Market Research is Changing

Martin Edic points out in his latest post that market research is currently transitioning from acquired research to observed research. Acquired research involves creating a structured environment and forcing participation. Examples of these are focus groups and surveys. Responses from participants to both of these strategies are many times forced and not genuine. These findings are turning many marketers to start using observed research to gather their data. People are most genuine with their responses when they feel as if no one is watching. The explosion of web 2.0 technology has transformed social media into a great resource to track trends, listen to conversations, and to define demographics. Does your company currently use social networks, blogs, and other forms of social media to collect information about your customers?