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Where Great Research Goes to Die

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I love what I do for a living. I mean I really love it, freakishly so. I take great pride in providing clients with as much value as possible from research engagements. I am always looking for new, impactful, and insightful ways to present findings for maximum clarity, engagement, and traction. My number one priority is ensuring my clients yield a solid return on their research investment. So, it grates every fiber of my being when I see great research undermined by poor presentation – ultimately destined to the graveyard of wasted effort.

While flawless strategic research design and tactical execution are expected, it is ultimately poor execution of the final deliverable that kills research ROI. From the research buyer’s perspective, it is challenging enough to secure budget approval in the first place. But when a final deliverable fails to clearly inform project stakeholders, the research ROI becomes questionable, and in turn, makes it even more difficult to justify future research spend.

I once worked with a small team of QA Jedi masters. These guys were good. Beyond their unnatural grammar skills, these eagle-eyed folks could spot a random capitalization, extra space, or one eighth inch text box misalignment from three miles away. As a young project manager, I would toil over a PowerPoint report for hours before submitting to QA for editorial review. After reviewing your document, these skilled folks would arrive at your cube, document and red pen in hand, and tear off your arm and beat you over the head with it till you acknowledged your mistakes. These folks terrified me, but I completely adored them and still recognize them as some of the most dedicated people with whom I’ve ever worked.

My years of collaboration with that QA team were a tremendous and lasting gift. To this day, I’m obsessed with data design. After a couple of decades in research on both the client and supplier sides, I came to understand that communicating research findings without unnecessarily distracting the reader with poor design and formatting is paramount and requires great strategy. I’ve seen at least a thousand ways research insights have been poorly communicated, resulting in missed opportunities to hit home a meaningful insight – lost forever and dooming future research investment.

To this end, I’m working on a series of blog posts that discuss and give tips for improving data design and visualization. I’ll attempt to continue the Jedi tradition with the hope that these posts will help my fellow research community craft more effective, memorable deliverables, and preserve the inherent value of research.

If you have ever cringed at receiving poorly presented research, then we are kindred spirits. At Merrill Research we’ll present your data in an easily digestible and beautifully designed way to maximize your investment in market research. Contact Merrill Research today!

Merrill Research—Experience You Can Count On.

How to Get the Best from Your Research Supplier Relationships

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I’ve had the pleasure of working on both sides of the research fence; that is, I was a corporate buyer of research services, and I’ve also worked on the supplier side. I’ve experienced what works well with these relationships and what doesn’t.  One could argue that it is only strategic thinking, effective execution, and a snazzy report that result in a successful project. But I maintain that chemistry is just as important a component in forming truly fruitful long-term relationships.

FINDING THE PERFECT RESEARCH PARTNER

As a corporate buyer of research, I went to great lengths to find partners who were willing and capable of being just that: my research partner, an extension of my own team. I had already been a researcher for many years and managed a talented team of researchers of my own, but the last thing I wanted in a supplier was an order-taker. What I needed was a scrappy team of creative researchers to bounce ideas off of, come up with innovative approaches, challenge me or my team if we had dumb ideas (I’m not too proud to admit it happens from time to time), and execute research projects as if their own success depended on it—which, in reality, it did.

Today, back on the research supplier side, it is my job to design and execute research that is valid, reliable, ethical, and provides objective data to drive my client’s business decisions. Whether the data point to good news or not so good news, my job is to understand how the results will impact my client’s business decisions and deliver insightful and eloquent direction.  In the end, I’m satisfied with my work only if I execute all of these things in the smoothest manner possible.

RESEARCH PRO TIPS

With all this in mind, I’ve developed a few tips over the years for how research buyers can get the best from these kinds of partner relationships:

  1. Put your aces in their places: Already have a developed questionnaire and just need a “host and post” project? Most partners can handle that. But not every supplier is capable of truly partnering with you on more sophisticated, full-service studies to define the optimum methodology, provide the best overall experience, and deliver an impactful end product to you and your team.
  1. Set expectations: If you value feedback, creative approaches, and pushback from partners when warranted, be clear about that from the beginning. Tell your partner up front that you expect them to challenge you. If you don’t have any suppliers who meet this need for you, surely someone in your network can recommend someone. (Or just call me!)
  1. Communicate freely: Be truly open to your partners’ suggestions and creative approaches, work together to refine each other’s ideas into strategies, and be willing to speak up if and when you need something more or different.
  1. Respect diverse perspectives: Be respectful of your partners’ points of view and expect the same in return. Some of the best ideas come from free and open collaboration.
  1. Be reasonable and realistic: We understand that sooner is typically better than later when it comes to research findings, but we also work hard to avoid the “garbage in, garbage out” result that can happen when research is not executed thoughtfully.
  1. Trust the process: Once you’ve found a rhythm with a research partner, trust the process and be willing to revise it as is sometimes required to adapt to changing tides.

