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Author: Anna Alu

To a More Sustainable World Through Education

Dilek Ozler thoughts on her experience as a volunteer trainer at a series of workshops run in Sri Lanka on behalf of the ESOMAR Foundation

 

 

Dilek Ozler is Sr. Consumer & Market Insight Manager, People Data Center at Unilever and Executive Coordinator, Paragon Partnerships

One of the most important Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) among the 17 that got adopted by all UN member countries unanimously in September of 2015 is “Quality Education”.  In fact, when the citizens of Developing Countries are polled to express the SDG that most matters to them and their families, “Goal #4: Quality Education” consistently comes up at the top.  It all starts with education!

Paragon Partnerships

In my view, the second most important SDG is “Goal #17: Partnerships for the Goals”.  Nobody can single handedly implement the goals on their own.  It all requires alliances, partnerships and working with others to find the best way to implement the SDGs in the short time frame that we have until it is too late for our world.  That is why, I decided to commit part of my time and brain power to Paragon Partnerships.  Paragon is an organization spearheaded by our CMI EVP Stan Sthanunathan, with the sole purpose of helping UN, Governments, Academia and NGOs with the measurement of progress and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.  It is a global network of market research companies and their clients coming together to provide pro-bono market research assistance in the shape of consultancy, training, ad-hoc researches, or adding questions to the already running questionnaires.  And I am privileged to be running it globally, trying to bring demand and supply together to help with SDGs.

Training the Market Research Society of Sri Lanka

In late November, I found the opportunity to volunteer at an activity that brings these 2 SDGs together.  In collaboration with ESOMAR Foundation, I co-facilitated a workshop to train the researchers of Market Research Society of Sri Lanka (MRSS), representing Paragon and Unilever.  The main purpose was to provide education to researchers in Sri Lanka that do not have the local resources or experience to deliver training themselves, with the ultimate objective of having more non-profit sector/NGOs come to them with market research requests; and hence help with SDGs.

The whole experience was one to remember and the 20-hour flight from New York City to Colombo was well worth it!  The facility where the training was held was right by the Indian Ocean, with unforgettable sunset views.  And, I was impressed to see the level of patriotism and the loyalty that the Sri Lankans have towards their country.  The 2-day training workshop kicked off with everyone singing the Sri Lankan national anthem, followed by the most memorable moment of oil lamp lighting ceremony.  The Exco of the MRSS, the ESOMAR Foundation representative (Phyllis Macfarlane) and I took turns lighting a tall oil lamp, which was brought to the venue for this purpose.  According to Sri Lankan tradition, it signifies “joining and becoming one”, which was quite appropriate to the overall objective.  We trained, in total, around 100 researchers during the course of the 2 days, and they were all in their best outfits throughout, with the female Exco members in their beautiful and colorful saris.

The hospitality and willingness to help of everyone I met in Sri Lanka was notable.  The delegates were coming from different market research agencies, all with varying degrees of experience.  And the most heartening thing was to see the enthusiasm and the attention they showed throughout the 2 days.

Upskilling researchers

The agenda for the training was split by Qualitative vs. Quantitative research, each through the lens of how to ensure quality market research, telling stories with data, and getting insights that are actionable.  There was also focus on the future of market research, where we touched upon topics like online research, using Social Media and Big Data, as well as using Video for impact on decision making, and Behavioral Economics.  The feedback we got was that their experience was truly inspiring and eye opening. The researchers were enthused to try out new things and embrace the changes that are taking place.  And I feel we have made them more aware of the shifts that are occurring in the global market research space.  And I was pleasantly surprised in the last day of the workshop when the MRSSS Exco showed us the newspaper article on Sri Lanka Daily Financial Times that featured us and the whole event.  That was definitely an assurance that our contributions were truly appreciated.

I also had the chance to meet Sajeevani Hewage, the CMI Manager in Unilever Sri Lanka, who helped us with her contributions in terms of learnings and case studies during this event.

NGOs and charities

I feel so lucky to be part of this experience!  While I helped improve the skill level of market researchers in a developing country, I also contributed in increasing their likelihood to provide help to NGOs, and charities.  These NGOs and charities are all working towards goals that are very much aligned with SDGs, i.e. women`s wellbeing, etc.  And therefore, through this activity I feel I ultimately helped with the SDGs. The additional bonus we got was also the fact that by upskilling these researchers, we were also making sure they provide higher quality market research to Unilever as their client!

