Archive for April, 2010
All Article Marketing Directories Are Not Created Equal
Are you looking for a way to reach out and show the world what you know? Article marketing is a potential channel for your thought leadership and/or research results. However, as we discussed in an earlier blog posting there is more to it than simply submitting an article to any old directory and hoping you will see results.
A careful (and ongoing) search through the available article directories has shown that not all Article Directories are created equal. Performance measured as views varies widely from a few hits to hundreds and even thousand of hits for the same articles.
There are a number of possible factors involved. To be fair my tests have been restricted to content related to market research, web analytics, and social media. However, there are a couple of issues that are probably not related to the content.
One factor is the presentation. Some directories allow for a presentation of the content using formatting that makes the article easier to read, other directories not so much. Of course, the audience each directory attracts is also a large part of the mix. In addition, one has to wonder if the better directories (e.g., those that provide more tools to authors) attract better authors and hence better articles.
There are a number of criteria, which are applicable to rating directories. I have personally checked and evaluated over 100 sites from a list of well over 500 sites claiming to be an article directory. Most either don’t work or have major flaws. Of those that do work many are, to be blunt, terrible – they don’t have a reliable means for authentication, they are to say the least slow to approve content, and they have few if any tools available to authors to monitor activity and outcomes.
There are, fortunately, a few very good directories, and a few reasonably good ones, and a few more that are good enough to make the effort worth it, but we’ll get into all that next time.
Do you want to:
- Raise the bar on questionnaire design in your organization?
- Find a cost-effective way to start designing questionnaires?
- Prepare for a new market research project?
- Improve your research skills?
If you answered Yes to any of these questions we have a Special Offer perfect for you.
Nine Essential Research Design Parameters
In product manufacturing “Form Follows Function,” similarly, in research design, the approach must fit the objectives. This includes developing an experimental or quasi-experimental design, determining sample requirements, data collection methods, and the analytic approach. Craft each part of the research design to optimize the results. Part of the research design is to establish the research parameters. Here is a checklist to get you started.
Project Parameters Check List:
- Type of respondent (e.g., CxO, LOB, Developers)
- Number of market segments (e.g., company sizes, industries, adoption criteria)
- Length of the interview (e.g., 10 minutes – 2 hours)
- Number of questions (e.g., 10, 25, 35, more?)
- Data collection method (e.g., online, telephone, in-person, focus group, other)
- Geographic scope (e.g., N. America, Europe, World Wide)
- Total sample size (e.g., less than 100 or several thousand)
- Analysis requirements (e.g., descriptive, predictive, market weighted, multivariate)
- Type and scope of the deliverables (e.g., executive summary, presentation, report, webcast, white paper, cross tabulations or banners)
These are just simple guidelines and you should use them not as an end-point, but rather as a starting point to develop your own checklists.
Please help me out - tell a friend about this blog. Thanks! http://researchplaybook.wordpress.com/
Using an Inappropriate Analytical Approach
Just as research designs and data collection methodologies dictate the validity of the research, so too does the analytic approach dictate the ultimate value of the results. The use of a particular statistical test should support the analytic approach documented in the Analysis Plan and be consistent with the data types in the study (e.g., one should not use a parametric test with non-parametric data).
Selection of an analytical approach should map to the research design, a decision that will have been made much earlier in the research process. For example, you might want to employ grid analysis to determine the perceived importance of a business objective and the company’s ability to achieve it. Unless you have designed parallel questions and scaled the importance and ability metrics correctly, you would be unable to use a grid analysis appropriately.
Other examples of issues related to the proper analytic approach include:
- Weighting data correctly
- Using qualitative results quantitatively
- Ignoring outliers
- Using a paired t-test when a one-way ANOVA is needed
- Selecting multivariate analyses (e.g., cluster versus factor analysis)
Of course, this is only a sample of the issues one must think through when approaching the analysis phase of a project. If you are unsure of the pitfalls seek help.
Are you serious about:
- Raising the bar on questionnaire design in your organization
- Finding a cost-effective way to start designing questionnaires
- Preparing for a new market research project
- Improving your research skills
If so, check out our Special Offer page it’s perfect for you!
