Post on 01-Jul-2015
description
A Dilbertian PhD in MR
or
A Memetic Journey through the Wilds of MR
Muder Chiba
Muder Chiba
Genesis
Humorous critique so brilliantly done by Scott Adams , Tom Fishburne and Randy Glasbergen is great ‘continuing’ education.
Put up some memes on my FB page and had a friend ask me if I was doing “a Dilbert on MR ?”
And so…Most of the memes here point to an underlying issue , opportunity or just a facet of MR life!
Genesis 2
MarketComplexity
DecisionsInformation Complexity
“ …seeming contradiction that we must be fully committed , but we must also be aware at the same time that we might possibly be wrong… our commitment to an idea is healthiest when it is not without doubt , but in spite of doubt” -Psychologist Rollo May quoted in Being Wrong Adventures in the Margin of Error
muder.chiba@gmail.com
Insight Ignited Wisdom
Muder Chiba
MR
The Market Researcher comes into MR fresh ,knowledgeable , bushy tailed and armed with the belief that she will add immense value into business decisions-making. Learns on the job , gathers experiences and then progresses to feeding templates!
Muder Chiba
EV
ERYO
NE'S
A R
ES
EA
RC
HER MR folk come from a variety of educational and cultural backgrounds.
In the recent past, increased focus on ‘client servicing’ has meant though that the entry sieve lends itself more to homogeneity and similarity clusters
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CU
RIO
US
CAT
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TR
UTH
BE T
OLD The business of insights is at the core , the business of truths (with a small t). The
Tagore poem referenced here : http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/where-the-mind-is-w ithout-fear/
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TH
INK
ING
HEA
DS
E =
MR2
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YIN
G A
ND
YAN
G Art and Science , Planning and Serendipity , Chance and Choice…
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CA
RTES
IAN
LOG
IC! *Cogitation = MR !
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FUN
FOLK Whether you want to have a quiet conversation on alternate
universes and ghosts or fling your hands and legs in gay abandon to the tunes of the latest teen hit- you need the company of MR folk!
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REC
RU
ITM
EN
T C
RIT
ER
ION An Insatiable need to nose out hidden motivations and desires and
‘implicit needs’ stands you in good stead in MR!
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leadership and management in MRPhilosopher king , bean counter , researcher, businessman ,guru , prize idiot, thinker , doer, wolf , sheep , scholar gypsy, statesman ,politician, friend , philosopher , guide…
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TO
P D
OG
FOR
BR Wow ! Now bow !
PETER
AS
MR
BO
SS Corporatization has brought in greater funding and ability to invest in
the future. Better salaries ,better lifestyles and greater opportunities to have fun! Concomitantly ,there is pressure on meeting numbers with ever shorter review periods! Muder Chiba
Muder Chiba
UN
SU
PPO
RTIV
E M
R B
OS
S “ Don’t come with problems , come with solutions!”
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UN
SU
PPO
RTIV
E M
R B
OS
S 2 … when it starts being seen as abdication , not delegation.
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UN
IVER
SA
L QU
ES
TIO
N! MR is no different from other industries . The same challenges-
performance vs. potential ; objective vs. opinion ; fair vs. unfair !
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EV
ERY LIT
TLE
BIT
HELP
S! No longer is it desirable that you look like a nerd...buttoned down
collars , a notebook , pen and laptop! MR people rock now as always and a variety of omissions are pardoned if you're photogenic!
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YOD
A S
PEA
KS It’s a people industry which works a lot with numbers ! So MBWA
works…and the Numbers follow!
Muder Chiba
MR User Interface
The MR user interface is the source of great work , stress and joy in equal measure. MR users are nice. True. And they are tough. They are sharp. And yes ,they are blunt.
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NIC
E C
LIEN
T With data gaps in “Big Data” type data-sets … acceptance of the imputation treatment will be key ! For MR , this acceptance will pave the way for very short surveys and increased multi-data source synthesis
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EM
PH
ATIC
MR
CLIE
NT Oft-heard in Conference rooms where engineer MBAs congregate!
Quite relevant in a “Big Data” and Web Analytics driven world where A/B panels are considered testing!!
