James Hammond, The Brand Doctor says:
I’ve never been a great fan of market research. Not because I don’t believe in it, but mainly the fact that I read so much nowadays of how research results have been skewed, flawed, biased…you name it, research appears to be guilty of it.
When it comes to branding and marketing, a great deal of research is undertaken using the self-report or questionnaire method, where participants provide information about their feelings, attitudes, beliefs and preferences by ticking the boxes of pre-determined questions. These can take the form of ‘closed’ questions (those that can be answered by a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’) aimed at providing quantitative results, or ‘open’ questions that attempt to delve deeper into the whys and wherefores of choices made by respondents – qualitative answers. Alternatively, interviewers with a typical clipboard will ask pre-set questions and do the ‘ticking’ on therespondent’s behalf. Typical results from self-report/questionnaire ‘research’ Continue Reading…