignored at your peril

16-Mar-2010

With respondents already taking web surveys on their mobiles, and avoiding CATI surveys by only having a mobile phone at home, researchers need to be aware of what’s coming to them, as mobile use accelerates.

Moneyball and market research

17-Nov-2011

Brad Pitt’s latest movie has plenty to teach researchers about dealing with business curveballs.

MR career tips from the stars

10-Sep-2009

South London rapper Speech Debelle has won the Mercury Music Prize (that’s the award for the record that music snobs think you “should” be listening to this autumn) and guess what? She’s a former market researcher!

MRS Online Research Conference: Some Thoughts

30-Sep-2009

Finally the best bits of a Research 2.0 conference are the practical examples, not just the great ideas.

My Katie Price Boob Job Shame

18-Dec-2009

As this is a time of year when we buy things we don’t need, it is the perfect time to tell the story of Katie Price’s decision to acquire larger breasts, my influence on her decision, and how those iconic breasts inspired Talk Normal.

Never mind the pollocks – sustainable fish drive reflects behavioural economics

15-Jun-2011

There’s something new taking place at your local Sainsbury’s. The supermarket’s “Switch The Fish” campaign is offering shoppers free portions of lesser-known fish as Sainsbury’s contribution to the sustainability drive. But the biggest challenge to the success of the sustainability campaign lies in the way we think compared to the way we act.

NewMR Virtual Festival blog

8-Dec-2010

Read our take on a selection of presentations from the NewMR Virtual Festival.

No guts no glory

25-Jan-2012

A new award aims to recognise those who have shown exceptional bravery in the name of research.

No time like the present

29-Jul-2010

Tim Harford had a nice article this weekend about how working out what might happen in the future is only slightly more difficult than working out what’s happening now.

Nursing by Degree, an example for research?

19-Nov-2009

Is it time to beef up the profession?

On the first day of Christmas, the product sold to me....

19-Sep-2011

How can research help brands navigate their way through the Christmas marketing minefield?

Online is the future for national statistics

9-Sep-2009

Report from Internet Survey conference in Korea: day 1. Cutting cost and improving response through better survey design.

Online reviews make us all clients of rubbish research

1-Sep-2011

Thanks to the online culture of reviewing and rating everything, we all know how substandard information can get in the way of decisions.

Online sampling concerns top of mind in quality debate

22-Mar-2011

Ask a room-full of researches to talk about the quality issues the industry faces today, and it’s a safe bet that online sampling will be one of the main topics up for discussion.

Own brands vs. branded products – which one's the Finest?

19-Apr-2011

Retailers’ private label products have become brand labels in their own right and in some categories have achieved brand leadership. So what are the longer-term impacts for established brands?

Peak Crowd

12-Nov-2009

Community and crowd-based research is often held up as a solution to the problem of respondent boredom - but there's a hidden gamble behind this idea.

Picking on research

14-Oct-2009

If you want to convince people you’re a clued up, no-nonsense businessperson, try picking on research.

Piracy still a tough topic for research

5-Nov-2010

Researchers are trying to keep track of online piracy, but media businesses are largely still fumbling in the dark when it comes to understanding who is copying their content illegally and how to deal with it.

Plenty of groups but not much focus

6-Jun-2011

Source: BBC / Talkback Thames

Polling by pizza

13-Oct-2011

Whenever an election comes around, it seems everyone wants a slice of the action in predicting who will come out on top.

Pollsters happy after calling Ontario election

7-Oct-2011

Sighs of relief, no doubt, in the offices of polling firms in Canada today after the Liberals won the provincial election in Ontario – as forecast by at least five firms.

Predicting 'the rise of the teens' in 2010

1-Feb-2010

You can’t move for trend predictions at this time of year. In January 2009 journalists and other cultural commentators almost came to blows in an effort to be first to tell us we would all be using Twitter. So, while not an original concept, we at least make an effort to distinguish ourselves below with predictions for the year ahead that have a specific youth focus.

Presidential candidate complains after Fox 'ignores' online polls

1-Sep-2011

There is always controversy surrounding polls in US presidential elections, but this time round it has started early, with Californian Republican Fred Karger apparently excluded from a Fox News debate on the grounds that the broadcaster does not recognise the results of online polls.

Prince Charles and his faster horse

16-Sep-2009

The limitations and possibilities of research

Psychology of electioneering

6-Jan-2010

Consumer psychology and politics

Qrious about a new in-app survey platform?

22-Jul-2011

“Any form of traditional market research company would be our competition if they didn’t move so slowly,” says Adam Paulisick, a former Nielsen commercial director turned chief commercial officer at in-app survey company Qriously.

