It states that mobile surveys and online communities are ‘no longer emerging techniques; both are used by a majority of researchers’. In its survey, when looking at new research methods, it found that 64% of respondent use mobile surveys, 56% online communities with social media analytics ( 46%) and text analytics ( 40%) making up the top four.

‘Judging by its momentum, social media analytics will be the next technique to cross-over to the mainstream: use jumped 10 points to 46%,’ said the report.

Elsewhere it looked at the drivers of change in data collection and found that 80% of Grit respondents cite use of mobile devices as a factor prompting changes in their data collection methods. Almost a quarter ( 23%) said increased use of tablet computers and smart phones had prompted major change, while 47% said it had prompted minor change.

The next most common reason cited for changes in data collection was ‘client budgetary changes’ — 32% said that had prompted major change and 49% said it had prompted minor change.

And when asked about the mix of people working for their organisation in the future, designers and data visualisation experts came out on top with net predicted change of 49% for clients and 62% for suppliers (decreases subtracted from increases). This was followed by social media experts — 53% for clients and 49% for suppliers.

Download a copy of the full report here for more findings and details of methodology.