As an industry we continue to struggle to find respondents to provide us with survey information vital to the success of our industry. To survive the Internet revolution we must use innovative methods to motivate and engage respondents and maintain their long term loyalty. Over the years much has been written about intrinsically motivating respondents through survey design, communication and the use of incentives, however, researchers are still looking towards technology to help improve or even solve the problem. Web 2.0 is the latest ‘buzz’ word in market research that promises to make the online research more dynamic and interactive. It offers the potential not only to increase motivation, but also to provide new levels of insight from our collected data.

This paper explores the relationship between Web 2.0 and market research using a hands-on approach. Definitions of Web 2.0 are varied and often inconsistent and so we focus on how increasing respondents’ interactive communication and collaboration would affect our current models of online market research. The increased availability of broadband Internet and widespread acceptance of social networking among the population lead us to suggest that Web 2.0 may not be a passing fad. Indeed, Ipsos MORI has long been aware of the benefits of community interaction and has been putting these into practise, where appropriate, for many years.

To really enter the world of Web 2.0 you need to hand over control of content and direction to your user community. Our aim was to explore these new approaches in a fast and cost effective manner so we designed and implemented an experimental Web 2.0 research application using freely available open source tools. We used the Drupal content management system as a framework and created an application that allowed users to submit their opinions in the form of statements that others could rate or comment on. Using this approach, rather than using shrink-wrapped vendor solutions or writing the application from scratch, we learned a great deal about the principles behind Web 2.0 technology. That said, we remain keen to work with software vendors in this area and present a summary of our discussions about future Web 2.0 functionality. The site, nicknamed ‘The Opinionator’, emphasized community interaction and was well received by our panel of testers.

Download pdf Exploring the Practicalities of Developing Web 2.0 Applications in Online Research