All-in-all it was a great experience and I am so grateful that my organization and my leadership management supported me in this journey!

Our thanks go to The Sri Lankan Market Research Association, Himalee Madurasinghe, ESOMAR Representative and CEO Kantar Sri Lanka; Roshani Fernando, COO at Quantum Consumer Solutions for making this new ESOMAR Foundation training session a success!

Training in Sri Lanka – A review by Phyllis Macfarlane

On 21-23 November Phyllis Macfarlane, Treasurer of the ESOMAR Foundation and Global Training Programme Manager at GfK, Dilek Ozler, Sr. Consumer & Market Insight Manager, People Data Center & Unilever Executive Coordinator of the Paragon Partnership and Sajeevani Hewage, Consumer & Market Insight Manager, Unilever Sri Lanka, addressed the Sri Lankan Market Research, Marketing and Sales fraternity with a programme including qualitative and quantitative advanced research training, a special session on the future of market research and a knowledge forum for senior industry leaders.

Part of ESOMAR Foundation’s mission is to provide training in smaller, developing markets that do not have the resources to develop such training for themselves.

So far we have run 2 training workshops in Myanmar, and one in Kenya, and this year we had a request from the Sri Lankan Market Research Association to support them.

Sri Lanka is emerging very dynamically and successfully, it appears, from years of internal conflict within the country, which only ended some 10 years ago. And the recently set up MR Association is full of plans and energy to get their MR industry onto a thoroughly modern footing, and growing!

Change is in the air!

How exciting to be a country at a point where you have just successfully transferred (almost) all your F2F fieldwork to CAPI  – and internet and smartphone penetration are both at 35% and growing.  You have a real opportunity to learn from what has happened elsewhere in the world, and plan for a whole new online and digital future. Perhaps able to leapfrog technology (online data collection going straight to smartphone, for example?) and learning and utilising all the new tech and opportunities that are available.

And from a training point of view – how refreshing to be there at a point where change is in the air. To be able to emphasise the values of traditional MR skills (and help enhance them) and also to demonstrate how these skills translate into the new age digital of MR. In fact, the training couldn’t have been timed better.

What did we do?

Our Hosts were determined to get the most out of us. Beforehand we had discussed various scenarios, and we ended up with a really packed and interesting agenda. We spent one very full day on Quantitative research – focussing on quality and insight and adding value (50 attendees), and a very full half day on Qualitative research – again focussing on qualitative data collection, analysis and insight and how to communicate research to have more impact (38 attendees).

And then a full half day (100 attendees!) on the Future of Research where we covered: quantitative research, qualitative research, passive measurement, Social Media, Big Data, and Behavioural Economics – Phew!

From the feedback I think we did inspire some young researchers to look into these new areas and make them their own.

And then, on the final day, we did a breakfast presentation for clients (c 90 attendees) – who were a very impressive lot, interested mainly in return on research investment (what else?!), and who asked very difficult questions – mainly about the future of communications, social media, Big Data etc. As I mentioned earlier – it’s clear that Sri Lanka is determined to become a very modern business centre – and, based on the people I met there, I think they are very likely to succeed!

Inspiring!

It is always inspiring to meet researchers from other countries – particularly developing ones – and hear about their concerns and aspirations, and  perhaps be able to help and advise them on how to tackle the issues, and also on how to learn new things to achieve their ambitions. It’s also inspiring for me to consider their unique market and how they might develop it. But the workshop was also an opportunity to meet the committed and charismatic Sri Lankan research leaders, and my fellow trainers: Unilever colleagues – Dilek Ozler and Sajeevani Hewage.

Dilek and I have been working very well together on Paragon for nearly 2 years now and we had never actually met – it seems strange to have to travel half way round the world to actually meet – but that’s what happened! And Sajeevani, a young but very experienced Sri Lankan researcher, had great stories about the local industry – which is such an important context in any training programme.

We were very happy to work together to deliver this series of Workshops, which we hope had an effect on everyone who attended.

