The Market Research Industry’s Year in Review

Editor’s Note: Usually to end the year we post predictions from a variety of industry leaders. However, this year we decided to take a different tack and sit down with one of the true seers of the insights industry: Simon Chadwick, and to dive deep into a conversation on what the trends we saw play out in 2022 might mean for what we’ll see in 2023.

The full conversation can be found on the GreenBook Podcast, but for those who want a quick summary of the major ideas we experimented with the AI system ChatGPT to high points. Not only was the core interview fantastic, but the quality of the summary from the AI system is mind-blowingly good as well. Perhaps 2023 will be the year of AI? We shall see …


As the year 2022 comes to a close, it’s a good time to look back at the

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Catch Me If You Can: Why Objectively Defining Survey Data Quality is Our Biggest Challenge

In the insights industry, experts have described 2022 as the Year of Data Quality. There is no doubt that it has been a hot topic of discussion and debates throughout the year. However, we find common ground where most agree there is no silver bullet to address data quality issues in surveys.

As the Swiss cheese model suggests, to have the best chance of preventing survey fraud and poor data quality we need to approach the problem by thinking of it in terms of layers of protection that are implemented throughout the research process.

To this end, the Insights Association Data Integrity Initiative Council has published a hands-on toolkit. It includes a Checks of Integrity Framework with concrete data integrity measures. This is essential to all phases of survey research: pre-survey, in-survey, and post-survey.

The biggest challenge yet remains: objectively defining data quality

What constitutes good data quality remains nebulous.

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Insights from Psychology: Implicit Vocabulary

System 1. System 2. Implicit. Explicit. Attitudes. Decisions. These words are all the buzz in the market research industry as theories of the mind from behavioral science become more accessible and the desire for data-driven decision-making in business stays strong. Adopting these complex theories of how the mind and behavior influence one another can prove to be overwhelming to individuals without a background in psychological science, and often these terms become confused with one another.

It is not uncommon to see the phrase “System 1/implicit research” in articles and marketing materials, giving the impression that these two terms are synonymous. But are they?

Implicit and explicit attitudes

To begin, it’s important to mention that in the field of psychological science, the term “attitude” has a very narrow definition compared to how we may use it in our day-to-day life. Colloquially, “attitude” is often thought of as a point of view

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It is Time to Quit the Mobile Sampling Skepticism

Today’s consumers are overflowed with product choices, constantly pinging smartphones, and that pot of pasta that is about to boil over. It’s your life and it is mine – and this affects your opportunity to research Fast-moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) consumers. They have no time for being an online panel member, nor do they feel motivated to.

” FMCG buying decisions are low-involvement in nature, and it takes a high level of engagement to sign up to be a member of a panel.”

And they shouldn’t: FMCG buying decisions are low-involvement in nature, and it takes a high level of engagement to sign up to be a member of a panel. CO-RO is an FMCG brand, and we want our respondents to be fresh, unbiased and both low- and highly-involved to get insights matching reality.

The solution, we have found, is to capture them through what I call mobile sampling.

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Hate Selling? Here’s Why and What You Can Do About It

“I hate selling!” It’s something I hear fairly often from ‘seller-doers’ in our industry – those independent consultants, small business owners and senior executives at larger firms who have “sales” as a part of their job description, but don’t really want to be doing it.

Why is that? Why do so many non-salespeople hate selling? Their reason can likely be traced back to one (or more) of the following…

Blame your parents

It was ingrained in us as children when our parents told us, “Don’t talk to strangers”… and it stuck. That’s what selling sometimes is… talking to strangers. And many of us have a difficult time initiating a conversation with someone we don’t know. We’re afraid of what they might say… that they might reject us… that they might ask a question that we can’t answer… so, the safe thing is to NOT talk. And nowhere is this more

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