Editor's note: Ron Kornokovich is principal, Consumer Pulse, Inc.

"Hello, this is Cyberspace Research, how can I help you?"

"Hi, this is Andrea from Here and Now Research, I'd like to get an estimate on a mall project."

"A what?"

"A mall project. You know, where we intercept people walking in a shopping mall and try to get them to do a 40-minute interview just because they like us."

"Oh, you mean a spatial user interactive cooperative test, or SUIC as we call it here."

"How do you pronounce that?"

"SUIC! Like in S-W-I-C-K."

"Call it what you want, it's still a mall project to me. Here's the type of person we want to interview."

"Hold on -  do you have that information on your computer screen?"

"Yes, I do."

"Good. We have a new software application here that allows me to connect directly to your computer in about two seconds. You don't need to do anything except press the F1 key on your keyboard right now."

"Oh-oh, my screen went blank. Wait, I can now see you on my screen! How'd you do that?"

"It's easy. I opened windows on my screen while we were first talking and with our new software I was able to press my F1 I key to display your calling number. I then dialed through my modem, sent the number into the wireless frequency assigned to your area code and accessed your computer with video. I'm fortunate that you have a computer that has the new receiver built into it for this type of communication. Is that computer new?"

"Well, yes it is, but I had no idea...."

"Most people don't know about the new technologies. We try to stay abreast of all the rapid changes but it's even difficult for us. Wait until you see the new version of your machine next year. It'll be really cool. But getting back to the project, I will pull your specs from your computer to mine but I need to know the lines I can pull. Look at the left side of your monitor and tell me the last line that has a red light lit. Do you see that?"

"Yes, I wondered what those little lights were on my monitor. The last red light is on line number 23."

"Good, I'll move my face out of the way into the corner of your screen and pull down your info from line 1 through line 23. By the way, do you have the duplex screen?"

"What's that?"

"A new monitor that divides the screen in two and compresses the type so that you get more information per screen. Just push the compress key on your keyboard and it will change itself if you have that feature."

"Neat! I now have your image on the right side of my screen and all my text on the left side. That's really something."

"Okay, I see that you want to conduct a SUIC with females who are primary grocery shoppers between the ages of 21-54 and who have used Bubble Clean in the past three months. You don't have an incidence but I can give you that in a moment. The interview is 20 minutes long. You have three age groups with 25 percent in Cell A, 50 percent in Cell B and 25 percent in Cell C. Unfortunately, you want to do this on paper. Did you know that almost 95 percent of our SUIC interviews are done on computers?"

"Really? I didn't know that. I always thought that technology would affect how research would be done but I really haven't read much in the trade journals or attended any of the Marketing Research Association's seminars on emerging technologies. Every time I ask my boss about going to one of those conferences, he says that technology can't replace people power. I believed him but I can see where I could have been more educated by at least attending some conferences to see if changes were happening that could improve the research process and the quality of data that we collect."

"Well, it's unfortunate that your boss felt that way. In the past three years there have been some major improvements spearheaded by industry visionaries who have developed interactive data collection processes that are quite impressive. I'll send you a CD-ROM that I got last year at an MRA conference that demonstrates many of these improvements. Getting back to your project, are there any other qualifiers?"

"No, that's it."

"Okay, let me test the interview length first for accuracy. Do you have the interview in a file on your computer?"

"Yes, I do but I can't show it to you until we finish estimating and scheduling. Client security, you know."

"That's okay. I don't need to see the interview itself. I will access your file from here and use my 'Compute Length' software to verify the 20 minutes. To prevent me from seeing the text, just push your F2 key, type in the file name, and then push enter. The text is now in a scan only mode and cannot be copied anywhere by anyone. Is that okay with you? You'll have to trust me on this one."

"All right, I've done that. What now?"

"My software has already read your file and estimates that the interview will not be 20 minutes. It will be exactly 30.5 minutes, on average, adjusted for your age groups. The younger respondents will complete this in 22 minutes and the older respondents in 34 minutes. Based on your quotas, the net average will be 30.5 minutes."

"But my client says it's 20 minutes."

"I understand, but wouldn't you rather have the exact length computed now so that you won't have problems when you start data collection?"

"I must do what my client says, regardless of the aftershock, so just please estimate the project at 20 minutes."

"Okay, but I'll be calling you for a new bid after the first day."

"That's okay. But I can only authorize additional money if you can absolutely prove to me that the interview is longer than 20 minutes."

"Proving it will be easy. We automatically record time start and end time with a device that is part of the interviewing table. I can't tell you exactly what it is since we hope to market this device to the industry soon. In our test runs, we were absolutely correct in 500 out of 500 interviews. The interview itself will be encoded with the exact length of time so that you can scan the code into your tabulation package, assuming, of course, that you have the right tabulation package. At the end of the project, we have a master file that tells us the exact length of interview by each person by age and gender or any other demographic criteria that you may find important."