Rational behaviour

2-Feb-2010

In this Guardian article from last week, shadow chancellor George Osborne shares a byline with Nudge author Richard Thaler.

Reappraising the 'special relationship' amid the data deluge

23-Mar-2011

The landscape of the market research industry has changed vastly over the last decade or so, with one of the biggest differences being the deluge of new consumer data available. But with this influx, is there now a need for a fresh approach to the way this data is protected.

Re-blogging: Limerick Wars

24-Mar-2010

Another post from Vovici’s Jeff Henning, this one covering the Ideas Rush session. Henning was particularly taken by the idea put forward by Annalies Verhaeghe of InSites Consulting, which she encapsulated in the form of a limerick.

Reporter's Notebook

16-Sep-2009

Comment and opinion from our team of journalists, who offer their thoughts on the stories we write about and why we report what we do. Have a burning question you want answered? Email news@researchmagazine.co.uk.

Research 2010 awards shortlist unveiled

25-Mar-2010

The shortlist for the Research 2010 conference awards was announced yesterday afternoon. The winners will be named at the annual Research Awards dinner in London on 13 December.

Research 2011 conference blog

21-Mar-2011

Research’s team of roving reporters is at the Grange St Pauls Hotel in London to cover all the goings-on at Research 2011: The Annual Conference.

Research firms reveal nine month technology lag (and a secret affair with the Mac)

14-Dec-2010

It's not the first time I've postulated that MR firms can be laggards with their technology. An early finding from the 2010 Globalpark MR Software Survey seems to back this up. Looking at both the web browsers and operating systems in use, MR hardly leads the pack; but there is more diversity among the client base than the majority of Windows-only MR software developers seem to acknowledge.

Research is beautiful

7-Sep-2011

With so much great information design out there, it’s surprising how little of it comes from the world of research.

Research Trainwreck!

4-Sep-2009

A DIY research project on a fan fiction community goes horribly wrong…

Respondents are customers

7-Sep-2010

What can bad customer service teach us about bad respondent experience?

Riots and research: asking awkward questions

11-Aug-2011

As England breathes a sigh of relief following a night of relative calm, social researchers can begin to dissect the riots that have shaken the country’s towns and cities in the last few days.

Satisfaction or dissatisfaction

5-Jul-2010

Dissatisfaction may be worth measuring

Self-styled experts like me

6-Oct-2009

I get invited to counterfeiting conferences to say things that the people who attend won’t say to each other, even though they tell me afterwards that they agree with me.

Serious games: a serious opportunity for respondent fun

9-Dec-2010

Australia Online Research’s Brian Fine sees a research role for a genre of games where the primary purpose is something other than entertainment: for instance, training, education, marketing and simulating real world events.

Sherpa's Wanted

13-Dec-2009

Research should be more interpretive and less siloed: feel the fear and do it anyway

Shifting focus

6-Oct-2009

David Cameron appeared on the Today programme this morning, discussing a proposal to raise the state pension age to 66 as early as 2016. One brief exchange made our ears prick up:

Should we take the politics out of research?

30-Nov-2009

Is the position of research to seek the truth being quashed by its political use

Simon Cowell and Research

10-Nov-2009

What the Jedward controversy teaches us about research

Six out of ten people don't care about polls

26-Apr-2010

Six out of ten people don’t pay any attention to opinion polls, Ipsos Mori’s Ben Page told the Today programme this morning.

Smart hiring pays big dividends

16-Jan-2012

Over the past year, the Cambiar partners have been writing, presenting and blogging about the winds of change within the MR industry. Leading companies across the value chain are listening, evaluating business models and setting strategy for the future. In addition, new entrants, many from outside our industry, are adding to the mix as well as challenging the status quo.

So ends the Credit Crunch

6-Jan-2010

A disappointing recession? Corporate behaviour does not seem to be focused on showing loyalty when it really matters

So how is the upturn for you?

20-May-2010

Steve is looking at the results from Q1 and trying to work out what is happening in the industry.

Social Media – An Emotional View

9-Mar-2010

Spotlight on some new social media research

Social media is...

13-Nov-2009

Social media has a habit of inspiring people to purple prose. Here are some of Mediawatch’s favourite examples of flowery descriptions and ambitious analogies:

SODA adds a dash of mobile fizz to Confirmit's platform

12-Sep-2011

Tim Macer assesses the implications for software users of the Confirmit/Techneos merger.

Something to smile about

15-Nov-2010

It’s been a rough few weeks for social researchers in the aftermath of the Spending Review and as the reality of austerity sinks in. But here’s something to smile about: Prime Minister David Cameron wants to commission a new ongoing survey of how happy people are.

