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SensoGram 18: Research is More Than Data Collection
Some people see consumer research as purely an exercise in data collection: give the consumers some stimulus material or a choice to react to, measure their reaction, and that's that. This may be fine in polling, when the outcome is simple and clear for all to see; however, in sensory research the interpretive thinking that follows is critical to the research process.
Scientific sensory research, like science itself, requires a judicious blend of fact and theory:
Science advances by formulating a theory then testing it empirically. The results are then fed back into further theoretical formulation, and so the loop continues.
Consumer research should advance the same way. It is good to have a theory or working hypothesis before you do the fieldwork. However, you need to be open-minded and willing to revise your hypothesis in the light of the results. This leads to further ideas and hypotheses ... and so on.
While it is a fine line between due diligence and procrastination, you do need to give yourself time to assimilate the findings in order to come up with creative solutions. Creativity occurs below the surface and does not always deliver on demand. The best solution can come at any time of the day or night - literally `out of the blue' - and you need to be receptive when it arrives.
The success of this approach is well illustrated by an article published this week in The Bulletin (`The Sweet Taste of Success', July 12 1994).
In the 1930s an Australian named Thomas Mayne used the trial-think-retrial process to develop a new product. It took four years to get the formulation right.
Was it worth it? Sixty years after development, this same formulation, Milo, reportedly has sales of $550 million a year in 30 countries.
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