About a 2 min. read.
Organizations face a similar frustration every day as they strive to make business decisions, looking at past data or current trends and coming up short.
That’s where agile research comes in, ready and able to quickly provide the resources needed to meet your business goals. Below are three ways to get insights faster, by thinking like an agile research team, like CMB Accelerate:
While it’s often a challenge in and of itself to identify your business’ priorities, doing so is paramount to getting to those key objectives that will drive your research. Taking the time to narrow your objectives in the beginning will help you to avoid weeding through unnecessary data and pave the way to faster insights.
So, how do you do this? Think of the Five W’s – who, what, where, when, and why – to help inform your objectives and research focus. If you find yourself with too many objectives, as many researchers do, consider the sixth W: want. What might be a want versus a need? This will help you zero in on those objectives.
Moreover, limiting objectives to one or two can make for a shorter survey which can lead to higher engagement and data quality. For quick research, CMB Accelerate recommends surveys of 10 minutes or less.
After deciding your goals, it’s vital to sift through what’s already available to complement and add texture to your story, further hone your objective, and most importantly, get you to your insights faster. For example, client-provided sample lists often include demographics, like age and income, that can be appended after fielding. Having this information available leaves room in your survey to explore the questions that inform your objectives.
You can also use previous research (primary or secondary) to guide your survey development and hypotheses. For example, naming studies and trackers often follow similar setups; save time by utilizing previous surveys to design your current survey. Additionally, consumer behavior data and trends can help frame your survey accordingly.
You don’t have to wait until next time to get speedier. In fact, there are many ways to make analysis and reporting more efficient, which will speed up the process. Think about reviewing preliminary data to get a sense of the story that’s unfolding. This guides the report in terms of trends you’re seeing, interesting findings, storytelling, and more. Consider a report outline so that analysis and reporting kick off right at the close of field.
Knowing your objectives, leveraging what’s at hand, and learning as you go are all foundational tools for quick research. A strategic, collaborative, reputable partner, like CMB Accelerate, takes this foundation, and runs with it, ready to deliver what you need to keep your business moving forward. Ready to get things started? Contact us today.