Research in 2010 in 1, 2, 5 Words
Posted by Jeffrey Henning on Sat, Jan 16, 2010
Robert Bain, features editor of Research magazine, was kind enough to ask to me "to suggest one word to describe what market research will be like - or what the most important change, trend or force affecting market research will be - in 2010." And, then, of course, to justify that choice in 100 words or less.
I loved the challenge, but couldn't narrow it down to one idea, so I sent him a few. If I had to predict research in 2010 in one word, it would be MROC. Or maybe Probability. But definitely Ferment.
MROC - The acronym MROC, short for Market Research Online Communities, was coined by Forrester and is hated by many researchers, who prefer to call such groups Online Research Communities. But MROCs will rule in 2010. While quantitative research is now predominantly online, having made its big shift in the mid-2000s, qualitative research has remained stubbornly offline. The global economic contraction has forced organizations to be more creative about how they do qualitative work. MROCs are far more varied than "online focus groups", with organizations adapting communities in many different ways. Expect to see many successful experiments with MROCs this year.
Probability - What subprime lending was to the financial industry, access panel was to the market-research industry. Last year's study by David Yeager and Jon Krosnick reminded us all of something we knew but chose to ignore. The laws of mathematics have not been repealed: a convenience sample cannot be used to extrapolate to any target audience. However affordable it may be, a survey done in an access panel is representative of its respondents only. Let's be forthright and describe such surveys as qualitative. As a result, I think it is probable that 2010 will see a renewed emphasis on probability sampling.
Ferment - The market research industry is in a state of ferment, as new technologies bubble up and as researchers find new ways to stir the pot. Experimenting, testing and analyzing these innovative practices will be more public than ever before: 2010 will be a breakout year for market researchers to reach beyond their organizations to engage with one another. Thriving communities on LinkedIn, Ning and Twitter will encourage researchers to share, as never before, what works and what doesn't work. Blogs, SlideShade and Scribd will offer rich contemplation about the industry, producing a stone soup of change and collaboration.
How did others describe research in 2010 in a word? Transformational, Rewind, Qualitative (@raypoynter), Listening (@rreitsma), Fulcrum, Ethnographical (@nielsamz), Essential (@lgraef) and Consolidation (@aleathwood). Check it out at the Research magazine website.