If You Remember Anything Remember This Research Axiom – Part II
A poor questionnaire design is one possible fatal mistake (see Part I), but wait, not so fast, we’re not done yet, there is another Research Axiom you must consider – good solid sample development is also necessary.
Research Axiom Two: You can never fully recover from a sample that lacks validity; and once again:
- No manipulation of the variables, regardless of how cleverly done
- No amount of analysis, regardless of how brilliant
- No degree of insightful interpretation, regardless of intellectual prowess
Nothing can save you from a poorly developed sample!
The value of sample development is frequently underappreciated, as are the skills related to creating a valid sample. Project managers, research analysts, and all the professionals who lose sleep over sample quality are worth their weight in gold. With numerous challenges to good sample development always hovering over us, if the research team conducting the study does not pay close attention to this critically important task the chances of deriving useful results are likely to diminish quickly.
One of the worst situations to be in, is standing in front of a room full of executives and presenting the research implications when from off in the far corner an executive vice president (EVP) asks you, “Are you sure about that finding? Who were these respondents? They don’t appear to have any knowledge about the market or our products.”
If you can definitively reply, “We believe the respondents in this sample are qualified” and then give a crisp response about the quality control (QC) steps used to verify the validity of the sample, you have saved the day.
If on the other hand, you hesitate and cannot defend the validity of the sample, you have lost your audience – there is nothing more they want to hear from you because in their minds the voices of the respondents do not reflect the people they are trying to reach – the day ends badly.
If you do not care about the quality of the research you conduct, well shame on you, but at least recognize that a sample of good quality is a necessity for self-preservation – enough said.
See our Special Offer it’s perfect for anyone serious about:
- Raising the bar on questionnaire design in his or her organization
- Finding a cost-effective way to start designing questionnaires
- Preparing for a new market research project
- Improving his or her research skills
Develop and Refine Project Objectives
How often have you heard this advice? It never seems to be said enough or is it said enough, but not heeded enough?
The process of developing project objectives begins when you write the proposal or statement of work (SOW). Articulating project objectives is obviously a critical step in any research project, but it is really two steps. You need to specify both the research objectives and the business objectives. The research team must work with the client or stakeholder (often not just one person) to develop clear achievable objectives that meet the client’s needs within the resources available for the work.
Sometimes easier said than done, the development of achievable goals is in everyone’s best interest. As a provider, you’re always sensitive to and watching for project creep, which can create expectations difficult to meet. However, clients should also be watchful of project creep. Projects that grow beyond the available resources and require more than what was agreed to in the Request for Proposals (RFP) or Statement of Work (SOW) put the whole endeavor at risk.
In the best of all worlds, the market research firm’s task is to keep expectations realistic and then do everything in their power to over deliver. The client’s job is to remain realistic and with luck be pleasantly surprised if they receive more value than they expected. This may seem idealistic, but I contend this mindset would enhance our professional lives regardless of which side of the table you sit on. The perfect match occurs when market research firms provide fair value for the price paid and clients understand the limitations of the resources available. Here is sequence of events to help guide the process.
Objectives Management:
1. Objectives Statement, SOW, or RFP from Client
2. Market research firm understands requirements
3. Research planning process begins
4. Project team assigned to write the proposal
5. Hypothesis formulation with client
6. Study design formulated to address objectives
7. Initial proposal [or SOW]
8. Q & A with client stakeholders
9. Revisions to proposal [or SOW]: (a. and b. in parallel)
a. Proposal review by client stakeholders
b. Proposal review by research team
- Feasibility assessment
- Data collection method decision
- Study design fits objectives
- Fielding resources aligned
- Analysis plan is appropriate
- Build a “Doable” project schedule
- Staff resources assigned
- Set up weekly project team meetings
10. Communicate all issues to be resolved
11. Revise proposal
12. Requirements addressed > IF NOT > Go Back to Step 9
13. Proposed approach sent to client
14. Project awarded?
- YES > Great!
- NO > Attempt to understand reasons
Assuming you are awarded the project much of the planning and preparation is complete – you’ve done a good deal of work and it will payoff.
