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How Market Research Assisted Hurricane Matthew Victims

Market Research can easily provide social goodwill beyond the boundaries of client-focused content

 

 

A Tale Of Engagement & Education

Is it possible to recruit a difficult audience of physicians in both developed and emerging markets without paying them a dime? Common sense in our industry would clearly say no. When it comes to doctors, money seems to be the only means of engagement amongst a multitude of social media and online activities, in which market research could be just one of those.

Well, let’s see a “natural experiment” that may prove us wrong in assuming this too readily.

Engaging With Medical Professionals

In October 4th, 2016, Matthew, a category 5 Hurricane, impacted the shores of Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas. The consequences were devastating: thousands fleeing their homes and a significant death toll. The situation could not have been worse. Add to all of this, the fact that Haiti was still recovering from the terrible earthquake suffered in 2010 and the outbreak of cholera that followed afterwards.

Only a week later, we received a call from a humanitarian organization to help with the emergency. So we came up with the idea of developing a survey that we thought would be interesting for our target, asking doctors in several countries in Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Chile) and in the US and Canada, not only about the main challenges in their own profession but also about how prepared the Americas were to cope with natural disasters.

As a thank you for their valuable time, the only incentive offered was the possibility of obtaining topline results and, more importantly, the donation of one blanket and a gallon of water for the victims for each completed survey through Save The Children’s mission in Haiti.

In two weeks an unexpected total of 2,870 doctors from Canada to Argentina completed this survey, resulting in an equal number of donations.

These results were shocking. Whilst we have used donations as incentives for regular market research surveys with doctors, these had always been an infrequent choice, with typically only 5% or less opting to make a donation.

And it was not only the doctors that became engaged, partners followed. Other than internal work, the donation was in fact the only cost of the project. Confirmit gladly waived their software license costs for these surveys. Our partners at Reckner Healthcare generously undertook the recruiting of their panelists in US and Canada at their expense. External translators and scripters also refused to charge anything for this last-minute request for professional work.

The lesson is clear. If you have engaging and emotionally resonant content, then engagement will not be a problem.

Educating Ourselves Concerning Disasters and Hope

Topline results have already been shared with members of UNICEF and other organizations are already exposing a situation that otherwise might have been unnoticed were it not for our engagement with frontline medical workers. Key results show that:

• According to their fellow doctors, no country surveyed across the America seems to be well-prepared to face a natural disaster

• Whilst the Chileans, Americans and Canadians are slightly less negative about their own capabilities, Mexicans rate in the middle, with Brazilians and Argentines the most pessimistic

• Consistent with this regional perception, the majority of physicians surveyed in each country have not received any specific training to cope with natural disaster events and most hospital doctors stated that no such training has been held at their workplace

• The recommendation of these healthcare professionals for future public policy is that priorities should be mainly focused on just one issue: creating well-defined protocols (for early warning, evacuation from risk areas and victim treatment through a well-structured healthcare system). This was rated as much more important topic than investing in shelters or infrastructure. As one insightful Colombian doctor put it “the disaster is not natural, it is organizational!”

We are now in the process of disseminating these results so that the findings can be taken to policy makers in these countries and help us to be better prepared for future events.

Market Research: Well Placed To Help The World?

The other insight we learned from this experience was the discovery that the tools we have patiently developed and heavily invested in over the years as market researchers, can easily provide social goodwill beyond the boundaries of client-focused content.

Without the technical and social infrastructure of panel communities originally created for market research purposes, this survey would have been extremely expensive, time-consuming, and most likely would not have taken place.

And thinking about our industry we do hope this experience can be useful to show how smoothly our market research tools and existing capabilities can be used to assist relevant non-profit causes.

By Diego Casaravilla, Managing Partner of FINE, a Latin American fielding agency

One Is Greater Than One Million

 

Social research addressing burning issues in society can help millions of families live better

WHY?

According to Porter & Kramer in Strategy & Society, Businesses need good societies and societies need good businesses. In agreement with the concept, TITA Research considers the commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) an important part of the corporate mission. CSR not only makes the world better but will also make the company more sustainable. TITA Research annually performs four CSR programs, one of which is “One is greater than one million”.

There are many ways to make the world better. One of the most popular is donation. A sweater helps a person keep warm. A meal helps save a person from hunger or a house accommodates a family. In general, donation is a good way to share something from your heart. However, only an attempt from a Market Research Company to carry out social research to address burning issues in society can help millions of families live better. That is the Meaning of One is greater than One Million Concept.

“One is greater than one million”, initiated in 2014 with a project focused on teenagers to help parents and sociologists gain a better understanding on the situation of young people in big cities of Vietnam, thereby offering solutions to help parents to narrow the gap with their children. In 2016, facing the rapid alarm about the horribly increasing rate of unhappy family and divorce rates in Vietnam in the last decade, and pursuant to judicial statistics mentioning 40% of marriages ended in divorce (double comparing to 1998)*, we decided to conduct the project “Happy Family” with the purpose of studying the root of potential risks causing family break, then coordinate with social organizations to bring solutions to strengthen the nest of family happiness.

