At The Market Research Event 2011 (TMRE) earlier this week I had the pleasure of attending over a dozen sessions and keynote speeches and, quite frankly, I was wowed by the programming. Working at a magazine that’s been around for over 25 years now, it’s crucial to stay current on new research trends and technologies. After three days in Orlando it became clear that there’s no shortage of innovation and creative applications available to researchers.
As I’m an editor at a research magazine and not a research practitioner, I admittedly don’t have a solid grasp on what’s happening in the trenches. After all, I don’t work in one! So on Tuesday night I chatted over cocktails with two client-side researchers and two supplier-side researchers about their impressions of the TMRE programming. I was surprised to hear that they thought it wasn’t totally reflective of what’s happening in the industry.
One client-side researcher commented that despite all the sessions that included subconscious/biometric/neurormarketing research, she was under the impression that very few people in attendance actually have the budget to employ those kinds of methods. They’re too new, too wild, too expensive. Innovation in corporate research departments is a “culture thing,” she said. It’s a top-down decision and many research departments haven’t been given the go-ahead to take some chances and (quite possibly) make some mistakes.
A supplier-side researcher lamented how difficult it is to convince clients of the efficacy of psych- and science-heavy methodologies when they’re accustomed to trusting what the respondent says as the truth.
Another supplier-side researcher said that he is interested in the trends but believes “No one is doing what they’re talking about.”
I asked what sessions they thought were the standouts was surprised to hear that they were more interested in repurposing their established talents: enhancing deliverables with data visualization; using technology to simplify trusted techniques; learning how to build a great team a la Coke’s Stan Sthanunathan; and getting advice from Ford on how to be leaner, meaner and still have a work-life balance.
In addition to attending conferences, I hope that through Quirk’s, we’re helping researchers accomplish their goal of trying to improve constantly. I wonder sometimes if a case study featuring mail surveys or straightforward focus groups is too simple, old hat or outmoded. But if it’s applicable, accessible and impressive? It’s enough to satisfy researchers’ quest for self-improvement, even without being flashy.
OK, so researchers may not have permission to go full steam ahead with new methodologies. But exposure to cutting-edge techniques through publications like Quirk’s and through attending conferences is meant to help researchers stretch and grow and, with any luck, gain the courage to hone new skills. Even if implementing those new skills is still months or years away. If talking with my sample of four at TMRE taught me anything it’s that we need to be as present- as we are forward-looking.