BTW here is a Special Offer; perfect if you are serious about:
- Raising the bar on questionnaire design in his or her organization
- Finding a cost-effective way to start designing questionnaires
- Preparing for a new market research project
- Improving his or her research skills
Article (Content) Marketing a New-Old Approach
Typically, we report on market research topics, but today we deviate slightly to talk about a channel for the research results you want to share with the world. Content marketing and more specifically article marketing has been around a long time. In fact, longer than the first time you heard the word “Internet” and certainly before Internet marketing came to be.
Back in the day, White Papers were just that, papers, distributed as hard copy during conferences, briefings, and sales calls. If you are too young to remember the way it was that’s Okay it’s not your fault. Someday a generation of people won’t remember Web 2.0 either.
Article marketing, at least the online version, which is a specific instance of content marketing, is now one of the “older” methods of creating visibility for you as an author or your company’s value proposition, website, or blog. However, it stills has plenty of life left.
It is at once both straightforward and complex. The straightforward part is writing content in the form of an article, signing up with an article directory, and submitting your content for distribution. The not so straightforward part is getting value from this set of tasks. For example, submitting to only one article directory is not sufficient nor is it likely you will achieve much with one article. Content marketing requires a commitment of time and resources.
Results are likely to come slowly, but the mantra for success is consistency. Both your audience (and the directory editors) will appreciate and reward you for providing consistent and frequent value. If you aren’t using article marketing it is worth considering. If you are using it or decide to start writing articles remember one very important thing: the content must be about ”them” not you!
Milestones in the Primary Research Continuum
In a series of posts, we will explore ways to derive the maximum value from primary research studies. To achieve this objective we use nine milestones, which collectively we will call the Primary Research Continuum. (PRC)
Each of the nine major milestones in the PRC builds on the work of milestones that precede it. While we will discuss each milestone, one at a time, the truth is much of the work occurs in parallel. However, the final step is only as good as the quality of the steps that preceded it.
The final step of providing insights, implications, conclusions, and on occasion recommendations is the “Holy Grail” of the research endeavor. Short of this, we leave significant value untapped and none of us wants our work to become shelf-ware, so let’s roll up our sleeves and get started.
Nine Milestones in the Primary Research Continuum
- Develop and Refine Project Objectives
- Design the Research Approach
- Design the Research Instrument
- Analysis Plan
- Sample Plan
- Sample Development and Data Collection Methods
- Analytics
- Reporting
- Presentation of Results, Implications, Conclusions, and Recommendations
The full value of the research engagement is achieved when the results provide consultative outcomes based on empirical data. This may appear obvious, but it is an important point. Its one thing to say the words it is much harder to deliver on these words.
In this series, we will briefly discuss each of the nine milestones above and then in subsequent writing continue to discuss “How to” issues. Once you have finished reading the series your research IQ will be a few percentage point higher and very likely (unless you’re a 20 year veteran with two PhD degrees) higher by 5-10%.
Stay tuned for the start of this new series very soon!
If You Remember Anything Remember This Research Axiom – Part I
There are two complimentary research tasks, which are essential building blocks of market research, but at times they are relegated to the back of the line on research projects. The first is a strong questionnaire design and the second is the task of high quality sample development. Putting both building blocks in place is the equivalent of a good building frame on top of a good foundation.
Research Axiom One: You can never fully recover from a poorly written questionnaire.
- No manipulation of the variables, regardless of how cleverly done
- No amount of analysis, regardless of how brilliant
- No degree of insightful interpretation, regardless of intellectual prowess
Nothing can save you from a poor research foundation. The building will collapse like a house of cards!
If there is one part of the research process that I know, it is questionnaire design. It is a task repeatedly given insufficient time and attention. Clients and research professional alike often underestimate the time it will take to develop a truly well structured and concise instrument.
What amazes me most? Project leaders relegate this task to a status depicted by the attitude of: “Once the questionnaire is done we can get on with the important stuff, like analysis and reporting.” The assumption that analysis work is the essence of the research and the expectation that interpreting the results is where the mastery of research ultimately lies is a mystery to me.
Have we not pounded the concept of garbage-in garbage-out into our heads? Can new internet tools substitute for critical thinking and the hard work of aligning the research instrument to the purpose of the study to answer the business questions that sponsors paid to learn?
If this seems like a bit of a rant, well I guess I am guilty. My own research-on-research including the use of a 30-point questionnaire audit system has shown me that even well healed researchers are less diligent about quality than one would hope. Research is not only science it is a craft [perhaps an art] and if the proper fundamentals are not applied, the product is less than artful.
