Webinar | L&E Technology Partners – A Deeper Look at Qual Research Technology

DWG Admin on January 29, 2019

FREE on-demand L&E WEBINAR

On February 20th, 2019, we hosted our first webinar in our webinar series for 2019. We learned more about the technology companies that we have partnered with to make your research process not just easier, but seamless from start to finish. Our Research Design Engineer, Renee Wyckoff hosted this panel discussion and in this webinar you learn more about:

Cloud-based collaboration platform from tech partner, Batterii
Online Transcription Portal and Keyword Search from tech partner, Focus Forward
The Virtual Aisle from tech partner, Informed Decisions Group (IDG)
Video Analytics from tech partner, LivingLens
Online insights communities/online research platform from tech partner, Recollective

Guest Speakers:

- Chad Reynolds, Founder & CEO, Batterii
- Kim Harrison, CEO, Focus Forward
- Colin Valdiserri, Co-Founder & CEO, Informed Decisions Group
- Allie Putterman, Business Development Director, LivingLens
- Dana Cassady, Manager, Client Development, Recollective

The power of video

DWG Admin on December 12, 2018

When it comes to inspiring actionable insight, video is the most engaging and convincing platform.

Hands down, video takes the win for the ultimate storytelling medium. And it’s only becoming more popular, and more powerful. More than 500 million hours of videos are consumed on YouTube each day, and nearly half of people watch over an hour of video on Facebook or YouTube every week.

If you’re looking for another wild statistic, more video content has been uploaded online within the past 30 days than the major US TV networks have produced within the past 30 years.

No surprise then that marketers are very receptive of this explosion in video. They recognize the pure power of its engagement. Globally, over half of marketers claim that video produces the best ROI compared to other types of content, and social video generates 12000% more shares than text and images combined.

So it’s clear that we need to be taking full advantage of this powerful medium in our world of qual. Video has improved the traditional and valuable ‘go to’ methods of qualitative research, such as focus groups and in-depth interviews. High quality, 360° cameras capture the genuine emotions and reactions from participants in focus groups and in-depth interviews. Live streaming in HD even allows stakeholders to clearly view the research as it is taking place, from anywhere in the world. This is a big benefit to qualitative research as it involves the entire team, without the costs of travel and time.

Once analyzed and formatted to share as a deliverable, video provides the best platform for telling stories about the data, to truly engage stakeholders and power real action to make informative business decisions. But the big concern for many qualitative researchers, is the scale and intricacy of the data that video can produce. This video output needs to be analysed fast, and at scale, in order to find the story among the data. Fortunately, the technology behind video analytics and transcription services is able to translate the genuine human behavior portrayed in video into actionable insight, with speech, actions, and sentiment. Video analytics platforms extract the information relevant to the study objectives. Then algorithms analyze the content to structure the data so that it becomes quick and easy to search through. This suite of collaborative tools helps to identify keywords and themes through sound, sight and text, and help the researcher to find the story. It’s also easy to clip key videos and consumer quotes to share the story with the stakeholders.

Video research has been powering a range of methodologies in both qualitative and quantitative research, from ethnography, to ad testing, to product innovation focus groups and customer experience surveys. Brands can use video to collect customer feedback from the start of the ideation process, and they can carry it through into the testing stage. That way brands can understand how real customers will react to the new concept or product before it is launched. Since videos are able to achieve up to six times the insight compared to a free text question, video insight allows brands to quickly separate the successful innovations from the failures.

The technology backing video analytics and transcription services provided by L&E and its partners, such as LivingLens and Focus Forward, can put the stakeholders in the room with their consumers so they can truly understand their needs. In turn, video insight engages stakeholders in a way that powers insight to drive business decisions.

Renee’s Takeaways – Get the scoop on L&E’s Final Webinar of 2018!

