Innovative Online Research
Posted by Jeffrey Henning on Tue, Oct 27, 2009
At the ESOMAR Online Research conference, Ron Riley, an independent marketing research consultant, presented a case study of the U.S. Presidential campaign of Barack Obama. In July 2007, the Obama campaign wanted to develop a framework for smarter policy decisions about whether to go to war and how to evaluate performance in war. Riley was hired to apply online research to assess voter perceptions and refine the doctrine for Obama policy staff.
Five innovations used in the research:
- The study used hybrid sampling (Caddell, 1984), using random selection of 76 respondents from a national panel, with 20 to 120 minute interviews (50 minutes on average).
- Reinterviewing identical respondents across multiple points in time (August/September 2007 and November 2007) to understand the evolution of individual perceptions. For instance, Gary Hart's re-entry in December 1987 was seen as presidential but that perception evaporated among the same respondents in six weeks.
- A multimedia Internet platform that required webcams was used to interview respondents at any location with versatility, engaging all three learning styles. Only 12% of adult learners are auditory learners, making the phone less engaging for research; the study showed a wide range of stimuli to engage respondents visually and kinesthetically.
- Smart phones and PDAs to visit URLs and upload video and audio. Low incidence and connectivity
- Finally, voice analysis of involuntary vocal frequencies was used to understand respondent emotions, using Nemesysco technology.