Defending Market Research
An interesting post today over at Nigel Hollis' blog about academics at the 7th Annual Marketing Directors Conference in Athens, Greece minimizing the value of research in their speeches.
When probed further they stated that it was the literal interpretation and simple surveys they were referring to.
I think the big difference between quality research and simple data collection is the value proposition that all good custom research firms provide. We may write better questionnaires or more tightly manage projects, but the special sauce is generally in the interpretation of data, not the collection of it. And just as much in the evangelization of it (or at least facilitating evangelization).
As Andy Vranesic of GE Healthcare said in our joint webinar today (watch here) - 10% of it is the research, 90% is putting the research to work in a business context.
When probed further they stated that it was the literal interpretation and simple surveys they were referring to.
I think the big difference between quality research and simple data collection is the value proposition that all good custom research firms provide. We may write better questionnaires or more tightly manage projects, but the special sauce is generally in the interpretation of data, not the collection of it. And just as much in the evangelization of it (or at least facilitating evangelization).
As Andy Vranesic of GE Healthcare said in our joint webinar today (watch here) - 10% of it is the research, 90% is putting the research to work in a business context.
Comments
Survey Business