DWG Admin on December 4, 2018

Webinar Series Summary

6 Steps to Perfect Qual: Step 6 – Maintaining Client Relationships – Webinar held on November 14, 2018

In this webinar in our series, we focused on Maintaining Client Relationships. We had the opportunity to chat with three panelists who are beyond experts on this topic. First up, Megan Nerz. Megan has been in the research business for about 35 years, and during that time, founded MLN Research, a small qualitative house with 5 moderators/researchers. Megan’s background is in psychology and applied communications research. Next is Sherry Behnke, Consumer Insights Manager with Kimberly-Clark Corporation. Sherry has been in a number of roles at Kimberly-Clark, including R&E, business process work, project management, and has had many interactions with business clients and vendors worldwide. Last, and certainly not least, we had Merrill Dubrow, President/CEO of M/A/R/C Research. In the research industry for about 38 years, M/A/R/C is one of the older market research companies in the industry. Merrill has been on a number of insights association boards, and is frequently a presenter at industry conferences around the country.

In this webinar, we focused on Q&A based around Maintaining Client Relationships, and real life experiences from our panelists to help researchers learn how to improve and maintain relationships with their existing clients, and also ways to get a foot in the door for some new ones!

Here’s what our panelists had to say!

We started by asking our panelists what they might do to make it easy for their clients to work with them.

Do exceptional work, and always strive to exceed their expectations
Really try to understand your clients. Not only should you ask “why didn’t we win this project?” but also “why DID we win this project, what did we do right?”
The key is to see your clients as partners on a journey. Constant communication and responsiveness.
Listen, ask a lot of questions, show a true interest. Check in so your clients don’t have to track you down.

Since partnership has been a buzz word this year, even on some of our other webinars, we asked our panelists if they used a guide or a road map to ensure that all of their client’s needs are being met.

Really pay attention to what those needs are, and most important, always make your client feel like they are #1!!
Make them feel like you are truly partners on a journey, holding hands along the way
Have a debrief or work session after the project has executed. Discuss the insights that have come out of the work. Address the strategic decisions to be made. This helps clients feel a sense of control over the research when it’s discussed and laid out in the open. Everyone walks away with the same information.
M/A/R/C incorporated a tool called the AcuMax Index. It’s a 3-minute personality profile tool that clients (if they are willing) and employees go through, and it works as a guide to help them better understand where their clients are coming from, and also helps align the best team from M/A/R/C to work with certain clients.

Next, coming from client’s perspective, we asked Sherry to give us an example of a process that a partner has used that stood out to her.

Finding that perfect balance of how much to communicate, the timing, and what method is crucial. It makes a client feel that you are really listening

In every webinar, we like to include some do’s and don’ts from our experts. One thing you should always do when working with your clients, and one thing you should never do.

DO always take responsibility for anything that might go wrong
DON’T nickel and dime your clients
DO always make your client feel like they are your #1 priority
DON’T ever let them see you sweat
DO always be realistic about project feasibility
DON’T treat our project, and what you’re doing for us like it’s a service

Since technology always comes up one way or another, we asked our panelists if there is anything they are taking advantage of technology wise that assists them with their client relationships.

Online panels, online communities, give us access to consumers that we were not able to access before, opening up new possibilities in the way we work with our clients.
Social media, text, video meetings, open so many doors now in communication that we were not able to incorporate 10 years ago.

We then asked about working with our international clients, and how that might differ from working with clients here in the states.

Pay attention to their culture, and things that are important to them, that might not be as important to our American clients
Keep them up-to-date on what’s happening in the US. For example, understanding millennial parents, or trends and cultures that we’re seeing
Build trust! Working with different cultures can be difficult, so do whatever you can to make it convenient for them.

Knowing that companies can have several different departments and layers, we asked our panelists what you can do to break into different departments, or even a new company.

Know the products that the potential client works on, know the competition for those products, know the landscape. Do your homework!
Do a 45 second video on why the client should chose you for a project, or choose to work with you in general. It makes it personal, humanizes the process.
Stay in touch, even if you’ve never worked with them. Stay top of mind, find relevant thing to share with them that they might find interesting, such as something going on in their industry

We hope you found this summary to be helpful! If you didn’t register for this webinar you can listen to this webinar in its entirety, or download a free, transcribed version by clicking here.

Be on the lookout for our next webinar, which will be in February 2019. If you can’t wait until then, you can always view our on-demand webinars. Don’t forget to subscribe to our blog so you can keep up with what is happening at L&E!

Until next year!

Your Research Design Engineer at L&E,

Renee Wyckoff

Renee’s Takeaways – Get the scoop on L&E’s Tech Webinar!