Chemistry, as in most relationships, helps to produce more harmonious working collaborations. Having worked this way with both clients and research partners for over 20 years, it is hard for me to imagine doing it any other way. More often than not, alliances I’ve forged in this manner have resulted in long-lasting professional and personal relationships that have produced extremely insightful research. And with those results, I wouldn’t change a thing.

If you’re ready to find a research partner to collaborate with who will consider your success their success, contact Merrill Research today.  

Merrill Research—Experience You Can Count On.

THROW THE BUM OUT!!! What do Baseball and Quality Data Have in Common? More Than You Think!

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By Michael Rinck – Vice President

The Oakland A’s brand of Billy Ball brought to light the use of data as a competitive advantage for baseball teams. But for any data to be useful, it needs to be clean. We’re pretty sure cleaning research data doesn’t conjure up thoughts of baseball.  Probably not right off the bat, anyway (pun intended).  However, a deeper dive into the methods we employ to clean data are not unlike the myriad strategies used in the game of baseball itself [1].  We guard against stolen bases, throw curveballs, and strike out those who are less than honest with their responses.  And yes, occasionally we consult the instant replay. How, you might ask? Allow us to throw out the first pitch and explain:

THROW THE BUM OUT

Cleaning data is the quality control art of removing bad data that simply cannot be trusted.  Just as a manager will pull his pitcher if he can’t throw strikes or thinks he can’t, don’t be afraid to toss erratic data.

You’ve invested a lot of time and money in creating a survey.  You built it, and hoped they would come (okay sorry, reaching here). And you’ve invested a lot of time in scoping out sample and making sure you are targeting the right respondents for your research objectives.  You collect the data.  Now it’s time to step up to the plate and clean it—that is, remove bad or incomplete records.

Good data cleansing is not just about eliminating data but also ensuring its consistency. Data cleaning leads to high quality data the way good pitching leads to strikeouts. When data is of excellent quality, it can be easily processed and analyzed, leading to insights that help the organization make better decisions.

If you’re a baseball fan (and even if you’re not) here are 4 easy-to-remember and important tips for cleaning data:

  1. Stealing Bases: Speeding is considered problematic survey behavior because respondents are not providing thoughtful, accurate answers. Consequently, the data they provide may be of poor quality, and in turn, may have to be discarded so survey estimates are not adversely affected. One rule is that the length of interview needs to be at least 40% of the average length of the survey. Thus, if the average length is 10 minutes, we might cut off a speeder at 4 minutes. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule. For example, we need to adjust time requirements for skip patterns, open-ends, loading time for images, etc.
  2. A Curve Ball for Straight-Liners: We can see if a respondent straight-lines a series of rating scale questions. For example, if there are 20 statements being rated, we will check to see how many of the statements were given the same code.  We can run a distribution of the count of codes to calculate what percentage of straight-lining we will use to remove a respondent (i.e., terminate a respondent out if they straight-lined (same code) 18 of the 20 statements).
  3. Three Strikes and You’re Out: For example, in the screener we may ask: What brands have you consumed in the past 3 months?  And later in the survey we may have a follow up question detailing when exactly did they last consume that brand (with a scale, Last Week/Last Month/2-3 Months ago/6-12 months ago/Over a year ago)?  If the respondent answers longer than past 3 months, we will flag that respondent.  Depending on the survey, we may have up to 10 flags programmed for various questions.  A red herring question may also be included that would also count as a flag. An example of a red herring question may be to ask about past 3-month consumption for a fictitious brand. Any respondents indicating consumption of a nonexistent brand will earn a flag.  During the soft launch phase of fielding, we can determine how many flags are occurring and looking at that distribution we can determine what level we should terminate a respondent (i.e., term a respondent if they have 3 flags, 2 flags, etc.).
  1. Going to Instant Replay—Checking Response in Verbatims Questions: We can review the open-ends to verify that the respondent is answering the survey in a thoughtful manner. Short answers or garbage responses will count as flags.