Training NGOs

Our next task as ESOMAR Foundation is to develop this training programme for NGO researchers. Their language and requirements are very different from our usual commercial clients – so we can’t deliver the same content – it needs to be tailored to their needs.  Do let us know if you have any experience or ideas as to how we should do this, we would love to hear from you.

Our thanks go to The Sri Lankan Market Research Association, Himalee Madurasinghe, ESOMAR Representative and CEO Kantar Sri Lanka; Roshani Fernando, COO at Quantum Consumer Solutions for making this new ESOMAR Foundation training session a success!

Nicolin hopes to find employment!

The end of the year is fast-approaching and I am not looking forward to searching for new hobbies to keep me occupied. I doubt I will be visiting my family this Christmas due to the fact that I have not found employment as yet. However, I have to remain positive for the sake of sanity.

The exam season ended on the 24th of November, just the day before the 25th being my birthday! A great way to end the exams. I also presented to Colgate-Palmolive on the 27th of November with Patience, Ridwanaah and Farzaana (the girls who attended the SAMRA conference with me).

The presentation was based on an assignment we wrote on ways to improve the sales of the Colgate toothpaste in informal stores around South Africa. Hopefully the company will consider recruiting us after listening to our creative ideas. We can only pray!

The scholarship awarded to Nicolin was sponsored by SSI and in collaboration with SAMRA.

Make a Difference!

We are getting close to the end of the year festivities! It’s that time of the year when donating comes as a natural gesture of warmth and solidarity.

 

 

We would like to thank our many donors who are filling this special time of the year with joy and generousity!

A big thank you goes to:

System1, the global marketing research and advertising company, who took part in ‘Making a Difference’ mile, dressed as Santa’s to raise money for the ESOMAR Foundation.

In total 75 staff from System1 ran in the charity event, with the company sponsoring each runner, bringing the total funds raised to €4,250

ENI Recruitment who is donating 1% of all their permanent placement billings from 1 November 2017 to 14 February 2018 to the ESOMAR Foundation raising so far €1,830 in just under 4 weeks.

 

Thanks to 20 donors who donated fantastic prizes and the wonderful supporters of the ESOMAR Foundation who are buying tickets for the annual Christmas Charity Draw we have raised so far €1,440 to fund ESOMAR Foundation activities.

You can buy tickets at €30 (each) until 15 December!

Buy here: www.esomarfoundation.org/prizes

 

 

Research can help us understand the human condition

Can it go further, and help us to better it? We look at an advertising campaign run by the ESOMAR Foundation using research insight to improve people’s lives. Armed with a generous gift of online banner advertising space from AOL’s own Foundation Oath for Good, here is what happened.

Three years ago ESOMAR created the Foundation to use the knowledge, skills, creativity, interest and resources of researchers to help charities improve people’s lives.

To raise awareness, funds and engagement from the research industry, the Foundation decided to run its first advertising campaign, armed with a generous gift of online banner advertising space from AOL’s own Foundation Oath for Good. The challenge was the same as researchers and their commercial clients are always facing – how do you articulate your purpose into marketing that drives profitable growth? The goals of a non-profit may be broader than for a commercial brand but the skills are the same. This is the story of one such challenge – how to turn the purpose of the Foundation into a campaign that can use research insight to improve people’s lives.

We decided early on to focus the campaign on last year’s ‘Best Paper’ from Congress: an inspiring case study from My Choices Foundation, on how a better understanding of the causes of sex-trafficking in India could help tackle the issue.

Research at its best

The My Choices Foundation (an anti-trafficking charity) and their research agency Final Mile, explored the causes of sex trafficking. The research spanned interviews with NGOs, campaigners, but also individuals directly involved, such as villagers whose daughters had been trafficked.

It was powerful, complex, and hard work – inevitably given the difficulty and raw emotion surrounding the issue.

Their work represented research at its best – and we decided to translate its nuanced and complex findings into a campaign that would grab people emotionally and raise both awareness and money. We were delighted to donate our time and skills to help.

We knew that emotional impact would be absolutely critical to the campaign’s success. As the work of Les Binet and Peter Field has demonstrated, the best route to short-term response and long-term effectiveness for a campaign is emotion. That applies to non-profits too.

