Asia Pacific region - aprc-research

ResearchNews
Australian Market & Social Society | Volume 28 | Number 2 | March 2011
Asia Pacific region

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Research News March 2011
ASIA PACIFIC REGION
CONTENT
REGULAR SECTIONS
FEATURES
President’s point of view...............................4
News.........................................................……6
Profile
David Bottomley..............................................8
Company news & announcements
News, events and updates...........................10
Write to reply.........................................……12
Statistics
Significance testing versus
Bayesian statistics........................................20
The word’s out
Text analysis..................................................21
Cover to cover
Nudge – Improving Decisions about
Health, Wealth and Happiness by
Richard H Thaler and Cass R Sunstien.……24
Career moves
New appointments and promotions
for AMSRS members...................................25
HR, leadership & management
Demand for market research
professionals in 2011...................................28
An ethical question................................……28
Society news..........................................……29
Professional development program
calendar and dates for the diary................30
14
Mobile leapfrogs other technologies in Asia
A lot of Asian markets have leapfrogged older technologies, such as
analogue mobiles, to get straight into GSM and 3G. They’re also
starting to leapfrog fixed line phones at home to get straight into mobile.
Market research companies need to invest more in mobile phone
research methods if they want to take advantage of growth in the Asia
Pacific region. By Kerry Sunderland
16
Meeting the MR needs of Vietnamese SMEs
Growth in the market research industry in Vietnam will come from
small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and not just the big multinational
corporations. This is because SMEs have been consistently the source
of growth in Vietnam; on average, their profits grow about 20 per cent
each year. But multi-tasking and non-traditional research approaches
are required when working in Vietnam.
By Tran Ngoc Dun and Tuong Tuan Thong
18
Odd ducks
Doing market research in China keeps even the most
experienced researchers on their toes. In a diverse market that
is constantly changing it takes guts and commitment to keep up
with the demands of clients. By Katarina Olausson
Research News is the official magazine of the AMSRS. It is
published monthly and distributed to members and subscribers.
Publisher
The Australian Market & Social Research Society Ltd
Level 1, 3 Queen Street, Glebe NSW 2037. ACN 002 882 635.
Tel: 02 9566 3100 or 1300 364 832 Fax: 02 9571 5944
Executive editor
Elissa Molloy.......................elissa.molloy@amsrs.com.au
Managing editor
Kerry Sunderland.............................editor@amsrs.com.au
Editorial subcommittee
Kylie Brosnan, Paul di Marzio, Corey Fisher, Milica Loncar,
Scott MacLean, Norma Nolan, Caroline Smith and Paul Vittles
Advertising enquiries
Evolve Media............................................ Tel: 02 6680 4075
Design and layout
Hyve Creative........................................info@hyve.com.au
Division contacts
NSW Mike Beder, QPMR
Tel: 02 9371 0311 .................................. mike@qra.net.au
QLD Michael Gardiner, QPMR
Tel: 07 3376 5176 ........................ m.gardiner@tpg.com.au
SA Arry Tanusondjaja , QPMR
Tel: 08 8302 0074.... arry.tanusondjaja@marketingscience.info
VIC Charmian Huggett, QPMR
Tel: 03 9686 5444........................ charmian@people.net.au
WA Derryn Belford, QPMR
Tel: 08 9262 1896..... derryn.belford@westernaustralia.com
ACT Jacqui Cristiano
Tel: 02 6216 2881.................. jacqui.cristiano@ato.gov.au
Unless expressly stated, the opinions published in Research
News are not necessarily those of the AMSRS. The AMSRS
accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of the opinions or
information contained in Research News. Readers should rely
upon their own enquiries in making decisions.
22
In praise of the humble potato
Though many researchers have indeed capitalised beautifully
on the power of the diary, one can still say it’s under-exploited,
and seems to me a bit like the potato of research; a versatile and
humble option which, given its merits, never quite seems to get
the appreciation it deserves. By Namita Mediratta
AMSRS National Conference 2011
8 - 9 September 2011
Sydney Hilton
Curiouser & Curiouser
SPONSORSHIP OPENS
4 APRIL 2011
For more information
visit www.amsrs.com.au
Research News March 2011 3