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*http://phununews.vn/qua-bom-ly-hon-tang-chong-mat-va-trach-nhiem-cua-dan-ong-viet-75205.html
HOW?

 In order to provide a thorough understanding about the family, three key approaches wereintegrated into the research.  In phase 1, we used Desk research to explore the general background about Vietnamese families and the issues mentioned frequently by families and society. Phase 2 Qualitative, it also included 2 stages: we conducted in-depth interview with expert family counselors and famous journalists in family life to identify important matters affecting married couples in Vietnam families and Focus group discussions with married adults sought insights that explained the behavior and attitudes occurring in the daily behavior of Vietnamese couples. Besides that the results helped in the development of the questionnaire for the next stage of quantitative effectiveness. In Phase 3 Quantitative, we randomly interviewed 400 married adults in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. The study offered a comfortable feeling to respondents to answer all questions accurately by combining face-to-face interviews at home with self-administration of sensitive information.  The project was conducted with traditional methods like face-to-face interviews aiming at obtaining the best representation of all urban families in Vietnam.
WHAT?

The study found out a lot of insightful findings as follow:

Having the first child marks a strong reduction in satisfaction in married life because parents study about how to bring up a baby, but not on psychology, biology for the couple themselves. In addition, there are just few courses on the topic available for parents. Therefore, many parents don’t have enough knowledge to manage themselves and make their spouse happy. So, communicate to newlywed couples that the stage of having the first child is really a very big event in the marriage with consequences. They should together become well prepared. In addition, more special training courses should be made available for this special stage.

Normal families (those who do not claim they are happy) gradually share less chores and show less concern compared with happy families. So, the increased habit of displaying love to spouse every day by words and actions will make family full of joy and happiness.

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Whoever resolves disagreements by facing issues and finding solutions or takes their spouse for granted will feel more comfortable and happier in the family. In order to gain a peaceful atmosphere in the family, parents should learn how to resolve conflict. On the other hands, NGOs newspapers should increase education and communication about the basic differences between males and females.

Sex life largely impacts family happiness. Happy couples are more open in sharing, talking with the spouse about the issue, more considerate about their spouse so that both have real satisfaction. Rate of reaching orgasm about six out of ten times. Key barriers preventing from reaching orgasm are tension, lack of concentration, not enough foreplay or lack of sensitivity.

With a thorough approach, insightful findings and value for society, the project gained a lot of support from media agencies: e.g. A seminar was organized by Women newspaper, 2 TV stations reported news about the seminar, more than 15 newspapers posted articles to educate and guide couples on how to build a happy family. In addition, a  number of Churches integrated findings in Pre-married courses.

TITA Research starts the ball rolling by conducting research to understand root causes which impact family happiness. However, to make the project successful and beneficial for millions of people, we wish to amplify NGOs cooperation as well as organize training courses for couples. That is the practical way to help families be happier and make the world better.

By Phan Quang Thinh, Managing Director, TITA Research Vietnam

Full report available at  www.titaresearch.com.vn

Joining the Dots to Join Hands Across the Globe

How market research is working to the benefit of Rwandan survivors.

 

 

 

WHY?

The key challenge for all seeking to build a better world is connecting the decent intentions of those who to seek to help with the realities of life on the ground. How do we ensure genuine needs are targeted, and in the most effective way possible? Especially where resources are limited and/or there are limitless calls upon the resources.

Take Rwanda, where the horrendous consequences of the 1994 genocide live on: traumatised widows, many deliberately infected with HIV; child-headed households where the lead sibling foregoes education while other siblings struggle due to trauma or lack of resources; and graduates who emerge in a developing country with no job or business knowhow. Programmes must be, and are, developed to assist but how to ensure money is being spent where it can achieve most impact?

The answer lies in part with market research, as shown by the success of Survivors’ Fund SURF, the charity fundraising for, and supporting the survivors of, the Rwandan genocide. Monitoring and Evaluation has been the growing focus of Non-Governmental Organisations and donor Governments, in assessing whether outputs of aid programmes are achieved, and how much these contribute to the desired outcome. Crucially, such drives further investment by donors delighted with certainty of what is being achieved. Research-powered M & E has been a key element in the projects SURF has implemented with long-time partner Comic Relief, including a £1 million home-building scheme providing shelter for over 1,800 widows and children. M & E also drove the UK Department for International Development to grant £4.25 million for five years of antiretroviral treatment for 2,500 HIV+ survivors.

