With the increasing capabilities and opportunities offered by mobiles and smartphones, market researchers have increasingly been using these as ways to access consumers and seek their opinions.

In keeping with these changes, the market research regulatory body ESOMAR has produced a new set of guidelines in conjunction with the Mobile Marketing Research Association to help market researchers practice effectively and ethically when using these new technologies.

Transparency

An important part of the guidance is the need to ensure that researchers are clear with participants about the purpose of their involvement.  With the growing use of gamification, which may obfuscate the primary purpose of the respondents’ engagement in the activity, it is very important for the public’s on-going to trust in market researchers that we are clear and transparent in all of our engagements with the public.

Consent

Is so much easier these days with the ways in which mobile phones and smartphones integrate apps and share information to collect personal information about respondents to surveys.

Integration between Facebook, Twitter renewal forms of social networking such as the Foursquare and Instagram, it’s easy to share very revealing personal information at the touch of a screen.

Make no mistake; the ability to collect this information is of enormous value for market research purposes.  However, as with all things great power comes with greater responsibility, and researchers need to be clear with survey respondents had aired information will be used and shared.

With this in mind, it is a good idea to make clear up front in your study how you will be gathering of persons information from their mobile device and what you planned to do with it once you have it.

Use of apps

One of the ways in which market researchers are now better able to use the technology in smartphones is through the development of apps that can be downloaded.  With the use of games, or with handy applications like calculators or processing photographs taken on the phone, if users can engage with a brand in ways never before possible.

The ESOMAR guidelines state that if the primary reason for developing an active and putting it on the iTunes store for iPhone users for Google place at androids is to gather market information, this must be made clear to users up front in the process.

The aim of these guidelines is not to be restricted though.  Rather, the Somali and its partners hope that this paper will not only offer a helpful checklist of ways in which market researchers can use these new technologies to access participant groups in unique way is but also ensure that the participating public retain their face in the integrity of market research.

The use of apps that smart phone users will already have become extremely familiar with, such as Facebook, Twitter, cheer location date or and images captured by the cameras phone, offer market researchers a whole host of information that they would not previously have been able to access easily.

Imagine being able link with pinpoint accuracy of the precise location of all respondents answering your survey.  If this gives exceptionally rich data that can be used when feeding back to the client about the demographics of their market.  If gaining permission to use photographs from the respondents phone if it also gives a value added benefit and allowed survey respondents to participate in research in a much more interactive way.

Conclusion

The last thing anyone wants is for market researchers practices to be restricted.  However, is vitally important that researchers and agencies are demonstrably ethical, open and transparent to ensure continued participation in research studies.

If you need further support in mobile market research contact the 2 Europe market research agency for further information.

Image Credits: Mark Mrwizard and Sean MacEntee.