Speaking the language of ROI

20-Sep-2011

Danny Russell of Sky wants researchers to start translating percentages into pounds, euros and dollars.

Sub-conscious value or what don’t you know about your experience

14-Oct-2009

Seeing the latest Derren Brown ‘illusion’ where a member of the public was predicted to select a toy giraffe from Hamleys due to the influence of certain, unconsciously noticeable giraffe pattern cues strategically placed around the store (perception without awareness) raises the question, what is a customer or clients sub-conscious experience of you?

Supermarkets are failing to use their loaf

30-Mar-2011

Supermarkets’ in-store bakeries are being accused of not being the real deal. It’s time for the supermarkets to use their loaf.

SurveyMonkey makes its case

24-Mar-2011

SurveyMonkey’s chief methodologist takes on the critics who blame the rise of DIY survey software for a fall in response rates and quality.

Talk Normal

24-Sep-2009

Tim Phillips has been a journalist for 20 years. During that time he has been slowly driven crazy by bad spokespeople: the jargon, the evasiveness, the inability to make a point or to answer a direct question. It’s time to stop thinking about spin and management and start talking like human beings. Talknormal.co.uk.

Tax breaks for MR, anyone?

6-Jan-2011

CEOs of three British companies are calling for tax relief on market research spend. There’ll be no complaints here, surely, but it doesn’t exactly fit with the government’s cost-cutting agenda.

Tea and sympathy for Twinings

31-Aug-2011

How risky is it to change established, much-loved products? Twinings are dealing with reactions to its Earl Grey revolution. Lyndsay Peck looks at the implications.

Teens facing tough choices ahead

5-Jul-2010

This post explores how the recession is impacting on further education and career choices

The (marketing) goal of the tournament

17-Jun-2010

How a beer company, some Dutch women in tiny dresses and and a former Jamaican international footballer have made ‘ambush marketing’ part of everyday vocabulary.

The art of research

15-Apr-2011

Looking for new ways to present data visually? A group of artists in Bristol may be able to offer some inspiration. An arts organisation in the city has asked four artists to come up with visualisations based on data about the local area.

The biggest job (ad) in research

8-Aug-2011

Spotted by our deputy editor on his way home last night, this recruitment ad for a new research manager at Posterscope certainly demands attention.

The Cambiar blog

14-Sep-2011

A blog dedicated to understanding the internal and external forces of change affecting buyers and suppliers of research. From the team at Cambiar: Simon Chadwick, Ian Lewis and Beth Rounds.

The cheapest way to measure ad effectiveness

23-Feb-2010

In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, former Tory MP Edwina Currie suggests that the most cost-efficient way of gauging the effectiveness of public service advertising might be to stop doing any.

The Comley Report

15-Jul-2011

Discussion and debate on the key trends shaping UK consumer behaviour. Written by Join the Dots chairman Pete Comley.

The curse of seeing everything

29-Mar-2010

Neurometrics can tell us a lot. Yet the challenge of interpretation and providing context are actually similar to those thrown up by engaging with respondents through social media, in making sense of it.

The difference between 'gay' and 'homosexual'

16-Feb-2010

Today, a lesson in the importance of questionnaire wording.

The DIY dilemma

16-Sep-2009

Yesterday we carried news of the launch of a DIY on-demand research service. Reader Steve Taylor was far from impressed, however.

The eight myths about successful research communities

9-Dec-2010

Diane Hessan of Communispace set about busting some myths surrounding online research communities at the NewMR Virtual Festival. Jeffrey Henning listened in.

The end of mainstream qual?

8-Feb-2011

Does the rise of online qual communities mean the end of the quick and dirty four-group project?

The greatest movie ever qualitatively researched

17-Oct-2011

The issue issue

25-Sep-2009

Just as the US government rebranded the War on Terror as The Fight for a Better World in 2005, so many of us have abandoned the real, truthful yet uncomfortable word problem, and substituted the blandly depressing issue instead. It’s the worst type of weasel word.

The London riots and Herd behaviour

9-Aug-2011

As the riots spread throughout London and the rest of the country last night, I grabbed for my edition of Herd to see what it held to explain behaviour such as this.

The mind's eye

24-Nov-2009

BBC One’s Inside Out London featured a nice segment on neuromarketing and eye-tracking research yesterday.

The morning after the night before

7-May-2010

So how did the polls do at predicting the general election result? Well, it certainly wasn’t a disaster. On the whole, the final polls got the Conservative and Labour votes right, but overestimated support for the Lib Dems and underestimated the smaller parties.