Market research’s scope goes beyond assessment and evaluation to guiding powerful new initiatives. Most recently, research (in this case by Kantar TNS) has enabled and driven the establishment of a cooperative of widowed genocide survivors making hand-making jewellery.

HOW?

Much of SURF’s work is in funding and overseeing individual survivors’ organisations who are delivering programmes (e.g. AVEGA the widows’ organisation, AERG the 43,000 strong student survivors’ organisation, etc). As such SURF conducts impartial Monitoring & Evaluation. Increasing deployment of mobile data collection has dramatically improved the efficiency and the accuracy of such activities. Knowing that the data has such accuracy is a real strength in advocating for the causes, and for obtaining funding.

Research was deployed as part of ELE (Empowering Vulnerable Young Survivors who have left Secondary School to Create, Secure and Sustain Employment) which is enhancing the livelihoods of 946 vulnerable young people in Rwanda and their 3,200 dependents, through entrepreneurship training and access to capital plus support to enforce their legal rights and address their trauma. Mobile data collection was used to survey over 800 young survivors who had dropped out or left secondary school enabling accurate assessment of extreme poverty, trauma, and disputes over land stolen from their families. Advocacy driven by this information resulted in provision of resources by Government.

Meanwhile, in 2012 the student survivors organisation AERG commissioned research on young survivors and discovered that homelessness, trauma, and legal issues were interlinked. Over 77% still suffered from trauma or depression, with over 55% of young survivors having legal cases: i.e. where property which should rightfully be theirs e.g. the house they lived in before the genocide, has been stolen, often by distant family members. The research focused principally on mental health, using qualitative and quantitative methods, via “Beck Depression inventory (BDI), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)” tests, interviews and observations, addressed to young survivors of the genocide. Responses and views were obtained from 213 respondents, found at their respective schools and resident districts across the country. 88% of respondents were found with PTSD and 77% to be suffering depression. Hereby, researchers confirmed the strong relationship between legal issues, homelessness and trauma. SURF and AERG used this data to advocate for young survivors, obtaining funding for the first ever Legal and Counselling Helpline for survivors so they can access legal and mental health support regardless of location.

Finally, the widows’ organisation, AVEGA, conducted Monitoring & Evaluation in conjunction with SURF to document the challenges faced by elderly widows, as well as the impact income-generating training and counselling can have on livelihoods and well-being among female genocide survivors.

WHAT?

The ELE Monitoring & Evaluation has shown dramatic impacts with 57% of beneficiaries running businesses as opposed to just 19% at the start; meanwhile 94% have increased their incomes, trauma symptoms among beneficiaries being reduced from 45% to 24%, and 292 individuals are actively enforcing their legal rights. Savings groups continue to meet weekly to accumulate savings, enhance collective financial security, and provide social support to one another as they develop and strengthen income generating businesses.

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Fig. 1: Kelsey Finnegan, SURF Programme Manager, with some of the ELE dependants

Meanwhile, the statistics emerging from evaluation of the AERG Legal Helpline project are astonishing – since its inception in 2013, the helpline has reached over 37,000 people. Moreover the total estimated land value of resolved cases stands at over $600,000 US Dollars to date (475,600,000 Rwandan Francs). Furthermore, the helpline has grown from a small pilot telephone based service to a unique all-encompassing legal and counselling support service with field staff supporting clients through legal education and orientation, advocacy and representation in court.

Finally, as regards the AVEGA widows’ organisation, the evidence of SURF’s Monitoring & Evaluation programmes is that women who are engaged in income-generating activities are less likely to have recurring PTSD, and their trauma is reduced. These proof points have enabled SURF to obtain donor funding totalling over 1.5 million dollars for such programmes, supporting over 23,000 women to access income generating training, counselling and legal support, and start small businesses to support themselves and their families.

Further, research has aided in the establishment of a specific widows’ cooperative producing beautiful handmade jewellery.

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Fig. 2: Examples of the handmade beaded jewellery created by the widows’ cooperative

In this case qualitative research was conducted in the United Kingdom to understand jewellery buyers’ tastes, the better for the widows’ cooperative to refine their products to sell in the UK market. As a result, the website www.rwandanbeauty.com has been launched offering beautiful products tailored to the UK market, and creating livelihoods for widows to aid them in overcoming their trauma.

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Fig. 3: Beatha makes a Union Jack bracelet

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Fig. 4: Ruing volunteering to add so many new SKUs to www.rwandanbeauty.com !

 

This research showing the added value of market research for our society, was conducted by Kelsey Finnegan, Project Coordinator, SURF Survivors Fund, Rwanda and Will Goodhand, Innovation Director, Kantar TNS UK.

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Kicking refugees was just the beginning: The European Refugees Crisis

How the Open Society Foundation used qualitative social media research in defense of human rights

Open Society Foundation (OSF), a global philanthropic organization with a focus on human rights and its founder, George Soros are actively engaged in shaping NGOs’, Governmental and international organisation’s answer to the European refugee crisis towards an outcome in line with OSF’s values. The case discussed in this article is a research project conducted in Hungary during the height of the refuge crisis in August – September 2015.