PRESIDENT’S POINT OF VIEW
Thirsty
One of the real truths in our profession is
that we researchers are a thirsty lot!
I am referring to the seemingly
never-ending thirst for new knowledge. Despite
all the highs and lows of business these
days, researchers have constantly attended to
and supported their own professional development,
which demonstrates that we see this
as important.
We currently have two good opportunities to
continue feeding this thirst this month.
One is to get more familiar about what
is going on in the Asia Pacific region when
ESOMAR hosts APAC 2011 in Melbourne. The
fact ESOMAR has chosen Australia to host
the conference demonstrates how we are
perceived on the world research stage. The
program is packed with stories of innovation
and good practice centred around the theme
of simplicity.
It was John Maeda, the American design
guru, who said: ‘Simplicity is about subtracting
the obvious and adding the meaningful’.
Which is the perfect way to describe what
we do, as we are often asked.
The second way to feed your thirst is to do
what 500 of us have already done and join the
‘locked’ AMSRS group on LinkedIn at http://
linkd.in/9MmfiD
There are a wide range of thoughtful topics
being debated, everything from technical
chats about significance testing (http://linkd.
in/i0RmvG) to a very key discussion about the
benefits of being a member of AMSRS. Is it
relevant to a new emerging research agency
Do clients care See http://linkd.in/gaNAuX
for more.
With 500 members on LinkedIn, and growing
every day, our thirst for knowledge and
learning is again on show. When completing
their profile most people say they join LinkedIn
either to keep abreast of current issues and
to learn (connection) or to find a new job (opportunity).
Connection and opportunity are two
things our profession
both need
and understand so
please join in and
contribute if you
haven’t already
done so - it may
just be the tonic
that will quench
your thirst.
Peter Harris, national president
Twitter:
@peteraharris
Blog:
http://peteraharris.wordpress.com/
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NEWS
APAC 2011 comes to Melbourne
Australian researchers will get a glimpse
of the collective body of ‘local knowledge’
among those conducting research across
the Asia Pacific region when ESOMAR’s Asia Pacific
2011 conference takes place on 19 to 22 March
at the Crown Promenade Hotel in Melbourne.
The previously buoyant Asia Pacific region
enjoyed a little breathing space before the global
financial crisis (GFC) hit (and then only in some
countries were the ripples felt) and by all accounts
the region has rebounded faster than Western
markets.
Nevertheless, growth in the market research
industry in the coming year will vary considerably
across the Asia Pacific region. In the regional
buying centres (Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong)
there is a close correlation between gross domestic
product (GDP) and research spend; Singapore
is expecting 12 per cent growth in GDP this year;
Hong Kong predicts nine per cent, while the Bank
of Japan forecast only 3.3 per cent growth. The
forecast for South Korea is around four per cent.
The big domestic market of India has projected
growth of 8.5 per cent while many regions in China
have double-digit growth targets.
Then there are the emerging markets (like
Vietnam and Indonesia) where the population
numbers are so big (even if per capita adoption
rates are much lower and the methods are not as
sophisticated) that they’re still incredibly interesting
for marketers, particularly those in the fast
moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector.
Chris Farquhar, managing director of Cimigo,
says that while Singapore and Hong Kong were
dramatically hit, those in Vietnam might well have
asked, ‘What recession’
However, while the regional buying centres
of Singapore and Hong Kong were affected most
severely by the GFC (also being key global financial
centres), researchers in the region report that
these two markets have also been the fastest to
rebound.
Those operating in the business-to-business
(B2B) and services sector, such as ORC International
(formerly NWC Opinion Research), are
forecasting more moderate growth in the rapid
growth emerging economies compared to those
doing FMCG research.
‘Many US and European companies cut
B2B and services research budgets in far flung
markets likes Asia when the GFC hit,’ says ORC
International regional managing director Greg
Wayman. ‘But the US seems to be emerging from
the GFC and European markets appear to have
gone through the worst, so there will be renewed
interest in Asia.’
James Fergusson
Chris Farquhar
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NEWS
The organisers of APAC 2011 note that the Asia
Pacific region is far more culturally and socially
diverse than any other region in the world and
despite the challenges posed from meeting such
varying needs, it is a region that has consistently
demonstrated positive growth and development.
James Fergusson, TNS Global Technology
Sector managing director, who will be presenting
a paper at the conference titled ‘Bridging the digital
divide in qualitative research in emerging markets’
(see story on page 14), says it’s essential for researchers
to understand the importance of looking
beyond the big cities in markets like China.
‘The further you get away from the tier one
cities, the whole business model changes and
local knowledge is absolutely critical in being
able to deliver valid and actionable insights. When
we start thinking about the bottom of the pyramid,
we see a whole different set of values and
priorities in terms of what people purchase and
therefore a whole different need for a purchasing
model. Those doing very well in these markets
include some of the major FMCG companies.
For example, in India, there’s more shampoo
sold by sachet than by bottles. We also need to
understand the different distribution channels. It
creates a whole range of new challenges for the
market research industry.
‘As marketers, you can’t just transplant your
personal experiences into rapid growth markets.
You have to go into these markets with a very open
mind. Secondly, these markets are also huge logistically
and the infrastructure required to meet
clients’ needs is a real challenge for the industry.
Thirdly, in rapidly growing emerging markets there
are no hygiene factors. The things we have taken
for granted since 1975 in the research industry in
Australia – i.e. I can find a valid, representative
sample and can have confidence in my data – aren’t
necessarily the case.’
One of the goals of APAC 2011 is to give researchers
the opportunity to explore how they can
offer encompassing insights in a region where the
diversity, size and pace of change make for a highly
intricate mosaic.
‘There are all sorts of cultural, economic and
societal factors that need to be taken into account.
We’re having to mix methodologies a lot more
today than five years ago,’ says Farquhar, whose
company operates in Hong Kong, China, Vietnam,
India, Indonesia and Macau. ‘Previously, clients
would insist on one methodology for all markets.
I think they are beginning to understand there are
different ways of speaking to people without having
to compromise the quality of research results
in any way. They’re getting more comfortable with
online research communities, for example. The
sample sizes are dropping right down, but it’s
permission based. Times have changed.’
Australian researchers speaking at the conference
include Peter Harris (Vision Critical and
AMSRS president), Bob Sharma and Frederic
Anne (Telstra), Roxan Toll (GMI), Stephen Paton
(AGL Energy), Roberto Capuccio and Peter Kenny
(Colmar Brunton) and Evette Cordy (Raspberry
Innovation Research + Strategy). The two-day
conference is preceded by a series of workshops.
For more info visit http://www.esomar.org/index.
php/asia-pacific-2011-programme.html
Errata: In the February 2011 edition article titled
‘State of the industry’ it was incorrectly stated
that Synovate had moved CATI operations to New
Zealand. This is not the case; Synovate has an
Australian-based team of telephone interviewers
and a face-to-face interviewing team that covers
all major capital cities in Australia. Synovate’s CATI
operations have always been based in Australia and
there are no plans for this to change.
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PROFILE
Transition and transformation
AMSRS founding member and Fellow David Bottomley has conducted research in urban and
rural China for more than 20 years.
‘
I
am fortunate that my work takes me to
interesting places,’ writes AMSRS Fellow
David Bottomley in one of his annual
Christmas letters to family and friends. Over
the years, these Christmas letters have drawn
heavily on the illustrated reports he prepares
for clients after fieldwork excursions in China
and Myanmar.
Bottomley, who is founder of the Hong Kong
company Asia Marketing Research Directions
(AMRD), was based in Hong Kong from 1986 to
2008. One of his first research projects involved a
taste test in a restaurant with snakes on the menu.
The friends of the interviewers he employed were
caught at the back door selling his imported beer
taste samples.
Over the past 25 years, Bottomley has seen
China race through its industrial revolution. More
recently, he has made bi-annual trips to China
to oversee the China in Transition to a Market
Economy study, which commenced in March 2000
and wound up in the middle of last year having
conducted about 50,000 face-to-face interviews in
every province of China, other than Tibet.
During his visits to China he has accompanied
interviewers into many homes. These trips were
often undertaken to pre-test questionnaires or
obtain a snapshot impression of the fieldwork.
‘Fieldwork supervision and checking needs to
be far more intensive and pre-planning in the office
is far more critical in Asia than in countries where
market research is well-established,’ he wrote in
the October 2001 edition of Research News.
Bottomley’s illustrated reports on these fieldwork
trips – in many ways, an exegesis on the main
research report - document gradual improvements
in the standard of living in regional and
rural China. They’re colourful reports that paint a
vivid picture of what it’s like living in China and are
scattered with amusing anecdotes about the challenges
for researchers – as Bottomley notes, ‘there
are always little adventures in fieldwork’.
Over a series of reports, his observations about
the improved standard of living have included better
and brighter light fittings, pictures on the walls,
flat renovations and apartment size – along with
the speed and comfort of China’s rail system. One
thing that hasn’t improved, much to Bottomley’s
chagrin, is the pollution. Invariably his reports end
with a note of relief that he’s returned to the clean
air and blue skies of Hong Kong.
Bottomley made a point of accompanying
interviewers during the entire fieldwork experi-
David Bottomley tries his hand at hawking in Taunggyi market, Myanmar
ence. He would put many younger researchers to
shame, climbing the stairs (or risking the ride in
a dubious lift) to the top of multi-storey apartment
buildings along with the interviewers, as he has
always insisted that they commence their door
knocking for pre-planned calls on the top level
of the building.
‘Without that instruction,’ Bottomley says,
‘Interviewers might get too many ground and
lower level flats.’
He writes with humility in his 2009 report,
‘Usually, on these trips, I walk up and down with
the interviewers but lazy from the previous day’s
travel, I let the interviewers do all the climbing until
they obtained an interview. Then they rang me, and
I went up to attend the interview.’
He notes in his reports other sampling challenges,
such as ‘what is a household when four
dwellings are adjacent and share a courtyard’
In Myanmar, sampling challenges have been
compounded by the fact that precise population
figures remain uncertain. The most recent government
census was conducted back in 1983 and
the government places the growth rate at 2.02
per cent to give a current estimate of 57.5 million,
but researchers and business people have their
own estimates.
On the other hand, Bottomley notes where data
are available for ‘committee districts’ in Chinese
cities, it provides the penultimate stratum for his
household sampling procedure.
‘A functional definition of a village in China is
that it contains friendly people, willing to help find
those who live in the homes our local supervisors
have pre-selected, that interviews seldom start
with less than eight people present, perhaps
double that number, and that “grandpa” [AKA Bottomley]
gets a baby placed in his arms. The latter is
hazardous. Diapers/nappies are not known in such
places. Babies wear pants split on the backside.
I like babies but I don’t trust their inner controls.
So far, over the years, no accidents – but I limit my
exposure to about five minutes!’
He notes that during one interview in 2009,
student characters kept popping in and out of the
four doors off the central lounge area ‘like an old
fashioned three-act comedy’.
In stark contrast to nursing infants and feigning
disinterest in curious neighbours, over the years
Bottomley’s associates have had to diplomatically
negotiate their way through Chinese censorship
controls to get authorisation for his studies. However,
it is 10 years since he had any interviewers
arrested for asking suspicious questions about
such things as employment.
Bottomley and his team have sometimes
succeeded in getting Chinese communities to
participate in their surveys by saying, ‘we’re not
government, we’re friends!’
In between trips to China and Myanmar over
the past couple of years, Bottomley (who is now
86) has resumed the post-graduate studies he
first undertook back in 1948 after which he was
‘captured into market research for 60-odd years’.
He completed a second Masters at Melbourne University
in 2009. He is uncertain if he might complete
his PhD in the history of science education at Curtin
University’s Science, Mathematics and Education
Centre before he turns 90.
‘I’m enraptured with being an historical detective.
History is full of surmises and contradictions
to unravel. Life’s fun!’
8 Research News March 2011

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COMPANY NEWS
COMPANY ANNOUNCEMENTS
Cint acquires Thumbspeak
Cint, a technology and solution provider to the research
industry, has acquired Thumbspeak, a doit
yourself (DIY) mobile application platform, for
an undisclosed amount. Thumbspeak becomes
a Cint Group company and will be integrated into
the Cint Panel Exchange platform as a plug-in for
existing and new panel owners as well as sold as
a standalone licensed product under its existing
brand name. Initially available in North America,
Thumbspeak will be rolled out and made available
in a host of new international markets in
the coming weeks and months. Thumbspeak’s
DIY mobile relationship marketing platform and
application enable businesses and researchers
to connect with audiences in real-time via
their smart phones. Thumbspeak released its
first iPhone app in mid-2010 while the Android
and Blackberry apps are about to be released.
The iPhone application has been ranked as the
number one free business application on iTunes
several times during the last few months.
Ruby Cha Cha launches
Living Insights
Ruby Cha Cha has launched a new service
called Living Insights, which is a combination
of real-world exploration and video ethnography
that’s designed to bring clients and
stakeholders closer to their target audiences
and segments. Tools such as trace evidence
insights DVDs, ethnographic portraiture,
documentary films and videos, and statistical
storytelling through animations will be used.
Nick Agafonoff, who joined Ruby after successfully
establishing his own ethnography
house called Interloper, which he ran for
five years, will head up the new department.
Agafonoff is a documentary filmmaker and
consumer sociologist.
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Research Now increases
presence in Asia
Research Now has announced the relocation of
key personnel to further support future growth
of the company in Asia.
‘As a direct result of the growing demand for
online market research in the Asian markets,
Research Now is increasing its presence in Singapore
and Shanghai, relocating key personnel
to lead its emerging team,’ commented Martin
Filz, managing director, Asia-Pacific.
Previously responsible for sales and sales
support activities in New Zealand, Research
Now’s Martin Tomlinson has been promoted to
client development director for Research Now
Asia while Ying Li has joined as client development
manager (see ‘Career moves’ for more).
Flood squad
Jigsaw researchers
hosted a BBQ last
month to raise money
for the victims of the
devastating floods in
Queensland. The ‘flood squad’ team made calls
to local butchers, bakeries and grocers asking
them to generously donate any supplies they
could for the cause. There was a fantastic turn
out and everyone enjoyed a delicious sausage
sandwich in the sunshine. There were raffles and
one Jigsawian even shaved his hair off to raise
some more money for the worthy cause. With
the support of Sam The Butcher, Bakers Delight
(Northbridge, Mascot, Rose Bay), Castlecrag
Fruiters, Crown Catering, Tip Top and Castlecrag
Meats, Jigsaw raised $1600. It was donated to
Westpac, which matched one dollar for every
dollar collected until 14 February.
Editor’s note: A number of other companies,
including Colmar Brunton and TNS, also held
fundraisers for those affected by the floods.
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customers. For more information visit us
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Replenish Qualitative
Recruitment Services
relocates.
Replenish has relocated its Sydney and
Brisbane offices to accommodate the
company’s growing team during the end of
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Parents and
Frequent Flyers
Cint welcomes Australian Frequent Flyer to the
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access to 10,000 affluent travellers. We also
welcome Pregnancy, Babies & Children Expo,
adding 20,000 parents with young children and
babies. These specialist panels are fully profiled,
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Cint. The additions to our online capabilities
complement Cint’s recent acquisition of
Thumbspeak (see news item in this issue), the
leading do-it-yourself (DIY) Mobile Relationship
Marketing platform enabling researchers to
connect with respondents via smartphones at
the “moment of truth”.
Tel: 02 8219 9937
www.cint.com
10 Research News March 2011