Sex trafficking is obviously a highly emotive subject. But because it’s so harrowing, the sad truth is it’s an all too human response to switch off, block out the unpleasant information, and ignore it. That was our first challenge. Our second was the media space generously donated by AOL for the campaign required a banner ad approach. Banner ads have a bad reputation for emotional advertising – too many years of bland or intrusive campaigns mean people tune them out. To do justice to My Choice Foundation’s research we needed an emotional approach that would generate an immediate response, as well as build the ESOMAR Foundation’s long-term fundraising and mission to improve people’s lives.

John Kearon is CEO of System 1 Group PLC and President of the ESOMAR Foundation.

Developing the Impact of Research in Sri Lanka

This year the ESOMAR Foundation training programme will conclude with a series of events taking place in Colombo in cooperation with the Market Research Society of Sri Lanka, MRSSL.

On 21-23 November Phyllis Macfarlane, Treasurer of the ESOMAR Foundation and Global Training Programme Manager at GfK, Dilek Ozler, Sr. Consumer & Market Insight Manager, People Data Center & Unilever Executive Coordinator of the Paragon Partnership and Sajeevani Hewage, Consumer & Market Insight Manager, Unilever Sri Lanka, will address the Sri Lankan Market Research, Marketing and Sales fraternity with a programme including qualitative and quantitative advanced research training, a special session on the future of market research and a knowledge forum for senior industry leaders.

Phyllis Macfarlane
Dilek Ozler
Sajeevani Ewage

We offer training for the purpose of improving the quality of market research in emerging and developing economies. We hope that through this effort we will be able to stimulate both young and experienced researchers to stand back and think about their work and the future of MR.  We wish to provide the opportunity to researchers to develop and adapt approaches which are suitable for them and their culture.

Watch this space for a review of this exciting training programme!

Marketing research; Baptism by fire

This is the first blog from Innocent Rwamba Nyaga who is following the MS in market research at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. Innocent is the recipient of the ESOMAR Foundation / MSRA Scholarship sponsored by WIRe and Unilever

The phrase ‘baptism by fire’ was first coined by John the Baptist in the Bible in The New Testament and was mainly mentioned in regard to peoples’ ability to be cleansed and consecrated spiritually. Its application now originates from Europe describing an employee that is learning something the hard way, like being immersed in their field of employment. Baptism by fire also has its roots in battle terminology, describing a soldier’s first time in battle.

This is true for my interaction with the subject of Market Research as an actual field of work or study and this was initiated (literally) by a guest lecture in the university by Phyllis Macfarlane. I hadn’t attended a class by then so she was my opening to the subject and what it entails in the real world. I left that two day seminar a believer. Like most people in Kenya, Market Research is not known very well as it has not been an avenue to get employment. You see, when we go to university, we choose fields that will enable students get a job at the end of it all because that is the societal pressure we face. The idea of using one’s talent as a way of making a living is a concept that has just penetrated the country and more so Africa as a whole. This is because we have been brought up to uphold tradition and to always obey our elders (in this case parents/guardians) as they know what’s best of us.

It’s a very interesting subject for me as I am very passionate about people in general, what makes them tick and being able to put myself on their lever to better understand them. This degree will further this ability and together with training, I’ll be well integrated in the industry. Honestly, I find myself looking forward to being done with this part of schooling and getting my hands dirty, so to speak.

I have had a couple of months’ worth of classes now and truthfully my best class so far is on Marketing Ethics and Governance taught by one Dr. Joseph Owino, every Monday evening, worth every penny this lecture. What’s interesting is his ability to let his students think critically by providing real life situations/scenarios by way of case studies and asking pertinent questions that make us think because the aspect of ethics is not always a given for all. One may choose to be ethical or not in every aspect of life. The other subjects are interesting too thing is I need to invest more time in doing more out of class research so as to reach a suitable level of understanding.

Dr. Joseph Owino

This Scholarship really is special because women in general and especially in Africa face a lot of challenges specifically when it comes to advancing themselves so as to reach that level of self-actualisation that Maslow’s theory/hierarchy of needs talks about. Besides these challenges women are strong willed, future oriented and can survive any environment. To ESOMAR Foundation, WIRe, MSRA and Unilever, I’m forever indebted to you. I will endeavour to be a good example to those who come behind me and I shall take full advantage of this opportunity.

