Behavioural Recruitment’ Is Leading Research Into the Social Age

How ‘Behavioural Recruitment’ is leading research into the social age Tom Woodnutt – Founder, Feeling Mutual Hugh Carling – Founder, Liveminds 1 If a participant were a fish… ...then recruiters are fishermen Responsible for sourcing the right participants. ...researchers are chefs They interpret participants’ feedback and serve up well-balanced insights that nourish their clients businesses. ...clients are diners Earnestly paying their bills on time, in return for delicious dishes of research (that help them to grow their bottom line, so to speak). 2 Researchers are preoccupied with method As researchers (or chefs) we are preoccupied with the research method and spend a lot of time thinking about research techniques, to ensure the meals we serve are well balanced and not overcooked. Behavioural science inspires new ways to research Methods informed by behavioural science, have inspired lots of innovation in recent years such as implicit measures and eye-tracking. These methods are powerful because they help researchers minimise the impact of cognitive biases, whereas traditional methods - which rely on direct questioning and ‘claimed behaviour’ - are prone to error. 3 But what about the quality of the ingredients? What about the quality of the participants we recruit? What happens when you apply behavioural science principles to recruitment? Traditional recruitment relies entirely on what people claim Traditional methods of recruitment, can start to look artificial because they rely entirely on what people say rather than what they do. Ultimately your results can’t be right if your recruitment is wrong. In this paper we’ll reveal the results of a detailed study with researchers commissioned by Liveminds, show how Behavioural Recruitment tackles the issues raised in the study and share a case study showing how it works in practice. 4 We have a problem It’s clear that recruitment is a huge concern for the industry. ‘Accessing a quality and representative sample is the single biggest challenge’ And the problem is getting worse. The latest GRIT Report also revealed a ‘General decline in the quality of sample, with falling participation rates’. 5 Research on Recruitment 2018 Liveminds wanted to understand this huge, but rarely discussed problem in more detail, so we commissioned SketchBook Consulting to carry out research benchmarking the views of qualitative researchers on the state of research participant recruitment. The aim of this research was to recognise and understand the challenges faced by researchers, to explore opportunities for improving recruitment methods within the industry, and to improve Liveminds Behavioural Recruitment service. To engage respondents, the survey was promoted on LinkedIn and publicised by key media partners like GreenBook. Click here to download the Research on Recruitment 2018 report 6 Quality of participants is #1 challenge Q: Which, if any, of these do you consider to be challenges facing the qualitative research industry in your market today? Base: All participants - 100 100 qualitative researchers in the UK responded and the findings strongly echoed the GRIT report, with ‘quality of participants’ considered to be the biggest challenge facing the industry today. Although the study focused on qualitative research recruitment, many of the concerns apply equally to quant research - since panels also use databases of repeat respondents. 7 Horror stories… During the Research on Recruitment 2018 study, researchers shared examples of the poor recruitment they’d experienced including: ● The bald man in a shampoo group ● The lady with the cushion under her jumper pretending to be pregnant ● And the man who politely excused himself to go to the toilet, having taken the incentive, never to return These are extreme examples, but the credibility and therefore integrity of what researchers do is threatened if recruitment is not effective. Read more research respondent horror stories 8 Quality matters more than speed and cost 95 93 85 84 78 76 60 37 12 quickly Recruitment is cheap & recruitment criteria Participants are reliable by recruitment partner Participants are articulate Fewer repeat participants Recruitment is completed Participants are motivated Accurate fit between sample Receive regularupdates and accurate on project progress Responsive project management Q: How important do you think each of these factors are for “effective recruitment”? Figures shown are the NET rating 4 or 5 out of 5 for importance Base: All participants - 100 But what is effective recruitment? In terms of participants, most researchers in the study see it as: ● accurate fit between sample & recruitment criteria ● reliability ● motivation Interestingly speed and cost of recruitment – often assumed to be vital today – were deemed relatively less relevant to effectiveness. 9 Three systemic factors encourage problems But why are researchers facing so many issues with their recruitment? We believe there are three key systemic factors which increase the risk of low quality participants. Firstly, traditional recruitment relies entirely on what people claim In the past we’ve had to rely entirely on what the participants say, not what they actually do. As Behavioural Science has shown us, memory is highly fallible. 