Olson Zaltman Associates merge mind and body methodologies

US— Market research consultancy Olson Zaltman Associates has developed a new methodology that merges biometrics with the firm’s in-house metaphor elicitation techniques.

The company’s Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) was developed by the firm’s founder and Harvard Business School professor Gerald Zaltman (pictured). Participants are asked to choose images that represent their thoughts and feelings about a given topic before being interviewed for two hours. During the interview, the firm explores why those images have been chosen and a digital collage representing how they view a brand, topic or product is produced at the end.

Under the newly patented methodology, this approach is paired with biometric techniques including eye tracking and heart rate monitoring to capture “a deep view of not only how the mind is thinking but how the body is feeling”.

Zaltman said: “This is an exciting time in marketing. Understanding what customers think and feel requires multiple yet complementary methods rooted in the latest behavioural science advances.”

The firm’s managing partner Jerry Olson added: “ZMET provides critical insight about the content of thoughts and feelings while biometric or physiological methods provide helpful data about their strength. The two approaches can be used simultaneously or sequentially to provide a more complete understanding of the mind of the customer.”

We hope you enjoyed this article.
Research Live is published by MRS.

The Market Research Society (MRS) exists to promote and protect the research sector, showcasing how research delivers impact for businesses and government.

Members of MRS enjoy many benefits including tailoured policy guidance, discounts on training and conferences, and access to member-only content.

For example, there's an archive of winning case studies from over a decade of MRS Awards.

Find out more about the benefits of joining MRS here.

0 Comments

Display name

Email

Join the discussion

Newsletter
Stay connected with the latest insights and trends...
Sign Up
Latest From MRS

Our latest training courses

Our new 2025 training programme is now launched as part of the development offered within the MRS Global Insight Academy

See all training

Specialist conferences

Our one-day conferences cover topics including CX and UX, Semiotics, B2B, Finance, AI and Leaders' Forums.

See all conferences

MRS reports on AI

MRS has published a three-part series on how generative AI is impacting the research sector, including synthetic respondents and challenges to adoption.

See the reports

Progress faster...
with MRS 
membership

Mentoring

CPD/recognition

Webinars

Codeline

Discounts