Abstract:

For the traditional researcher, this issue of Research World may turn out to be the most heretical yet. Our contributors this month suggest that not only is our concept of research being challenged, but that it may also be a very good thing. Paradoxically, the last five years have probably seen more innovation in the world of market research than the previous 60. The concept of traditional research is being challenged by the very people who not only form our main resource and asset but also are the subject of our study: our 'respondents’. In fact, people are no longer 'respondents’ because they have told us in no uncertain terms that they do not wish to participate in traditional surveys where the model is interrogatory questions within a framework that we lay down. Rather, they want to interact with brands and manufacturers on equal terms or, more to the point, their terms. And that means: in their environments (eg, social networks), at their convenience. For researchers, this means rethinking many of our precepts about how to intercept people.