What are the opportunities & threats for the survey research industry ?
All too often a certain methodology is used because we may be familiar with it , not because it is the right tool
With so many methodologies at our disposals is it becoming “ too many cooks spoil the broth ”? How should we go about selecting the right methodology for our audience ?
Andrew Jeavons : Methodologies have come from client demand
What are some of the areas that need immediate attention to prepare survey research companies – especially in context with rapidly changing business dynamics ?
Andrew Jeavons : There are two urgent topics that need to be addressed . The first is data security with regard to the EU . The death of the Safe Harbor framework , which allowed data to be imported from the EU onto USA based servers , is a very significant event . The EU is becoming very strict about data privacy and this is something many USA based survey companies have to address immediately . There are no easy solutions , but unless the issue of security and the EU is tackled head on many current multinational survey companies may find they are restricted to USA data collection only .
The second one is , as ever , mobile . The industry has talked for decades about making surveys easier to complete , making them shorter and so forth . The truth is that very little , with a few notable exceptions , has been done about it . In 1998 I wrote a paper for an ESOMAR conference which pointed out that web respondents are more likely to drop out of web surveys on long grid questions . It is now 2016 and I STILL SEE discussions about grids and how they need to be shorter and easier to complete . It seems little has changed for many companies . I think mobile is going to force the industry to amend their ways . Mobile forces surveys to be shorter and more comprehensible ; there is simply no choice in the matter . Using mobiles to access the web is becoming de rigueur for millennial , so surveys have to change . Finally companies will have to address the problems of long , unwieldy surveys . I think this will be painful for many parts of the industry , but it must be done . Long grids , long surveys and poor user interfaces have to be dealt with .
- although on one hand they are a natural evolution of the market place . But as you say , there are a lot of them . Selection of the right tool is a question of education , on both the client and vendor side . The risk is that a poor choice of methodology leads to poor results , but the vendor will inevitably get the blame for this . As vendors we must try our hardest to educate the clients and our staff in the methodologies available to enable informed choice to take place . This requires investment in time and money . All too often a certain methodology is used because we may be familiar with it , not because it is the right tool . In the wider world relational databases are a good example of this . Relational databases are great tools , but they are not always the correct choice . They are used because they are familiar . We have to foster a spirit of inquiry and provide the tools to answer questions easily . Documentation and training is the key .