How you can support

If you are a market researcher, a national market research association, an NGO involved in research or a university interested in a scholarship in your country please contact us at info@esomarfoundation.org

Partners & Sponsors

We are always on the lookout for partners and sponsors. If you are an organisation looking to understand more on how you can support us, please find more information here or contact:  info@esomarfoundation.org

   

Believe in yourself, be confident and don’t be afraid to take chances

This is the third blog from Nutsa Kvitashvili who is following the BA Program of Sociology at Caucasus School of Humanities and Social Sciences. Nutsa is the recipient of the ESOMAR Foundation Scholarship sponsored by Inizio.

 

 

It’s been a while since my last blog so I’m going to tell you a little bit about my summer vacation and my studies. I’ve enjoyed my summer vacation a lot. I was in Batumi it’s the second largest city of Georgia and it is located on the coast of the Black Sea in the counrty’s southwest. Batumi is a place which I really enjoy visiting with my friends because of its beautiful walking areas, long boulevards and old 19th century buildings which gives you the feeling that you are in Europe. It was a blast.

Summer has ended and I’m about to start my 4th and last year at Caucasus University. Thinking about my last year of studies makes me sad and excited at the same time. Sad because studying at university is one of the most interesting, thrilling and inspiring experience in life. After spending four years studying, adapting to life after university can be pretty difficult. But at the same time I’m beyond excited because after graduating from university you will start a new journey, a new chapter in life. This is the time in your life when you can reach new heights, the time when everyone has a lot of opportunities but a lot of people miss that chance because they’re afraid to go after them. The important thing is to believe in yourself, be confident and don’t be afraid to take chances.

This year my studies are starting a little bit late because Caucasus University is moving into a new building and all the students are excited about this change because the architecture of the building is very beautiful and has a historical atmosphere.

 

In this semester I’m going to study a bunch of interesting subjects such as sociology of arts, sociology of religion, visual sociology, sociology of education, etc. I’m very excited about the new semester, new building and new subjects which I’m sure are going to be intriguing and fascinating.

How you can support

If you are a market researcher, a national market research association, an NGO involved in research or a university interested in a scholarship in your country please contact us at info@esomarfoundation.org

Partners & Sponsors

We are always on the lookout for partners and sponsors. If you are an organisation looking to understand more on how you can support us, please find more information here or contact:  info@esomarfoundation.org

    

I am one in a million

How Street Invest  and Big Sofa created a remarkable video : ‘I am One in a Million’ from qualitative research findings – with the objective of changing the public perception of Street Children – to humanise them.

Street children’s stories: “I am one in a million”    

Street children are young people who live and / or work on the streets and they can be found in every country of the world. The global population of street children is contested, however UNICEF state that the figure almost certainly runs into tens of millions and have put this figure as high as 150 million.

The need for accurate and disaggregated data is vital in providing support to this ‘missing’ population and qualitative and quantitative data have roles to play. To quote ODI’s The Data Revolution: “even the most willing governments cannot efficiently deliver services if they do not know who those people are.”

Positive change starts with informed perceptions

Quantitative data is needed to demonstrate the scale of the issue – the number of children living on the streets of a given country and the demographic of that population. But it is qualitative data that paints a true picture of street children’s realities and the complexity of the challenges they face day to day. Without such data, stakeholders, from NGOs to governments, cannot be properly equipped to intervene in street children’s lives.

Misinformed perceptions can lead to highly damaging actions. For example, if street children are seen as criminals, it can lead to incarceration and violence. If they are seen as passive victims with no rights, they may be removed from the streets at all costs, even if it is against their will or not in their best interest.

StreetInvest, a global charity that provides support to street children, approached video analytics company Big Sofa, to conduct a qualitative research study into street children, to try and challenge these perceptions as a starting point to drive change. 

Ethnography on the streets

The research methodology was developed based on exploratory and ethnographic qualitative methods and was conducted in four countries: Guatemala, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and India.

Street children are often highly mistrustful of adults, who they may associate with abuse, which made access a barrier. It was agreed that the most effective and ethical* way to conduct the interviews was to utilise existing relationships between the street children and the ‘street workers’ in StreetInvest’s network. Street workers are trained adult social workers, who operate in street environments to build strong, trusting relationships with street children, to help them develop and grow in a positive way.

