There are many situations when businesses may productively and profitably take the do-it-yourself route. Great researchers seek to understand the limitations of the solutions they are using both as a research and business solution. Here are 4 reasons why DIY research is often not the best option:
1. Poor Quality
Quality is not just an aspect of market research; it is its defining characteristic. In other words, poor quality market research is not market research. DIY market research is notorious for delivering poor quality research. This is often due to a mix of causes, which may include:
- research bias (validating pre-conceived notions rather than delivering truly objective insights, etc.);
- flawed sampling methodology (not engaging the right people; not engaging enough people; not asking the right questions; over-relying on certain methods while ignoring others, etc.); and,
- relying on the wrong research methods for the research question (businesses that take the DIY market research approach often end up trying to use a short playbook of easy to implement methods that may or may not answer the question at hand).
2. Lack of Resources
Most businesses do not have the in-house resources and tools to conduct a fully-fledged market research project. The amount of time it takes to manage research project logistics and execute on all the details will definitely mean you make sacrifices in other areas that should be higher priority. Whether that time could be spent on design and analysis of other research or another aspect of your role, your highest and best value to your organization is likely not setting up your own survey, tracking progress every day and trouble shooting every minor issue.
Just as many people who try DIY home repairs discover that the seemingly simple one week project ends up taking several months – and usually involves calling in an expert sooner or later – professional-grade market research is excessively and often surprisingly time consuming.
There is much more to the picture than asking questions. Questionnaires must be developed and designed, data gathering methods have to be evaluated and implemented (usually a mix of offline and online methods are necessary), feedback has to be captured and filtered to ensure that data quality is at an acceptable standard, and the list goes on. Frankly, it is enough to make a nightmarish home improvement project seem like a proverbial walk in the park!
3. Mis-representative communications
Who will you do research with? Your customers and prospective customers. Every communication and interaction counts. If you are doing research, your role probably does not require you to interact with customers on a daily basis. If it does, then research is not your top priority (please read the prior point about resources). Using an independent market research entity brings legitimacy and professionalism to how an organization is represented.
4. Lack of Actionable Insights
Last but certainly not least: many DIY market research projects fail to deliver actionable insights, which means that the process was an enormous waste of time and money. To return to our map analogy: instead of ending up going from Point A to Point B, businesses end up lost in the wilderness, and are forced to call for help.
Learn More
To learn more about making sure that your market research project is a profitable investment rather than a costly ordeal, contact the Qlarity Access team today. We’d be more than happy to learn more about your business, talk about your research goals and see if we can help you out!
For more information on how to communicate the value of market research to your clients, download our FREE eBook:
