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Where is market research technology leading us?

It’s time to put the necessity

back into invention

Tim MacerManaging PartnerTim Macer ServicesHampshire, United Kingdom

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AGENDA

1. State of the market in 20022. Where technology could/should be taking

us3. Impact of the Internet, after ‘boom and

bust’4. Standardization5. The challenges of technology for all

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1. The state of the market in 2002

How to back a winner in a 230 horse race

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What is the state of the art?

Relational databases

Open interfaces

Web enablement

Process automation

Ease of use

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What’s hot

ASP-delivered CATI

Sample and panel management systems

Portals and portal development tools

Open interfaces making customization easier

New visual interviewing tools

Multi-mode interviewing

Integration with enterprise databases and data warehouses

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The state of the market in 2002

MR software now a $241 million industry, worldwide1

Software companies employ >1600 people1

Thousands more employed in agencies and research buyers

Over 100 specialist software manufacturers2

Over 230 commercial MR software products2

82 web interviewing products50 CATI products

1Source: Research Software Guide, Jan 20022Source: Research Software Central

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The problems of over-supply

Years of under-investment showing

Endurance of the ‘old way of doing things’Programming scriptsNew suppliers offering functionality the old

ones don’tNew suppliers not offering everything the

old ones do

Developers can’t do everything

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The way forward

Consolidation through acquisition and mergerDifficult to see how

Specialization: the niche within a nicheAlready starting to happen

Co-operation through open standardsAllow customers to pick the ‘best of breed’

solution Integration across vendors

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2. Where technology could (or should) be taking us

It’s time to solve the difficult problems

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The challenges To work faster

Less time on repetitive tasks

To work betterimproved

accuracy; fewer errors

To give more to the clientRicher insights,

more connected

To give more to the respondentMore rewarding

experience

To do all this for less money and still make a

profit

The right technology can help us reach these goals!

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Multimodal data collection

SerialPhone/mail/phoneTelephone recruit/web interview

ParallelRespondent chooses: phone, web, mail inRespondent can switch

The challengesEliminating any reprogramming or

reformattingOvercoming modal differences

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Multimode: who’s doing what

Eliminating modal bias—web, CAPI and kiosk Opinion One CAVI

Web-based CATI/CAPI/CASIGMI, NEBU, Pulse Train

Modal templatesAskia

Interviewer assisted web interviewing Surveyguardian

Multi-mode interview playersSPSS MR Dimensions (in development)

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Candidates for automation

Regular reporting

Managing change on continuous projects

Developing question libraries

Testing and error detection in scripts

Coding, editing and cleaning data

Questionnaire scanning

Eliminating paper records and storage

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Automation: who’s doing what

Report automation Confirmit

Good change management NEBU

Question libraries various but weak

Computer-assisted coding Ascribe

Process automation SPSS MR Script

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Going Paperless: who’s doing what

Paperless report distribution and archiving E-tabs

Report library and research admin for clientsResearch Reporter

Paperless interviewingTechneos Entryware, J-TECH Electronic

Comment Card, M-CAPI Express

Questionnaire ScanningBellview Scan, Eyes & Hands/mrPaper

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Mixed visual/syntax questionnaire authoring

Who does the survey authoring?PD, technician, programmer?

We need editors that work like HTML page design tools such as Frontpage or DreamweaverSyntax preferred by expert usersVisual better for non-technical usersSyntax more efficient for repetitive

functionsVisual more efficient for look and feel

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Better authoring: who’s doing what

The ‘Dreamweaver’ of survey authoringPulse Train’s Visual QSL

Cross-platform authoring toolNIPO and CfMC visual survey editor

Easy importation of Word documentsAskia

Reading others’ questionnaire scriptsGMI

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Visual QSL Visual QSL Pulse TrainPulse Train

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Combining data from multiple sources

Mixing research data with hard data: some techniquesMatch by actual customerCluster analysis and segmentationTime overlay

Creating and using norms for comparisonSpecialist market analysts are taking the

lead

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Integrating with CRM processes

Adding the ‘why’ into knowing ‘what’

Example: Egg, Internet bank in the UKCustomer panelsEvent driven researchAd hoc Extranet for project definition and approvalReal-time reportingEthics: setting clear boundaries between

marketing, MR and CSS activities

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Who’s doing what: multi-source & CRM

Visual tools to merge survey and warehouse data for analysisSPSS Clementine

Ability to read directly from a data warehouseSPSS MR Data Model, Pulse Train’s Pulsar

Sampling from CRM systems + adding data back into the enterprise databaseCenturion’s MaRSC

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ClementineSPSS

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In the future… expert systems?

research design survey authoring translation sampling data cleaning coding automated analytics and data mining

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3. The real impact of the Internet, after the ‘boom and bust’

Sure, if you can prove it’s faster, cheaper and better

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After the froth

Continued growth for data collection in USSlower elsewhere

The web as the means to deliver computing

More focus on delivery: growth of the ‘portal’

Greater collaboration AgencyAgency

ClientClient

AgencyAgencySupplierSupplier

OutworkersOutworkersClientClient

AgencyAgencySupplierSupplier

OutworkersOutworkers

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Portals

Client portals provide real-time access to their research data, current and past projectsMany large research agencies are

providing web access for their clientsRealtime, online or published reports?Project ordering and briefingSurvey testing and approval

Respondent portals allow panelists to manage their own profiles, surveys and create ‘online communities’

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Who’s doing what: Portals

Portal building tools for client and respondent interfacesGMI

Web-based analyticsConfirmit, GMI, Pulse Train, SPSS MR

Respondent portalsNEBU

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Net-MR Portal ManagementGlobal Market Insite