Hungary’s role in the European refugee crisis was pivotal, as the country was the entry point of several hundred thousands of refugees who arrived via the ‘ Western Balkan Route’ into the European Union (EU).

This research illuminates the development of the online public discourse on refugees in Hungary before and during the height of the refugee crisis – exploring the impact of a government sponsored anti-refugee campaign on the public discourse. The article highlights that the employed qualitative methodology for open web analysis, delivers a grounded, real and actionable breed of insight.

Background

The government of Hungary ran an anti-refugee campaign in the run up to the 2015 autumn refugee crisis. Open Society Foundation needed timely insight into the impact of the government’s campaign on the Hungarian public’s discourse.

Primary objective

  • Identify if the government anti-refugee campaign tapped into existing xenophobic sentiment, or did the campaign create it.
  • Explore the formation of opinions across the observed time period to find out why a culture with no previous experience of mass-migration rejected refugees and migrants.

Methodology

Bakamo.Social conducted a qualitative social listening study. Bakamo’s Deep.Scape methodology is a proprietary mixture of technology and human analysis to discover what and why people discuss in public social media. The approach was customised to the research objectives within the scope of the study and the reporting of the findings. The study used a very broad semantic keyword grid to capture all conversations touching on the migrant/refugee crisis, its handling and impact. The reporting was customised to satisfy the client’s need for granular information.

The qualitative findings – such as the contextual thematic spaces of the conversation, have been quantified to highlight the themes most contentious and relevant for people. Bakamo aimed to provide an interpretative framework for the client to situate and put to work the study’s findings.

Research Results

The study provided OSF with an understanding of people’s opinions and grounded understanding how and to what extend the campaign changed people’s views. Insights from the research were used for strategic programing of OSF, helped OSF-supported organisations to respond to the changed landscape.

The research brought to light the brutal reality of public discourse – it delivered on the study’s objectives and helped the client to appreciate a genuine people’s perspective.

The Hungarian refugee study was the first qualitative social listening exercise for OSF – an approach that has since become established in the organisation’s approach. It is used as an initial discovery tool for a breath of topics.

Relevance for society and NGOs

The moment an NGO wants to be relevant – know what people think about a given topic – qualitative social listening is a key methodology in providing this insight. In Bakamo’s experience, finding out what people think, feel and do without asking them leads to a new breed of understanding – often revealing unexpected, but highly relevant insights. It is this proposition that has lead Greenpeace, Amnesty International and a range of lesser known non-governmental organisations to work with Bakamo.

 

This research showing the added value of market research for our society, was conducted by Bakamo.Social a global social media intelligence company.

How My Choices Foundation used market research to help prevent trafficking of girls for sexual exploitation

Understanding how to address men’s behaviour to buy and sell girls

Background

The primary objective of this research was to develop programs to effectively prevent buying and selling of girls in the human trafficking trade. Operation Red Alert commissioned Final Mile to understand the compulsions of male behaviour leading to the selling/sending and purchasing of girls in the human trafficking trade, in order to develop effective messaging and programs that can be used to address such behaviour and prevent girls from being sold into forced commercial sexual exploitation.

Tailored research technique

Finale Mile used a proprietary research technique called EthnoLabTM, which involves a game that simulates the real-world context of the participants in order to solicit real world reactions and behaviours. The game was the medium through which context, emotions, and mental models that influence the behavior of at-risk families and urban clientele were studied. The game was developed in digital form and a remote response system was used to collect the participants’ responses. Audio instructions and narration were used without the inclusion of any text, in order to accommodate the literacy and comprehension levels of target groups. The game was followed by a hot state interview session, which was designed to elicit emotions felt by the participants and to gather perceptions in relation to trafficking and purchasing sex.

Understanding of key stakeholder behaviour: redefining the approach to human trafficking prevention.

The results showed that both the decision to sell/send a girl into trafficking and to buy a girl are guided by emotional, financial and social frameworks of the men. Crucially, the results pointed to non-malicious behaviour by men that is motivated by a desire to abide by the expectations of these frameworks. The results redefined Operation Red Alert’s approach to developing messaging to speak to men and boys in at-risk areas. Crucially the results pointed to the benefit of engaging men and boys with positive messaging framing, highlighting the benefits of protecting and educating girls and encouraging affection and protection for girls. Inducing fear among fathers selling their daughters, and shame among young men (potential purchasers of sex) was identified as a harmful approach, likely to be ignored by men and boys and deter them from engaging with the issue. Operation Red Alert has used the results as the basis for its grassroots prevention work in at-risk villages across rural India and the Red Alert Helpline, which is India’s first national, anti-sex trafficking helpline. This research has the potential to change the national response of NGO and Government responses to trafficking alike. The results not only inform methods to change behaviour that sits at the root of the problem, but also the development of tools for public education and engagement.