fact:
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WRITE TO REPLY
Benefits of
working for a
big organisation
There is often debate in research circles
about the virtues of working for one
agency versus another. One of the most
common discussions tends to be the large
versus small agency debate. More often
that not, I find the tone of these debates
is that working for a large agency is
bad; working for a small agency is good.
I believe this is partially because the
smaller organisations in our industry tend
to be more vocal, but also because the
bigger agencies tend not to be drawn into
the debate to defend their case.
Working for a bigger agency, I too would
typically turn a blind eye to such commentary,
but recently there has been some criticism
of larger organisations, including TNS,
which I’ve felt to be so deeply misguided and
incorrect, I feel compelled to speak out.
The aim of this article is not to fuel the
‘who’s good, who’s bad’ debate. Ultimately
different people are suited to different
organisations at different stages of their careers.
And some people are more naturally
suited to larger agencies, some to smaller
agencies.
But what I did want to do was put forward
my personal view of what working in a big
organisation can offer. My opinion is solely
based upon my own experiences: I started
my research career in a big agency (500+
employees), before joining a small agency
(

WRITE TO REPLY
Talk (i.e. gossip) around the divestiture
of the CR assets was rife and staff morale
in the ad hoc side needed to be addressed.
Our strategy was to proactively position
CR in terms that a publicly traded acquirer
would understand. We deliberately avoided
pleading that we were different, special, and
that they had to accommodate our unique
needs. We pointed out that, yes, the margins
aren’t as high as in continuous but due to the
lower need for capital investment, custom
research had around 2.5 times the ROI. Also,
despite having significant market dominance
in media and retail at the time, D&B and
Nielsen could not expect that forever, so
a CR unit was a useful weapon to enhance
and protect the business as the competition
grew. Thirdly, by having a substantial
revenue stream that required little extra
back office maintenance, overheads could
be spread over a larger base. And finally,
even when you lose a major contract in CR,
you can get out in the market the next day
and look for a replacement; you don’t have
to wait two years or more to get another bite
at the contract.
So, without trying to sound heartless, wherever
you work, you have to assume some day the
owners are going to sell up and that will mean a
change. My advice is to be open-minded, detach
yourself from the emotions, and try to evaluate
what benefits the acquirer has got as a result
of buying you and your team. Then, express and
exploit those benefits. If after that, you’re still
not happy, then fair enough, maybe it’s time to
move on. However, in many cases, you will be
able to carry on and thrive because, often for
the first time, you’ve actually had to think about
the value you’re creating which is a big part of
your professional skill as a researcher.
David McCallum, managing partner, Gordon &
McCallum
GFC a boon for
independents
The growth of independent research agencies
(Research News February 2011) triggered by
the global financial crisis (GFC) was little more
than a two year accelerated period of the formation
of owner/operator consultancies which
has been going on for more than 15 years.
The fallout after consolidation or acquisition
is a standard response in service industries.
Scale, the imposition of internal systems
and infrastructure divert the attention of the
owners and with that begins a distancing from
the clients.
Over the last 15 years there has been a
steady stream of researchers who seized an
opportunity and took the risk of running their
own businesses. The service promise of the
SME agency is the personal knowledge of
and intensity of engagement with the client
business. The trick is not to be diverted by the
growth at all costs mantra. My observation of
the independent agencies that have formed over
this period is they continue to generate business
opportunities and deliver quality work.
In my own case, business has been busy
and grown steadily since setting up as an
independent five years ago. The GFC proved a
boon period for me and other independents /
sole practitioners.
Linda McAvenna, principal,
Think Strategy Pty Ltd

FEATURE
Mobile
leapfrogs
other technologies in Asia
Market research companies need to
invest more in mobile phone research
methods if they want to take advantage
of growth in the Asia Pacific region,
writes Kerry Sunderland.
Bob Chua, CEO of Malaysian-based Pulse Group PLC, says
that despite the economic situation globally, the research
industry in Asia has enjoyed ‘paradoxical growth’. He
speculates that this was because clients in Asia had, until the
global financial crisis (GFC) hit, favoured ‘legacy methodologies’
like face-to-face and telephone.
‘We started to see a huge shift or tipping point, probably in mid-
2008 when the economic situation worsened globally. It pushed many
clients over the edge to finally try online because of its cost and time
effectiveness, coupled with the fact that internet penetration in these
markets has grown so rapidly. Malaysia, for example, has grown from
20 per cent to 61 per cent in the past two years. We have so many
initiatives from both government and the private sector in this region
that really drive internet and broadband expansion, so we’re seeing
a huge shift to the adoption of internet, both on mobile platforms as
well as at home. Clients in this region are really looking for the next
new thing and how it will give them the edge.’
Chua believes mobile platforms, location-centric tools and
‘near-field communications’ (NFC) technology represent the next
big frontier for research as mobile broadband access gets cheaper
and mobile devices offer users richer experiences. He believes the
growth in adoption of mobile technology will allow researchers to
do more powerful surveys.
‘For example, the adoption of mobile phones in India is phenomenal
– there are 20 million new mobile subscribers every month. The
sheer volume of adoption is amazing and the introduction of Android
and other new platforms will be a real game changer. Malaysia has
105 per cent mobile penetration – people have more than one mobile
phone. Indonesia is the largest Blackberry market in the world – you
see taxi drivers there on Blackberry Messenger.
‘A lot of Asian markets have leapfrogged older technologies, such
as analogue mobiles, to get straight into GSM and 3G. We’re starting
to leapfrog fixed line phones at home to get straight into mobile.
There are a lot of interesting trends here that would probably not be
the norm anywhere else but I think Asian consumers are so hungry
for innovation that the adoption rates are going to be huge.’
TNS Global Technology Sector managing director James Fergusson
concurs. Fergusson told Research News back in 2006 that
clients and agencies in Asia appeared less resistant to embracing
technology than their Australian counterparts. He believes this
observation is still true.
‘It has the potential to blow market research wide open. Despite
mobile outnumbering online 3:1 and mobile being the irrefutable
future of digital, it has yet to become a mainstay data collection
methodology. As an industry, we haven’t taken advantage of the
mobile explosion in Asia.’
However he says the big challenge, particularly in countries
like China and India, is reaching consumers in regional and rural
areas. Fergusson will be speaking on this topic at ESOMAR’s 2011
Asia Pacific in Melbourne later this month when he delivers a paper
co-written with Navin Williams titled ‘Bridging the digital divide in
qualitative research in emerging markets’.
‘The mass adoption of the mobile phone across both developed
and rapid growth markets has had a far greater impact upon the
way consumers live their lives than the internet – because it has
reached far in excess of a billion more people. Despite this the market
research industry has been somewhat lax in driving the utilisation of
mobile as a valid and representative data collection tool.
‘Much of the focus of market research innovation still sits with
online panels – even in rapid growth markets such as South East Asia,
India and Sub-Saharan Africa the industry focus is on how to drive
adoption of online research using “traditional” online panels.’
This is despite the fact that in India only seven to eight per cent of
the population access the internet via a computer while, in China – the
world’s largest Internet market - some 600+ million consumers are
still without internet access.
14 Research News March 2011

