Researchers ask questions don't they? - Not always!
The market research industry is based on asking questions about, amongst other things, people’s behaviour. Asking well-designed questions is part of our core skill-set….but, so is knowing that asking questions is NOT always the best or the only thing to do!
Understanding people’s past, current and likely future behaviour is frequently core to the research briefs we receive. The problem is that, although we all like to think we behave rationally, our behaviour is influenced by a variety of cognitive biases and mental shortcuts. These are well documented and numerous, as shown in this comprehensive Cognitive Bias Codex diagram. In summary, we know that consumers do not weigh up all the costs and benefits of their choices; they respond more to losses than gains; they place greatest value on the immediate future and; they are heavily influenced by those around them. The result of this is that they often don’t make the optimum choices and they behave in ways which aren’t necessarily in their best interests. Even more unhelpfully….they don’t recognise any of this about themselves!
If we ask people what they have done in the past; what they do now; or what they might do in future they will answer as conscientiously as they can, but in all likelihood their answer will be wrong! For example:
People tend to provide responses that are socially pleasing or conform to social or group norms (we call this: social acceptability bias/ego protection).
They may accurately express their intentions to behave in a certain way, but this may well not reflect how they actually behave ( think “I will go to the gym every day this week!”).
They may even revise their memory of what they have done in order to preserve their identity, perceived values or sense of self and so not accurately describe what they did or why they behaved in a certain way (we call this: post-rationalisation).
They may find it difficult to predict their future emotional response to things and indicate that they are will behave in a purely rational way.
Given the extensive evidence demonstrating the limitations of self-reported behaviours in traditional research, we need to use other ways of uncovering behaviour… or at least to factor this thinking into our research design. Here’s some of what we can do instead of, or alongside simply asking questions:
If we do ask questions we need to have in mind not to take them at face value…and we can ‘push back’. In some recent research about behaviours when buying insurance, we have shared with participants some of what is known about consumer behaviour and helped them to recognise that they may not behave rationally and always make the best choices. Respondents have then reconsidered and revised their responses, frequently admitting that their first answers may not have reflected reality.
Ethnographic and observational approaches are useful as they remove the need for participants to accurately recall what they did or indeed describe what they are doing and why. One relatively simple technique is to ask participants to self record behaviour, for example, keeping a diary and recording what they did. At the other end of the scale, where budget allows, a deep dive ethnographic study can really help to understand consumers’ lives in a way that a focus group or interview simply cannot. For detailed documentary style ethnographic films, we have an ongoing partnership with Postcode Films and Community Research has worked to undertake combined qualitative and ethnographic studies with Postcode on many occasions. This type of film provides a rich and impactful portrait of the textures of participants’ daily lives - revealing influences, causes, cultural contexts and ideas in places that might otherwise remain hidden. However, we know that professionally filmed ethnography can be time and cost intensive, and we, therefore, often use mobile ethnography as a way to gather these deeper insights at a fraction of the cost. Self-filmed or auto-ethnography lacks the polish that can be achieved with a professional film-maker, however, what it lacks in this regard it delivers in raw impact and realism.
Another approach is using co-design techniques. This is engagement which aims to break down barriers between the researcher and participant and, by so doing, unlock deeper levels of insight that go beyond traditional questions and answers. Co-design is predicated on collaboration - exploring with and not for people in order to really understand people’s lived experiences. Creative tools and problem solving are used to build trust give people the tools to express themselves fully and, importantly, to move beyond what is socially acceptable or responses which are given to protect a participant’s sense of self. In this sort of forum, researchers can gently challenge any dissonances between what people say and what they are actually likely to do.
Ethnographic and co-design approaches are not always possible. Where they are not, it’s vitally important to ensure that we, as researchers, are of the mindset of not simply taking what people say at face value. As researchers we need to bear behavioural science (i.e, human nature) in mind when asking questions and when interpreting the responses we receive.