Operation Red Alert is the anti-trafficking initiative of My Choices Foundation commissioned to Finale Mile Consulting

 

CALL FOR EXPERT VOLUNTEERS

Paragon is the Market Research Industry’s initiative to use data and insight to improve people’s lives. ESOMAR Foundation is representing ESOMAR on the Paragon Committee.

 

The main idea of Paragon is to add questions to existing surveys which help monitor progress with major aid initiatives, but we now also have an opportunity to work with  Prof. Jeffrey Sachs (Director of UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network- UNSDSN) (http://unsdsn.org/) (https://sipa.columbia.edu/faculty/jeffrey-sachs ). SDSN need advice and support that is beyond simply including a few questions in existing surveys.

 

Prof Sachs is leading 2 very high level projects that he would like our help with:

 

o   “World Happiness Report”- World academics measuring happiness and well-being around the world.  Further research is needed to understand what produces high levels of well-being in the world, to enable policies to support better lives

o   “Ethics & Action Program”- Engaging world leaders of faith and religion (i.e. the Pope, etc.) to take action on the UN Sustainable Development goals (SGD’s). SDSN needs a greater understanding of public attitudes to generosity, tolerance, climate change, etc.

 

We are looking for Market Researchers who are experts in understanding and measuring well-being and such public attitudes globally,  who could take a brief from Prof Sachs, design and manage some qualitative and /or quantitative research – whatever is appropriate – and then potentially devise appropriate questions which could be added to large quantitative surveys. We need an expert qualitative and quantitative researcher(s) to design and lead the project, and also a number of qualitative researchers who could collaborate and conduct fieldwork in different countries, to identify the relevant insights.

 

Paragon was created to infuse insights that will help to tackle the 17-point plan of the UN Global Goals – end poverty, combat climate change, and fight injustice and inequality around the world. A single government or organisation cannot find the solutions to these global challenges. Our only hope is to work in partnership, where everyone plays their part.

 

If you are interested in playing your part by supporting us with this project and volunteering to undertake some of the work, please email ESOMAR Foundation with a description of your experience and interest. info@esomarfoundation.org

Outcomes and reflections from training young entrepreneurs and NGOs in Rwanda

Phyllis Macfarlane and Will Goodhand have been involved to the ESOMAR Foundation training in Rwanda that was held in Kigali from July 25 to 29. Here you can find a little description of how the training was implemented and how the ESOMAR Foundation contributed to this. 

 

BUSINESS SKILLS PROGRAMME – YOUNG ENTREPRENEURSHIP TRAINING PROJECT

This was a 4-day programme to deliver business skills to young survivors of the Rwandan genocide. The Young Entrepreneurship Training Project (YETP), which is orchestrated by SURF, aims to eradicate extreme poverty and secure viable livelihoods and empowerment through entrepreneurship training and greater access to capital; enabling young survivors to establish their own businesses and build skills relevant to quality employment. As ESOMAR Foundation’s contribution, Phyllis and Will trained 24 young entrepreneurs in marketing and market research skills.

The daily schedule was as follows:

Monday/Wednesday July 25/27th

– Business planning: Vision, Mission, Business Goals.

– Business development: Marketing, Market Research, SWOT Analysis.

Thursday July 28th

– Financials: the P&L and Cash flow.

– Management and Business plans: Case Study, Developing a Business Plan.

Friday July 29th

– Using Social Media for your business/Presentation of Business plans: Awards for best Business Plans.

The ESOMAR Foundation’s role:

Thanks to the expertise from Phyllis and Will, the ESOMAR Foundation was able to deliver the Marketing, Market research skills training, and support the delegates throughout the programme with the development of their Business Plans.

Commentary from the ground: 

Rwanda is a very small country (the size of Wales) with a population of 12 million, mainly young people, and not a lot of natural resources. The Economy is basically agriculture (84%). The delegates from YETP were in their early 20’s, just graduating from college – some with businesses already thought about and set up – some with plans or looking for ideas for their business. Their businesses were mainly agricultural, for example the 3 award winners were:

1. Two girls who were breeding pigs, to sell pork and sausages to hotels and restaurants;

2. A guy who planned to grow mushrooms;

3. Two people who planned to grow bananas.

We had to have a translator, since neither English nor French is fluently spoken, and translation is not easy, because the local language does not always have the precise business/marketing terms that we have in English/French. Nevertheless the delegates were keen to learn and interested, and you could see the difference in them by the end of the course – they were more confident.

We need to remember that they are ‘entrepreneurs’ not by choice, but out of necessity. It is the most likely way that they can make a living.