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TH
E S
CEPTIC Either you have unwieldy Demographic/Usage micro-segmentations
which basically sequentially dichotomize…or you have 4-6 segment solutions for which you need not have spent months and moolah!
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TH
AT'S
LOG
ICA
L! Serious Logic at work here! What’s the measure of your Central Tendency?
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TH
E S
CEPTIC
2 Is probability sampling alive and kicking?
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MA
NATEE’S
CO
NC
EPT Universal Issue ! You never need to justify the concepts which pass
the metric filter as much as you need to for the ones that don’t! And given that most concepts are creative constructs there is angst around the ‘rational filter’ !
Muder Chiba
Metrics and Trends
Metrics built off ‘largely’ deterministic models have become staple outputs .After all ,you can manage only what you can measure!
MR
METR
IC P
RO
VEN
AN
CE !
You have all the complex diagrams and equations to shew the robustness of your metric … and the slide that does it is the one which shows how the companies/brands that do well on the metric outperform peers on the Stock market Index!! Muder Chiba
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NO
RM
ATIV
E M
OR
PH
EU
S Seriously!
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MR
METR
IC P
RO
VEN
AN
CE 2 Client Concern : looks like a nice dish but what goes into it and how is
it cooked? Can’t trust it until I know.Agency Concern : How do I keep my ‘IP’ safe and my brand unique/differentiated?
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MR
CO
NFU
CIU
S S
AYS This one is so deliciously right at so many levels! Using longitudinal
data to take decisions is an art too!
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WO
RR
IED
RES
EA
RC
HER When trends don’t go the way it is ‘wanted’
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RES
EA
RC
HER
WIT
H S
ER
IOU
S
PR
OB
LEM
S
When trends don’t go the way it is ‘wanted’ !
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MR Execution
The design drives the execution. Full Stop.
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PIQ
UA
NT P
ICA
RD Do Tell!!
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EV
IL SC
IEN
TIS
T S
AM
PLE The ‘randomly drawn sample’ so as to ‘adequately’ represent the
universe has been the central challenge. It continues to be so in the modern MR world.
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ETER
NA
L VIG
ILAN
CE… …is the price we pay for our freedoms! Quality data depends on a
combination of robust design and committed quality implementation ! Watch out for the ‘non-sampling error’ gremlin ! And that goes for “Big data” too!!
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TEC
H IM
PAIR
ED
MR
DU
CK Seriously confusing! The CAPI/CATI pattern has become the basis for
naming interview types…PAPI , CAWi ,GAMPI...
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SER
IOU
SLY
TEC
H The increasing number of ‘platforms’ , the evolutionary stages of different markets and the speed of change makes for unique challenges in project execution!
Muder Chiba
IT’S
A D
AN
GER
OU
S LIFE With multiple languages , various software interfaces and rapidly
scaled up rollouts , the modern researcher has greater challenges to overcome than those who came before!
Muder Chiba
Glocalization
With an increasing number of studies standardized globally being rolled out , a special mention for the challenges!
IMM
INEN
T…
Central project managers sitting far away from the battleground have little idea of the ground conditions and therefore design and implement primarily ‘for’ familiar territory so…
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Muder Chiba
RES
EA
RC
HER
WIT
H P
RO
BLE
MS Age-old issue ! Scales conceptualised and worded in the lofty towers
don’t translate well when they go ‘out there’ into the field . And when the towers try to look out to faraway fields…
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RES
EA
RC
HER
WIT
H P
RO
BLE
MS
2
The local client needs are ‘different’ , there are local nuances , segments, targets, geos…the challenge is to create structures which can see with both lenses!
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MR Respondents
The lifeblood of primary MR , the respondent. As response rates fall there is increasing attention on getting them, engaging them and keeping them !
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NIC
E M
R R
ES
PO
ND
EN
T Open-ends are the researchers gateway to finding out the unknown – reduce the ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’ gap. But the terse ‘no comment ‘, or ‘nice’ or ‘good’ or ‘sucks’ puts paid to the open-end as data source!
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CO
MM
ITTED
RES
PO
ND
EN
T The Butterfly Effect! Enhanced respondent engagement may have unintended social impact!
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MR
RES
PO
ND
EN
T Respondent identity and privacy are a concern in more ways than one! Especially when the respondent is ‘playing’ the researcher!
