From blogs discussing workplace negotiations, to magazine and e-newsletter articles covering consumer empathy, health care research, innovation and more, we’ve been on the receiving end of so many quality submissions that we were proud to publish in 2021.
Below, you will find a selection of our editors’ favorite articles from the last year. It was a challenge to narrow our lists down to just these few!
Editors’ choice articles 2021
(listed in no particular order)
The modern-day ad industry: Top employee concerns
From the Mad Men era to today’s creative zeitgeist, the advertising industry has experienced quite the transformation. The industry, the work it produces and its clients are frequently studied and discussed. Industry and cultural changes have also impacted ad executives and companies benefit from studying their employees just as closely. Delivering on employees’ wants and needs will help attract top talent, increase satisfaction, lead to better work, reduce turnover and have a positive impact on the bottom line. Read more.
12 basic rules for better marketing research
As a marketing researcher, one has a variety of business experiences. In fact, a nice feature of the profession is that one is exposed to many different industries and many different business issues over time. Having been both client-side and vendor/supplier-side in the course of a career, I’ve seen clear patterns emerge. Marketing researchers are trained to seek patterns. Read more.
Conversational insights: Consumer empathy is a C-level concern -
It’s easy to become myopic in the world of business. Reducing customers to statistics and always eyeing KPIs is only natural; success lies in the numbers. Yet the more insular an organization gets, the more divorced it can be from the everyday reality of consumers lives – the thoughts and aspirations they hold, and the motivational factors that drive their spending habits. Read more.
The rise of cultural empathy and its implications for marketing research and marketing
The disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color has exposed and highlighted inequities as well as accelerated the decline of BIPOC trust, especially in heritage brands, government, the justice and health care systems and society at large. For brands, in today’s world – one rife with rising hate crimes, systemic racism and discrimination, instability and economic hardship – expressing empathy is, at minimum, table stakes. BIPOCs, especially Gen Z, are demanding more authentic engagement and active participation in their communities from the corporations and brands that sell to them and use their labor, as is evidenced by corporate giants Delta and Coca-Cola’s position reversal on the Georgia Election Integrity Act of 2021. Read more.
Expert qualitative moderators explore tips for handling uncomfortable situations in research
After a recent in-depth interview Alex* (not their real name) felt very uncomfortable because the person being interviewed kept making racist remarks. The comments were not directed at them and were not related to the topic of discussion, but they still left Alex feeling uncomfortable. During the interview Alex let the interviewee speak and just listened, but afterward wondered if their silence might have signaled agreement. Should Alex have said how they really felt about it during the interview? Read more.
The 4 brand superpowers that enable the ultimate B2B customer experience
Everyone knows that great B2B customer experiences are more important than ever. Research by Forrester, McKinsey, the Temkin Group and Rosetta – to name but a few – underscores the significant commercial benefits for businesses that have great B2B customer experiences. Read more.
Refreshing online qual at Microsoft: Best practices during COVID-19
Microsoft’s Research + Insights team has been on a long journey toward research innovation, focusing on digital transformation. This effort has allowed the team to use pioneering techniques, connecting survey and behavioral data to better understand market mix and revenue growth opportunities, and increasing the use of other sources of data – like telemetry and social – for richer insights. Read more.
How a zero-sum mind-set can undermine workplace negotiations
Employees and the organizations in which they are embedded are complex human beings and entities. But when it comes to things like hiring, negotiations and fostering creativity, there is often a tendency to reject such complexity and see things as “either-or” or “winner vs. loser.” However, it doesn’t have to be that way, says Maryland Smith’s Rellie Derfler-Rozin. Read more.
Collective grief and qualitative research: Creating authentic connections in 2021
2020 changed everything for many people.
While collective grief affects many, certain subsets of people are impacted in different ways. As a qualitative researcher, listening to and interpreting key human truths from respondents of all types is a central skill that we all must work to finesse. As we listen to respondents to unearth truths, it is important to consider the potential backdrop of collective grief that may contextualize respondents’ experiences during research engagements. Read more.
A new approach to insights on doctor/patient relationships
For some health care researchers, it can feel like standard qualitative interviewing techniques (even the more cutting-edge projective ones) miss the mark in uncovering the true dynamic between a doctor and her/his patient when discussing treatment options and making decisions. In-office ethnography, while considered the gold standard, has become increasingly complex and cost-prohibitive due to regulatory and privacy concerns. In addition, the speed with which health care clients need insights to inform decision-making has accelerated, placing an even greater burden on qualitative methods that weren’t designed (or intended) to quickly produce findings. Read more.
Best practices for navigating the client/vendor RFP process
When Joni Mitchell sings, “I’ve looked at life from both sides now” she could easily be describing my career as both a client and a research vendor. I have written the RFPs and awarded millions of dollars in research and I have answered the RFPs and won millions, not to mention lost millions, as well. Read more.
Seasoned disruptors know preparation and research are keys to success
The concept of disruptive innovation is often spoken of, but perhaps not completely understood. Simply defined, it is the process in which an underrated, or unexpected, product or service starts to become popular enough to replace (or displace) an established product or service already on the market. Read more.
Using cognitive demographics to reframe how we think of and categorize people
In order to field any type of research study, one has to interact with people – whether it is an in-person conversation or a self-administered questionnaire. Companies have spent inordinate amounts of money creating demographic and segmentation profiles of their customers, potential customers and “non-users.” They rely on these demographic specifications and segmentation profiles to determine who is or is not included in research. These categorizations are also used as guidelines for organizing databases and determining what potential research participant sample might be purchased. The people included in research are a major prism through which research data/findings are analyzed and business decisions are made. Read more.