Sue bell and suzanne burdon behavioural economics - 2012

A Presenta*on from The NewMR Behaviour Economics Event

19 April 2012

Babies, bathwater and behavioural economics: the challenges for qualita9ve research Susan Bell and Suzanne Burdon, Susan Bell Research

Event sponsored by Greenbook All copyright owned by The Future Place and the presenters of the material

For more informa>on about Greenbook visit www.greenbookblog.org For more informa>on about NewMR events visit newmr.org

©2012 Susan Bell Research Phone 02 9451 1234 Fax 02 9451 1122 Web www.sbresearch.com.au

Sue Bell and Suzanne Burdon

Babies, bathwater and behavioural economics: the challenges for qualitative research.

Speakers: Sue Bell and Suzanne Burdon, Susan Bell Research, Australia NewMR Behavioural Economics Event, 19 April 2012, Session 1


Some background

Bell, Burdon, Gregory and Watts (2007). Valuing the visceral: The increasing importance of the rapid-affective response in assessing consumer behaviour. International Journal of Market Research (2007) . Volume: 49, Issue: 3, Pages: 299-311

Bell, S and Burdon, S. The Truth is in there. AMSRS Conference

Bell, S. How to use discourse analysis in qualitative research. Festival of NewMR


Qualitative research exists to explore meaning

Our core beliefs

Behavioural economics? is about understanding behaviour?

Quantitative research exists to measure behaviour


Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater


5 4 3 2 1 Consumers are subject to cognitive

biases

The strengths of BE

Consumers are irrational - often use emotion, heuristics to decide

Context and frames influences behaviour

Social influence

is stronger than we are

aware of

Cultural influences have real impact on behaviour


But BE also has its weaknesses for researchers

Social marketing

focus

Focus is on the bad

decisions that

consumers make

Can be too prescriptive


“Behavioral economics challenges the validity of relying solely on asking consumers direct questions, ….” Neil Cole

AND…BE has challenged the validity of qual

“Forget market research, it’s all about understanding behavioral economics.” Rory Sutherland

Focus groups “make very little sense” Dan Ariely


But perhaps doesn’t quite understand about how qual actually works …..

http://bigthink.com/danariely#!video_idea_id=20757

We take 10 people who basically know nothing about your project and you put them in a room and let them talk for a while.

Then you take whatever they came up with, as a consequence of these 2 hours of random thinking, and you base your strategy on it.


BE’s 5 principles

So…..A new model

5 4 3 2 1 Qualitative Research

Keep Throw Add best

Bringing the best of BE into the best research


What to throw away

•  Research that: –  Assumes people can report on their own

thinking processes

–  Assumes consumers will always want a superior product (versus the status quo)

–  Focuses on attitudes

–  Focuses on individuals

–  Ignores context

–  Ignores social effects


What to keep

•  Research that: –  Brings the world of the consumer to life

–  Helps tease out alternative positionings

–  Helps us unravel complex decision processes

–  Helps people talk about sensitive issues

–  Reveals an individual’s emotional inner world

–  Teaches us the language that consumers use


•  Accept the challenge –  To put behaviour first

–  Use more precise models of thinking

–  To expect scientific rigour

And then from BE


•  Can it work in a small qual study?

•  Can clients afford it?

•  Does it take too long?

•  How do you actually do this?

FAQ’s


Let’s say that we received this brief …

Charity client’s level of donations has been falling and membership has stagnated. Client wants to commission qualitative research with consumers to find out why.

How we would use this for….. Charity brief

The research objective

To understand behaviour and the triggers and barriers to that behaviour.


Charity brief 1.Use BE in the design

Research design

Identify the biases that are most likely to affect the research: •  Accessibility heuristic •  Anchoring •  Framing •  Fundamental attribution error •  Status quo bias •  Social desirability bias

Research method

Use mixed methods to triangulate.


Charity brief 2. Choose methods to overcome the biases

Status quo bias

Frame questions about defaults, as well as active choice.

Accessibility heuristic

Use discourse analysis as stage 1 to create stimulus materials.

Anchoring Include ‘anti-anchor’ strategies in discussion guide.

Framing Create concepts which frame the issue in different ways.

Attribution error Reveal attribution error to the research participants – challenge their thinking.

Social desirability bias

Conduct individual interviews or affinity groups.


Charity brief 3. Report with a BE perspective

How to frame the proposition

How to use the context of behaviour as part of the mix.

How to use the right behavioural triggers

Delineate differences between biases, emotional responses, social and cultural influences.

How to influence choice

Ways to create or overcome defaults, choice architecture.


•  How we design and conduct qualitative work for the most meaningful results.

•  How we interpret and present qualitative findings.

•  How we make it as scientifically valid as possible.

•  How we define the qualitative canon for new researchers.

Conclusion: how BE helps

Behavioural economics forces us to reconsider (not abandon) Best practice

qualitative techniques

endure as the

framework for any new

model.


X


Q & A

Sue Bell Susan Bell Research

Sue York NewMR

Suzanne Burdon Susan Bell Research

©2012 Susan Bell Research Phone 02 9451 1234 Fax 02 9451 1122 Web www.sbresearch.com.au

www.sbresearch.com.au www.facebook.com/Susan BellResearch @SueBellResearch

A Presenta*on from The NewMR Behaviour Economics Event

19 April 2012

Babies, bathwater and behavioural economics: the challenges for qualita9ve research Susan Bell and Suzanne Burdon, Susan Bell Research

Event sponsored by Greenbook All copyright owned by The Future Place and the presenters of the material

For more informa>on about Greenbook visit www.greenbookblog.org For more informa>on about NewMR events visit newmr.org

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Sue bell and suzanne burdon behavioural economics - 2012