Is now a good time to commission a research project?

Wow … what a month March 2020 was.   I’m writing this as we start week 3 of our “stay at home” period and I’m finding it amazing how quickly we adjust and adapt.   My highlights this week have been

• Giving mobile phone tech support to my 72 year old mother-in-law from 2 metres away
• My local village store having a delivery of hand sanitizer
• The glorious weather making my daily walk even more enjoyable

In terms of my workload, I’m thankful that many of my clients are continuing to thrive, although there are others who have also ceased all their research activity for the foreseeable future. So it’s a mixed bag for me but there is definitely no need for all research activity to stop.

So is now a good time to commission a research project?

The short answer is … maybe.

It’s a good time because …

• Large parts of the population are no longer commuting freeing up time in their day. Since many people are staying safe at home, they might be more willing to spend a few minutes completing a survey.

• Everyone is still consuming food, medicine and entertainment, with many areas seeing a boom in trade.   If your business is growing, then now is the time to research to ensure it evolves in the way you want it to.

• Many market research agencies have seen projects cancelled at very short notice, leaving spare capacity so your project could be completed more quickly than you imagine.

• If you have an ongoing tracker study then you’ll be able to gather insight into how behaviour is changing because of this crisis.

You might need to rethink if …

• It’s a weird time. People’s emotions and thoughts are changing all the time, so now might not be the best time to conduct research looking at specific behaviour.

• If you were about to launch a research project looking at how people spend their time socialising then hold fire – but if it’s a brand perception for study then go ahead.

• If you are thinking of rolling out your annual employee engagement study it’s going to need some question tweaks. But now would be a fantastic opportunity to find out what your staff really think about their new work reality.

As someone who is obsessed with spotting patterns and trends, I say that it’s now more important than ever to keep asking, listening and understanding behaviour, perceptions and opinions.   If you would like to chat through what research you could be doing right now, then get in touch for a chat. www.acemr.co.uk/contact