With rapid change and advancements in technology and tremendous growth of social networking goliath’s like Facebook and Twitter, much has changed in our industry (almost overnight). While changes in the industry can be overwhelming and concerning for some, NGMR’s see them as opportunities for innovation, growth, and development—these are exciting times!
Below we have outlined 5 topics we at Touchstone Research think will continue to be ‘Hot’ and 5 that will not in the MR industry.
5 Hot Topics
1. Deep integration of multiple data sources. Integration of Social Network Data/Social Media into the entire research process through the use of API’s and applications. Insights communities/panels will continue to evolve and incorporate more and more social media data and sharing of data between the two will become even more seamless. Other internet data sources, databases, and CRM will be interwoven.
2. Rapid growth and usage of mobile devices like the iPhone/iPad, Android, across all demographics will finally give way to a more industry wide acceptance of Mobile Research as a viable research technique. Real-time mobile quant/qual and geo-location based data collection will take place through apps, snap surveys and custom mobile research projects. New mobile research applications and research techniques will continue to spring up as innovators come up with new ways to exploit the capabilities.
3. Game Mechanics/Gamification elements will be incorporated into appropriate online research communities/panels in addition to other qualitative/quantitative research techniques like online surveys.
4. MR Reports & Findings will become more dashboard like containing a mix of quant, qual and social media data (social media monitoring, web scraping, data-mining) painting a larger, more in-depth picture—Umbrella Reports which will feature increasing dynamic updates.
5. New emerging technologies and platforms will continue to spring up and create new opportunities for NGMR’s to incorporate non-traditional research methods into their research toolbox—it is an exciting time to be a researcher!
5 Not Hot Topics
1. Mall Intercept Surveys will shift from traditional Paper and Pencil surveys to iPad/Tablet based data-collection techniques.
2. Direct Mail/Telephone based surveys will continue their decline.
3. Traditional Surveys and Research Projects will no longer be acceptable. Research projects will need to be designed with the survey-takers experience in mind—better looking, more interactive, engaging, and user friendly with fewer tedious grids/matrices, etc.—less flat HTML.
4. Certain types of In-Person Qualitative Research will decline with the continued move to Online Qual (online focus groups, chats, usability, webcams, etc.)
5. Traditional online panels (basic survey panels) without some community tools/engagement and integration of Web innovation will fade.
So, do you agree? Disagree? What 5 things do YOU think will continue to be Hot? What 5 things will cool off? Can’t wait to hear what everyone has to say!
Thanks to our friends at NGMR, Tom H.C. Anderson (@TomHCAnderson), and all of our fellow NGMR’s out there!
