Alnabi's Blog

Online Research: Don't Confuse More With Better

2012-12-04T19:32:02Z

Now that the internet has a firm grasp in society and becoming a huge media outlet, it has become also a powerful research tool.

But Like many other research tools, you have to make sure you are getting quality information, even if you are doing quantitative research. As a researcher, you have to look out for some of the downsides of using the internet as your tool to gather data, and find ways to combat its cons.

"nadequate quality control. Is it easier to lie online? Sending researchers out into the field has become increasingly rare. Too many companies now skip the vital qualitative research that's essential to the design of valid quantitative research instruments and helps ensure that survey data will be meaningful. Omitting this important first step makes it impossible to ensure that the data collected are "clean," that all respondents are unique and qualified, and that they're taking the time to answer with care rather than simply "straight-lining." "

http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/online-research-confuse/142811/

Web-Tracking Research Emerging From Surveys' Shadow

2012-12-04T19:27:24Z

Online has come and settled in our society, and researchers are figuring more and more how to get the best results and use out of the internet. New things are emerging such as web-tracking and analytic. It is no longer about how many visits a page gets, but how long the visitor stays, which sections are most viewed and how effective are the ads.

"One advantage of relying more on web tracking and less on surveys, he said, is to counter a growing trend toward longer, more-involved surveys time-pressed, survey-weary consumers often hate to complete. "

http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/online-research-confuse/142811/

Will Social Media Replace Surveys as a Research Tool?

2012-12-04T19:21:46Z

Social Media is huge, really, really huge. And its impossible to ignore it now. You can gain so much information from social media, much more than other research tools. Now the question is will gathering data from social media replace surveys? That is one question this article is trying to answer. Of course, each research method has its own pros and cons, but sometimes one can have the pros from both research methods. I guess we will have to wait and see who comes out on top.

http://adage.com/article/news/p-g-surveys-fade-consumers-reach-brands-social-media/149509/

Marketers Tap Not-So-Secret Research Weapon: Hypnosis

2012-12-04T19:17:19Z

In class we have done a lot of discussion about traditional research methods, and of course these work great but sometimes you have to come up with new ideas. One person is doing hypnosis on focus groups to find peoples true feelings about brands. One thing research always want to find out are peoples true feelings about what ever they are researching. And sometimes things can get in the way, such as the means of of doing the research. However Hal Goldberg believes this new non-traditional way to ask people research questions works good.

if the results are good, this could be a new trend to do research, and of course you always have to find new techniques.

http://adage.com/article/news/marketers-tap-secret-research-weapon-hypnosis/235424/

How Technology Is Changing the Way Children Think and Focus

2012-12-04T19:05:38Z

now this may seems bit off from what I have recently been blogging about but this is an interesting example of news that comes from research. This is a good example of how sometimes, with the aid of research, can give you answers that may seem the opposite of what you would think.

This is good reason for why you should research all possible questions and scenario, as the results might give you better answer, or more truthful than what you would expect or have been told.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-jim-taylor/technology-and-kids_b_2232502.html

3 Bad Research Techniques That Will Ruin Your Work

2012-12-04T19:02:09Z

Doing research is a lot of work, and there is a lot that has to be done before doing the actual research. How your research is set up can completely change the results of your study. So you have to make sure your research is fine tuned and proof read as much as possible before doing the actual research portion. here are three examples of how you can skew your results with bad research methods.

http://www.govexec.com/excellence/promising-practices/2012/11/3-bad-research-techniques-will-ruin-your-work/59462/

Can We Communicate Emotions By Smell?

2012-12-03T18:11:23Z

This is an interesting read. As humans we mostly communicate through words and non verbal methods such as gestures and facial movement. We have discussed before in class how there are ways to measure these non-verbal methods and get a more concrete information on what people believe and feel.

But, I guess its not that simple (is it ever), but scientist are theorizing that we can possibly communicate messages through smell, much like how other animals work. The problem of course in the humans sense of smell isn't as strong as our other senses, and this could go undetected.

