Views from the Hills by R. E. Stevens, GENESIS II (The Second Beginning) E-Mail views@aol.com

The "Researching Research" Presentation

The "Researching Research" presentation is a summary of over 20 years of research into the methods and protocols we usually use in consumer research. In the late 1960's, a small group of us were involved in researching current laboratory practices and their relationship to results obtained in the consumers' households. At that time, it was suggested that we explore the relationship of our consumer research methods with what happens routinely in the real world (non-test environments). The result of this research was the identification of weak areas within consumer research activities and their root causes. My experiences since retiring is that these issues are still present in our consumer research. Following is a brief outline of the components of the presentation. Also included in the presentation are some solutions.

The five most serious weak areas were identified as:

(Note: Packaging research was seen as the most neglected component of a brand. We frequently research and develop the protection features of the package, but neglect the functionality and of most importance, the communication of the package.)

The four identified root causes of poor research, other than time and money, were:

The objective of the presentation was to stimulate thinking about how we might improve our profession of consumer research. Currently 90% of the 23,000+ new consumer products entering the market each year will fail within the first 12 months on the market. This is not a record we as consumer and market researchers should be proud of.
[Back][Index][Forward]