The new stay at home generation – and implications for marketers

3-Aug-2010

There’s been a well documented shift in the number of young adults staying at home with their parents rather than moving out. What direct impact is this going to have on patterns of consumption or implications for underlying attitudes and behaviours?

The power of free

25-Sep-2009

At Talk Normal that everyone looks at the page that promises free mugs, so at the end of the week I need to explain how the process works in a bit more detail. If you’re thinking: can I have one of Tim’s mugs? the answer is…

The real life Farmville

6-May-2011

The National Trust’s MyFarm initiative is either a bold attempt to change attitudes and behaviours, or co-creation gone mad.

The 'right to be forgotten' is a 'false expectation'

14-Nov-2011

Internet users should have the right to delete their data at any time, according to EU commissioner Viviane Reding – but we should not give people “false expectations”, warned UK culture minister Ed Vaizey (pictured) in a speech earlier this month.

The secret life of cues

14-Oct-2009

In an ever more complex world customers increasingly rely on small cues in your experience that act as heuristics or rules of thumb in the process of deciding whether to buy from you or not.

The social media lies we tell

24-May-2010

Tech blogger Robert Scoble has an interesting post today about the lies people tell on social networks. To be more precise, these are ‘lies by omission’ – that is, important things about ourselves that we choose not to share in order to maintain a certain identity online.

The value of social research

9-Jun-2010

Polly Toynbee spoke out in defence of Britain’s birth cohort studies in the Guardian on Monday.

The voice of the public

1-Jul-2010

Deborah Mattinson appeared on Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday to talk about her new book, which is based on her experience as a pollster during the New Labour years.

The wrong type of happiness?

13-Apr-2011

An American psychologist whose work inspired David Cameron’s plan to measure national wellbeing has warned that the UK Prime Minister might be trying to measure the wrong thing.

They've got your number

18-Feb-2011

“It’s time to curb media hyperbole when reporting on statistics,” says the New Scientist.

This year's revolution. Or one of them, anyway

22-Jan-2010

If you’ve been reading the blogs you’ll know that we are on the verge of a revolution. Thanks to Apple’s tablet computer nothing will ever be the same ever again. So I thought I’d look into how good Apple and Microsoft have been at getting us to mount the barricades for their respective revolutions.

Thoughts on Esomar Congress: don't lose your balance

23-Sep-2011

Whatever research methods you choose to use, approach them with caution, take them in moderation and don’t lose your balance.

Till the souvenir garden gnome do us part

1-Mar-2011

The Centre for Retail Research’s estimate that April’s royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton will provide a £515.5 million boost to retailers – with souvenirs bringing in £222 million – proves, as if proof was needed, that this is much more than just another set of nuptials.

Tim Macer's research technology blog

24-Aug-2009

Opinions, insights and information on the latest developments from one of the research industry’s leading analysts on software and technology for quantitative and qualitative research.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sample

26-Oct-2009

An espionage classic holds lessons for social media researchers.

Too few respondents? Why not build some?

4-Nov-2009

Do digital “replicants” have any part to play in social media research?

Tough questions for the MR industry

23-Mar-2010

A panel of market researchers faced some tough questions at Research 2010 this afternoon from Stephen Sackur, the no-nonsense host of the BBC’s Hardtalk.

Travelling for the sake of it

19-Jul-2010

Five years ago, pre- and post-university youngsters had the world as their oyster. It was taken for granted that one day they would have a house, a job, a stable family, and that they’d be able to provide for that family. After the credit crunch, what is left is a generation with shattered dreams

Treating respondents right

24-Mar-2010

In today’s Ideas Rush session at Research 2010, Jeffrey Henning of Vovici spoke about the importance of treating respondents right.

True horror: The spectre of neurocinema

28-Feb-2011

As this year’s Oscar winners congratulate themselves, future hopefuls are experimenting with a new route to movie success. Fastcompany.com has an interesting article about “the rise of neurocinema”.

Tweetminster buzzing over election prediction

14-May-2010

Another day, another declaration in support of the power of social media analysis in assessing public opinion – this time from Tweetminster, which has hailed as a success its attempt to predict the outcome of the UK general election based on Twitter mentions of candidates.

UK Research Tweetup

8-Sep-2009

The first ever (?) UK market research Tweetup will be on Wednesday 23rd September

Up And Down The Validity Ladder

28-Aug-2009

Does social media have a bias towards invalid data?

