Don’t destroy the reputation of your agency with shonky research, brands told
Brands have been warned they risk damaging their own credibility and destroying that of their agencies by commissioning shoddy market research with biased and poorly-worded questions.
Chris Lonergan on stage at Mumbrella’s CommsCon
And in an era of fake news and cynical consumers, the need for robust and well-constructed data has become imperative, Mumbrella’s CommsCon conference heard.
Chris Lonergan, chief executive and founder of Lonergan Research, told delegates that research can be cut in many ways with wildly contrasting results.
Great advice to agencies – if you use shonky research to back your claims you’ll look as bad as media owners.
Very sage advice and excellent examples Chris.
It reminded me of one of my first Statistics courses at Macquarie University in 1973. Prof. Eddie Oliver asserted that you could come up with a statistic to prove anything.
All the students doubted it.
He gave us three minutes to come up with a research question that proved that all Australian men are wife-bashers.
How could we prove something that wasn’t true?
Eddie wrote on the overhead projector foil …
Q. Do you still bash your wife?
1. Yes
2. No.
That lesson stuck with me for every questionnaire and research piece I ever worked on.