Dominic Carter Bob Chua James Fergusson
The mobile only revolution
Percentage of mobile internet browsers who ‘never or infrequently use the
desktop internet’ *
Country
India, China, Indonesia, Thailand 43%
South Africa, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya 56%
US, UK 22%
Russia 19%
US 22%
UK 25%
China 30%
Thailand 32%
Indonesia 44%
Nigeria 50%
Kenya 54%
Ghana 55%
South Africa 57%
India 59%
Egypt 70%
% of mobile only
Data gathered from July to November 2010 - N= 15,204 (Source: On Device Research)
* ‘Infrequent’ mobile internet browsers use it once a month or less
Fergusson and Williams say most rural and remote regions
in the developing world still lack basic internet infrastructure
and access. Increasingly mobile networks are penetrating deep
into these formerly inaccessible regions including in difficult and
complex countries. With dropping data rates, mobile internet has
begun to rapidly penetrate all geographies. In Rural China, one in
four internet users are introduced to the web for the first time via
their mobile phone.
At APAC, Fergusson and Williams will argue that these factors
alone provide compelling evidence that the Asia market research
industries must focus a greater investment emphasis on fast tracking
the use of mobile phones to be a viable and commonly accepted
data collection medium.
‘In a global context this is far more important to our industry than
the online revolution was in the early 2000s,’ they say.
According to ESOMAR’s latest Global Market Research Report,
Japan is the biggest research market by turnover in the Asia Pacific
region – yet to be trumped by China, where the industry has only
operated for about 23 years – and the Japanese research industry
is also being radically transformed by technology.
Dominic Carter, who founded Carter Associates KK in 2004 a few
years after emigrating from Australia to Japan to work for Millward
Brown, says his business was not that badly affected by the GFC because
he had ongoing contracts focused on the domestic market.
But he says that despite his company’s apparent immunity from
the GFC, many market research companies are doing it tough. Carter
says there has been considerable consolidation among foreign
suppliers in Japan and now most of the major foreign players are
owned by the WPP Group and are operating (or soon will be) under
one brand, Japan Kantar Research.
‘It has proven difficult for the multinational research agencies to
develop their branded product solutions in the Japanese market on
a scale that justifies their independent existence.
‘The rest of the industry in Japan is under pretty severe pressure,
especially when it competes with online panels. A lot of the work in
the past few years has gone to the relatively new companies Yahoo
Value Insights and Macromill, which have now merged,’ he explains.
‘The industry, which has never been much of a value-added insightsdriven
industry, has really been changed by the move towards online
panels. Technology is driving everything towards being quicker, faster
and cheaper. Clients are cutting budgets to the bone.’
Online shopping company Rakuten has even moved into the
consumer research space. It operates a research panel and has
launched a do-it-yourself survey solution.
Carter says while there are some Western-style research users
in Japan who demand quality insight generation from their agencies,
they are the exception rather than the rule. Japanese clients
are less likely to make decisions based on research than their
Western counterparts.
‘Domestic companies tend not to do as much MR as we know it,’
he explains. ‘As a percentage of GDP, spend on MR is much lower
than it is in other markets. Japanese clients have never really demanded
much by way of insights from their suppliers, so this very
utilitarian, quick, cheap solution [offered by online panels] really
serves the market well.’
Carter believes the days of research ‘as we know it’ are numbered
(and not just in Japan) and that researchers, in the quantitative area
at least, need to get much more au fait with technology and better understand
what advances in mobile internet mean for market research.
This is one of the reasons he has recently launched a new Japanese
joint venture with Australian market research technology company
Potentiate (formed recently by the consolidation of software firm Infotools
Australia, panel management and survey deployment specialist
Plenari and online sample firm Sampleworx under one brand).
‘The way we do research is going to change. Japanese don’t have
any preconceived notions that you shouldn’t exploit technology. There
are also newer players who don’t necessarily make the distinction
between other branches of marketing and research. Potentiate is
very, very appropriate to the times when everything becomes much
more technology driven. We have developed and are developing
products that are very empowering for the client, allowing them to
achieve a lot more in the areas of research data collection, analysis
and communication, a lot more quickly.’
‘CATI versus online panels shouldn’t even be a conversation,’ argues
Fergusson. ‘We’re caught up in a debate that’s 10 years old.’
Reassuringly, he believes there are real opportunities for Australian
researchers to lead the mobile research revolution. These
will no doubt be explored further at APAC 2011.
Kerry Sunderland, managing editor, Research News
Research News March 2011 15

FEATURE
Meeting the MR needs
of Vietnamese SMEs
Multi-tasking and non-traditional
research approaches are required
when working in Vietnam, write
Tran Ngoc Dun and Tuong Tuan Thong.
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs), employing fewer
than 300 employees, account for a significant proportion
of national wealth and growth in less developed countries.
In Vietnam, a typical developing and emerging country,
the number of SMEs is reaching 400,000. They represent 99
per cent of the number of businesses of the country; employ
77 per cent of the workforce and account for 80 per cent of
the retail market.
Growth in the market research industry in Vietnam will come
from SMEs and not just the big multinational corporations. This is
because SMEs have been consistently the source of growth in Vietnam;
on average, their profits grow about 20 per cent each year.
SMEs in Vietnam receive great attention from the Vietnamese
government as well as non-government organisations (NGOs) in
initiatives designed to improve their competitiveness. Organisations
such as the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI),
the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have
implemented a variety of programs supporting SMEs to help them
improve working skills for their employees and business management
skills for leaders.
In particular, recent initiatives by the Ministry of Trade and
Industry and VCCI have helped Vietnamese SMEs conduct professional
market research by financing part of the research costs.
This research, which has focused on finding ways for Vietnamese
brands to enter rural markets, has generated strong awareness
among SMEs about the benefits of using market research. Market
research agencies in Vietnam have been encouraged to participate
into these initiatives to support SMEs and also to promote the agencies’
names to this sector.
Until 2007, large businesses (mostly multinational) remained
the biggest spenders on research in the country. However, after
joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2007, many SMEs
in Vietnam have grown to be significant players in their industries.
Typical cases are Nutifood Nutrition & Dairy, THP Beverage and
Masanfood. These companies (established approximately nine to
10 years ago) have grown from small enterprises to become substantial
players, with research budgets that have grown significantly
and are now comparable with multinationals in the same category.
Before 2007, the list of top 10 advertising spenders included typical
names such as Unilever, P&G, Coca Cola and Pepsi. By 2010, THP
and Masan were ranked number one and number three respectively
in ad expenditure.
This illustrates how market research agencies that effectively
promote and sell their services to SMEs could potentially grow
alongside these companies.
16 Research News March 2011

FEATURE
Current market research
awareness and usage
However, in a recent survey of 200 local fast moving consumer
goods (FMCG) SMEs in Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi, conducted by
FTA Marketing Research, less than 30 per cent had a separate
marketing department. None had a functional market research
department.
Therefore, it is not surprising that only half of these SMEs agree
that market research is the tool for understanding target consumers.
Only about 45 per cent agree that market research should be
the foundation for business strategy. Only 30 per cent agree that
market research should be used to improve current product offers
or develop new products.
Fifty one per cent had never used services from a market
research agency. Instead, they used mostly information from their
sales force, from staff, from informal talk with consumers at point
of sale or with others in the same industry. They relied on business
owners’ experience and learning from trial and error.
While 49 per cent reported they had tried outsourcing market
research services in the past three years, nearly half were not
satisfied. The top three reasons for being dissatisfied and saying
they are not likely to use market research again were:
1. Did not provide value for money
2. Did not solve business problem (after doing the research, the
owners received only general results and recommendations
from research agencies that were considered as too broad, not
practical and not particularly feasible to their business)
3. Based on inaccurate information (as a result of inappropriate
research design, from talking to the wrong target, or from not
asking the right questions).
Key barriers to usage
The most significant barrier to research usage among SMEs in
Vietnam is that it is perceived to be a cost item, not an investment.
This is the result of not being able to see the benefits of research,
nor seeing the linkage between market research and business
success and failure.
The second barrier comes from the low awareness of what
research is and how it could be used. Technical research terms
such as qualitative, quantitative, usage and attitudes (U&A), concept
test, price sensitivity and retail audit could be hard for SMEs (with
no research background, no marketing background and even no
formal business training background) to understand.
If market research products could be seen to help generate
sales reports, consumer feedbacks reports, promotion preference
reports, product rating reports and so on, then SMEs could link
these to the immediate benefits of using research.
The third most serious barrier is SMEs’ management vision.
Usually, if the owners do not trust market research agencies (as
a result of either perception or past trial experience), then this
would largely result in limited resources (people to absorb and use
research) and limited or no budget for research.
On the other hand, agencies need to better demonstrate their
ability to understand SMEs’ business, background, structure,
people, and financial resources. Research products and models that
are used for multinational corporations might not be appropriate
in the SME sector.
To be more relevant, there needs to be a shift from research
language to business language. Not only does the research product
name need to change, but also the research tools need to be
relevant to SME’s day-to-day business. These are the outcomes
SMEs want to see:
• Sales reports
• Distribution updates
• Sales intelligence
• Consumption trends
• Product benchmarking
• Price intelligence
• Promotion plan
• Investment maximisation
• Growth maximisation
• New market / product development (associated with new
risks, far away from experience and core expertise).
Key drivers
Among SMEs interviewed in the survey, the most important
driver of market research usage was the expectation that
research should clearly identify SME’s strategic direction and
also how to reach the end goal – the destination. They expect
to see the researcher’s ability to act as a business and marketing
consultant. Not only do they expect to hear ‘what to do’,
they also want to hear ‘how others did’. For them, research
is a fact based business solution, thus research must show
how it could actually solve the business problem. They expect
researchers to show experience and real market validation
from servicing other big multinational clients and explain how
the big fishes did it.
Researchers need to conduct comprehensive pre-research discussions
and effectively act as an internal research department.
Adoption process
Key decision makers for marketing strategy and market research
remain the SME’s owner, the managing director and the marketing
director (normally head hunted and hired from multinational
companies).
Over the past five years in Vietnam, many SME owners have
attended practical training courses in marketing and market research.
They, in turn, send their marketing staff to these courses.
As a result, they are getting to know about marketing and market
research concepts and services.
In our recent survey with SMEs, the top source of research awareness
and adoption is training. Usually, SMEs talk to the trainers for
advice and also seek marketing consultant from this source.
In many other SMEs, the restructuring processes to cope with
growth results in the employment of experienced marketing seniors
(who used to work for multinational companies) and this also facilitates
the adoption of market research. These are often SMEs that
sell, process and export raw materials. Now they are focusing more
on domestic market, which requires serious brand building. They are
seeing opportunities in the domestic growth but also seeing strong
competition from multinationals. They feel the risk is high, they are
now pulled out of their comfort zone and realise that relying on their
own experience isn’t enough.
SMEs (in particular those operating in the FMCG sector) represent
an area of potentially strong growth for those operating in the
Vietnamese market research industry. This segment is not easy to
penetrate, with many barriers for research agencies to overcome.
However, once SMEs trust and adopt research, a research agency
could win a full annual research package and an exclusive deal.
Tran Ngoc Dung (executive director, FTA Marketing Research)
and Tuong Tuan Thong (FTA Marketing Research) will present
their paper titled ‘Market research for local SMEs in less
developed countries’ at ESOMAR APAC 2011. The presentation
will include a case study illustrating how Vietnamese company
Nutifood used market research to grow its business.
Tran Ngoc Dung
Tuong Tuan Thong
Research News March 2011 17

