Abstract:

Market research in general, and in the Telecoms sector not least of all, tends towards the rational and the linear, assuming that the market is consciously aware of what it does and why it does it, and that simply by asking the question, it will achieve the answer. However, decisions are made over time, using all types of shorthand and shortcuts that are seldom obtained in a snapshot research programme. This paper illustrates a longitudinal means of tracking market decision-making by using a blind respondent-collection process to establish real influences. In essence this shifts the research model from a lateral to longitudinal one, moving from a snapshot in time, with a breadth of sample intended to represent the scope of behaviour, knowledge, etc. to one where a depth of sample allows a smaller number of people to be tracked through time.