To summarize, make sure that that the data you are including in the final dataset is accurate and reflects thoughtful and engaged respondents.  Why spend all the time and money upfront and include garbage data points?  Garbage in = Garbage out.

Utilize these top tips and you’ll avoid any foul balls in your research?  Let Merrill Research help you pick up your game!

Merrill Research—Experience You Can Count On.

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[1] George Will, Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball (1990)

So, You Want To Build A Panel? Read This Before You Do!

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By Angela Burtch – Vice President

We’ve been developing market research panels for the past 20 years in industries ranging from telecommunications, engineering, and travel/hospitality.  Both consumer and B2B.

So, what exactly is a panel?  A market research panel is most simply a group of people recruited to participate in both quantitative and qualitative research. The panelists are typically pre-screened and are profiled so that you have a pool of respondents that are highly qualified and ready to provide feedback on future research studies. They can be branded (i.e., respondents are aware of the company that is sponsoring the research), or unbranded (i.e., a research company (like Merrill Research) creates the panel and respondents aren’t aware of the sponsor).  There are advantages for both:

  1. Unbranded panels allow you to conduct research without biasing the respondent to the panel creator. These are excellent for studies such as ad or brand awareness, where you don’t want participants to be aware of your brand.
  2. Branded panels tend to have a higher response rate because respondents can associate research requests with a brand that they have some familiarity or affinity with.

So, why build a panel?  Here are several benefits:

  1. Quality data from a pool of opted-in respondents.
  2. Shorter field time (no need to look for qualified respondents and deployment can be as short as the same day).
  3. And cost. Yes, cost.  Although there are upfront costs with establishing a panel—including software platform, programming, and list purchase (if not from a customer database)—the long-term benefit from using a panel instead of renting costly lists for each study is well-worth the investment.
  4. Panels are most effective if you plan to conduct a minimum of 4-12 research studies per year. This keeps panelists engaged and provides an ROI on panel development.

Here a few tips to consider when building a panel and to avoid “glitches” and collect the very highest quality data:

  1. Determine the source of respondents from which you are going to “pull your sample”. If using customer databases, ensure that you are compliant with all privacy issues (i.e., sharing of Personal Identifying Information (PII)).  If renting or purchasing respondent sample, make sure you do your research! Not all sample providers will allow you to retain the recruits for your panel.
  2. Keep the profiling questionnaire short and sweet and limit those key variables that will help you most efficiently target respondents for future studies. If you add questions in future research studies, you can always append this new information to your profiling database. Just have a plan in place for flagging those questions of interest and have a mechanism for adding them to the panel database.
  3. Offer an incentive for joining. No one wants a respondent who is participating in research for the sole reason that they’ll be compensated, but consider an initial reward for joining.  If developing an international panel, make sure that you are aware of the rules and regulations for offering incentives or sweepstakes in that particular country.  Also, make sure that your incentive is appropriate for the country.  For example, some gift cards may be attractive in the United States, but not viable for incentives in China unless the gift card was purchased in China. Incentives aren’t the be-all-and-end-all.  People also like to join panels to share their opinion and be involved in product or communications development.  Explaining their role in shaping products or services is important.  This is especially true for enticing Millennials.
  4. Use a double opt-in process for recruiting panelists. Quite simply, this means that once a respondent completes the panel profile survey, they are sent an email in order to verify that they would like to join. This avoids any confusion regarding their acceptance to join a research panel and ascertains that you are corresponding with an interested participant.
  5. Always thank your new panelists for joining with a confirmation WELCOME email that includes all key contacts for the panel, opt-out instructions, and instructions to “whitelist” the email address from which the respondent can expect to receive invites to other studies. Nothing kills a panel quicker than invites going to spam.

In summary, panels can be a time and money saver, assuming you’re conducting significant research among similar targets. Do you think you could benefit from a partner to help you build panel?  If so, visit jonathand149.sg-host.com.

Merrill Research—Experience You Can Count On.

The Neutral Micro Expression

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The Myth of The Poker Face

By David M. Schneer, Ph.D.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I don’t play cards. Poker? No way. Not only do the suits confuse me, but poker parlance is pretty peculiar: from flops, flushes, and folds to tilts, trips and turns. Gutshots and under the gun? Muck? I’ll pass.