FEATURE
fdd ducks
Doing market research in China keeps even the most experienced researchers
on their toes. In a diverse market that is constantly changing it takes guts and
commitment to keep up with the demands of clients. Katarina Olausson spoke
with three expats about what it is like working and living in Shanghai.
Gerline Soo, who moved to Shanghai from Singapore
in 2003 and speaks Mandarin and Cantonese, is the
regional director for Firefly Millward Brown.
‘Here in China you have a bigger budget and more clients who
are hungry for information and need to be updated very quickly.
The market is new to them but it is not only new, it is changing
rapidly,’ she says.
Soo says that in comparison to markets like Singapore, lots of
new product development projects and campaigns are developed
specifically for China.
‘But the problem is that a lot of clients think that China is just
one market when it is clearly not. They think it is good enough to
know about Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing, they think that is 100
per cent China, but this is not the case. It’s not just the geographical
differences, every city has its own characteristics.’
This point was put into sharp relief when Soo and her team
undertook an ethnographic study in a small town in inland China.
‘We went to the village and stayed with people for two days,
tracking and observing their lives. It was really quite different.
The living standard is basic and they don’t have much entertainment.
There is one restaurant in the hotel and that’s it. People
go to sleep at 7 o’clock, and the streets are dark. So things that
we take for granted here don’t exist there. That study left a deep
impression on me.’
Soo explains that local brands are very strong in these areas.
‘There is no competition; it’s old China, so people are not exposed
to a better brand or product. They tend to think that is the best, but
if they were exposed to a different brand you’ll find they are very
receptive to it. It is always easier for global brands to establish themselves
in the bigger cities than in the smaller cities and villages.’
Shiri Atsmon is living in Shanghai with her husband and three
children. She came to Shanghai in 2006 and works as an associate
director at Oracle Added Value. Atsmon grew up in Israel and spent
time working at a law firm in the US and as a psycho-diagnostician
for the Israeli Defences Forces.
‘I was certified as an attorney but before that I was working
in the Israeli army. It is a very interesting profession and gave me
great interviewing skills.’
Atsmon says that marketing teams in China are very open to
new research. ‘People are humble and open to you as a researcher.
You can help them to improve things or even to come up with
completely new ideas - the impact you have as a researcher is
meaningful and that is very satisfying. It just shows how dynamic
China is, I have more exposure here to business and strategy issues,
different categories and market development stages.’
The most successful international brands in China are those
that commit wholeheartedly to understand the specificities of the
Chinese consumer. Atsmon explains, ‘Many decide to launch a
product that is a version of a European product; it’s not tailored to
the local market. The brands that are doing the best are the brands
that are designed for China.’
When asked about what the workplace is typically like, Atsmon
says that the environment is supportive yet that there are, of course,
some cultural differences.
‘The pressure to succeed in China is extremely high. For example, if
you are a guy you can’t get married until you have an apartment. I hope
in the future everyone can feel like they can take a break and devote
more time for work and life balance. As an expat I am a bit of an odd
Shiri Atsmon Gerline Soo Jason Spencer
18 Research News March 2011

FEATURE
duck because I say, “Now I have to go home and tend to my kids”.’
Before moving to China, Atsmon spent a couple of months
learning Mandarin. ‘Many people, when they arrive here, are totally
immersed in their careers and it is difficult to take time off to learn
a bit of Chinese. But if you have done a foundation course prior to
coming it can be a springboard to further learning.’
It is rare for expats to end up in qualitative moderating roles
because of the language barrier. Atsmon explains that even local
moderators sometimes have difficulties because of the many different
dialects.
Another thing to keep in mind when working in China is that
there is no such thing as an awkward silence and that it is important
to be persistent and patient.
‘They can be silent until tomorrow. But once they talk they are
blunt. It can be very refreshing so you just have to develop a thick
skin. It is never intended to be malicious, it is about being communal,
everyone is your friend and wants to help you,’ Atsmon explains.
Jason Spencer is the managing director for Millward Brown
ACSR. He arrived in Shanghai from Australia for the first time in
1993. After a couple of years working in market research and as
interpreter in both Hong Kong and Taiwan, Spencer had the opportunity
to assist a colleague in starting up a new research company.
‘I was in a fairly senior position by that stage, working as a
research director. But I didn’t feel like I had the knowledge and experience
to back me up. I felt that I was the white guy being pushed
out there to face the client and I didn’t think I had the substance to
support that. So I spoke to a contact of mine at Millward Brown. He
said, “OK I’ll train you” and gave me a pay cut and put me down a
level which was OK, I suggested he’d do that.’
Within 12 months Spencer was promoted and had gained a lot
of experience and skills. ‘I really found that I had achieved what I
wanted to achieve in terms of having the substance to stand up
there and speak confidently to clients.’
What attracts Jason to working in China is that it is challenging.
‘In the last few years we have a group of clients that are extremely
sophisticated and I would say even more sophisticated than what
you would consider best practice in North America, Western Europe,
Australia and New Zealand.’
Spencer explains that there are also those clients who are less
experienced in using and disseminating market research throughout
their organisations and these require a different set of skills.
‘We have to convince them of the value of doing market research;
we have to work hard at that and be emphatic with them. We need
to take ourselves out of the comfort zone and experience someone
else’s concerns and anxieties. So the spectrum that we need to cover
can be quite diverse.’
Local Chinese companies are becoming more interested in doing
research, Spencer says. ‘We recently finished the top 50 Chinese
Brands study that looks at quantifying the value of a brand. We have
a unique situation where a lot of Chinese brands are starting to appreciate
the value of a brand.’
He adds, ‘the market is constantly evolving, constantly developing;
it’s a changing environment that suits certain personality types.
There are times when I just need to get out of the country and go
somewhere and lie on a beach to recover. But that’s fine, after a week
I always find myself wanting to get back to the dynamism and the
challenging environment that China is. It’s a beautiful
lifestyle in Australia but after a couple of weeks
back home I find myself with itchy feet.’
‘Most researchers in Australia will end up doing
international projects in parts of Asia at some point
in the careers,’ says Tracey Rankin from Yellow Door
Research, which has conducted multi-country studies
in the Asia Pacific region for many years. She says one
thing you quickly learn when it comes to qualitative
research, is that if you just hand the materials to a
local field team you’ll get a mess.
‘Most of us learn the hard way that you have to be
there on the ground, to make sure they’re asking the
right questions and probing in the right way. You really
get to know a culture when you get things wrong.
And your results are only as good as your
simultaneous translator. Once you establish a good
network in Asia, you can tap into that.’
Rankin, who is heading back to India this month to
present her research findings to an local client, says
she believes there is a growing market for research
in the Asia Pacific region and clients are showing
increasing interest in more complex methodologies.
Katarina Olausson moved to Shanghai last
month to work as an account manager at
Firefly Millward Brown
Research News March 2011 19

STATISTICS
Something slightly significant
If I asked how many clients you had inadvertently
misled in the past 12 months,
you might be justly indignant. So, I will
rephrase the question. How many times have
you reported results simply because they were
statistically significant How often have you
scanned through a set of tables, searching for
the little asterisks denoting significant results,
reporting findings on that basis How often have
you agonised about leaving out results that were
‘almost significant’
How can I use ‘misled’ and ‘statistically significant’
in the same paragraph Everyone knows
that testing quant findings in this way is standard
practice and is taught in the finest academies.
Our own Code of Professional Behaviour,
when discussing what a client is entitled to (Section
D; point 4), includes ‘… and of the levels of
statistical significance of differences between
key figures’. You can’t get more authoritative
than that.
So, what is my concern about statistical significance
testing and the way it is often applied
in marketing research Does it matter
I will point to two issues in particular. One is
the logic of significance testing; the other is the
poor way it is implemented.
We market researchers often work under
pressure to complete projects and get the results
to a client. Anything that makes it easier for us to
unravel the key findings is welcome. So, we look
for the little asterisks. We want to tell our clients
what is important and what is not. So we report
significance. Fine goals; bad technique.
As the 1800s morphed into the 1900s, a
number of people sought a way to distinguish
random ‘noise’ from ‘real’ differences in data.
One was William Gosset (the ‘student’ of the
famous Student’s t-test who, happily, worked
to perfect Guinness stout). Another was Ronald
Fisher. They argued about the way a test for
a real difference should be applied and the
forceful Fisher won out. This left social science
inheriting a flawed approach.
There are problems with the logic Fisher advocated
and most researchers misunderstand
it anyway. Indeed, if you ask researchers to
interpret what a significance test is telling them,
they are usually wrong — and studies amongst
groups of academics have shown that the majority
of them don’t understand the meaning
either. Amazing, I know, but that just shows
how a poorly understood idea can take hold and
become a part of research tradecraft.
Fisher left us with a bizarre idea - that is
that there is a specific level of probability at
which the whole world changes from ‘no’ to
‘yes’. One outcome is that we researchers are
not supposed to take account of the costs of
being wrong and the benefits of being right
when deciding the worth of a result.
If you were researching the efficacy of a
cancer cure, would you think the balance of the
costs of being wrong with benefits of being right
are the same as when you test the preferred
flavour for a new ice cream Fisher’s logic says
both situations are to be treated in the same
way. An implication is that we researchers can’t
take account of clients’ differential willingness
to accept the consequences of uncertainty in
research findings. All clients, all risks and all
benefits are the same.
In addition, whatever the logic, we do not
give clients the level of skilled service for which
they think they are paying when we:
• Carry out significance tests after the data
are in, missing the point that if we did
Power Analysis before the research was
conducted we would have known that there
was no way the sample could deliver a
significant result. Might a client make a
case for deceptive and misleading conduct
or negligence
• Ignore the fact that whether or not a result
is significant is a function of the sample
size. This means that we might report
‘significant’ findings when they are in fact
trivially small. This makes research look
disconnected from the realities of the commercial
environment.
• Don’t report the confidence intervals for
results, hence not giving the client (or ourselves)
the chance to see just how large a
difference really is in the context for which
the findings are to be used.
Rob Hall, director, Environmetrics
There will be a NewMR virtual event
that explores text analytics. Titled
‘Listening is the New Asking!’ it takes
place online on 8 March. To find out
more visit http://newmr.org/page/
listening-2011. Research News will
look at text analysis in more detail in
the April edition.
If you’d like to contribute,
email editor@amsrs.com.au
20 Research News March 2011

