Editor’s note: Paul M. Gurwitz is managing director of Renaissance Research Consulting, New York, a firm which specializes in applying statistical models to strategic marketing problems. Prior to founding this company, Dr. Gurwitz served as vice president and technical director of DDB Needham Worldwide, New York, where he was responsible for all marketing modeling and statistical consulting for the agency. Previously, he worked at REDO, and was on the research faculty of Columbia University. Dr. Gurwitz earned a B.A. degree in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in sociology from the University of California at Berkeley. He is currently president of the Metropolitan New York Chapter of the Institute of Management Sciences.
This piece is an attempt to give aid and comfort to all of those marketing professionals who have, at one time or another, needed to use the services of a statistician.
For those trained in the disciplines of conventional market research, who know all there is to know about sampling, questionnaire design and field methods, but may be quite unfamiliar with some of the more advanced analytic techniques, this position can be a most uncomfortable one.
First of all, there is the feeling of lack of knowledge. If you need to hire a statistical expert, it's because he/she knows something that you A) Don't know, and B) Need to know. Researchers who are accustomed to dealing with problems of their discipline with a firm hand born of easy familiarity may be quite intimidated by this situation. How, after all, can you properly evaluate the expert's work without being an expert yourself? Is it possible to judge the quality of the work being produced? Some may fear being cheated, or otherwise badly served, without knowing it.
Along with this comes the feeling of loss of control. Researchers who are accustomed to exercising a great degree of control over their projects may hesitate to call in an expert for analytical advice for fear of losing that control. Some may resent the idea of another person making major input into their project.
There can also be a feeling of personal inadequacy. "After all," you say, "I'm a market research professional; I've been in the business for many years. I should know all there is to know. How come I have to call an outsider in to help me? Doesn't this mean that I am less than a complete researcher?"
If you must hire
Given this uncomfortable situation, how can the researcher hire and work with a statistical expert so as to accomplish the task at hand without lowering his/her comfort level? Here are some suggestions:
1. You're the expert on your problem. The overall principle to bear in mind is that you really are the expert on your project. You know the business, the study, and its objectives. The person you hire has knowledge you can use to help accomplish those objectives but you are the one who can best explain them and judge when they are accomplished.
2. Bring the statistician in early. The best time to start analyzing a study is before the questionnaire is written; that goes double when it comes to statistical analysis. Once the questionnaire is designed and out in the field, your analytical options are already foreclosed; too often, the best solution to a given problem turns out to be impossible to execute because the required data are not there, or are in a form that cannot be used. You can make more efficient use of the analyst's time and effort if that person is there to suggest approaches to your problem at the beginning of the study.
3. Talk objectives, not techniques. As in any other area, you will get no more than what you expect to get. If you ask a statistician if he/she can produce a regression or a perceptual map or any other technique, the answer will almost always be yes and you will have learned almost nothing about the person's real capabilities. On the other hand, if you describe the study, its objectives, and the specific problem to be solved and ask what the expert can do to help you solve the problem, you will probably learn a great deal from the answers. You will learn not only about his/her own analytical capabilities, but also his/her ability to relate to you and your problem.
4. Ask for explanations. Some of the techniques used by statistical analysts are mathematically very complex; however, what they do should not be. You have a right to know how the expert proposes to solve your problem; furthermore, you have a right to hear it in English. If the analyst you are considering cannot articulate what it is he/she plans to do and what it will do for you in a way you can understand and evaluate, the odds are very good that you won't be satisfied with the outcome later on.
5. Agree on what you expect to get up front. Many of the problems in working with a statistician can be avoided by agreeing at the beginning of the project (or the statistician's involvement in it) on what is to come out of it. Often, problems in this relationship creep up because there was a basic misunderstanding about what the analyst was expected to produce; this is compounded if both parties come to the same project with very different expectations. The clearer you can express your expectations to the person you hire, the more likely you will get what you expect.
6. Allow enough time. It's a truism in the research business that the client always wants it yesterday. However, in your rush to give the client something, don't cheat yourself out of good analysis. Statistical analysis is not a shortcut. Most good analysis does not roll right out of the computer the first time out; there is a degree of trial and error to the correct application of most statistical procedures. Because of this, there is usually a direct relationship between the amount of time given an analysis and the quality of the results. Now it's true that this principle can be (and has been) taken to extremes: The best marketing advice in the world is worthless if the problem is moot by the time it's delivered. By the same token, bad advice quickly given can be worse than none at all. So, don't assume instantaneous results. Give the analyst enough time to do right by you.
7. Be available throughout the project. In an endeavor like a research project, it is impossible to anticipate all of the possible questions and contingencies that can arise. For this reason, it is essential that you communicate to the expert you hire that you are available to consult with him/her as needed. While this person is expert in the analytical methods he/she is using, you cannot reasonably expect him/her to be as knowledgeable in the background of your project or your business as you are. (By the way, it is the nature of the consulting business that this will often be true even of analysts who have a track record in your category. Even experts who have done numerous projects in a particular category usually lack the day-to-day depth of the line researcher). If you simply turn over the data and say, "Come back in a week with results," be prepared to agree with the judgment decisions the analyst will make on the basis of partial knowledge. Otherwise, offer a continuing dialogue throughout the project.
Faced with today's virtual onslaught of marketing information: Scanner data, people meters, multi-million- record marketing databases, to name a few, the market researcher has increasingly little choice but to turn to statistical methods to make sense of it. Because of this, the researcher and the statistical expert are seen together more and more often. It may not always be a marriage made in heaven; however, I hope that following these suggestions might help both parties ward off the divorce court.