Robert Bain
Features Editor, Research, London, UK
I look after the features content for Research-live.com and Research Magazine, and contribute to the blogs.
Recent activity
Blog Posts (32)
-
The cheapest way to measure ad effectiveness
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 difference between 'gay' and 'homosexual'
Today, a lesson in the importance of questionnaire wording.
-
An important point
The Tories are in trouble today over an errant decimal point.
-
Rational behaviour
In this Guardian article from last week, shadow chancellor George Osborne shares a byline with Nudge author Richard Thaler.
-
Oh, behave
In an opinion article in yesterday’s Times, Daniel Finkelstein writes about how “group identity is just as important as economic incentive in the way we behave”.
Robert Bain contributes to:
Comments (3)
-
Comment on: Focus pocus
Hi Simon I agree, and I think it goes beyond bad use of focus groups. I fear that the term 'focus group' has become a kind of shorthand for misguided research – very easy for commentators to knock. That seems to be the case in the MediaPost article - as you say, there's no detail on how focus groups were used by these firms - the simple statement that they used them is sufficient condemnation.
-
Comment on: Between an MROC and a hard place
Thanks for that Jeffrey – I didn't realise it was Brad that coined MROC. Mike Hall did also make the important point that research represents the 'fusion element' in any branded community – the one business discipline that is central to the use of the community for any purpose, be it marketing, brand building, feedback, whatever. But that still doesn't make it a research community, apparently.
-
Comment on: Between an MROC and a hard place
Mike - in the light of your comment I listened back to my slightly fuzzy recording of our chat, and I see I misquoted you above as saying 'branded communities' instead of 'brand communities' – a distinction that I wasn't so sensitive to at the time! Sorry – amended now.
Discussions (2)
-
Short story competition: Market research in 2029
You might not have expected to see the words ‘short’, ‘story’ and ‘competition’ together on these pages, but here they are. We want you to embrace your inner novelist and give us your vision of the f
-
Pronunciation of "MROC"
Are we saying "em-ar-oh-see" or "em-roc" ? Or are we still saying "market research online community"? Is it different on different sides of the Atlantic? I am intrigued.
Posts (0)
Robert Bain has not added any posts yet.

