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Steve posted a question that many of us have on our minds in the Market Research profession  www.samplemetrics.com/index.php/2010/03/will-we-be-a-profession-or-a-commodity/ (dead link in 2013)

My response:

Steve, I totally agree that “quality” is an issue that needs addressing, however it’s not a simple thing to decide what is quality as it applies to online research.

“Quality” is inherently a subjective “qualitative” assessment on what is largely (though not exclusively) a quantitative discipline.

What do we mean by quality?

So today was chaos. Meet MM on Albert Street and after a delayed start we got into viewing & dissecting yesterday's video taping. So now I have a DVD (in Mac proprietary format- grrr. Mary?) showing me what I do right & what I do wrong in a variety of simulated situations.

Apparently I can relay visually & to great effect how the prehensile snout of a rhinoceros works. Not sure I can work that into client presentations & conference talks, but who knows :-)

I keep forgetting, living here, how beautiful parts of Ottawa are.

Sometimes you need to do the tourist thing to see this. Yesterday we took Danielle & Grant on the Ottawa River tour where you can see the city from an angle unlike any other. The river is much wider than you'd think (lake-like in spots) and the differences between the east & west shores (Quebec & Ontario sides) are remarkable.

http://www.twistimage.com/blog/archives/the-saddening-state-of-mass-media/ (original post)

Yes it saddens me. No it does not shock me.

There are sadly always more takers than givers, this is why the formerly giving person become cynical.

I get the concept of whuffie, I buy into it, but I also realize that MOST people don't.

After four days of extensive and at time intense face-to-face talks with more than 20 people heavily involved in various social media platforms, I have clarified my thinking on how Market Research uses social media, and also how we use the people that participate in research (in general).

I think the current model is broken.