Research Guru by Alice Irvan, PRC, APR

Three times a DIY researcher should seek professional assistance.

November 22, 2010 at 6:12 pm | Posted in loyalty research, marketing research, online surveys, PR best practices, resarch techniques, research methods, Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Tags: DIY, online surveys, surveys

The availability of free and inexpensive online survey tools and the ability to obtain member or customer email lists have turned many marketers, communicators and managers into instant researchers. Many of the survey tools even have examples of questions and encourage the DIY researcher to follow these. So, it’s possible to create and distribute an online survey in minutes.

If you are a DIY researcher but don’t have formal training in statistics or survey design, there are still many times when the results you get will be just fine for your organization. However, there are at least three times when you should consult a research professional.

First, ask a professional for assistance if you or your organization plan to make a decision that could impact your  organization by financial loss, reputation damage, or customer loss if you make a wrong decision. For example, let’s take a 80,000 member alumni organization that needs to know whether members would accept a $50 dues increase and under what circumstances and wants to know which services could be discontinued. The decision to be made involves at least $1.6 million. That is when a research expert would be well worth the investment to ensure the survey wording meets the objectives and that the results are accurately interpreted.

Second, seek professional assistance if the subject matter of your survey is controversial and if the outcome could show the status quo is not working. If you expect proponents of either outcome to question the results, then seek help. For example, imagine that business wants to know whether customers would prefer that staff wear easily identifiable clothing such as a short with logo or carry a name tag. Some management team members who say the cost and process to the clothing are out-of-line are likely to find fault with the survey after the fact if it shows customer would prefer the more uniform look. By bringing in a reputable experienced researcher, you can avoid being put on the defensive.

Third, get assistance if the results need any analysis other than simple frequency reporting. For example, a wine store wants to survey its customers about when to hold free wine tastings. They are interested in times that would attract new customers, that  could encourage minimal purchases to increase the frequency of their purchases and that would be convenient for frequent purchasers. In this case, the survey would need to be carefully designed to include appropriate demographics questions such as age, distance from store, frequency of purchase, and type of purchase/wine. The data would need to be statistically analyzed and someone who understand how to interpret statistics would determine whether there are differences in preferences for time of day, day of week and other factors.

While there any many times when a DIY online survey will provide an adequate answer, these are three of the many times a professional should be used.