DWG Admin on October 10, 2018

Webinar Series Summary

Emerging Methods in Qualitative Research Technology Webinar – Webinar held on September 18, 2018

I have to say, this was definitely our most entertaining webinar to date! We laughed a lot, and even had one of our panelists sing briefly! In this next webinar in our series, focusing on Emerging Methods in Qual Technology, we got to spend some time with two very engaging experts in our industry. First up, Charlie Rader, Digital Insights Designer at Procter & Gamble. Then, someone a lot of us already know very well, Lenny Murphy, Executive Editor & Producer at GreenBook.

In this webinar, we focused on Q&A based around Qualitative Research Technology, how it can be applied, and technologies that are up and coming in the industry.

Here’s what our panelists had to say!

We started off coming right out of the gate with a big one. We asked our panelists, in their experiences, with all of the new technologies out there now, which has recently made the most impact on how we do research?

Online qual! We discussed how now with online, we are able to expand our reach to people that we may not have been able to reach before, due to not being in the vicinity of a facility, or in a major market.
We talked about how we get to capture those true “in the moment” experiences with respondents using an online platform.
The integration of digital, and all that entails. Such as automation for recruiting, and new ways to engage with consumers.

Next, we asked Charlie specifically, if there are any technologies that P&G is using or evaluating right now.

P&G actually built their own video analytics tool! “However, now with tech partners like LivingLens, we can use video to transform the way we talk to consumers.”
“We’re using mobile diaries. By doing this, we’re doing research that is more behaviorally based, rather than attitudinal.”

Then we asked both Charlie and Lenny if they knew of any technologies that were in their infancy right now, that they see making a big impact on qual down the road.

The use of video, while not quite in its infancy, we’re not quite tapping into the benefits of the analytics that we can get from it.
AI, and the impact that it is bringing to many qual technologies, such as being able to take mountains of unstructured data, whether its text or video, and having a machine be able to sort through that.

We also asked if there are any technologies that are just plain underutilized.

The use of mobile, and being “in the moment” with the consumer.
The use of a qual board online platform such as Aha!, or 20/20. Start small with a homework assignment or exercise, before you meet the consumer in person, to gain a deeper understanding of what they are trying to tell you.
Data management tools, such as Knowledge Hound. We can utilize information that we have learned before, so that going into primary research, we can ask more intelligent questions.

We then asked if there are any technologies on the horizon, not currently being used for qual, that could be applied in some way in the future.

AR and VR, and the reason is that they are not scalable. That will change, as the devices we all carry on us today, such as our mobile, all have the capability to leverage augmented reality.
We’re a little early in the hype cycle for AR and VR, but it’s something we need to understand better and start experimenting with.

Lastly, we asked our panelists how some of the newer technologies are changing the way we analyze data.

Definitely the AI component. It enables us to ingest and organize data more efficiently than we’ve ever been able to.
Some of the tools that make visualizing and reporting the data a bit more interesting than the long used PowerPoint, such as Prezi, and Microsoft Sway. There is so much that we respond to visually as humans, than just tables of data.

We hope you found this summary to be helpful! If you didn’t register for this webinar you can listen to this webinar in its entirety, or download a free, transcribed version by clicking here.

Be on the lookout for our next webinar, which will be November 14, 2018 at 12pm EST. If you can’t wait until then, you can always view our on-demand webinars and learn about the latest technology solutions. Don’t forget to subscribe to our blog so you can keep up with what is happening at L&E!

Until next time!

Your Research Design Engineer at L&E,

Renee Wyckoff

Webinar | L&E Webinar Series: Emerging Methods in Qualitative Research Technology

DWG Admin on September 25, 2018

Free on-demand L&E Webinar

On September 18, 2018, L&E hosted our fourth webinar in our webinar series for 2018 with Charlie Rader and Lenny Murphy as our panelists. The topic of this webinar was on the latest technologies in qualitative research.

Guest Speakers:

Charlie Rader, Digital Insights Designer at Procter & Gamble
Lenny Murphy, Executive Editor & Producer at GreenBook

Technology is bringing researchers, stakeholders and brands closer than ever to their consumers.