1 in 2 researchers believe that too many participants lie to get recruited As revealed in our research. When you consider GreenBook’s finding that participants primary motivation is 5X more likely to be money than any other factor, the incentive for participants to lie is very clear. 1 in 2 researchers believe some recruiters encourage participants to lie We aren’t saying all recruiters are guilty of this. But we are saying that the current system allows it. There is no transparency in these interactions and recruiters can be under considerable pressure. 10 Secondly, we’re limiting ourselves to the same small pools of participants… …rather than fishing in the vast oceans beyond them. This gives us far less chance of finding people that genuinely match the criteria. Thirdly, participants become more professional and less naturally representative Repeat respondents become increasingly professional, are conditioned to the research process and no longer represent the views of real consumers. Psychologist’s advice is that doing repeat groups will change what participants say in a group. This is because certain types of response become unconsciously reinforced by a prior experience. Participants can also start to second guess the moderator - like the example we heard of a participant who interrupted the moderator to suggest they really should be doing a personification exercise. 11 Professional participants are a problem Q: Overall, do you think “professional participants” are a problem in qualitative research? Base: All participants - 100 Most researchers in the survey think that professional participants are a problem in qualitative research. Although, perhaps worryingly some don’t. More than half of researchers said they had recognised the same people in different projects within the last 12 months. 51 19 30 Q: I recognise the same participants taking part in my qualitative research projects Base: All participants - 100 Agree Neither agree or disagree Disagree 12 The pros and cons of professional participants 76 73 64 64 59 21 17 16 More reliable More motivated Insufficiently motivated Too familiar with research Quicker and easier to find Understand research well More likely to lie when recruitedMore likely to lie in the research Q: Which, if any, of these statements do you think apply to "professional participants”? Base: All participants - 100 Professional participants are too familiar with the research process. Also they’re more likely to lie during recruitment (because they’re more likely to say whatever they need to to get in). Those who don’t see it as a problem may say so because of the practical benefits. They’re seen as easier to find and because they’re so research-literate it’s easier to have a constructive, affirmative discussion. But does it mean they should be there just because they make the research process easier? 13 To us, the solution is simple… Use Facebook’s ocean of people, rather than fishing in the small finite pools of repeat respondents and professional participants. Facebook has over 2.2 billion users around the world, in 190 countries. This is well over 100X the size of even the biggest quantitative panels. 14 Accurate fit based on real behavioural data Cast your line exactly where it’s needed, based on the network’s incomparable behavioural data, rather than relying on what fallible humans have said. Fresh to research The greater reach means that participants are typically fresh to research, so you get the views of real consumers rather than conditioned responses. 15 What Facebook knows about us… On average we spend 55 minutes a day on Facebook reading, watching, sharing, commenting, liking, reacting, clicking and posting, and every single one of those behaviours goes into building Facebook’s understanding of us. In a recent study, Stanford professor Michael Kosinski revealed that a computer model based simply on Facebook likes, knew more about its subjects than their closest friends and family. And also this… ‘Likes’ are just 1 of 98 different data points collected on users, from the TV shows we watch to our international traveling habits. 16 From what we do on Facebook… And 10 million websites with this button… 17 How does Behavioural Recruitment work? Reach Screen Manage Research Pay Clients Via Ad Networks First, we place our hyper-targeted adverts into the News Feed of any user whose demographics, interests and behaviours closely match the project’s criteria. If they want to take part, they click through to take a detailed screener, inside our app. If it’s quant survey, they’ll take it there and then. If it’s qual, we’ll contact all the people who’ve passed the screener, to further qualify them, and choose the best ones for the project. When the research is done, they receive their reward. They are not added to a database to be contacted about future projects.

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