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Working visually

Most web surveys still text based

Next generation will be more visual and more multi-media, sound, animation etc

Not just a gimmick

Aim to improve the interview experience

Faster to complete

Closer to reality

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Who’s doing what: Going visual

Visual interviewing for CASI, web and CAPIOpinionOne CAVI

Web-based quali/quant image-based evaluation and tradeoffGMI in association with 2ndSight

Web-based and ASP-delivered conjoint IdeaMap.Net

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CAVI OpinionOne

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4. Standardization

Enabling us to go for ‘best of breed’

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Proprietary imports and exports are not good enough

Too many competing packages; you may be in a universe of one using your combination

Proprietary data formats can change without notice

Too much effort wasted converting from one format to another

Data are useless without the definitions and texts - the metadata

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XML is not a standard language According to W3C,

“The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is the universal format for structured documents and data on the Web”

Close relative of HTML: both originated from SGML

Lets you create your own definition languages

Increasingly used within MR software for data definition and execution logic

Everyone’s XML is differentEasier to translate but not mutually intelligible

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Initiatives from around the world

Triple-s www.triple-s.org

First published 1994

Originated in the UK but now implemented by 30 vendors worldwide

Exchange data and metadata via exports and imports in a generalized formatVersion 1.1 introduced XML supportNew version 1.2 adds filters, weighting and

multi-language support

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<VARIABLE ID="4"> <NAME>Q4</NAME> <LABEL>Which sights have you visited?</LABEL> <TYPE>MULTIPLE</TYPE> <POSITION>41 TO 42</POSITION> <SPREAD>2</SPREAD> <VALUES> <VALUE CODE="1">Statue of Liberty</VALUE> <VALUE CODE="2">Empire State Building</VALUE <VALUE CODE="3">Times Square</VALUE> <VALUE CODE="4">Central Park</VALUE> <VALUE CODE="5">Rockefeller Center</VALUE> <VALUE CODE="9">Other</VALUE> </VALUES></VARIABLE>

Example triple-s code

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Initiatives from around the world

Open Survey www.opensurvey.org

Not-for-profit organization that promotes open standards for software

Encourages production of open source software for market research

AskML is its proposed XML standard for exchanging survey instruments

TabSML is its working standard for exchange of cross-tabular reports in a generalized format

Also endorses triple-S

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Initiatives from around the world

Object Management Group

www.omg.org

Looks after the Common Warehouse Metamodel

Pan-industry initiative to provide an agreed framework for defining the storage and handling of large amounts of data in data warehouses

Has an Analytic Data Management SIG with links to triple-S and Open Survey

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Initiatives from around the worldData Documentation Initiative

www.icpsr.umich.edu/DDI

Based at the University of Michigan

Developing XML-based tools and open standards

Aims to create machine readable archives of textual descriptions and metadata for past surveys, independently of the original proprietary data formats used

Will overcome future problem of surveys defined in defunct languages

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Initiatives from around the world

SPSS MR Dimensions Data Model

www.spssmr.com

A new open (though proprietary) metadata model for survey data

Can be licensed independently of all SPSS MR products (don’t have to use SPSS software)

Comes with a developers’ library of tools for building applications that will read or write data via the Data Model

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5. The challenges of ‘Technology for all’

Are you licensed to drive that system?

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Technology for all

Researchers and clients want more control and more freedom to access surveys, data and management tools for themselves

Is this the freedom to make mistakesBigger, faster, more expensively…?

Are we putting dangerous weapons in the hands of the innocent ?

Is it the best use of the researcher’s time?

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The wider issues

End of the road for the specwriter and survey programmer?

New technology often means new ways of doing things: new processes and new procedures

Roles and responsibilities will shiftWho gets the blame if the logic or the

weighting is wrong?

The need for the internal technology consultant and advocate

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“Every time I have seen it go wrong it is

because senior management did not

understand the technology. Expecting

the systems or DP department to come

up with the answers is very likely to

give you a systems led solution rather

than a research led solution.”

John O’Brien, Chairman, BMRB International, on implementing new technology, interviewed in Research World, March 2001 (Esomar)

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Take a multi-disciplinary approach

New technology won’t work if it is simply molded around existing working models

Set up an implementation strategy team, involving all the operational units

Make sure everyone learns the new technology

Support for the new technology must come from the topget someone as senior as possible with their

hands on the technology

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The software gets simplerThe system gets more complex The standard ‘turnkey package’ is on its

way out

Multi-vendor solutions and going for ‘best of breed’ can mean integration issues

Open interfaces are making it easier to customize softwareCustomization is increasingly desirable

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Changing skills

Less programming in proprietary languages like Quancept and Survent

Expertise needed in Java, HTML, XML, SQL, Visual basic and so on

Research people need to know more about technology

Technology people need to know more about research

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Wising up - short term

Make training specific to your application of the software about how it will be used, not about what it can do use real examples

Aim for understanding so that people can rapidly learn to solve their own problems

Offer as many ways of learning as possible: courses, self-study, lunchtime seminars, web-based or distance learning

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Wising up - long term

Professional training in research must include something on technology

Where are the professional training and qualifications for the research technologist?

Proposed MRS Advanced Certificate in Research Practice and Technology Modular courses to provide ongoing or continuous

professional development for the research IT professional

Need to involve vendors as well as research agencies and buyers

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Thank you.

Over to you…

For references, information and reviews of the software mentioned in this presentation, please visit www.macer.com