Quick and relevant research

A recent article in Research World (“Five Simple Rules” - March 2008) asked the question “Can research lead to valuable insights when faced with time pressure and cost cutting?”

The author of the article (Dirk Engel, Head of Research at Universal McCann) offered readers three alternatives when faced with the situation of an unexpected problem arising and a quick decision that needs to be made. The article goes on to claim that the market researcher’s point of view is not as important as the researcher’s data, and that presentations are merely the means by which the voice of the consumer is heard by the management board.

The dilemma is in hearing the consumer’s voice particularly when available data resources are insufficient. The three options he offered to remedy the problem were:

1. The necessary money is provided and the study is done – Unlikely given the current financial climate.
2. No further research is done and a gut decision is taken – Dangerous
3. Start ad-hoc research while accepting possible cutbacks in the complexity of the study – Interesting

Option 3 tends to invite cries of “quick and dirty” and, of course, it is quick. However, with the use of careful targeting of relevant consumers using the MARSC sampling tool, ad-hoc research can still remain focused and relevant while not being overly expensive or, more importantly in a time sensitive environment, time consuming.

MARSC puts the researcher back in charge and allows research and sampling to be focused on the key criteria of any particular project.

For further information on MARSC please call us on +44 (0) 1306 621062 or email sales@marsc.com.