I will end this part of my ranting with an analogy [but don't be surprised to hear more on this topic]. If you have not studied and then practiced writing poetry, would you expect to publish a book of poems simply because the marketing department asked you to? Designing a good quality research instrument probably takes less talent than being a good poet, but it’s close.
Stay tuned – Part II next week
For more info on market research and questionnaire design read Questionnaire Design for Business Research, now available! Click on this link: http://bit.ly/Questionnaire_Design
And, I have a Special Offer perfect for anyone serious about:
• Raising the bar on questionnaire design in his or her organization
• Finding a cost-effective way to start designing questionnaires
• Preparing for a new market research project
• Improving his or her research skills
http://bit.ly/Q_DesignSpecialOffer
Ignore or Misuse the Power of Incentives at Your Own Risk
The research industry has created competition for hard to find and/or highly influential respondents. You and your competition are often trying to extract information from the same limited pool of professional people.
For example, as you probably already know many companies are interested in the daily activities, buying criteria, and purchasing plans of CxOs in Global 1000 companies. In addition, medical doctors and other healthcare professionals, high-ranking business executives in small and medium size businesses (SMB), and many other key decision-makers are all over surveyed. As a result, these types of respondents are difficult to recruit for participation in focus groups, telephone and in-person interviews, and web studies.
Incentives can certainly help. Cash and cash equivalents, calculators, binoculars, organizers, GPS systems, and the newest electronic devices on the market all work. Unfortunately, incentive costs have increased over the years. We now talk about the one-two punch something for the person and something for the organization or a small incentive for everyone and a chance to win something really interesting, with good odds.
Use of incentives can be a double-edged sword, that is, the more valuable the incentive the more likely you are to attract bogus respondents – the 17-year-old who passes himself off as the CIO for Hyatt Hotels or the 20 something that has been a small businessman for 25 years. These are the unintended consequences of an incentive rich environment and this very real phenomenon requires the researcher to take additional steps to safeguard sample integrity.
Another hurdle you may need to jump is the policies of corporations that do not permit their employees to accept incentives. One work around is to offer the option to donate the value of the incentive to charity. In fact, some researchers have had reasonable results going directly to the charitable donation route. Allowing respondents to choose a charity, usually from a short list, can achieve response rates similar to direct gifts. One caution is to select politically and religiously neutral organizations, this is always a little tricky, be careful.
Another incentive that at times can provide significant traction is a summary of the findings geared to the respondents’ interests. This is enormously valuable if the respondent can view his or her own or their company’s performance against that of their peers, especially if results are provided within specific vertical market segments or company size classes. However, the power of this incentive is not always high and one must use experience and judgment in applying its use – and remember it is not free someone, possibly you, has to write the content!
For more info on market research and incentives read Questionnaire Design for Business Research, now available! Click on this link: http://bit.ly/Questionnaire_Design
And, I have a Special Offer perfect for anyone serious about:
• Raising the bar on questionnaire design in his or her organization
• Finding a cost-effective way to start designing questionnaires
• Preparing for a new market research project
• Improving his or her research skills
http://bit.ly/Q_DesignSpecialOffer
Blog Series: Approaches to Data Collection
During the past few weeks, we published a series of topics related to data collection (about one per week). The first entry was Data Collection an Eclectic Approach and it appeared on Feb 24, 2010. This short series is now complete, although we will certainly continue to write about data collection.
The blog post on Tues Aril 6, 2010 ended our series. For ease of access here are the hyperlinks to each post in the series:
Data Collection an Eclectic Approach
Advantages of Web-Based Data Collection
When to Use Telephone Interviewing
A Critical Alignment – Questionnaire Design and Data Collection
Using an Ill-Suited Data Collection Methodology
Using a Hybrid Data Collection Approach
Telephone vs. Web-based Study Cost Structures
You can also download most of the content in these posts by going to our website http://www.atheath.com/MRRC
The document is titled: Telephone vs Web Data Collection and it is listed under the heading of Free Papers
We plan to write additional blog posts in series like this one and we welcome your thoughts on subjects that are of highest interest to you.
Stay tuned for the start of a new topical series very soon!
