Category Archives: Best Practices

On Our Way Back to a New Normal

In person research is back!

I’ve just finished conducting four in-person focus groups. Yes, you are reading correctly – IN PERSON! It was a wonderful treat to moderate these groups, as it’s been over a year since I conducted in-person research.

Those who know me know I love moderating focus groups, especially in-person groups. But during this past year, we have only been conducting focus groups online – both synchronous (webcam) and asynchronous (discussion board). Both are highly valuable methodologies, but not nearly as fun.

My biggest takeaway was that the focus group participants were as happy to be there as I was. Some shared they were thrilled to get out of their homes. Even the prospect of wearing a mask for a couple of hours did not deter them. They admitted they had questions about protocols being used to keep the facility clean, but were happy with the practices being undertaken by the focus group facility staff.

Not surprisingly, things at focus group facilities have changed:

Everyone wears masks
Each person is seated 6 feet apart (depending on the facility size this may mean smaller groups)
Hand sanitizer is everywhere
All food/drink is individually packaged
Participants have to be reminded to speak up so they can be heard

Recruit has changed:

Recruit is a bit tougher as about 25% of those contacted are not interested in participating in in-person research
Participants have lots of questions regarding the protocols in place to keep everyone healthy

But the benefits of conducting in-person focus groups have not changed. We are still taking advantage of:

Personal interactions and opinions (which add value to the discussion and influencing group think)
Observing non-verbal reactions (you’d be surprised what you can see even with masks)
Providing participants the opportunity to touch and feel products

Although the pandemic has increased the use of online research, in-person research is not dead. As more and more people are vaccinated, the willingness of clients to hold in-person research will increase. I for one am thrilled to say that in-person research is back. I’ve missed it!

If you are thinking about in-person research, give me a call (206-232-9400). We can discuss the precautions we are taking to keep everyone safe to make this invaluable research method possible.

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Best Practices

Beware of Unintentional Gaps in Your In-House Market Research Team

Sometimes taking research in-house can be challenging. If your internal teams are attempting to conduct their own market research, there are some things to take into consideration…

Too Much Industry Experience

The fact that your team is immersed in this topic daily can actually negatively influence research outcomes. This immersion can impact how a survey or discussion guide is written, by introducing biases or having lack of clarity in the questions. These are some things to watch out for:

Use of industry lingo that the survey respondents might not understand or may misinterpret.
Evaluating results through the lens of what the brain wants to hear. This is called “confirmation bias.” It’s a focus on the positive feedback at the cost of missing the messages behind negative feedback, which is often more valuable for determining next steps.
Adding bias by the questions asked or comments shared (perhaps under the guise of “educating” the research participant about your product/service) during an interview or focus group.

Too Little Research Experience

Lack of experience developing research might also negatively impact study approach or questionnaire/discussion guide design. Some things to be aware of are asking leading questions, poor wording, asking the wrong question type, or asking multiple questions in one. Be careful to ask the right questions and include critical skip patterns. All can result in frustrated research participants and unclear research outcomes.

Beware of selecting an incorrect methodology for the research. Do not default to the lowest cost or most familiar option. There are optimal choices for getting actionable results from research, based on the strategic answers needed and the population being researched.

Lack of Special Skills

If conducting in-person focus groups, have a strategy for how to manage unruly participants, and how to keep the discussion on track. This takes skill and practice.

Make sure to understand how best to analyze and interpret quantitative results to get more nuanced information. There are methods of honing the results down to answer very specific questions regarding particular groups of respondents. Similarly, there are nuances that should be considered when interpreting qualitative results. For example, what do you do if one person in the group mentions a concern but no one else does?

Over Zealous Data Collection

Set realistic expectations regarding what will be learned, how long it will take and the resources needed to accomplish the task. Consider breaking down a larger study into smaller chunks to enable an iterative, agile approach to the research.

Remove any questions from a survey that are not going to produce actionable results. Ask yourself, what decision will be made based on the answer? Avoid asking questions because the answer would be “nice to know.”

Use a Research Professional to Fill in the Gaps

Since taking research in-house can be challenging, consider partnering with a market research professional to assist with your research needs. They can work with your team to fill in the gaps and remove issues that will negatively influence your results.

At Hardwick Research we are experts at working quickly and efficiently to ensure you gather the insight needed to make critical business decisions. We can easily take on as much or as little of the project as needed, filling in the gaps where your internal team needs support. For more information on our services visit our website.