THE WORD’S OUT
Language, social media and thought
Social media is all about language and the
written word. People are writing more than
ever before with status updates, tweets
and blogs. There is now a constant stream of text
about what we do and think. Of course this is a
huge opportunity for market research.
The question becomes how to process the
never-ending streams of text available on social
media. Computers are good at calculations, but
text analysis has always been the problem child.
Language has a complexity that simple numbers
can’t capture.
Two schools of thought seem to be crystallising
as to how we analyse social media. The first
emphasises what is generally called ‘natural
language processing’. Using this approach comprehension
comes via computerised parsing and
analysis of the text based on our understanding
of language. Grammar is the key. The second
approach is statistical. It emphasises analytical
techniques such as Latent Semantic Analysis
(LSA), which uses the statistical properties of text
to glean meaning from it.
Text analytics is the new frontier that market
research must conquer. The sheer volume of text
can’t be ignored, but it can’t be coded and tabulated
the same way open ends are today. There is simply
too much. In some senses the contest of grammar
versus statistics has already been decided. When
you look at text from social media it isn’t grammatically
correct, because we don’t speak and
communicate in formal blocks of text using perfect
grammar. Hence the grammar route is fundamentally
at a disadvantage. The argot of web may well
defy parsing. It’s significant that search engines
such as Google and Yahoo use techniques very close
to LSA to process documents and decide how they
are related. The core metric of LSA is word counts
and co-occurrence of words in documents. Given
that search engines are the tools that have made the
web usable it is worth paying attention to this.
The problem is sentiment. One of the critical
tasks for analysis of social media is deciding if a
tweet or status update has a positive or negative
tone. Is the buzz about a product good or bad If you
can automatically tell the sentiment of comments
relating to products or services you have a powerful
research tool. Sentiment analysis is currently a hard
thing to do accurately. Anything over 75 per cent accuracy
in sentiment analysis is currently regarded
as pretty good, but this still leaves a large margin
for error. At the moment the only accurate way to
assess sentiment is for a human to read the text,
but there is simply too much text being produced by
social media for this to be practical.
Sentiment analysis of social media is rapidly
becoming the ultimate goal for text analysis and
market research. We need more sentiment to
master social media.
Andrew Jeavons is a member of Nebu,
which is working to bring innovation to
survey software. You can contact him at
andrewjeavons@nebu.com
This article was first published in Research
World, the magazine for marketing
intelligence and decision making published
by ESOMAR. For more details go to
http://rwconnect.esomar.org
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NARRATIVES
In praise of the humble potato
‘I do not keep a diary. Never have. To write a diary every day is like returning to one’s own
vomit,’ says J. Enoch Powell. Luckily for most of us, writing and reading diaries – both our
own and those of others – is actually quite a pleasant experience. Namita Mediratta reports.
Namita Mediratta
Though many researchers have indeed
capitalised beautifully on the power of
the medium, one can still say it’s underexploited,
and seems to me a bit like the potato
of research; a versatile and humble option
which, given its merits, never quite seems to
get the appreciation it deserves.
Why does a diary work Well, fundamentally,
recording a diary is an intensely personal experience.
It’s almost like talking to one’s alter ego,
and thereby limiting filtration or sanitisation in
its responses to the researcher’s questions.
A diary is also very well contextualised in the
‘now’, painting the moment in the moods and
flavours of the instant, rather than looking at it
through the lens of distant recall or post facto
evaluation. Indeed Picasso had once called his
art a kind of ‘visual diary’, which seems like a
nice simile for the whole process of diarisation
– just in reverse.
The other thing I personally love about the diary
is its space for creativity – both on the part of
the consumer and on the part of the researcher.
Where else would one be able to put in pictures,
collages or free text for one study, and switch to a
much more structured approach in the next It’s
precisely this ability to be tailored that makes the
diary such a versatile instrument.
Here are some examples of what I like, pulled
out from papers, journals and work we’ve done
in the past, both quantitative and qualitative, and
the internet, which demonstrates the power of
this instrument.
A brand equity research study was actually
my first exposure to using a diary, and we used
it as a supplement to ‘regular’ consumer groups
in this study. The ‘spontaneous response’ argument
aside, sometimes it helps to give (at least
some respondents) a moment of introspection
before we bombard them with questions, and the
diary was our version of consumer homework.
We’d given these women an (identical) stack of
magazines, and a blank set of notebooks, along
with some thought-provoking assignments, instructing
them to select pictures which reminded
them of various brands within the category, their
relationships with these brands, how using these
brands made them feel and so on. In sum, much
of the regular stuff one would want to explore
in an equity brand study. What stood out for us
in this study was how enthusiastically (and creatively)
consumers expressed themselves, and
the richness of the responses. It was almost as
if the diary, coloured pens and magazines set the
respondents free to go back and explore their
inner worlds with an almost childlike pleasure.
We got passionate (or tepid) love letters to the
brand, collages that clearly demonstrated how
two brands, both premium, could speak in different
tones, moods and language (think Polo Club
pictures vs. the F1) and much more. Really rich,
textured output, and from a client perspective,
easy to hold up to the guys who develop ads to
say ‘See, this is what we mean!’
Since then we’ve used diaries extensively in
qualitative research to explore communication,
brand cues, moods, feelings and associations,
and they have never disappointed. Just when
we thought we’d done what we could with the
diary, we were faced with an interesting business
problem; how to evaluate consumer reactions
for a new category we wanted to enter.
Any researcher faced with this question knows
there’s really no point in asking consumers
what they think about something they’ve never
seen or used. At the same time, we did want
to get a more ‘real’ response, based on what
consumers were likely to go through when they
actually used the product.
So, the task was to get something that told
us what they felt ‘in the now’ rather than on the
spur of the moment (freshly exposed), or days
later in a reconvened group (when they may
not remember they’d had a hard time opening
the pack, for example). Here, a semi-structured
usage diary helped quite a bit. When people
told us they put on something and ‘massaged
it onto the scalp’ for example, we could easily
link it back to their subsequent dissatisfaction
with the product (that’s not how it was meant to
be used!). Similarly, when a 25-year-old wrote
about a little test she did to evaluate whether
the product worked, we could translate those
cues into communications almost immediately.
And when we did, guess what, the communication
worked really well!
From a quantitative perspective, usage diaries
have been used in social research forever. Typical
uses have included monitoring how people manage
time or money and monitoring media consumption,
all before the advanced measurement
options became available today. The ‘time-budget’
schedule, pioneered by Sorokin in the 1930s,
(Sorokin & Berger 1938) involved respondents
keeping a detailed log of how they allocated their
time during the day. Since then, diaries have been
used in transport planning studies, expenditure
monitoring studies and to set weights for the retail
price index in the UK.
Our exposure to quantitatively using diaries
came with the Unilever Social Mission on Oral
Care, where we were faced with the daunting task
of evaluating behaviour (and behaviour change) on
a ‘real’ and not a claimed basis. To make matters
worse, our target respondent was the bottom of
the pyramid consumer, with possibly low literacy.
High technology solutions did exist, but finally
22 Research News March 2011