But while I know nothing about poker, If I sat and watched you play, chances are I’d be able to “tell” whether you have a weak, marginal, or strong hand—not only by your face but by your body movements. “Remember, “ says former FBI Profiler and Behavioral Analyst, “while there may be some poker faces, there is no such thing as a ‘poker body.’”[1]

In our last blog we discussed the micro expression of surprise. Today, we examine the neutral micro expression—A.K.A. the “poker face.” When one poker player evaluates another, he or she tries to determine if they can match their opponent’s body language with their probable hand. The same is true when you are trying to decipher someone’s body clues in a business meeting. For example, is the behavior you’re seeing (a tic, twitch, touch) typical (something the person always does?). Or is this behavior atypical (only seems to occur intermittently)? To determine what is your opponent’s typical versus atypical behavior, one must take a baseline read of your subject’s “neutral” face.

But if the face is neutral, how can you read anything, you might ask? Plenty, if you look carefully. What is the difference between a poker face and neutral face? Careful examination will reveal that a neutral face appears naturally relaxed, as if the person either is disinterested or lacks an opinion about the topic being discussed. But a poker face appears more tense— almost as if the person’s face displays a “mask” to hide their emotions.

A genuine neutral micro expression is shown below:

Cautions

Remember, it is critically important get a baseline read of your subject’s face so that you can begin to recognize their typical or atypical behavior.

What to Do When You Encounter a Neutral micro expression?

When you encounter expressions of neutral, try the following:

  1. Try humor, as it can turn a neutral face into a happy one.
  2. Change the topic until you see the neutral change. Notice what type of stimuli influenced the change of expression, and the nature of the new expression (Positive? Negative?).
  3. In this situation it is good to check whether the person is really paying attention to your words or not. Are they having difficulty hearing you?

The Merrill Institute

Stay tuned to our next blog as we begin our series on the 88 major body language positions.

Contact The Merrill Institute to learn more about Body Language Training and Micro-Expressions

Merrill Research—Experience You Can Count On.

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[1] Navarro, Joe. 200 Poker Tells, Kindle Edition. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004KZPK24/

The Micro Expression of Surprise

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The Element of Surprise

By David M. Schneer, Ph.D.

Surprise cuts both ways.

Surprise can be positive and absolutely breathtaking: an unexpected gift, a marriage proposal, bumping into a long-lost friend, a surprise party. Or, surprise can be negative and sometimes deadly; infidelity, an assault, an ambush. Either way, surprise is the micro expression we show when we experience the unexpected.

When we are surprised, we open our eyes to see better and open our mouths to breathe more deeply. Of all the micro expressions, surprise is the shortest in duration. Oftentimes, surprise can be bundled or masked with other micro expressions:

  1. We show surprise when we are fearful.
  2. Surprise can quickly turn to anger when you are attacked or mistreated.
  3. Surprise can also dissolve into disgust when you are thrust into an unsavory situation from which you would like to be removed.
  4. We show surprise when we are presented with a sudden delightful event such as surprise gift or surprise birthday party (although for some, this can be downright terrifying).

Surprise has many variations. A common indication of surprise is when the mouth drops open with relaxed lips. Your eyebrows can also convey surprise when they are raised, untense and coupled with a quick lift of the upper eyelids. My colleagues Kasia and Patryk from the Center for Body Language are showing genuine micro expressions of surprise below.

Cautions

Remember, surprise occurs very quickly.  If the eyelids are raised for a longer period of time, then it is likely fear you’re seeing instead. In addition, someone who raises their upper eyelids briefly can simply be signaling high interest in what they are hearing. Elongated raised eyebrows can also be conversational signal for emphasis.

What to Do When You Encounter Surprise?

To summarize, when you experience the unexpected you will react with surprise. When you encounter expressions of surprise in others, try the following:

  1. To the extent possible, try to figure out what, if anything, you may have said to surprise them. In Human Resources, for example, you might learn very quickly whether your salary offer is well received (surprise coupled with a genuine smile) or not (surprise followed by disgust or anger). Change your offer accordingly.
  2. Change the topic.

The Merrill Institute

Stay tuned to our next blog as we individually analyze the “neutral” micro expression. If you’re a poker player, you won’t want to miss this blog.

Contact The Merrill Institute to learn more about Body Language Training and Micro-Expressions