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Welcome to “On the Wild Side of Research”. In this month’s
newsletter (and partly in the spirit of April Fool’s), I
discuss some basic tips to making your market research more
effective (or not).
Happy April Fools,
Carol
Carol Monaco
President
7 Ways to Make Sure Your Research Project Fails
What are some common mistakes made in research
projects? Read on to learn how you too can have a
project join the ranks of poorly conducted research
projects. Maybe you've been aching for a career change
anyway, so here are some surefire tips to make sure your
research project fails:
1. Try to research many things at once. Instead
of focusing on one or two key questions, put everything
you want to know in one research project.
2. Change the questions mid-stream. As you learn
more, you may want to ask different questions, so it's
fine to change them willy-nilly. No need to worry about
the consistency of results, it's more important that you
be flexible and creative throughout the research
process.
3. Don't determine what you're going to do with the
information until after the research. It's fine to
pursue a project just because it seems interesting or
it's fun to research. You'll be able to figure out some
use for it later, or if you can't, hey, at least it was
fun!
4. Make the survey or discussion guide really long.
Once you have people on the phone, they're a captive
audience, so keep them on the phone for an hour or more.
It doesn't matter if they get tired—after all, they said
they'd participate!
5. When designing a survey, use many different rating
systems. One question could be rated on a scale of
1-5 (5 being most important), one on a scale of 1-10 (1
being the most important), the next one a ranking of
1-7, and so on. After all, variety is the spice of life!
If people get confused, then they're too stupid to be in
your respondent pool anyway.
6. Don't analyze the results right away. It's
much better to let the results age, for six months or
more, and then come back to it with a fresh perspective.
After all, aging is what makes a fine wine!
7. Don't bother following up with participants in a
timely way. If you said you'd provide an incentive
such as money or a copy of the results, either wait
until you get around to it, such as a year later, or
don’t do it at all. Besides, by then they may have moved
on to another job and you won't be able to reach them.
You already have their input, so who cares if you follow
up?
Following these 7 steps will ensure that your research
project fails! You always wanted to be a trapeze artist
or mime anyway, right??
Ok, let’s step back into reality and assume that you
DON’T want your research project to fail. The above
are just some of the pitfalls that well- meaning and
intelligent marketers can fall into when designing and
conducting research.
And some are harder to avoid than others. For example,
remembering to send out incentives in a timely manner
can seem trivial among all the aspects of a research
project. However, it’s very important to do so to
maintain credibility with your research participants.
And who hasn’t had to go back to the proverbial drawing
board after realizing that you’re trying to research too
many things at once?
Keeping these potential pitfalls in mind will ensure
that your next research project is a resounding success!
Do you have comments on this article?
If so, click here to send me an email.
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