Live blogging from the Corporate Researchers Conference in Chicago. Any errors or bad jokes are my own.
How a Mobile-Enabled World is Changing Research
Presented by Roddy Knowles, Director of Mobile Research
- “This is the year of mobile” we say this every year
- what steps do you take for mobile friendly design
- 1 in 5 survey starts on a mobile device; 2 in 5 panel enrollments is on a mobile device – this is a 100% increase over last year
- over time, people realize that surveys aren’t always designed for mobile devices
- meet responders when and how they prefer – at home, work, on the bus
- mobile reminds us that real paper take our surveys, we lose the human element sometimes
- Mobile helps with feasibility, data quality, and representativeness
- Data quality
- bias towards visible answer choices
- scale biases
- count biases – few choices selected on a long list
- straightlining – mitigated by good design
- you need to test your specific situation to be aware of potential problems with your survey
Data comparability
- data generally comparable
- [remember – even if you give the same survey to the same people just one day apart, the data will be different]
- excluding mobile people from a desktop survey means the data will be less representative, less tech savvy people, fewer early adopters, fewer shopping-centric people, certain tech occupations excluded
- Best practices
- avoid wide grid qrid on a smartphone – people still do this!
- responsive design is not a large font grid on a smartphone
- keep it short, try for ten minutes
- use fewer answer options where possible
- aim for a 5 point scale
- make sure all scale points are visible without scrolling
- allow “fat finger” responses on a phone, tiny radio buttons mean you will hit the wrong button
- avoid need to scroll, pinch, and zoom
- open ends are shorter but ask the questions well – don’t ask for a novel, ask for a succinct response
- you can use audio/visual but test it first. if people can’t see the video your data will be poor quality
- don’t use flash
- use responsive design – PROPERLY, make sure text size is good
- they’ve created a scoring system to show four buckets – mobile optimized (you might get a hand-written thank you note if you score this high), mobile friendly, mobile possible, mobile incompatible
- let’s not torture panelists
- not every survey is designed to be a mobile survey so don’t do it if it’s not
- response rates have doubled, dropouts have dropped, fewer reminders, more efficient [impressive!]
Related articles
- The Oscars of Marketing Research: Peanut Labs’ Chief Research Officer wins ESOMAR’s Excellence Award for the Best Paper
- 22 things we care about more than privacy
- In which I rant about showing data in presentations #MRX #CRC2014
- How marketing researchers can start being more ethical right now #MRX
- Discover the Science of Fascination by Sally Hogshead, Fascinate, Inc. #CRC2014 #MRX
- Mission Possible: Innovative Solutions to Challenging Project Briefs Presented by Roddy Knowles, Director of Mobile Research #CRC2014 #MRX
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