What we do is essentially drive-by research. We pull up to random individuals, shake them down for answers and take off without a thank you. We call this science.

We call people "respondents", rather than partners, collaborators or something more humane and respondent is a very accurate description of how the industry thinks of participants: we ask, they respond, we go away. People are treated as disposable and interchangeable resources. Of course, this attitude is completely out of place in a social environment.

People will not stand for this much longer, many already don't.

Reciprocity is needed, and monetary compensation is a band-aid which attracts the wrong kind of people.

So what is the solution?

I think we need to develop a sustainable research model based on collaboration with the people we wish to query.

We invite, we nurture a relationship, we ask our questions in an appropriate manner and then we give back. This still should have research rigor behind the scenes but the public face of the process needs a face lift.

Let me give you an example. We gather a group of people to test the reception of a prototype or beta version of something. We recruit, explain the process (without introducing bias) start with some moderated qualitative discussions (a process quite analogous to using a focus group to tweak the design of a questionnaire), we add a dash of quantative questioning to the mix (questions arising from the discussion that merit quantification) loop back until you achieve your goals.

People are encouraged to talk with each other as well as with the researchers.

At the end you give back a summary of the findings of the group and thank them for helping make this possible. They feel valued and recognized, and we get quality responses.

It takes longer, there is more work involved, but quality results are never free of effort.

I have seen evidence that some research firms do this upon occasion (usually in  privately closed groups setup for the project)  this needs to become more prevalent

We plan to implement this model for many of our projects immediately. While we can't change the research world over night, we need to start before we all kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Time to end the drive-bys.