The discussion guide covered seven key areas: 1. relationship with family; 2. context around leaving home; 3. everyday lives, especially experiences around food and shelter; 4. experiences with “others” including non-street connected adults and children, other street children and institutions such as police, government officials; 5. work and money; 6. their knowledge of their rights; 7. future aspirations.

Fieldwork commenced over a six-week period and during this time, the street workers recorded 21 interviews and additional observational footage, with footage ranging in length between 2 minutes and 56 minutes.

The power of video analytics

The data was uploaded to Big Sofa’s platform after being translated and transcribed. The videos were analysed within the platform, its technology allowing analysts to code and tag specific speech patterns and phrases, based on the transcript, as well as behaviors, based on the visuals. Codes were drawn from the discussion guide, for example “Rights” and additional themes emerged during the analysis process, such as “Playtime” and “Religion”.

After analysing the raw footage and identifying key insights, a three minute long output film was created. The film used direct quotes from the children, organised thematically to share powerful insights into their lives. StreetInvest also have access to the extensive, searchable online video library of street child interviews, stored securely on Big Sofa’s platform.

Impactful, shareable output

Big Sofa’s technology can draw quantitative data from qualitative inputs, but the relatively small scale of the study meant the dataset could not be used for quantification. No matter: the power of this study lies in the shareable and impactful output film.

The film is a versatile asset which StreetInvest will use to support numerous streams of its strategy, including awareness raising and advocacy. One such example is its inclusion in StreetInvest’s ‘Values and Attitudes’ workshop. These workshops have been delivered to high-level stakeholders, including the Department of Social Welfare in Ghana and the film will help build deeper empathy and understanding among participants. Through this research, street children have been able to share their own stories, using in their own voice, in a manner which can be shared with those who have the power to change their lives.

* All the street workers involved were trained in Child Protection and informed consent was gained from the young people who participated in the filming.

About the Authors:

Georgina Day, Charity Impact and Communications at StreetInvest, UK

Flora Somogyi, Consultant at Big Sofa, UK

From baby prawn to adult prawn

This is the fifth blog-post from Esther Tot who received the ESOMAR Foundation Scholarship to study at the English based Bachelor Degree program in International Business at the National University of Management (NUM) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

It’s kind of weird but wait until I’ll explain why there’s a baby prawn and an adult prawn! Yes, this is how I see myself! In Year1 I was a baby prawn, which just entered the university. Our lecturers like to call us Year1 students “Baby Prawn” because we are the youngest ones in school and we, baby prawns, are trying to adapt and learn from the adult prawns (Year 2, 3, 4 students). We have to learn and observe from them because when we enter the university it’s as if we are born into a new world or new place.

BUT_ BIG BUT (got this way of saying from my marketing lecturer which everyone love to use), so BIG BUT is that in November I will enter Year2 and I am so excited because I have passed all the exams of Year1. To be honest if people ask me whether it was easy, I would say not too easy and not too hard but it required so much self-discipline as I had talked about in my previous blog about Self-Discipline. What I mean by self-discipline is that we need to commit to having less sleep and more study time because there are loads of assignments that need to be completed and submitted. We have to be committed to school and assignments.

So now I am becoming an adult prawn as I am entering Year2! I don’t know what’s coming next but I guess it might be more fun than Year1 because there will be more and more assignments. But I am ready for it!!!

I can’t wait to finish my university and get a degree so I can have a good job with a high salary, which makes my life worth. It’s not easy but I believe one day I can become a Prawn Boss. There’s still a long way to go…. 2 more years till I reach Year4!

So my message to all the baby prawns is that it’s ok to have a lot of assignments and presentations because it will pay off when you will become an adult prawn. You will gain a lot of experience from your baby prawn year so work hard and if you fail don’t lose hope and please keep trying harder and harder each time you fail even though sometimes it seems that you have reached your limit. But don’t limit your education just keep letting it grow.

I would like to say thank you again to the ESOMAR Foundation for providing me with the special opportunity of having a better education and as well as achieving my dream as a poor kid to become a knowledgeable person.

Partners & Sponsors

We are always on the lookout for partners and sponsors. If you are an organisation looking to understand more on how you can support us, please find more information here or contact:  info@esomarfoundation.org