Small consultative researchers and corporate researchers alike need to provide the same impact from their research. Now, no matter the magnitude of your project or depth of your team, you can provide the same actionable insight with support from new qualitative research technology.

This webinar will:

Guide you through key areas that are becoming increasingly powerful in accessing high quality insight such as:

Neuromarketing
Virtual reality
360° streaming
Video analytics
In-the-moment online tools

Learn about some of the top companies taking advantage of key technology in qualitative research

Emerging Methods in Qualitative Research Technology | New White Paper from L&E

DWG Admin on September 7, 2018

Emerging Methods in Qualitative Research Technology

Landing a full 360 view of the consumer

White Paper Download

Technology is bringing researchers, stakeholders and brands closer than ever to their consumers.

This paper will guide you through the following key areas that are becoming increasingly powerful in accessing high quality insight.

Neuromarketing
Virtual reality
360° streaming
Video analytics
In-the-moment online tools

But who can you trust with your data? In this paper we also identify some of the top companies taking advantage of key technology in qualitative research.

To continue reading, download our latest white paper by clicking here (no form to fill out).

Renee’s Takeaways – Q2 Quarterly Roundup

DWG Admin on July 18, 2018

1. Regarding sharing qualitative insights – When we share our insights with clients, we want to keep it fresh, and keep them engaged throughout our journey. We heard directly from our expert panel during our June webinar “Qualitative Analysis and Insight Communication” about their experiences, and things they’ve learned. Here are just a few –

Be sure to incorporate the use of multimedia to keep your presentation interesting.
If you can, put yourself in the consumer’s shoes. Immerse yourself in their experience, go through their exercise, walk through it the way they would. By doing this, not only do you have the data to share, but you have a unique perspective to share your insights.
Do not just plow through your insights! Take some time to consider the room dynamics, and be prepared to pivot on the fly based on that.
Use tools such as social media listening tools, and the like. These tools can help pour through thousands of reviews and analyze them quickly to get to some rich insights.
Try to dig deep into what the client already knows. That way, you are only delivering fresh insights, and not repeating what they’ve already heard.
Try seeing your clients as partners, and seeing them as part of the team. This creates a comfort level with asking questions that may seem uncomfortable.
Supply your client with leave-behinds, brochures, videos, things that get people engaged and can travel through the company on their own, after the presentation.

2. Regarding engaging with qualitative research study participants – We all know that participants like to be incentivized for sharing their opinions, and that is not going away any time soon! BUT, what we’re finding, is that there are many other reasons why people participate. They actually like sharing their opinions, most people do! They want to feel that what they’ve shared matters, and is contributing to bigger decisions being made about a product or service. So many others, stay tuned!

3. Regarding the IIEX Conference – I had the opportunity to attend the Insight Innovation Exchange in Atlanta in June. I saw some amazing presentations, as well as some new up and coming technologies for MR. Really exciting stuff!

4. Regarding recruiting and project specifications – Something that I’ve learned, many times over and over again, is to always have a plan B! We all want the perfect recruit, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way. It’s always a good idea to have your plan B from the very start. Take a good look at your specs and your screener, and try to anticipate where you might run into snags, and have your back-up plan in place to keep your recruit moving along smoothly.

5. Regarding feeding your brain! – Here at L&E, we have an internal learning system which is meant for both professional and personal enrichment alike. In the MR world, we need to be sharp in order to be the best partners to our clients. Here are a few things I learned from one of our recent modules –
• Maintaining an active social life can impact your brain’s health
• Taking the time to visit a new place, or read a new book will keep your brain engaged
• The food you eat affects your brain! Check out this quick video from a TED talk by Mia Nacamulli
• Exercise improves blood flow and oxygen to your brain
• And last but not least, something we all know, and can’t seem to get enough of, SLEEP!!

Until next time!

Your Research Design Engineer at L&E,

Renee Wyckoff

Renee’s Takeaways – Get the scoop on L&E’s Qual Analysis and Insight Communication Webinar!

