Quirk has been conducting a survey amongst Corporate Researchers since 2014. The survey is designed to cover all areas of their work and life, including budgets and their views on new methodologies.
This year's survey took a specific look at the adoption of new methods, and a comparison between these and the more traditional approaches. It interviewed 861 client side researchers. The full report has just been published, but the headlines are:
- Online surveys are seen as more effective than depths or groups (although all are effective in absolute terms). Paper based surveys and telephone interviewing are seen as the least effective approaches
- Online qual and mobile surveys seem to be the most effective 'up and coming' techniques
- Companies are still undergoing a lot of reorganisation and internal restructuring which is causing disruption and uncertainty
- Outsourcing appears to be on the rise again
- Automation of research platforms is becoming increasingly important and common
- Main frustrations appear to focus on research and data quality, and the availability (or otherwise) of good, reliable sample sources