Top Industry Issues

Some tidbits from the Confirmit Research Software report in this month's Quirk's...

  • MR professionals across the world consider falling response rates to be the No. 1 challenge facing the industry. So-called professional respondents and availability of sample to conduct research are problems two and three, respectively. All of the nominated top three sit squarely on the respondent-facing side of the research triangle, revealing an industry concerned about its raw material above all else.

  • Time and cost - classic business issues - are rated highly in the overall mix (we asked respondents to select up to three challenges) but come well down the list of No. 1 worries. These are issues more within the control of the research companies themselves. Ten percent of respondents consider turnaround time (from fieldwork to delivery) the top issue, but 37 percent have it as one of their top three concerns, just one point behind professional respondents and availability of sample as overall concerns.

  • Response rates and professional respondents are very much North American preoccupations, it seems. Europe shares concerns over response rates and also client expectations on project turnaround time, but a fifth are concerned with the inaccessibility of research results to decision makers, once the research is done.

It seems like Europeans have a much better handle on adopting new technologies and adapting methodologies. As Invoke grows in Europe, its fascinating to see how stubborn US researchers can be.

If you're a Quirk's online member you can read the whole article about the report at:
https://www.quirks.com/articles/2008/20080208.aspx?searchID=8108661&sort=5

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