       

BUSINESS SKILLS PROGRAMME FOR ELE

This programme was intended to train members of the UK Department for International Development (DfID)’s ELE scheme (Empowering Vulnerable Young Survivors who have left Secondary School to Create, Secure and Sustain Employment).  DfID is increasingly acting as an NGO, and is targeting 9,000 vulnerable school dropouts, focusing on women, to improve their lives through Entrepreneurship and job-readiness training, increasing female involvement in local decision-making and increasing the number of female entrepreneurs. Phyllis and Will went to Rwamagana, (about an hour and a half’s drive from Kigali) on Thursday July 28th   to teach 12 young people from ELE about marketing and market research.

Commentary from the ground:

These young people were younger and less well educated than the YETB delegates. And with a bit more ‘attitude’ – they were school drop-outs.

Again their businesses were mainly Primary: Beer and Honey, Beans and Maize, Fruits, Avocadoes, Domestic Animal Trading. Or Retail: Cooking Utensils, a Boutique, Shoes, a Pub. Some were just selling their produce in the market.

Half had active businesses, half were at the planning stage.

We told them about the 5 P’s of Marketing (Product, Place, Promotion, Price, Profit), and how to do basic market research. About the importance of understanding their markets and their customers, and giving good customer service.

There was the usual discussion about the exact meaning of terms – the Rwandan word for ‘Product’ can mean the overall ‘Business idea’, which is a bit confusing for them when we talk about which ‘P’ should be their focus.

They seemed at times to be a little ‘phased’ by it all, but then did ask good, intelligent questions – there’s a perception that (low) price is everything (which we try to dispel)  – and what if the price of your product/service is fixed by government – how can you attract more customers?

They all gained (and could articulate) some ideas of something that they would do differently as a consequence of the training, and at the end they give us a great ‘Rwandan clap’ in thanks.

 

NGO TRAINING PROGRAMME

Weds  July 27th – Association des Etudiants et Eleves Rescapes du Genocide Board Training

Commentary from the ground:

On Wednesday morning, we also did a session of Governance Training to some of the AERG Committee/Council and Senior staff – the issue here was that the governance approach of AERG has not really evolved – the Committee/Council is still an elected body of Students from the University (mainly second/third year), and they believe that they should be very intimately involved in the day-to-day management of the organisation – which was probably, quite correctly, the case at the beginning, when they had no permanent staff. But now the organisation is much larger, and has highly qualified full-time specialist staff, who can be safely left to handle the day-to-day management and decisions, so that the Council can focus on developing strategy etc. But the Council still expects to be consulted on quite minor management decisions.

Once again there were language issues: we referred to a ‘particular’ project – meaning a single, normal, everyday project (ie that Committee/Council need not be involved with), but to them the term means a special/particularly difficult/ project (that the Committee/Council should definitely be involved with). It was interesting and challenging to sort it out!

But by the end we all had a better understanding of the proper relative functions of the Council and the Staff, which should be helpful going forward.

Friday July 29th – SURF Partners Committee

Commentary from the ground:

This Board, which comprises the heads of all the SURF Partner NGO’s, had asked for Training on Meetings Management and Presentation Skills – so we did some standard trainings, which they said they found useful.

 

CONCLUSION – DID THE ESOMAR FOUNDATION MEET ITS OBJECTIVES?

From Phyllis Macfarlane

1) Training Entrepreneurs

It is a great belief of mine that everyone in business needs market research skills – and particularly entrepreneurs and start-ups. So many small businesses fail because they don’t systematically collect the information they need  to make good business decisions.They don’t make the effort to understand customer needs properly and fail to acquire new customers, or grow current customer spend.

These are  things that knowledge of market research can help with. So, training entrepreneurs to ‘think’  about understanding and listening to customers, about being systematic in what they do, and counting/quantifying the effect of different actions, should have a huge effect on the way in which they tackle their business development.

What we learnt in Kigali was that many of these young ‘entrepreneurs’ are planning Primary Sector businesses: ie Growing Mushrooms, Making and selling Pork sausages, Farming Chickens and selling eggs. These are very basic businesses and so you have to tailor the training to be appropriate for them. There is little concept of value-add, and not a lot of concept of customer service – these were new ideas for them. But useful one’s, I think.  Nevertheless, by the end of the course you could see the difference in the delegates – they were more confident in themselves

2) Training NGO’s

The concept here is that many aid initiatives are not as effective as they should be because they fail to understand the people they are trying to help – if EF can help NGO’s think about their ‘customers’ in  a market research way – understanding what really makes them tick, then we believe we can also help make their interventions more effective. At ESOMAR Foundation we’re building a ‘body of knowledge’  of all the great social research experience we have as an industry. Sharing that expertise with NGO’s will help, I’m sure. The training in Rwanda was a ‘pilot’ for EF.

