There is a lot of talk about “gamification” at the moment in Market Research circles. As well as the proponents there are quite a few detractors. They seem to see research as a “serious” subject not to be trivialized or polluted by “gamificiation”. The problem is that they fail to understand the power of games. They also fail to understand how fundamental games are to human thought. Far from being trivial, games are a fundamental necessity for us in our cognitive development. Continue reading »

Today I am very pleased to announce that the Technology Driven Market Research event is now TDI3: Technology Driven Intelligence, Insights & Implications! Continue reading »

You can tell it’s almost Autumn; the days are getting a bit shorter, cooler weather is creeping in (slowly, but surely) and there is a flurry of activity as everyone prepares for many of the big MR industry conferences and events: AMA, ESOMAR, NewMR and TMRE. Things are no different here: I am grateful to have been asked to participate in all of them, plus a few smaller ones. I’m looking forward to each for different reasons, so I thought I’d do a little rundown of the events I’m going to be involved with and why I’m excited by them. Here they are! Continue reading »

An article in the July 2011 issue of Research Live got me thinking about how much industry structures in MR could change in the coming years. Continue reading »

Innovation in online survey platforms is almost oxymoronic these days, but leave it to Vision Critical to find a way to make it happen. With Quick Reports being incorporated into their Sparq offering, Vision Critical has solved a major usability issue for most survey solutions by creating an intuitive, flexible, and most of all useful module for data analysis that goes far in eliminating the need for secondary tabulation packages during the analysis process. Continue reading »

Several marketing research trade groups have been exploring online research privacy issues, in the hopes of establishing common standards and a code of conduct to govern how “responsible” researchers should treat consumer data. An earlier debate on privacy practices in the social media age can be summed up (in my opinion) in two words: losing battle. This is particularly true as it relates to games research — console, handheld, casual, or any other. Continue reading »

So Google is a Phone manufacturer too. How does that change the game? Continue reading »

Today Andrew Jeavons, EVP at Survey Analytics, moderated a fascinating live debate on data privacy in market research. The virtual debate has been brewing in blogs, LinkedIn, and Twitter for some time, but a discussion paper on the topic from the MRS and new draft guidelines from CASRO brought this issue back to the forefront in recent weeks.

This webinar featured leaders from each of the three major market research associations, as well as industry opinion leaders on the topic. Here is what the six participants had to say in their opening statements. Continue reading »

We just wrapped the Market Research Data Privacy Debate, and it went really well. I hosted the event but left the debate to others eminently qualified to discuss the issues involved. However, I do have a point of view on the topic and I thought I’d put forth my reasoning on why I think the MR trade orgs have it wrong in their suggested guidelines governing the use of social media data in market research. Continue reading »

Of the 1,327 unique links shared with the Twitter #MRX community these past two weeks, here are the 10 most retweeted. Continue reading »