NARRATIVES
implementing those came down to infrastructure
adequacy and time-cost constraints. We needed
something that could be rolled out easily and
simply – not a budget-eating gorilla.
The brains at TNS came to our rescue, and
designed a nice visual sticker diary which involved
the respondent and her child sticking visually attractive
stickers to help the respondent keep track
of her daily schedule (including media habits, food
and drink schedules and, no surprises here, the
child’s brushing habits, among other things). In
administering this like a dipstick, we could get
real behaviour change data including consumer
response to stimulus. This had many advantages
– it was simple, adaptable, and engaging for
mother and child to do collaboratively, without
being overly dependent on literacy rates.
Surprisingly for us, both at the pilot stage
and in the study itself, we didn’t get people
randomly sticking things on the diary or low
income kids getting carried away by the novelty
of the stickers. In fact, if anything, the opposite
was true. At the pilot stage, people came to us
saying they’d mistakenly stuck a wrong sticker
somewhere, how could they erase it Or worse,
they had watched a TV channel that didn’t have
a corresponding sticker in the diary! And we had
to include blank ‘correction’ stickers in the diary
for just such eventualities. So people did have
fun with the instrument, but they didn’t abuse
it. I assume that conscientiousness varies by
target group of course, though I’m more inclined
to trust consumers in the first instance and see
how it goes in a pilot.
Praising the humble potato is one thing – one
has to acknowledge that too much of it does make
you fat. So there came a time when we did feel
we might end up stretching it a bit. For example,
like it or not, people don’t carry diaries around, or
have the willpower to jot down every insignificant
thing - so let’s say you’re trying to measure outof-home
ice cream consumption, or you want to
know how many tissues are used in a day when
someone has a cold. These are possibly instances
where diaries won’t work as well. Neither should
we expect people to stick to the regime day in
and day out. I can certainly see how respondent
fatigue could set in after being asked to record,
say, ‘Did you drink coffee in the morning’ for
weeks on end. If it’s not a habit that’s at least
slightly variable, or if the task is not in some way
interesting, dairies may not be the answer.
Maggie Golding, qualitative researcher at
Millward Brown Singapore, emphasises the
importance of keeping a diary interesting. She
uses colours, visuals, collages, and provocative
questions to lead the consumer into a more
introspective frame of mind where they’re more
involved, rather than a ‘Let’s tick the boxes’
kind of thinking.
And then maybe it is time to switch over to
the newer avatars of the diary – online journals
with timers that automatically monitor compliance
rates and remind you to fill it in, picture
banks from the internet, using the mobile
phone creatively to get ‘diary-like’ questions
or video-based diaries. ‘Auto-ethnography’ is
one of the words researchers are using. Well,
a genetically modified potato remains, after all,
a potato, and it’s still as versatile!
Namita Mediratta is regional consumer
and market insights director of hair care at
Unilever Asia
This article was first published in Research
World, the magazine for marketing
intelligence and decision making published
by ESOMAR. For more details go to
http://rwconnect.esomar.org
Editor’s note: There has also been significant
academic research that has tested diary reliability.
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COVER TO COVER
Nudge, nudge; wink, wink
Damian Vanderwolf reviews Nudge – Improving decisions about health, wealth and happiness by
Richard H Thaler & Cass R Sunstein
When combined with a wink, a little
tongue-in-cheek sassy is thrown into
the mix – always a preferred blend
in my book. And you A little ‘wink’ with your
‘nudge’ Otherwise, without a little ‘wink’ things
may deteriorate into nothing more than a ‘noodge’
(as the book explains, ‘noodge’ is a ‘Yiddishism’
for a ‘pest, annoying nag or persistent complainer’).
And no-one likes a ‘noodge’, do they
Nudge’s opening chapters are roseate, with a
delicate scent of ‘a wink’ in the wind – the promise
of new ideas or even inspiration. As the book
progresses, however, the presence of the ‘noodge’
becomes apparent. Don’t lose hope though, that
rosy aroma returns at the conclusion of the book.
The authors Thaler and Sunstein start off by explaining
the political potency of the ‘nudge’ and provide
some intriguing examples of how nudges have
been effectively used in everyday situations. They
even entreat their readers to solve riddles in their
efforts to build their case. These examples were
enough for me (already a convert to their ‘liberal
paternalism’ prior to reading the first page) to have
their case built successfully. My appetite was whet
for ideas. Unfortunately, as the book wears on so do
the examples they use to build their case. Some of
the case studies were a little too obvious, repetitive
and, in some instances, not structured well enough
to be convincing. And despite warning their readers
of the dangers of creating a dichotomous world,
they often use this paradigm as a tool to express
their point of view – the ‘noodge’ pervades.
Fortunately, the allure of the ‘wink’ returns,
along with the promise of ideas and inspiration
coming to fruition. The writers provide current,
pragmatic examples of ‘nudges’ we all could incorporate
into our lives to create positive change and
some ‘pie-in-the sky’ examples of how governments
could implement ‘nudges’ with regard to some of the
greater challenges the world is confronting, such
as global warming. The authors’ deconstruction
(and subsequent reconstruction) of ‘marriage’ also
provides some nutritious morsels for thought.
One of the key successes of Nudge is the
concept of ‘choice architecture’. The idea is one of
great efficacy for social and market researchers.
It is a powerful reminder of the role that we play
in the world around us and the power we have in
the construction of ‘choice’ in the modern world.
These are considerations that encompass all that
we do. As researchers, we are ‘choice architects’ -
from designing a survey, to the way we collect our
data and reward participants to the data we chose
to present or omit in our reports to clients. Nudge
helped with my realisation of this and prompted
some thinking about how I can influence choice not
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Thusly, I was ‘nudged’ – how about you (Wink,
wink.)
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CAREER MOVES
Tim Jennings
To: Group account director, Ruby Cha Cha
From: Freelance consulting in London, UK
Jennings has a background in the UK pharmaceutical
and public sectors, particularly in areas
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Cassie Pile
To: Research executive, Ruby Cha Cha
From: Macquarie University
Pile has recently completed a Bachelor of Psychology
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Jem Wallis
To: Research partner, Cat.Dog
Wallis will be dividing his time between ad hoc
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research partner.
Riccardo Cristiano
To: Research manager, Vivid Research
From: Innatemotion
Cristiano joins Vivid Research as research manager
on the qualitative side of the business. He
was previously at brand consultancy Innatemotion
and brings experience from working across Asia
on brand architecture and insight.
Katarina Olausson
To: Account manager, Firefly Millward
Brown Shanghai
From: Senior research executive,
GA Research
Olausson is a qualitative researcher with five
years experience working on research projects
across a range of industry sectors. Prior to GA
Research she worked for arnold&bolingbroke.
Drawing on this experience, as well as her
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Mandy Ayles
To: Account manager, Vivid
From: Senior pollinator, Pollinate
Ayles started her career at Synovate in the UK but
her interest in media and creative development
took her to Human Capital working on TV and
print media projects. After moving down under
in 2004, she helped grow the qualitative division
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Ayles has nine years’ experience in a range of
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chip industries.
Suzanne El Ghorab
To: Research executive, Vivid
From: English teacher
El Ghorab graduated from the University of
London with a masters in politics and in 2008 she
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students. She joins Vivid keen to learn all aspects
of qualitative research and feed her interest in
what drives peoples’ behaviour.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 27
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Research News March 2011 25

ASIA and MELBOURNE T// +61 3 8844 5580
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CAREER MOVES
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25
Duncan Rintoul
To: Manager of applied social research,
Institute for Innovation in Business and Social
Research (IIBSoR), University of Wollongong
From: Associate director (social policy), Urbis
Rintoul has embarked on a PhD, exploring new
methodologies for evaluating social marketing
campaigns; he is being jointly supervised by AM-
SRS Fellow, Professor John Rossiter and IIBSoR
director, Professor Sara Dolnicar. He will also remain
active in consultancy, as IIBSoR’s manager of
applied social research, focusing on public sector
and not-for-profit research and evaluation.
John Morrow
To: General manager – Australia,
IntelligenceBank
From: Head, personal insurance insights,
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Morrow has held senior management roles in
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Georgia Witts
To: Account manager, Hall & Partners
| Open Mind
From: Senior project manager,
Qualitative Specialist Group, TNS
Witts joins the qualitative team of Hall & Partners
| Open Mind to work on branding and communications
research projects. Her experience lies
primarily in FMCG and services, with experience
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Witts has a masters degree in behavioural
science from the University of Sydney.
Gary Colquhoun
To: Director, social & government,
Hall & Partners | Open Mind
From: Director, On Track Research
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management team working with public sector clients.
He has expertise in communications tracking,
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Mal Dale
To: General manger, The Readership Works
From: Head of digital, MediaCom Australia
In this newly created position, Dale’s primary
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new print readership metric in Australia. He will
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Martin Tomlinson
To: Client development director,
Research Now Asia
From: Senior client development manager,
Research Now NZ
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Ying Li
To: Client development manager,
Research Now Asia
From: Business development manager, Survey
Sampling International
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to enquiries@researchrecruitment.com.au or visit us at www.researchrecruitment.com.au

HR, LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT
AN ETHICAL QUESTION
Candidate driven market
A recent global salary survey compiled by international recruitment consultancy Robert Walters
predicts that demand for sales, marketing and communications professionals is expected to
increase this year in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Research News asked recruitment
consultants who specialise in the market and social research industry to comment.
The Robert Walters survey found that
recruitment activity increased steadily
during 2010, as companies recovered
from the economic downturn and sought to
rebuild marketing and sales teams. The survey
concluded that recruitment activity across all
sectors is expected to increase in 2011, as
companies seek to grow headcount and deliver
major projects.
Rowan Haylett from the Resources Group
agrees with the findings.
‘2010 was a far busier year in the market
research and insights sector than 2009, with
demand for staff across all levels and specialisations
increasing as the year went on. This demand
appears to be continuing into 2011 and is resulting
in a strengthening of offers in the sector as
employers compete for the best applicants. The
increased demand for talent has also opened the
door once again to overseas applicants.’
Andy McLellan from AML Resources also says
that demand for market research professionals
has increased in the Sydney and Melbourne markets
and, to a lesser extent, Brisbane.
‘In the main, this has mostly been at the
senior end as those with 10 or more years exit
to either start up their own small and medium
enterprises (SMEs), join the smaller niche
boutiques or pursue other vocations outside
the industry.’
McLellan says that in particular demand
exceeds supply on the agency side, as clientside
roles appeal to and attract mid and senior
level researchers.
There is a lot of demand for candidates
with experience in qualitative research, business
development and people management,
however McLellan says there is a lack of
investment in developing people’s skills to
undertake these roles.
‘Investment in bringing in juniors is also
required, so we are still able to compete in five
to 10 years. New managers need to be trained
in how to mentor and develop their staff, and
not everyone is suited to a business development
role.’
McLellan says there are a number of senior
people looking for part-time employment (three
to four days per week) due to family commitments
and only a small number of agencies are
able to offer such flexibility. He believes parttime
work is more accepted on the client side.
McLellan adds, ‘Account directors in both
qual and quant roles are in high demand,
particularly those with experience in shopper
insights, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG),
telecommunications and the social and government
sector. Currently it is a candidate driven
market.’
CONTINUED ON PAGE 29
No. 188 in a series based on the Code of Professional Behaviour
Storing data overseas
Mid-level/Senior Quallies – Where are You Numerous
opportunities for mid-level to senior quallies – Sydney and Melbourne.
Common to these roles is a real focus on work/life balance, on-going
training and development, excellent $’s. These roles are URGENT!
Brand Manager – Sydney Leadership role for ambitious &
experienced Brand Manager with a minimum of 3 years experience in
blue chip organization – extensive travel to emerging markets (China &
UAE) – Suit innovative, creative team player. $100K ++
Account Director – Sydney Senior strategic researcher – key role
working on major FMCG client. Make your mark with this leadership role
– Qual/quant (leaning to quant) agency background a must! Join this
clever and innovative team of professionals and enjoy the rewards of
working with a team which strives to do it better than the rest!
Quant Consultant – Sydney Leading Brand Consultancy needs
your solid background in quant. research methodologies/segmentation
(min 4 yrs. agency) – great collaborative team of professionals.
Make 2001 your year!
Contact Kaye Neilson on 0408499567
www.neilson-res-ex.com.au
We’re based in Australia and have just
completed a merger with another company
based in Singapore and as a result have moved
into modern offices that don’t have much storage.
My company has a lot of paper records including
questionnaires, hand written notes from depth
interviews and copies of reports. We are
considering merging some of our files with the
Singapore based firm and keeping some records
there and some of theirs here. What do we need
to keep and where do we need to keep it
You don’t have to keep anything in its
original form; electronic versions including
scans of documents are sufficient providing
records are kept in a manner that allows you to
reconstruct the originals with the exception of
personal identifiers. The notes to Rule 22 of the
Code of Professional Behaviour list the following
requirements for data storage:
• Identified data should be de-identified as soon
as practicable after completion of the project.
• Where there is no upfront agreement on the
length of time for which records should be kept,
the default is to keep de-identified primary
field records (questionnaires, transcripts etc)
for ad hoc projects for a minimum of one year
following completion of fieldwork and the data
for two years.
• The length that records should be kept relates
to the nature of the information, for example,
tracking studies run over lengthy periods and
it is appropriate to keep data for more than two
years, longitudinal data must be kept so that it
can be re-identified and also for lengthy periods
if the study is continuing over a long period.
It is best to agree the length of time that
records will be kept prior to commencing a
project. In the case of a company merger, any
such agreements from any of the merging
companies should be honoured.
Regarding where you should store the records, it
is best to store them where they have been collected
and will be needed, especially if the information
would be stored in countries that do not have
equivalent data protection laws to Australia or ‘safe
harbour’ arrangements.
Jayne Van Souwe is the convenor of the
National Ethics Committee. To ask an
ethical question contact Jayne on 03 9621
1066 or JayneVS@wallisgroup.com.au
28 Research News March 2011