What we found was that, in Rwanda, the issues for the NGO’s are much more about Governance structures, running effective meetings, making effective presentations. They’ve had a lot of M&E (Monitoring and Evaluation) training from others – it’s how to run  an NGO that’s the issue for them. So, we were useful, but not in a MR sense. This aspect needs more thought and improvements for future actions.

WORKSHOP – The impact of social research

ESOMAR Foundation strives for Better Results!

New Orleans, 18 September 2016…join us!

Social research (including opinion and political research) accounts for approximately 3.5 billion USD (GMR 2015) to the industry annually. This is not the largest area of research spend but it is, arguably, one of the areas of research which has the largest direct social impact. The ESOMAR Foundation’s Better Results program is an innovative cross-sector program where we explore ways to apply research methodologies and expertise to the non-profit sector’s work so as to help them improve the measurement of their results. The non-profit sector faces a number of challenges in this area including growing demand to measure impact and results, dissatisfaction with the use of findings to improve the delivery of new programs and the lack of adoption of new innovative technologies. The most widely used techniques are in fact quite basic (Log Frame, KPIs and Focus Groups).

Join the ESOMAR Foundation volunteers to explore concrete methods and solutions that will help NGOs better measure and evaluate their work, allowing them to make better informed strategic and operational decisions. Hear from the NGO’s themselves on their challenges and opportunities and how they overcome them.

This highly interactive workshop will offer you:

  • A different perception on research and how it can contribute to poverty reduction, social change and a sustainable development
  • The tools and methods used in social research – in what circumstances they work and don’t work and what we as researchers can do to adapt and improve conventional research methods.
  • What researching in (very) difficult environments can teach all researchers no matter where or what you are researching
  • What are the next steps for improving the performance of the non-profit sector and how can we as an industry contribute to their goals.

 

Are you interested in participating at the ESOMAR Foundation workshop in New Orleans?

Read the full programme: ESOMAR FOUNDATION WORKSHOP – NEW ORLEANS 18 Septmber 2016.

In case you need more information about the ESOMAR Foundation workshop in New Orleans, please send us an email to: info@esomarfoundation.org.

 

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People or Profits – Why not both?

How volunteering can improve your business and community, a research by Beth Pearson, co-founder of B2B market research company Circle Research. 

Why?

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In the research industry respondents are our raw materials.  We use their thoughts and opinions to manufacture our product – insight.

However, unlike most industries whose raw materials are inanimate objects, ours are human.  That poses some unique challenges.  We can’t simply mine, harvest or produce our raw materials, instead we need to persuade them to participate in the ‘manufacturing’ process.  Numerous ways of doing so have been tried over the years, but I want to focus on one particular incentive – charity donations.

Although charity donations may not always boost response rates as much as a personal donation, this approach brings several advantages.  For example, in B2B research the commercial relationship between survey sponsor and respondent means that personal payment can be seen as inappropriate (and sometimes in breach of bribery laws).

So, although to my knowledge there is no hard data on this, the research industry must be a significant source of income for charities.  Interestingly, this is a symbiotic rather than altruistic relationship as both parties benefit.

Outside of incentives there’s another way in which this symbiotic relationship can be built – by volunteering your time.  That could be by offering an extra pair of hands to help out, or better still, by providing specialist expertise.  After all, charities need research insight just as much as any business does, and your research skills are something that most can’t afford to commission.

I did say this was symbiotic, so how do you benefit?  Well, as well as a nice rosy, satisfied glow inside there are tangible business benefits to volunteering.  I know not just because I’ve set up a volunteering scheme in my business, but because there are hard facts to support it.

How?

Last year we partnered with two charities to explore how they could best encourage businesses to volunteer and ensure that it was a genuine win-win for both parties.  The result is the ‘People or Profits Report’ which is based on a survey of 200 business leaders and a series of interviews with CSR experts.

This study reveals that charities can encourage more businesses to volunteer by:

  • Removing the time and hassle of organizing it (18% and 10% of businesses respectively cited these as the single largest challenges to volunteering)
  • Emphasizing the business benefits.  Two fifths (40%) of businesses volunteering saw a boost in employee morale, two fifths (38%) received positive PR and one fifth (21%) found it created a stronger team
  • Emphasizing the positive experience – 63% of businesses have volunteered in the last year and 95% would recommend it to other businesses.

So what? 