Video games can save the human race

28-May-2010

Here at Voodoo we’re pretty much down with the kids on most things. We hang out at festivals, mooch around Shoreditch and write blogs on the subject. However, up until recently there’s been a bit of a gap in my knowledge: gaming.

Virtual voting

5-May-2010

Angus Reid Public Opinion is running an unusual poll in the run up to tomorrow’s general election.

We are the future. Or are we?

23-Feb-2011

Media agency PHD has found itself in the middle of a social media storm.

Welcome to Mediawatch

27-Aug-2009

Welcome to Research-live’s Mediawatch blog. Here we’ll be keeping our eyes and ears open for what’s being said and written about research, gathering the most interesting bits here and offering our take on what it all means.

Welcome to Research 2010

22-Mar-2010

Good morning all and welcome to the first day of Research 2010: The Annual Conference. Billed as ‘a festival of ideas, innovation and inspiration’, this blog will report the highlights of the day as well as serving as a forum for continuing debate on the topics and themes raised in conference sessions.

Wendy Gordon and the Casaubon delusion

16-Jun-2011

At the AQR Trends Day in London today, Acacia Avenue co-founder Wendy Gordon explains how she sees parallels between herself and Edward Casaubon, a key character in the novel Middlemarch by George Eliot. Casaubon devotes his life to a futile search for an explanatory framework for the whole of mythology.

What a to-do about DIY

2-Sep-2010

With everyone talking about clients doing DIY research, Steve is wondering what research agencies will be doing in five years.

What price a name?

3-Mar-2011

In a court case, social network users claim that Facebook owes them damages for lost trading rights after allegedly leaking their names to advertisers. But how much is personal information actually worth?

What the next government needs to do to help SMEs

28-Apr-2010

This week’s UK TV election debate focuses on the economy. Guest blogger Maggie Drye (pictured), owner of Insitas, will be tuning in, hoping to hear pledges from the party leaders to support small businesses. But will they say the right things, if anything?

What's happening with EmSense?

7-Dec-2011

Wondering what’s become of EmSense? Me too. The neuromarketing research firm was reported to be going through “a sales process” several months back but there’s been no word since September.

When reputation management goes wrong

8-Dec-2011

PR firm Bell Pottinger has been criticised for tinkering with Wikipedia entries about its clients – including ethnographic research agency Naked Eye.

Where are the tools to enable Web 2.0 research?

18-Nov-2009

Researchers cannot afford to ignore Web 2.0 approaches to research, as Forrester analyst Tamara Barber made clear in a recent persuasive article. But on the technology side there is a lot of catching up to do.

Where the fish are

14-Jan-2010

Coca-Cola is shifting marketing focus from websites to social media. What are the implications for researchers?

Who is the Steve Jobs of research?

1-Feb-2010

Just wondering who are the CEO Innovators in research

Who'll own MR in 2020?

12-Apr-2010

In recent times it seemed that MR was certain to be dominated either by big media groups or private equity investors. While such trends may continue, we’re guessing that we’ll see some other interesting trends in the control of marketing research. One will probably involve the growth and expansion of Asian market research companies. But this post addresses a more dramatic scenario: the likelihood that those who currently serve and partner with research agencies may come to dominate, ...

Why going out is the new staying in

5-Feb-2010

We stick with the prediction theme this week: here are three more youth movements to monitor.

Why the thirst to be first can leave you high and dry

23-Apr-2010

YouGov appeared as a trending topic on Twitter last night as the Twitterati took up arms against the online pollster after its instant reaction poll for the second leaders’ debate – the first to be published – reported a win for David Cameron. This, it seems, was the wrong result.

Will consumers be turned on by product placement?

14-Mar-2011

UK consumers have told researchers that product placement on TV won’t increase their likelihood of purchasing particular brands. Should brands listen to them, or press ahead regardless and add it to their marketing mixes?

WOM expert is lukewarm on MyStarbucksIdea

29-Jan-2010

Brand Autopsy’s John Moore feels let down by Starbucks’ big social media experiment, as only six of 53 ideas implemented to date can be credited to consumers. But financially the firm’s form is improving. Is Moore focusing on the wrong metric?

World Cup Webbers

11-Jun-2010

The 2010 World Cup is here. In the run-up to the event Discovery Research scoured the globe for die-hard football fans to take part in a series of challenges and to report their first-hand experiences of how the tournament touches each and every one of us. The twist… all the respondents are researchers by trade. Blog by Michael Webley.

Zahawi's musical tie not a hit in parliament

20-Jan-2011

YouGov founder Nadhim Zahawi, now an MP, caused a stir in the House of Commons yesterday when a musical tie he was wearing in aid of a charity began playing as he stood up to make a statement.