DWG Admin on June 27, 2018

6 Steps to Perfect Qual Webinar Series Summary

Step 4 and 5 – Qualitative Analysis and Insight Communication Webinar – Webinar held on June 6, 2018

It’s going to be hard to top this one! In this recent webinar in our series, focusing on Qualitative Analysis and Insight Communication, we had the opportunity to chat with three extremely knowledgeable panelists on these topics. First up, Shaun Stripling who most recently left Mullen Lowe as Chief Strategy Officer, and was the Global Director of an insight consultancy called Frank About Women where she oversaw six countries of female-focused marketing efforts. Next, we had Walt Barron, Chief Strategy Officer at McKinney. Walt was a journalist in a previous life until he switched over to advertising about 19 years ago. He went to the VCU Brandcenter and has worked in agencies ever since. Last, but certainly not least, Joan Lewis. Joan started out with Procter & Gamble, doing everything from upstream innovation to brand work and advertising in media, along with partnerships with retailers. Most recently, she’s been doing Boards of Directors work for a variety of for-profit companies, including three companies in the research, insights and analytics industry. All of this experience in the industry totaling about 30 years!!

In this webinar, we focused on Q&A based around Qualitative Analysis and Insight Communication, tips to help make analysis easier for the researcher, and how to communicate insights to your clients in the most compelling and impactful way.

Here’s what our panelists had to say!

We started by asking our panelists to share about findings they’ve seen presented to them, as well as presenting findings to their clients. What sticks, and what kind of approaches are most compelling.

Incorporate the use of multimedia to keep your presentation interesting
If you can, put yourself in the consumer’s shoes. Immerse yourself in their experience, go through their exercise, walk through it the way they would. By doing this, not only do you have the data to share, but you have a unique perspective to share your insights.
Try to tug on the heartstrings if you can, make an emotional connection with the consumer. That, coupled with powerful data, and you’ve got a real one-two punch!

We heard some great things from our panelists as far as what works, so we thought it would also be helpful to find out a few things not to do, and what they’ve found doesn’t work!

Do not just plow through your insights! Take some time to consider the room dynamics, and be prepared to pivot on the fly based on that.
DO NOT ever give your client a large, printed out report, they will never read it! Try putting the insights that you’ve shared at the end of the report, at the beginning. You’ll find that most people will then come on the journey with you, because now, they are intrigued.
Don’t show 10 slides about your company background before getting to the insights. Save them for the end, and keep it minimal.

We covered some big picture items, then moved on to focus in on some of the smaller moving parts. Next, we asked about useful tools that help bring data to life.

Assign pre-work. It can be a great way to jump past some of the necessary items you have to cover when you’re looking for consumer information and insights.
Use tools such as social media listening tools, and the like. These tools can help pour through thousands of reviews and analyze them quickly to get to some rich insights.
The use of video clips can enrich your story, hearing it directly from the consumer.

Next, we asked about best practices for delivering insights to clients.

Try to dig deep into what the client already knows. That way, you are only delivering fresh insights, and not repeating what they’ve already heard.
Maybe a little bit of a cheat, but write your hypothesis first. Then, either way, right or wrong, you’ll look for the data to prove it, and perhaps uncover some insights you didn’t expect.
Have a conversation about what disproved your hypothesis, if that is the case. What did you hear that forced you to rethink?

We shifted direction a little bit, and went on to discuss a very common problem in delivering insights, confirmation bias. How do we reduce that effect with our clients?

Ask your client right up front for permission to probe “the sacred cows.” Are they okay with you digging a little deeper and asking them to help with the “whys.”
Try seeing your clients as partners, and seeing them as part of the team. This creates a comfort level with asking questions that may seem uncomfortable.
Find your partner, or ally in the company or whoever is helping bring the work into the company. Very often, they are the ones who want the company to be more insight driven.

And last, we asked what happens to a qualitative report once it’s released “into the wild?” What kinds of report content and format follow it through the organization?

Try to consider your presentation back to the client the beginning of the journey, instead of the end.
Create a plan at the start to carry the report through the organization, beyond a presentation.
Supply your client with leave-behinds, brochures, videos, things that get people engaged and can travel on their own.

We hope you found this summary to be helpful! If you didn’t register for this webinar you can listen to this webinar in its entirety, or download a free, transcribed version by clicking here.

