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Tim Macer, one of the keynote speakers at next month’s Mobile Research Conference, believes that the mobile phone will revolutionize self-completion surveys in the very near future because it offers the potential to address several challenges that market research companies face today. These include reaching representative samples, respondent engagement, turnaround times and cost.
Macer has over 25 years experience as a research technology practitioner and consultant and is a respected independent writer and commentator on software in survey research. Previewing the content of his conference session in London on 16th/17th February he said: “The potential for using mobile phones as a legitimate, quality interviewing channel is simply huge, but until now the technical challenges have worked against it in all but a few niche situations. I see that changing now for a number of reasons. All the capabilities are in place from both a software and network perspective and respondents are more accustomed to using their phones for a range of functions, not just making voice calls. It is time for research companies to wake up to mobile research and benefit from another useful stream of research data.”
Mobile research is coming of age due to the continually improving capacity of data networks. Interviewing respondents using the web-browser capabilities now common among mobile handsets in circulation means that self-completion surveys can be fielded quickly, easily and inexpensively to a far wider base of respondents than can be achieved using telephone or conventional web-based interviewing. It could replace many surveys that still have to be done on paper because CATI and web surveys are unsuitable.
Macer also believes that the demise of paper-based interviews, coupled with the immediacy of the mobile phone, will improve not only data quality and delivery times, but the whole image and reputation of research.
Comment: Yep, I’d go along with this view. Mobile devices (PDAs mainly) have long been used by the Postie to get you to sign for things being delivered, on some kind of form displayed on the screen. The immediacy of being able to collate lots of responses, in the right format, should be a major boon to research companies. The question I suppose, is dedicated device, or not?
Macer will be speaking in more detail on these topics in London at the Mobile Research Conference on 16-17 February 2009. Hosted by Globalpark, a leading provider of online feedback software and mobile research technology, the agenda will discuss the opportunities and challenges presented by the evolution of the mobile as a research platform. Over a day and a half delegates will hear the experiences, perspectives and techniques of market researchers from both corporate and academic backgrounds.
If you want to read more about the Mobile Research Conference, you can go here.
Thanks to Lucy Green for the heads-up on that one 
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