Tempted? If so, the study also reveals five tips when setting up a volunteering programme:

  1. Focus on the added value volunteering could bring to your business, rather than what it might ‘cost’. It easy get stuck on what volunteering might cost a business, but with benefits including an increase in employee morale, team building opportunities and positive PR the positives can far outweigh the negatives.
  2. Get dates in the diary as far in advance as possible. This is simple, the more notice employees have, the easier it is to plan workloads and personal lives to include volunteer work.
  3. Have a range of volunteering options. Employees are all different so play to their strengths. Be flexible about when staff can get involved (in or out of office hours) and which sectors they can volunteer in, such as education or construction, teaching or rehabilitation, and so on.  Make sure you cater for everyone.
  4. Work with a broker. In our study time was one of the main factors found to prevent businesses from volunteering. A broker will reduce the time that volunteering takes to manage as they match your skills with community and charity needs.
  5. And finally, take on a challenge! Our study found that business are much more likely to volunteer in sectors with children or community spaces at their heart. But the most ‘beneficial’ areas to volunteer in are the most challenging, such as rehabilitation and mental illness. Considering a less ‘traditional’ approach to volunteering could the most rewarding by far.

Beth Pearson is co-founder of B2B market research company Circle Research (http://www.circle-research.com).  The full ‘People or Profits Report’ can be downloaded here: http://www.circle-research.com/wp-content/uploads/Business-Volunteering-Report.pdf

Bringing the invisible to light: Researching the hard-to-reach homosexual community in India

This complex study both in terms of the design and operationalizing was executed by a team of researchers at IMRB International, India. A team of investigators experienced in conducting social research and well acquainted with the regional languages were trained for collecting the data.

Background

Although the existence of homosexuality is evident in the Indian culture since pre-historic times, as seen in different forms of art like paintings and carvings in temples, homosexuals are in reality depicted more as an anomaly.  Therefore the men who have sex with men (MSM) are highly stigmatized and those who are engaged in this type of sexual behaviour are usually treated with social contempt. Furthermore the  inequality arising from our normative constructions of masculinity, social attitudes towards feminized males and their ‘unusual or unnatural’ sexual practices, instances of sexual abuse, assault and rape, poverty and disempowerment, alongside legal prejudice impacts their identity in particular and life in general.

The need for research

In a country where even the existence of the MSM population is not acknowledged, the issues that they are faced with are least of our concerns. The vulnerabilities among men who have sex with other men are well established across the public health arena, especially with reference to HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. Low rates of condom usage, multiple sex partners and inconsistent lubricant use makes them more susceptible. Although the efforts of prevention and support in care have been going on for a while now, the Government records point out that the reach of such interventions has not been quite successful. The seclusion and society’s aversion to their acceptance has become one of the most significant impediments against the HIV/AIDS programs in India. A major cause being that till late men-to-men sex was seen as immoral and unnatural, not just by general public but also by the legal system, which has resulted in keeping these communities at bay from all the government initiatives and programs aimed towards HIV prevention and care as most of the MSM population remain hidden and ‘hard-to-reach’.

The objective

The endeavor was to reach this section of hard-to-reach population through this research project primarily to understand their HIV related risk behaviors. The target group was sexually active men who have sex t men who were not taking services from any Targeted Intervention (TI) projects being implemented in the country by NGOs with support from the Department of AIDS control.
Methodology of the research      

The challenge of the study was to identify and test a methodology to approach this inaccessible, dark and hidden section of the society.

Probability sampling methods do not work with hard-to-reach groups since there is no sampling frame to choose from, there are no defined boundaries and most importantly there are strong privacy concerns. The MSM population is hard-to-reach and harder-to-sample. The plausible way to tap the hard-to-reach MSM seemed to be through the peers or their close networks and thus the use of Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS) was arrived at. RDS, in the past, has been studied and carried out to reach hard-to-reach groups, however this was for the first time that a study of this scale: across three states and a sample size of 1650, with a focus on MSM was carried out using RDS.

RDS is a chain-referral system where current respondents recruit their friends/peers for the study to be future respondents. It employs a dual system of structured compensation: a reward for being interviewed and a reward for recruiting peers to be interviewed. Broadly, it combines snowballing sampling with the mathematical model that weighs the sample to compensate for the fact that the sample was collected in a non-random way. However the selection of the initial respondents referred to as our ‘seeds’ provides an opportunity for making it representative across age, education and geographical area. Analytically, respondent driven sampling gives the opportunity and control and to look at the data in a more organized manner as the common characteristics such as network size, educational background, sexual identity etc. can be tracked in a better manner. The data was analysed across sexual identity, age, use of intoxicants, knowledge on HIV/AIDS among various others.
The impact of the research

This piece of research allowed establishing the indicators with respect to HIV related knowledge, attitudes and practicing among the MSM community. Subsequent to the research a helpline exclusive to the MSM community was launched with an objective to address the issues that they are faced with, counsel them as well as their family members and eventually lead to a sustainable behavior change. Further research has been conducted to track the success and evaluate impact on the panel sample. This methodology has proved to be path breaking to reach the groups with no defined boundaries and can be replicated by various organizations working in the development sector. Groups like drug users, female sex workers, transgender among various others can be reached to in order to understand their behaviors, design specific programmes and evaluate their impact.