Be on the lookout for our next webinar, which will be this fall. If you can’t wait until then, you can always view our on-demand webinars and learn about the latest technology solutions. Don’t forget to subscribe to our blog so you can keep up with what is happening at L&E!

Until next time!

Your Research Design Engineer at L&E,

Renee Wyckoff

Qualitative analysis: where do the humans bring value?

DWG Admin on May 24, 2018

Robots replacing humans is a fear that has been increasingly dominant in the media in recent years. The increasing presence of technology in everyday life and the decreasing need for humans in a variety of tasks has led to the fear that humanity will one day be rendered obsolete. Although technology has been present in quantitative data analysis, especially big data analysis, for a number of years, it is now increasingly being used in qualitative data analysis too, because of developments that allow robots to process natural language. Technology can help qualitative research by providing textual analysis, sentiment analysis, image and video analysis and voice recognition, leading to interview analysis, but to what extent can technology take over the role of qualitative researchers? Ultimately, what value do humans bring to the process?

A major strength of technology based qualitative research is the speed. Although humans are fully capable of analyzing qualitative data, they can’t compete in terms of pace. Analysis completed by robots is therefore appealing when clients are looking for quick insights. Moreover, although the initial investment in the required technology is expensive, spending fewer hours on a project will ultimately make projects cheaper, which is always appealing for clients and will give the researcher that uses it an edge over competitors.

However, while robots can now understand language, they are certainly still unable to empathize. As empathy is crucial for successful market research, technology’s role is therefore limited. In fact, using fast-paced machines to analyze the data is actually helpful, because the less time researchers spend analyzing data themselves, the more time they have to empathize with the respondents’ feelings. It is this “system 2” thinking that ultimately delivers high-quality results to clients because it allows researchers to see the world through the eyes of the consumer. Humans should utilize their strengths as great thinkers and collaborate with machine analysis to achieve the best results.

Moreover, although researchers aim to be objective, using machines reduces the risk of unconscious bias, which is crucial in providing accurate and actionable insights for clients. However, although machines may not have prejudices, their general accuracy can still be questioned. Although their understanding of natural language has improved, it still does not meet human standards and their ability to understand language traits such as humor and sarcasm, while contextualizing meaning, is still limited. Likewise, machines can be over enthusiastic to categorize data when it may not fit under a specific label, a problem that is specifically relevant during sentiment analysis (see our recent blog on this here). Humans on the other hand are more flexible, and can make judgement based on specific situations, rather than making routine decisions based on programming. Admittedly, the sometimes tedious process of data analysis can lead to errors from humans too. But, humans are definitely required in the analysis process, even if merely as quality control.

Although technology has a clear place within qualitative research analysis, we ultimately complete market research, both quantitative and qualitative, to understand people so that clients can meet their requirements with products and services. It’s therefore important that humans remain present in the process and are not distanced from dealing with the data. This is especially crucial because researchers’ knowledge of language, their flexible judgement and their ability to think, feel and empathize adds a value that machines cannot currently provide. When humans and robots work alongside each other, utilizing each other’s strengths, the results will be the most successful and deep, actionable insights will be delivered to clients.

Renee’s Takeaways – Get the scoop on L&E’s Qual Research Recruiting Webinar!

DWG Admin on April 23, 2018

6 Steps to Perfect Qual Webinar Series Summary

Step 2 – Qualitative Research Recruiting Webinar – Webinar held on April 11, 2018

Let’s add another webinar filled with great information to the books! In this webinar in our series, we focused on Qualitative Recruitment and got to spend some time with three experts in our industry. First up, Teressa Johnnson, Director, Sensory Science and Technical Support at The Wendy’s Company. Next, Heather Hall, Vice President of Project Management at Illumination Research. And last but not least, our very own Brett Watkins, CEO and President of L&E Research.

In this webinar, we focused on Q&A based around Qualitative Recruitment, tips to help your recruiting go as smoothly as possible, and also help ward off any issues before they become issues starting with the design process.

Here’s what our panelists had to say!

1. We started by asking about kicking off a new project with a recruiting partner. What might our panelists be able to share with an amateur researcher in regards to getting recruiting started off on the right foot?

