On 1st December 2023, ESOMAR’s Research World published a video interview alongside an article featuring FlexMR’s CEO, Paul Hudson, who talks to Crispin Beale, CEO of Insight250, about survey quality, participant experience, the ESOMAR Participant Experience Network, and artificial intelligence in market research.
This follows the announcement earlier this year that Paul was named a member of the prestigious Insight250 list – which spotlights and celebrates 250 of the world’s premier leaders and innovators in market research, consumer insights, and data-driven marketing. In this article, Paul shares some important lessons and best practices as research becomes increasingly valuable to decision-making and strategy.
In the Insight250 Spotlight – A Summary
Paul’s interview with Crispin focussed on exploring the threats and challenges to survey research and the tactics and best practices to elevate participant experience and research quality. When asked about survey quality and participant experience, Paul mentioned that “It’s important for two reasons; one, because there is a ‘value-gap’ whereby participants don’t perceive they get the same value as organisations, and two, that leads to falling response rates and lost commercial value.”
From there, Paul and Crispin discussed the common things that damage the participant experience and undermine survey quality, noting that it’s tricky to advise on this topic because it varies depending on the segment/audience and what the survey is about. Also, there are commercial pressures that introduce competing demands when designing an impactful survey, including “the research question, time, cost, and competing client needs/demands.”
The two also discussed the Survey Quality Score (SQS) experiment that Paul recently ran, focussing on “creating that counter-balance, adding in the participants' experience as one of those competing demands, effectively giving participant experience ‘a seat at the table’ when we have those conversations about a survey and make design decisions.”
Another topic that arose was the ESOMAR launched their Participant Experience Framework, which Paul commented has been incorporated into FlexMR’s working habits as he’s “created a working group that is using that framework to review our work, challenge our survey designs across each element outlined and, ultimately, drive a focus on improving survey design.”
No interview is complete without mentioning how AI is growing and integrating itself more into the daily practices of researchers everywhere – Paul and Crispin discussed how AI can help insight teams take more actions and decisions, speed up work, and ultimately help scale volume with quality without making it faster and cheaper.
Lastly, Paul’s tip for insight experts everywhere is to: “Keep learning and changing; stand still, and you will, ultimately, end up behind everyone else.”
Watch the full video to listen to Paul’s advice on designing high-quality surveys (including three top tips), and find out more about the SQS experiment and more on the Research World webpage now.
About Insight250 and Research World
Annually celebrating the worldwide pioneers, leaders and innovators in market research, data-driven marketing and insights, the Insight250 presents a unique view into academic, enterprise, agency, technology, media and association data-driven leaders around the globe.
Research World is your platform to be inspired by the insights and analytics sector. Discover the latest innovations and applications of insights and analytics and expand your knowledge. A website brought to you by ESOMAR, the business community for insights and analytics.