HR, LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT
SOCIETY NEWS
However, Christine Crowe at CCI says, ‘We
can’t see a huge growth in wages in market
research based on the placements over the last
year. They appear to be consistent across all companies
and haven’t risen significantly for the past
couple of years. Who knows how hiring managers
will react when they can no longer attract appropriate
candidates to fill their vacancies This is
starting to happen, as we have 142 vacancies to
fill in Sydney alone and are finding it increasingly
difficult to find candidates, particularly as the
government has taken market research off the
skilled migration occupation list.
‘Rather than focus on salaries perhaps the
market research industry on a whole should be
focusing on lobbying the government to put market
research back on the skills shortage list.’
Market Search’s founder Lyn Tanner is a
member of Recruitment Consulting Services
Australasia (RCSA) so is in close contact with
a number of her industry colleagues and subsequently
receives regular feedback on the
activity in a number of sectors. She also participates
in the quarterly industry survey that
is done to measure the activity in the market
on both present and anticipated growth and
salary variations.
While she agrees that the year has started
steadily in the market research industry with an
anticipation of growth during 2011, she believes
there is still considerable caution being exercised
because employers are uncertain how international
markets will affect the economy. Colleagues
in other sectors have confirmed this as well.
‘In general market research companies have
commented that the year has started well and
they are expecting that this will be a year of
consolidation and slight growth. I was delighted
to learn that Millward Brown had just taken on
a number of new graduates (I believe eight),
which positively augurs well for the industry
in general.
‘Most MR companies have commented that
they are busy and doing well (“and it’s a far cry
from 2009”) and while there has been a reasonably
high demand for new staff from director to
junior researchers, the recruitment and decision
making process remains slow and deliberate.
This to me indicates that there is no great urgency
to employ despite initial requests of immediacy.
The four-interview process continues and thus,
due to the candidate shortage in all skill areas,
a number of desired candidates can be lost to
the competition.’
Research News
April 2011 edition
INTUITION AND
GUT FEELING
Should we ask the following question
more often: ‘I know the answer - why
are we doing this research’ What
happens when clients disregard
research findings A look at ‘ensemble
methods’ such as ‘wisdom of the
crowds’ and ‘random forests’. The HR
perspective - psych testing vs ‘fire in
the belly’ and ‘spark in the eye’. What
have researchers learnt from Malcolm
Gladwell, Harry Klein and Jonah Lehrer.
Are women really more intuitive
DEADLINE: 10 MARCH 2011
SOCIETY NEWS
AMSRS invests in interactive tools
The Society now supports the AMSRS LinkedIn
discussion group at http://www.linkedin.com/
groupsmostPopular=&gid=2205881
At the time of writing, there were about 500
members following the AMSRS discussion group
on LinkedIn (while about one in six were actively
participating – a percentage the Society would
like to increase).
We want high quality discussions and depth
of member engagement - but we do want to
have ‘critical mass’ in terms of sufficient numbers,
a broad cross-section of the Australian
research community, and all those regarded as
‘key stakeholders’ involved whenever a topic is
being discussed.
Encourage your colleagues, clients and
researcher friends to join the group. If you go to
the top right of the main group page, you can click
on ‘Invite others’ and send invitations out direct
to others you are connected with on LinkedIn
who you think would be interested in joining the
AMSRS Group.
Other things you can do to help are:
• Add a message on your status update saying
something like ‘AMSRS LinkedIn Group
nearing xxx members. Please join and
spread the word.’
• Send out a tweet and/or re-tweet others’
messages of encouragement to join
• Add a post on the AMSRS LinkedIn group
board or click ‘like’ for discussions you like
and want to follow so this flags up the existence
of the group to your LinkedIn contacts.
Also check out:
• The AMSRS page on Facebook at www.face-
book.com/pages/AMSRS-The-Australian-
Market-and-Social-Research-Society/
• The Society on Twitter at www.twitter.com/
amsrs_au
• Research News at www.twitter.com/
researchnewsmag
Research News March 2011 29

PDP CALENDAR
PDP
The Society wishes to thank ORC International, the major sponsor
of the 2010-2011 Professional Development Program (PDP)
TAKE THE BULL BY THE HORNS
Fundamentals of
qualitative research
VIC: 8 March 2011
NSW: 15 March 2011
Cost: $462 AMSRS members, $660 nonmembers
This course provides an overview of qualitative
research. Content includes the logistics involved
in running a qualitative project, the main types of
qualitative data collection, the role of the moderator
and how to create the right environment for
respondents, different ways of eliciting a deeper
consumer response and the process of analysis
and report writing for qualitative research.
Designed for those who are new to qualitative
research – on the buyer or supplier side.
Effective research buying
ACT: 16 March 2011
Cost: $462 AMSRS members, $660 nonmembers
This course is aimed at those on the buyer side
of the industry, specifically current and aspiring
market and social research, information
and communication managers and government
officers involved in the preparation of programs
and implementation of policies. Speakers will
be from both the public and private sectors.
On completion of the course, participants will
have a good understanding of why market and
social research is valuable to an organisation,
defining research requirements and preparing
a brief, managing a major research project, the
relationship with the supplier and going beyond
the report to getting the results heard. Course
presenters are professional practising market
research managers and buyers who are able
to provide unique, ‘real world’ insights in their
areas of expertise.
Webinar – How to incorporate
social media into your business
NATIONAL: 5 April 2011
NSW, VIC, ACT, TAS: 3.30pm – 4.30pm
QLD: 3.30pm – 4.30pm
SA: 3pm – 4pm
NT: 3pm – 4pm
WA: 1.30pm – 2.30pm
Cost: $55 AMSRS members; $77 non-members
With the mass adoption of social media and online
networking tools such as Linkedin, Facebook
and Twitter, there is an opportunity for agencies
to learn more about - and connect directly with -
their most valuable asset base – their customers.
This webinar, with Prashant Hari, discusses how
an agency of any size can establish an online
presence that generates awareness, inquiries
and leads using key social media platforms.
QPMR recognition: 5 points
Statistics today
QLD: 6 April 2011
Cost: $462 AMSRS members; $638 nonmembers
Critical to the successful application of statistics
in business is the need to clearly identify which
analytical approach is best suited to addressing
the need and to provide business insight founded
on the analytical outcomes. The objective of this
course is therefore about making the right choice
of statistical techniques and then drawing the
best inferences from the output. Course leader
is Gerrie Roberts from Monash University &
Roberts Research Group
QPMR recognition: 30 points
Presentation and influencing
skills
NSW: 13 April 2011
VIC: 12 April 2011
Cost: $550 AMSRS members; $770 nonmembers
This is an intensive one-day workshop, limited
to10 participants. Conducted by Belinda Giblin,
a well-known corporate trainer, presenter and
actor, this workshop deals with structuring a
presentation and delivering it for maximum impact.
Impromptu presentations are also covered.
This is hands-on and each participant will receive
personalised tuition.
QPMR recognition: 30 points
For full course information and to register visit: www.amsrs.com.au
NOTE: ALL PRICES INCLUDE GST
For full program, times, and sponsorship
opportunities, please visit www.amsrs.com.au
The WA State Conference
Platinum Sponsor:
30 Research News March 2011

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