Partner, partner, partner! You want to be sure to work with recruiting companies who not only care about helping YOU be successful, but who also align with your core values. In any good relationship, personal or business, communication and honesty are key elements to be able to have a true partnership. In the end, you’ll want to be sure that you can trust your partner to do what is best for your project.
Be clear about your expectations for the recruit right from the start! Have a discussion about who your ideal respondent is. Ask your recruiting partner if they have any past experience with the population you are trying to reach, and if they can offer and advice on the best ways to reach them.
Ask your recruiting partner what their plan is to find your population. If plan A does not work, what’s plan B? Having this mapped out at the beginning, will help keep your recruiting from getting hung up, and keep the process moving along.

2. Next we discussed what might be at the top of our panelist’s checklist when kicking off a new project.

Be sure that your recruiting partner is fully aligned with you! Make sure you are crystal clear on who you really want for your research. This will help eliminate issues down the line.
Have a kick-off call! Extremely important to have a kick-off call with your recruiting partner before getting started. In the age of email, some things may be uncovered in a phone call, that was not communicated in the email thread. This is a good time for both parties to ask questions, gain clarification, brainstorm, etc.

3. We also touched a little bit on screener development. What do our panelists always work into their screeners?

False, or catch questions. Ask about product usage, and include a few items in a list that do not actually exist. If a potential respondent answers yes to using any of the false products, TERMINATE!
Include your plan B right in the screener! If you anticipate that a question may not work, or may be a sticking point, make your plan B known from the start as to not hold up recruiting.
Be careful of the way your questions are worded. It’s easy for a question to be interpreted by different people in different ways. It’s extremely important to be sure that your questions do not have multiple ways they can be interpreted. Let someone else on your team put their eyes on it, even take it for a test run if time allows.

4. Touching on recruiting partnerships again, we asked our panelists what some of their must haves are in a recruiting partner.

Communication is key. Over communication is even better! Keeping the client in the loop, and always informed about what is going on with their recruit. If they are anticipating issues, let the client know, and even come to the table with some suggestions on what can be done to keep the recruit moving right along.
Timely updates. A partner who understands that no news makes the client anxious! All ties in with the above, and if there is an issue, knowing about is sooner than later is best to be able to stay on top of it.

5. Along the same vein, we asked our panelists what the best service is that their recruiting partner can provide.

Once a project is kicked off, get started quickly! If recruiting gets started quickly, you can have a gauge early on how the recruiting is going, and be able to identify any issues sooner rather than later.
Be honest about feasibility! Work with a partner who does their homework up front, and can let you know, with certainty, if they can recruit the population you are after. If they cannot, they should come to the table with what they CAN do.
A solid database. It’s helpful if a recruiting partner’s database holds a lot of preliminary information about potential respondents. This way, you can focus on the meat of the recruit, and get the demographics and such out of the way up front.

6. One question I think we all ask now and then is how we avoid some of the common issues that may arise with recruiting. Is there anything that can be done during the design process in order to get the most authentic participants?

Blind recruit. Set up your screener to hide the topic, but as mentioned earlier on, include the red herring questions.
Re-screen on-site. If someone was not truthful during the screening process, they will likely not remember how they answered if screened again.
Work with a recruiting partner who uses technology to track things such as past participation, participant behavior, etc., so you are able to weed out non-qualifying participants early on in the process. Also a partner who is always working to grow their database to ensure fresh participants.

7. New technology and recruiting. What do our panelists think about it, what do they like, and what are some things that need to be overcome when working with it?

Online research. You can reach a lot of people who you may not have been able to reach before, expand your reach. One of the issues with this are bots, and how they can mimic human behavior to answer questions. Better technology could be put in place to help with that.
Webcams can give us some great insights into consumer behavior, and that can work alone as the sole methodology. It’s even better when you can use it prior to groups or interviews to get the conversation started before the respondents even arrive on-site.

We hope you found this summary to be helpful! If you didn’t register for this webinar you can listen to this webinar in its entirety, or download a free, transcribed version by clicking here.

Be on the lookout for our next webinar, which will be this summer. If you can’t wait until then, you can always view our on-demand webinars and learn about the latest technology solutions. Don’t forget to subscribe to our blog so you can keep up with what is happening at L&E!

Until next time!

Your Research Design Engineer at L&E,

Renee Wyckoff