In search of teachable moments
Adam Warner is the director of the Market Research Center at Seton Hall University, a marketing professor and president of Warner and Associates Consulting. He can be reached at adam.warner@shu.edu.
There’s a book on my shelf called “You Can’t Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar” (by David H. Sandler). I love the title because it is so true. To learn how to ride a bike, you need to get on a bike – try, fall, get up and try again. This same philosophy works for learning marketing research.
To learn the basics of research, there is no better teacher than experience. This applies in the classroom or in a professional setting.
There’s another great saying: “See one, do one, teach one.” Most of us have never been to medical school. However, for those who have, you’ve probably heard this one before. I’m oversimplifying, but to set a broken bone you need to observe one, perform the procedure yourself and then teach others. I’m not a physician but this approach works wonders for those learning market research skills as well.
At Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., we conduct about 15-18 real-world market research projects each semester. These are semester-long projects, where students in market research courses are partnered with a business or organization to address a specific challenge. The projects are amazing hands-on learning opportunities for our students. The Market Research Center program is part of the Stillman School of Business and its mission of “transforming concepts into practice.”
While college is a great time for students to expand their knowledge and learn new things, often classes aren’t as interesting as they could be. One problem is that many teaching techniques have not evolved. Sitting in class, watching a professor review 25 PowerPoint slides for an hour and a half twice a week is just as boring as ever.
This is where the real world needs to come into the classroom. We think of our market research projects where student teams are paired with business partners as win/win. A win for our students with a tremendous hands-on learning opportunity. They have a client, a real business challenge and no easy answers. A win for the businesses because they gain insights and actionable recommendations to their pressing challenges. They love working with students and their fresh perspectives at costs that are a fraction of commercial fees (and, for non-profits, pro bono).
How does it all come together? The first step in the learning process is conceptual: What is market research? When is it needed? And why?
The short answer to that “why” question: Research helps you make better decisions. There are certain situations in our personal or professional lives when you need to make a good decision. For example:
- Personal. You are purchasing a home. Probably the most expensive purchase you will ever make. You need to do your own market research to make a good decision. What are comparable houses selling for? Does the basement flood? How are the area schools? What are the taxes? Do the neighbors have a crazy, barky dog?
- Professional. Your company is developing a new product or service. The stakes are high and you need to make smart decisions on how to proceed. Who are your competitors? Who are your target customers? How will you reach them? What messages resonate most? And on and on. Market research can help your company navigate these tricky, important challenges.
After an initial introduction to some research concepts and terminology (qual vs. quant, primary vs. secondary, open-ended vs. closed-ended) it makes sense to quickly get to the hands-on part. Whether it’s a student team paired up with a business or a market research company with a client, learning by doing is the way to go.
There are typically three phases to our semester-long experiential learning projects.
Phase I – Planning. Getting business partners and students aligned regarding the key business issue. What question are you trying to answer?
Phase II – Qualitative. While a qualitative phase doesn’t always need to precede a quantitative phase, it usually makes sense. Qualitative research can provide a foundation for understanding the why behind respondents’ current behavior and potential future actions.
Phase III – Quantitative. The quantitative phase, often in the form of an online survey, can follow up on key topics of interest from the qualitative phase and help validate findings with a larger sample.
During the projects, the goal is regular communication between the student teams and business partners. The communication part is a big component of the learning too. Many students have never truly had a client. Meetings take place throughout the semester to ensure projects are on track. Deliverables are scheduled after both the qualitative and quantitative phases. Then there is a comprehensive final presentation with summarized insights and actionable recommendations at the conclusion.
Tips to get newcomers up to speed
These same learning concepts apply in the professional market research industry as well. Of course, some basic conceptual knowledge about market research is certainly needed. However, the quicker the exposure to real projects and clients, the better. The projects and client interaction are where the bulk of the learning takes place. Here are three hands-on tips to get the newcomers at your company quickly up to speed:
- Training: Some market research basics and onboarding are always in order.
- Company: “How we do things” varies from company to company, so you want to let the newbies know.
- Mentoring: Pairing-up new team members with more experienced personnel to share best practices.
Another important learning: take your time on the important communication at the beginning of each project. Easier said than done, of course. Clients often want results yesterday. There is a tendency to rush projects in the initial phases to get them underway ASAP. Marketing research professionals are guilty of this too. Teams want to jump right into the project details (recruiting, discussion guides, survey programming, etc.). However, it is wise to take your time on the important prep work. Ensure you are aligned with your client and team on the following key items, BEFORE getting to the nitty gritty of the project:
Business issue – What is the key question you are trying to address? It’s critical to align on this before the project gets underway.
Scope – Exactly what will the project include (or exclude)? How many respondents? Timeline? Transcripts? Incentives? What type of deliverables?
These are questions that must be addressed before major resources (time or dollars) are utilized. Aligning on these key issues beforehand may slow you down initially but it pays off in the long run with targeted insights addressing your client’s specific business needs.
On-campus focus group facility
Back to the value of the hands-on learning for market research. At Seton Hall, we are fortunate to have a focus group facility here on campus. It has the one-way viewing for clients and all the bells and whistles of a commercial facility. Students think the observation room is cool, like watching a suspect being interviewed on Law & Order or Chicago P.D.
When introducing the Market Research Center and the focus group setting, we first provide a brief overview of best practices. Then we quickly toss the students into the deep end by having them moderate a mock focus group with little to no preparation. We present a brief scenario to our rookie moderators like the following:
Your client is considering opening a gelato store.
All the focus group respondents are residents of the proposed location.
The client wants to determine if the business will be a success.
Then without any additional instruction, we send the new moderators (in pairs) into the mock focus group. Our student moderators usually walk into the focus group with a major deer-in-the-headlights look. They remain standing, while all respondents are seated. Then without any introductions or context they ask respondents to raise their hands if they like ice cream. It goes on like this. If we video the session (great learning as well), we review the fun and do a little play-by-play commentary as we watch.
Learning to create a survey takes place in a similar hands-on way. Our goal for students is to get them comfortable creating a survey in an online platform (we utilize Qualtrics). So, without any formal instruction we give students about 20 minutes to pair-up and create a five-question survey about any topic they’d like. They are encouraged to try different question/answer types available in the survey tool. Then the student pairs send in their surveys via e-mail to be shared with the class.
Survey topics range from favorite foods, movies, music, streaming services, social media or other top-of-mind thoughts for college students. This hands-on approach forces students to quickly get comfortable with a new survey platform in a fun, experiential way. The quality of these inaugural surveys can be another story. Students typically just attach the survey link to an e-mail without any explanation or introduction. Sometimes even no subject line for the e-mail. We ask them: Would YOU click on this link? No way! It’s great for encouraging them to create an appealing e-mail to accompany their surveys.
Questions in these first-pass surveys can be things like:
How often do you go to the movies?
□ Never
□ Sometimes
□ A lot
(So, exactly how many is “sometimes” or “a lot”?)
Use the slider below to indicate… How many days per week do you go to gym?
(What if I don’t go to the gym at all? Also, I’d like to meet the person who is going 10 days a week.)
Do you like pizza?
□ NO □ YES
(Respondent indicates they don’t like pizza – crazy, right? Yet the next survey question is...)
What is your favorite pizza topping?
(...didn’t they just say they don’t like pizza? Why ask about toppings now? Hint/hint: time to learn about skip logic!)
These exercises are a fun, quick way for anyone to learn basic marketing research skills.
Long story short, regardless of where you are in your market research journey, there’s nothing like experiential learning. Hands down, hands-on learning is the way go!