The politics of trust
14 July 2014

Anon16 Jul 2014

Codes like this work both ways. Staff cannot be expected to conform to professional standards, unless they themselves are treated as professionals. Market research companies frequently treat their own field staff badly. For example, not untypically, experienced workers are not given full employment rights and are treated as casual workers. An Industrial Employment tribunal at appeal has ruled that this is unreasonable, and that field researchers do have acquired employment rights. At what point will the MRA intervene on behalf of the workforce and insist that corporate members give their employees the respect and rights that they deserve, or is it merely a 'bosses union' ? 

Jane Frost17 Jul 2014

How interviewers are to be treated in the course of employment is a matter of law – and our Code obliges our members to follow the law. - Jane Frost

Gill Wales17 Jul 2014

I applaud the MRS initiative on sugging and heard Jane's interview on Radio 4. But we must be careful not to demonise the perfectly legitimate business of selling or our clients will think we are completely out of touch. Most genuine market research is carried out to support the client's marketing (to develop and refine products, advertising and pricing strategies; to develop and refine public policy and public information campaigns). In other words, research data ARE used to sell you stuff. The distinction that we, as researchers, draw between genuine research and sugging is that a salesperson won't contact the research participant directly. But does the public see it that way or is the distinction we draw seen by others as a rather fine line? Market researchers could do a lot to improve the situation by being more transparent, telling participants up front what survey data will be used for so that people can make an informed decision about participating. Last time I was contacted for a 'lifestyle survey' the caller did exactly that. So the suggers are, in some cases, more open and transparent than researchers.

Annie Pettit06 Aug 2014

The problem is not that marketing research results are used to inform marketing and sales decisions. The problem is when marketing research is used to disguise sales pitches. Thus, asking a number of survey questions about your likes and dislikes of a product, which then lead oh so perfectly into "in fact, product A has those exact characteristics! May I interest you in a significant price discount for your participation?" Bait and switch is the real problem. If it's a sales pitch, then say so at the beginning. If you don't say so, then I hope you enjoy speaking with Jane. :)

Gill Wales29 Aug 2014

I agree, Annie, the issue is whether there is a deliberate intention to mislead. There already are Consumer Protection Regulations that address misleading trade practices in the UK (enforced by local trading standards officers) and the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive in the EU. But it's not misleading for a salesperson to begin by asking the potential customer about their needs and preferences - that's actually excellent sales practice and in some industries (financial services) is a legal requirement. It's also the approach taken by every market research agency that's ever tried to sell me their services! It's not realistic to expect a salesperson to start their spiel by saying 'this is a sales pitch' because it's not a given that the conversation will end with an attempted sale - a good and honest salesperson will often end with, 'I don't think we have anything suitable for you'. The problem, I feel, is twofold: firstly, market research genuinely does cover all sorts of data collection activities. Even the MRS's own definition of research is 'the collection, use or analysis of information about individuals....to establish facts'. There are other definitions around, including 'gathering information about target markets or customers'. There is nothing that says this excludes identifying sales prospects other than our desire that it should. Secondly, we use the terms 'market research' and 'survey' interchangeably but they are not the same - not all market research is a survey. Sugging stands for 'selling under the guise of research', but the misleading activity is actually 'selling under the guise of conducting a survey'. We don't help ourselves or our cause by this lack of clarity.