"Please, I'm getting information overload. Let's just talk money now and technology later. I really do need to get up-to-date so maybe we can have a conversation later in the week. For now, can you give me an estimate."

"Okay, since you don't have incidence, I'll need to access our database and check for usage of Bubble Clean. It will take about five seconds. While it's crunching, I want to let you know that our database search is set to only look at usage within a five-mile radius of our SUIC center. Here it is. Usage in the age groups you are looking at is 18.2 percent. It's a good thing you called us here at Cyberspace Research since I also checked our competitor's SUIC center with the same five-mile radius parameter and their incidence is only 8.7 percent. Additionally, most of their usage is in the older age group which you have limited to 25 percent of the total 50 interviews. So their net incidence would come out to be about 4.7 percent. The age dispersion in our trading zone is just right so that our estimated net incidence will stay at 18.2 percent."

"That's interesting but is it correct? And how did you know that it is only 50 interviews ? I never told you that and it's not on my screen."

"Easy, when I pulled the file down, I checked for hidden screen changes. In line 20 of your specs, you had typed 50 interviews but backspaced over it to delete the number of interviews. You then typed 100 interviews but also backspaced over that. I surmise that your client has not decided on the absolute number of interviews yet or the number of cities. I'll give you an estimate for the 50 but bear in mind that if you change that to less than 50, the estimate will have to be increased so that our briefing and setup costs are fully covered. Of course, if you want to complete more than 50 there will not be a cost adjustment as long as incidence and length hold true."

"That's scary! You have all this information at your fingertips that quickly and to that level of precision? How'd you get all that information stored and accessible?"

"I'd really like to tell you that but I can't. Trade secrets, you know."

"Too bad, but I understand. It's not easy keeping competitive information secret anymore. It just isn't like the 1980s. So just tell me your quote and please send me a letter confirming your cost and assumptions."

"If you do the project with us at the specs you gave, length of 20 minutes and on paper, the cost per interviews is $23. However, you might want to consider doing it on computer with the same voice conducting the interview and the respondent clicking in their answers. That cost is $16 per interview. Obviously, the quality and turnaround will be greatly improved and at a lower price."

"It's 30 percent less to use your technology? Why is that? Never mind. My boss doesn't trust technology. He wouldn't listen to your recommendation anyhow. He likes to see respondent answers right in front of him."

"It's unfortunate that your boss thinks that way. Where would our space program be if we didn't trust technology? What would the banking industry look like if we didn't trust technology. What about the entertainment industry? How would Disney World operate? How would we track airplanes across our skies each minute without the new technology? How would we make a picture telephone call or conference by video without it?"

"I know you're right. He's just a little old-fashioned."

"Old-fashioned is being kind! However, if we can give him the exact answers by question by respondent in printed form for $2 more per interview that would look just like a fully completed paper interview, would your boss go for that? He would still realize a major cost savings."

"Naw, he's too much ingrained in the past to appreciate the future. That's probably why we only have a few clients left. Most of the others have left the old world to get into the new world of technology. I've been trying to get him to use simple computer-aided interviewing since 1993. He doesn't see the future because he . . . never mind, I'd better not say anymore. Just confirm the quote of $23 in writing by fax."

"Already done. The quote, confirmation letter with the specs we bid on, warnings about length, and an analysis of our incidence computations should be printing out in your office now. I've also included quotes for 10, 20, 30, 40, 60, 70, 80, 90 and 100 interviews at incidence levels of 18.2 percent, 4.7 percent, and 23.4 percent."

"My gosh, it is printing. How'd you do that? Never mind, don't tell me. You know I could learn a lot about this technology from you as well as from the Marketing Research Association. Do you ever get to New York City?"

(Zap, clang, crunch, gurgle, gush.)

"How did you get here so fast?!"

(Buuuuuuzzzzzz.)

"Honey, the alarm just went off, time to get up for work. Isn't today the day you do your final test for hologram transcendence over the interactive highway? You know, where you can send a real image of yourself anywhere in just a matter of seconds."

"Well, yes, but I don't know if it is fully perfected yet. The last test we did went without a hitch but I hope I don't fry myself with this technology. Remember what happened to Bill! I'm sure it will be okay, though, we've made many new improvements since Bill's original test. Let's forget that for a moment because I need to tell you something really important while I'm getting ready for work. Last night I had this really vivid dream . . .

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Dream? Reality? A little of both?

Many of us in the research industry know that technology will affect our professional and personal lives dramatically in the next few years. This article contains information about many software applications that are being used in research and in other business fields. Some of the applications presented here are available only through the author's imagination. But we can never forget that the beauty of technology lies in the fact that it has an infinite life. It can only stop affecting us when there is no more world to be affected. To not embrace or learn about how we can apply technology to our business is shortsighted. Learning to apply it creatively is farsighted.

We need only check our eyesight.