Web 2.0
The term 'Web 2.0' has recently entered the market researcher's vocabulary and rumours promise everything from improvements in respondent activity, thanks to intrinsic motivation; to greater insights from research projects, thanks to a blend of qualitative and quantitative research. What's more, all this supposedly comes at almost no extra cost! If the rumours are true, Web 2.0 has the potential to revolutionise the online research industry.
Many researchers have attempted to pin down an exact definition of Web 2.0, but no two explanations are the same and as such Web 2.0 remains a nebulous set of concepts and ideas without rigid boundaries and liable to change without warning. The lack of clear definition goes a long way to explain the confusion that surrounds the term.
At Ipsos MORI we consider Web 2.0 as a set of methods and techniques that encourages user participation and collaboration, and results in the formation of communities that generate content or otherwise add value to a site. These techniques include the use of blogs, RSS feeds, social networking sites, tagging, chat forums, discussion boards, wikis and user generated content.
Where appropriate we incorporate Web 2.0 techniques into our research and, with the support of our Qualitative Hothouse, we have been conducting online qualitative research for more than five years. Many of our research projects have benefited from online discussions among groups of people who are normally hard to reach. In addition, our Participation Unit embraces the opportunity for members of the community to take on the role of researchers in their own environment, thereby providing unique insights otherwise inaccessible to researchers. Therefore we actively encourage our respondents and communities to collaborate and bring their own ideas to our research projects.
We encourage the use of Web 2.0 technology and are openly embracing its use in research and are on the look out for clients to contribute and develop the research techniques in future studies. Ipsos MORI has been participating actively in Web 2.0 research and recently created a new Web 2.0 product for market research.
To find out more information on our Web 2.0 product please download our 'Exploring the Practicalities of Developing Web 2.0 Applications in Online Research' pdf, 509KB paper that was presented at the ASC 'The Challenges of a Changing World' conference in September 2007.
Or alternatively please contact AJ Johnson or Jane Mills to discuss individual projects or potential new developments.