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FRES
H M
R R
ES
PO
ND
EN
T There’s always a time when it’s fun , its new and its exciting ! And you can feel older than you actually are!
Muder Chiba
MR
SAV
VY R
ES
PO
ND
EN
T Questionnaire routing has been the Waterloo for many a study. And scripting adds an ‘invisible to researcher’ layer !
Muder Chiba
Qualitative MR
Qual is the seemingly ‘soft fluffy’ area of MR. There is a lot more of the eclectic mix of a range of the Social Sciences here than in Quant though! And hard decisions using words instead of numbers per se as data. Fits well into the modern ‘Big data” world , methinks!
Muder Chiba
NIC
E FR
IEN
DLY
REC
RU
ITER The friendly persona envelops Qual across the spectrum as
contrasted to the more ‘stiff-necked’ Quant !
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BO
RED
BEA
R Extended Information areas lead to longer and longer consumer
interactions leading to the focus group becoming Extended !
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BO
RED
BEA
R 2 With product endorsement !
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AN
IND
IAN
MEM
E The popular meme played on his ‘3 names’ !
Muder Chiba
PH
OTO
GEN
IC Q
UA
L CH
AP DILO :Day in the Life Of!
AN
NO
YED
CA
PTA
IN ...with sympathy for all my Qual brethren who have been asked for tally distribution for the 32 people who attended the Groups as "30 is the sample at which you can do the Student's T test” ! :-)
Muder Chiba
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Neuro and Big Data
Neuroscience , neuro marketing … brain mapping , facial coding… lots of news around this exciting new addition to the researchers toolkit.And Big Data ? What do I say?
Muder Chiba
NEU
RO
ED
SC
UM
BA
G B
RA
IN Brain trying to understand the brain trying to understand the brain trying to understand the brain trying to understand the brain trying to understand the brain trying to…
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EX
PR
ES
SIV
E FA
CE Eyes are the window to the soul, it is said. The modern equivalent seem to be
the face and its various ‘tics’ as the window to the brain and its processing !
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BIG
DATA
DA
RE Just don’t say it! Its when the hyper hype around this dies down and
the ‘algo’ has been democratised that the final contours will emerge. And it will be truly life changing in the real sense !
Muder Chiba
BIG
DATA
EN
OU
GH Told you!
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HA
DO
OP T
HAT! In the Gold Rush , everyone is a star prospector!
Muder Chiba
DATA
TALK
S A line in Neil Diamond’s Forever in Blue Jeans, goes- Money talks but it don’t sing n dance and it don’t walk!
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DATA
MATR
IX The Big Risk is using all data and ‘insights’ coming out of it as ‘real’ !
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Finally…
When all’s done and dusted
Muder Chiba
CAT G
OT YO
UR
TO
NG
UE ?
The researcher as impassive observer, aloof and with no opinion – it’s been a cherished self- image . Given a world which is object-orientated, where decision-making speed is of essence ...the researcher will need to get off the fence!
Muder Chiba
PR
OB
AB
ILISTIC
PER
SPEC
TIV
ES
“In fact, the mere act of opening the box will determine the state of the cat, although in this case there were three determinate states the cat could be in: these being Alive, Dead, and Bloody Furious.” -Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies
Schrodinger's cat
With the speed of change , decisions firmly anchored in the past will be fraught with greater risk.Probabilistic perspectives will need to come to the fore !
MO
DER
N M
R
With multiple sources of data , decreasing survey lengths and increasing data-crunching / matching capabilities… “Art which rejected single point perspective and sought to show the object from multiple angles, in differing lights.” http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/analytical-cubism.htm
Mu
der C
hib
a
Muder Chiba
MR
SPO
NG
E
After all the data has been wrung dry…using imagination to spark insight is invaluable!
Insight Ignited Wisdom
MarketComplexity
DecisionsInformation Complexity
“I have concluded that the essence of wisdom is to hold the attitude that knowledge is fallible and to strive for a balance between knowing and doubting” –Psychologist John Meacham quoted in Hard Facts , Dangerous Half-Truths and Total Nonsense, Profiting from Evidence-Based Management
muder.chiba@gmail.com