I heard someone at a US conference in 2001 say that by 2010 there will be no more paper surveys; all surveys will be online. Predictions are dangerous, and the speaker was wrong, of course.
Online data collection has become the most common methodology for most market research surveys around the world. However, in some countries, for example, in Asia Pacific, where we operate extensively, data collection online still represents less than 50% of all fieldwork.
Most software suppliers don’t like to face the fact that using most survey software for market research has problems. We have compiled the top ten issues that you may have to deal with because making a software purchase decision is not just about the functionality of the software.
I was going to call this blog article “Rethinking market research software expenditure”, but I thought it would be too easy to ignore. There is an ever-growing range of software available for various market research activities.
Although there has been a big movement to online surveys, CATI (computer assisted telephone interviewing) still has a big role to play in market research. The true cost of CATI software, however, is often overlooked.
Whether you are producing online questionnaires, tabulations or reports, some market research software systems have friendly user interfaces and others use scripting languages. If you choose to buy a system that has powerful scripting, such as the MRDCL, how do you go about learning the language?
As more and more market research surveys are conducted online, older technologies tend to stand still. Why? Because the software companies are racing to be leaders in the next big thing. This can leave a void meaning that older technologies don’t develop as much as they could.
Data reporting in market research is starting to change. We are emerging from a 20-year or so period where PowerPoint presentations have dominated into an era where online data visualisation can become the norm.
Online dashboards have come to the market research industry, but they are certainly not the norm for most projects. Market research will be in a better place once the key variables from EVERY market research project can be made available easily and inexpensively to research buyers.
I have always admired Quantum as a market research analysis program. It is still powerful enough to process most survey tabulations, but after almost 20 years without development, its position has slipped. Whilst still functionally strong, modern releases of Windows do not support Quantum. The alternatives are few with MRDCL, Merlin and Uncle being the main choices.