IT Survival Skills for Administrators

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Market Research Techniquesfor Libraries

• An Infopeople Workshop
• Presented by Joan Frye Williams
• joan_at_jfwilliams.com

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Market Research

• Organized effort to gather information about
  markets or customers

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Change Increases the Need for Market Research

• Population
• Economic conditions
• Competition
• Technology

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Market Research Can Explore or Confirm

• Open our eyes and broaden our vision
• What is new?
• What are we missing?
• Narrow our options and concentrate our efforts
• Is this the right choice?
• What specific results can we expect?

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What Do You Want to Find Out?Market Research
Objectives

• Focus
• Be specific
• Use action verbs
• Prioritize

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Market Research Techniques

• Third party research
• Customer visits
• Focus groups
• Experimentation
• Surveys

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Third Party Research

• Work already done by others
• Published or unpublished
• Raw data and/or analysis

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Third Party ResearchSteps

• Ask question(s)
• Scan resources
• Evaluate for trends, patterns, nuggets
• Assemble key points
• Repeat, refresh, refine

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Third Party ResearchDos and Donts

• Do ask Reference to help
• Do consult official local sources
• Do compare and contrast information from
  different sources
• Dont take numbers at face value
• Dont try to absorb a mass of data all at once

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Customer Visits(Outside the Library)

• Face-to-face interviews
• Direct observation
• Interact on customers turf
• Ad hoc or planned
• Snapshot or ongoing

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Ad Hoc Customer Visit Steps

• Agree on simple questions
• Train staff to ask those questions outside the
  library
• Log answers/observations
• Where
• When
• Who (describe, dont identify)
• Review for patterns, trends, puzzles

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Planned Customer VisitSteps

• Select customers to visit
• Make appointments
• Select staff to interview, record
• Create discussion guide
• Conduct interviews
• Debrief and log answers/observations
• Analyze and report results

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Customer VisitDos and Donts

• Do guard against interviewer bias
• Do involve non-public service staff
• Do ask customers to identify problems
• Dont ask customers for solutions
• Dont talk too much
• Dont draw sweeping conclusions

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When to Use Different Types of Questions

• Open-ended, narrative questions
• Face-to-face
• Customer visits, focus groups
• Specific, defined choice questions
• Online, phone, mail
• Experiments, surveys

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The Best Questions

• Something customers already know
• Opportunity for personal expression
• Simple, uncluttered
• Active voice
• Jargon-free
• Dont lead
• Clear why youre asking

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Focus Groups

• Moderated group interviews
• One topic 4 questions
• Open-ended
• 8-12 participants
• 2 hours per session
• Minimum of 3 sessions
• Audio/video recording

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Setting Up the Focus Group Steps

• Identify kind(s) of customers to research
• Reserve meeting room with large table
• Prepare screening questions
• Decide on incentives
• Recruit and schedule participants
• Recruit more participants than you need

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Conducting the Focus Group Steps

• Identify moderator, host, and (audio or video)
  recorder
• Develop discussion guide
• Engage entire group in discussion
• Debrief immediately
• Review tapes with others
• Analyze and report results

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Focus GroupDos and Donts

• Do anticipate logistical foul-ups
• Do get a top-notch moderator
• Do focus on a few topics
• Dont be too picky about screening
• Dont vote or count responses
• Dont draw sweeping conclusions

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Experimentation

• Individual customers choose from alternatives
• Experience, not imagination
• One variable only
• In person, mail, online

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Experimentation Steps

• Select variable
• Create alternatives
• Identify laboratory
• Identify participants
• Pretest
• Conduct experiment
• Record results
• Analyze and report

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ExperimentationDos and Donts

• Do ask the right question
• Do limit to one variable
• Dont start with this technique
• Dont reject customers choices

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Surveys

• Fixed set of questions
• Large sample
• Self-reported
• In person, phone, mail, online

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Try Not to Mix Survey Types

• Customer satisfaction
• Market segmentation
• Service usage
• Usage intentions
• Brand image and perceptions
• Tracking
• Media usage

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Try Not to Mix Question Types

• Yes/no
• True/false
• Agree/disagree
• Forced choice
• Scale of 1-5
• Comparative ranking
• Choose from list

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Survey Steps

• Identify population
• Draw sample
• Develop survey
• Mock up reports
• Pretest
• Administer survey
• Follow up
• Tabulate results
• Analyze and report

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Dos and Donts

• Do keep it short
• Do draw a large sample
• Do avoid jargon
• Do ask staff to predict results
• Dont draft the survey alone
• Dont over-explain
• Dont assume self-reporting is trustworthy

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When to Hire a Professional

• Major policy decision
• Divisive issue
• Big money at stake
• Political cover needed
• Expert moderators
• Statistically rigorous sample
• Laboratory, polling stations, meeting facilities
• You know what to ask, but not how to ask it

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Choosing the Right Techniquefor Your Needs

• Scanning the environment
• Third party research
• Customer visits
• Surveys
• Generating options
• Customer visits
• Focus groups

• Selecting an option
• Surveys
• Experimentation
• Evaluating success
• Surveys