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Best Practices, Qualitative Research

Using Incentives to Increase Research Participation

When working with a client to plan a qualitative research study, one topic that is frequently misunderstood is incentives. We know incentives increase research participation rates. However, since incentives can be a large portion of the qualitative research budget, clients often ask about them. Incentives are not a good place to reduce study costs as inadequate incentives reduce participation rates.

How much to offer

The incentive in essence places a dollar value on the time and expertise of the study participant. An optimal incentive can ease a difficult recruit. It can also help ensure that once recruited, participants will show up and complete the study. For a study with college students versus a study with real estate developers, the dollar value of the incentive will change. If the study is a quick 30 minute phone call versus a 2 hour in-person focus group, the incentive will also differ. In today’s market, in the Seattle area, we rarely offer an incentive under $100. We have sometimes offered as high as $500 for specialist physicians or CEOs to entice them to come to a focus group for an hour or two.

Types of incentives

We at Hardwick Research strongly favor monetary incentives. As they say, “Cash is king.” In the research industry, cash, gift cards and raffles are frequently used incentives. Sometimes we offer a combination, where a certain cash amount is guaranteed plus the participant is entered into a raffle for a chance to win a bit more. In-person research is more conducive to cash incentives, while online research is more conducive to emailed gift cards. Ideas for raffles include larger dollar amount gift cards and electronics such as iPads. Note that in general, raffles are not as effective as providing each participant with an incentive.

Restrictions on incentives

In some situations, we have to consider the implications of certain types of incentives. For example, in conducting online research with minors, a client might require that no gift cards be offered from a business selling alcohol, tobacco or firearms. With every project, we tailor the incentive to both client requirements and participant type.

Incentives are standard practice in the research industry because they increase research participation. There are other tricks of the trade that help to increase participation in both qualitative and quantitative research. Please call us at 206-232-9400 or email us via our contact page to learn more.

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Best Practices, Qualitative Research

Working Together to Improve Research Outcomes

Adding qualitative research to your research strategy is a great way to gather deeper insights and improve research outcomes. Working with the perfect qualitative research partner is key.

Best Practices, Qualitative Research

Behind the Mirror? Making the most of your Focus Groups

You’ve found yourself behind the mirror at a focus group facility. Now what? Whether you have been here before or this is your first time, there are a few things you should keep in mind in order to make the most of this experience.

Best Practices, Qualitative Research

How to Choose a Focus Group Moderator

Wondering how to choose a focus group moderator for your next research study? You won’t be surprised to hear that the quality of your moderator will influence the success of your project.

If you have ever watched a focus group moderator in action, you know that they are amazing jugglers. Moderators are experts at the “3 Es” – Encourage, Engage and Elicit, but honestly a moderator is doing so much more. If you watch closely, you will see that a moderator must balance multiple roles:

Best Practices

What Makes a “Team Work”

I recently read an interesting New York Times article, What Google Learned from Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team, which had some very helpful insights into what makes a team successful in the workplace. The article follows the research conducted for Google’s Project Aristotle, an initiative to study hundreds of Google’s teams and figure out why some worked and others did not. Since we all work in teams of various sorts, I’m providing you a few “pearls of wisdom” I gleaned from reading this thought-provoking piece on team work.

Best Practices, Quantitative Research, Resources, Uncategorized

Avoid Bias in Survey Design

HARDWICK RESEARCH “TALKS TRASH”

After conducting surveys for 20+ years, Hardwick Research knows what it takes to develop a questionnaire that removes the possibility of bias and is organized to maximize the quality of responses. To help you avoid bias in survey design and obtain the best results, we compiled a list of the 8 most commonly seen mistakes.

Best Practices, Qualitative Research, Quantitative Research, Resources

Choosing Labels for Stimulus Testing

Typically when a set of products, concepts or even advertisements are shown to research participants they are assigned labels. This is done to help remove bias and make it easier to discuss the various stimuli. Picking labels to identify your product is not always as “easy as ABC.” Choosing labels for stimulus testing can be tricky.

Best Practices

Market Research Key Success Factors

I was thrilled to receive a request last month from our marketing partner, C Squared Advertising, to be a guest poster on their website.

Since the C Squared team understands that market research is much more than just asking questions, they asked me to write about my approach to uncovering audience perceptions and opinions. I shared with their audience the importance of preparation before the research even starts, as well as provided some insight into my approach to ensure market research success.