But have we been doing this all along and not realizing it? Emitting some sort of feeling or emotional sent during certain times and it passes by undetected. Could be something worth researching more into.

http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/11/07/can-we-communicate-emotions-by-smell/47270.html

Research studies often leave consumers confused

2012-12-03T17:26:51Z

This is an interesting article about there are times when research conflicts with other research, and the common consumer can find this very confusing. As we discussed in class, research can have completely different outcomes depending on how valid and reliable a study is done. Of course if the common consumer doesn't know the basic structure of a research study they might not know how to interpret the data and even question it, but just be left in bewilderment.

http://www.freep.com/usatoday/article/1741543?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s

Communication Can Be Misinterpreted Using New Technology

2012-11-30T20:29:13Z

In this class we have done a lot of studying on how to research and study communication, but with all this you still have to keep this big factor in your mind, that communication can be misinterpreted, and with all this new technology it is becoming easier to misinterpret the data.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201211300828.html

Perception Research Services Unveils Bricks and Clicks -- The New Realities of Retailing

2012-11-30T20:25:35Z

As advertisers and marketers always want to know is how are people buying things. With the world of technology that we live in now, it is no longer just simply by going to the store and buying a product. New research shows that people are buying products more and more either online or on their mobile device. THis is valuable information as marketers can use it to better suite a product, or a purchase to these new ways of shopping.

This is a great example of why research has to always be done or companies will be left behind on how consumers are going about their shopping.

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/11/29/5019601/perception-research-services-unveils.html

Government Goes After Prediction Markets and Research

2012-11-30T20:10:23Z

This is interesting news, as the majority of research done in marketing and advertising is predictions. To predict how the customer will act, if they will buy a certain product and so on. With the last election, of course there was plenty of prediction research being done, to see who would win. Well of course, research isnt grounded and isnt scientific fact, just based on good research. You cant always get 100% confidence level. But this has upset some people in office.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-rothschild/government-goes-after-prediction_b_2199831.html

Research shows children are hiding talents in school in fear of being bullied

2012-11-28T00:49:39Z

Well, this is quite saddening. People seem to bully those that excel in anything outside of sports. Its a sad state for younger children in school. A research done in the UK has shown that more kids are hiding their talents so they wont be bullied. This is a shame, they should be using those talents and become better at what they're already good at, but alas the fear of being excluded in always great

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20355996

U of M Research helps U.S. Forest Service

2012-11-28T00:43:15Z

U.s> Forest service has turned to the aid of the U of M. Using they're research that they have done on emerald ash borer to help combat the disease next year.

"These studies are funded by a grant from the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). According to MDA Biological Control Coordinator Monika Chandler, the researchers' work will be important in helping direct biological control efforts against Minnesota's EAB infestations."

http://www.redwoodfallsgazette.com/article/20121127/NEWS/121129654

Research: Megaupload Shutdown Impacted Box Office Sales

2012-11-28T00:37:29Z

It was big news for the internet when the giant site Megaupload.com was shut down by the FBI. The reasoning of course, the site was prosecuted for hosting illegal copywrited properties, such as movies and music. This, of course was done because of the big push by hollywood to crack down on file sharing. However, recent research has shown even though the biggest site of file sharing was shutdown, box office sails have gone down, and didnt actually hinder file sharing and sales still went down. Hmmm, maybe hollywood needs to rethink their business model instead of fighting new methods.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/megaupload-movie-download-piracy-box-office,19318.html

Irelend spend 5M Euros on cloud computing research

2012-11-28T00:23:28Z

Cloud computing is the future. No longer will people have to worry about losing their files if their computer crashes. But not many companies are making a huge push towards this. Irelend, however is spending a lot of money to conduct research on future possibilities of cloud computing

http://www.zdnet.com/uk/ireland-gets-5m-cloud-computing-research-centre-7000007964/