April 2006 GMI Newsletter

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Welcome to the April 2006 edition of our newsletter.

Can you handle the truth?

GMI launches EXCLUSIVE youth panel. Learn what kids really think, unfiltered by parent opinion. GMI, world leader in global panels has teamed with NeoPets.com, one of the most popular youth sites on the Internet to build the first direct-access youth panel. We obtain the parental consent, and handle the COPPA and CARU compliance to help you safely and confidently field your study. This community of highly engaged and highly profiled youth, aged 6-17, is available now in the U.S. and English-speaking countries, and will soon be available worldwide in dozens of languages. To buy sample or learn more click here.

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GMI celebrates new office in 's Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands

Open since January 1, GMI's new office in 's Hertogenbosch officially celebrates its launch with a May customer event. The office is part of GMI's ongoing strategy to broaden its local presence in Europe. The office covers the entire Benelux & Scandinavia regions, including Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland.

"By combining global panels with integrated market research software and a worldwide service bureau, GMI offers Europe a unique one-stop-shop concept to meet its growing demand for internet-based research solutions,” said Leon de Koning, Managing Director for Northern Europe. “Thinking globally while acting locally drives customer satisfaction here. We need to be close to our customers, speaking their languages, and understanding their particular business issues.”

Joining Leon's team are Frank den Daas, Sales Director, and Claudia Doeland, Associate Sales Director. Both Frank and Claudia were previously with SPSS and each bring more than five years of market research technology experience. "Market potential for this region is enormous. We forecast double-digit growth for online market research in Europe for this year. The whole team is excited about the opportunity and ready to take on the many challenges ahead,” added Leon.

The launch event, scheduled for May, will be a highly informative but relaxed afternoon.

Click here if you'd like to be kept informed about the time and date.

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GMI Medical Panels now available in 11 languages

You can now conduct high-quality, global medical research in 11 languages, with our well maintained, extensively profiled Physician Panels. Spanning more than 30 specialties from Cardiology to Neurosurgery, physicians are available in 26 countries. Chronic Illness Panels let you study patients across a wide spectrum of conditions.

Click here to learn more about GMI's Specialty Panels.

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NBI: Denmark's brand suffering in aftermath of cartoon controversy

A special Q1 2006 Report, published by the Anholt Nation Brands Index and powered by GMI, details the impact of the international furor that ensued after a Danish newspaper published satirical cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. The poll of nearly 26,000 consumers worldwide reveals substantial damage, not only to the Danish brand but also to Norway and other Western countries implicated in the controversy. The most noticeable increase in negative opinion came from predominantly Muslim countries, such as Egypt, Indonesia, Turkey and Malaysia.

Download the full report

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GMI makes headlines

• Strategies, in France, wrote about GMI's online survey capabilities.
• Brand Strategy, in the UK, ran highlights of the Q4 report of the Nation Brands Index, which is powered by GMI.
• Propaganda & Marketing, in Brazil, interviewed GMI's Larry Shack, EVP Global Client Services, about Research Analyzer, our high-speed, high-powered desktop analysis software, just released.

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Net-MR Tip of the Month

Protect confidential images in online surveys.

Do you want to be able to protect the images you use in your Net-MR questionnaire design?

Net-MR offers 3 different ways to prevent your respondents from copying and/or saving your confidential survey images.

1. Disable print and copy.
2. Hide an image in a table.
3. Use JavaScript to prevent respondents from right-clicking on an image.

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BEST PRACTICES: My cell phone, my life

Consumer Electronics Association uses online qualitative
to get the 411 on kids and their phones

By Tara Hutton

Editor's note: Tara Hutton is senior research analyst for the Consumer Electronics Association, Arlington, Va. She can be reached at thutton@ce.org.

Today's youth population, the so-called Net Generation born between 1980 and 1996, is undoubtedly of great interest to the consumer electronics industry. They are the first generation to grow up in the digital world, with the proliferation of the Internet and the introduction of such consumer technologies as wireless phones and DVDs. Since this population segment represents the first tech-savvy generation to enter the consumer buying population it is of great interest to companies involved in the consumer technologies industries. In particular, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), a trade association promoting growth in the consumer technology industry, is very interested in gaining insight into the Net Generation. Among CEA's unanswered questions surrounding this generational group are their attitudes, behaviors and interests with regard to wireless phones.

In the spring of 2005 CEA's market research department set out to answer those questions by designing a study of the youth population with the following research objectives:

• Understand usage behaviors among young wireless users, including time devoted to wireless activities, types of activities and environment (i.e., location and social circumstance)
• Explore the attitudes, behaviors and desires around various phone features such as text messaging, Web access, mobile instant messaging, photos, or other features
• Define the attitudes, behaviors and desires around wireless phone personalization such as skins, ring tones and custom personalizations (i.e., glitter)
• Develop insight into behaviors and preferences regarding transporting wireless phones

How do phones fit?

Instead of using traditional research methodologies such as surveys or focus groups to meet its research objectives, CEA wanted to find a methodology that could engage geographically dispersed youth participants over the course of a week and also provide a rich qualitative picture of how wireless phones fit into their day-to-day lives. For the study, CEA partnered with San Francisco-based KDA Research, which has developed an in-depth qualitative online research tool called KDA Revelation that enables researchers to collect and organize in-depth interviews, group discussions and contextual research data via blogs, bulletin boards and real-time chats.

Additionally, the project required participants to spend one day without the use of their wireless phone. Three "cheats" were permitted during the "no phone day" and at the end of the day participants were asked to share their feelings and impressions, as well as how their cheats were used.

Great appeal

The methodology and subject matter of the study seemed to have great appeal to the respondents. Throughout the seven days of the project, they enthusiastically reported on their own personal usage, attitudes and behaviors and about what their peers were doing as well. They seemed very excited to be the "voice" of their peers and to be able to participate in a research project centered on how wireless phones were impacting their lives. The fact that they were contributing via an online tool certainly added to their excitement over the project. Many participants were verbose and creative in their postings. One participant in particular showed his creativity by putting his thoughts about the "no phone day" into a poem:

Silence may be golden
yet - I am beholden
to my phone.

No text
What a mess
I'm all alone, missing my phone.

No cheats - can't compete.

No ring tone
I long to hear the Jedi voice
I will rejoice!

I can't wait
to communicate
Like Star Wars without the Jedi

I rely and stand by my phone
All alone

Another day, will come my way...
My phone, is kind.

On Wednesday ALL mine!

From both a client and researcher's perspective, participant excitement is a good sign since it often leads to greater participation and, more importantly, truthful data. If a participant is excited about their participation in a project they will want it to be successful and contribute to the best of their ability.

In this online methodology, the data collected is not limited to text input. Over the course of the project, participants could and did post photos to support the text they entered into their blogs, which really added value to the project. Participants posted pictures of their phones and how they were personalized by glitter, stickers, face plates, etc.; the social situations in which they used their phones (e.g., one participant took a photo of him and his father fishing and others took pictures of their friends) and the accessories they used such as phone chargers and protective cases. As the saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words."

Clear view

Another valuable aspect of using this new methodology is that it gave the CEA a clear view of youths' lives. Wireless phones are cemented into the day-to-day activities of many young people, and in the course of reporting their wireless phone habits throughout the week, participants also revealed what was happening in their lives. In addition to the everyday school, work and family activities, their journaling also chronicled social activities with friends and significant others, special school events such as final exams, graduations, and even college acceptance letters for some older participants. Even private emotional events were noted, such as a funeral and a family health emergency which brought one participant to the hospital. This is information that cannot be unobtrusively gained through other research methodologies.

Too much is a good thing

Overall, the project proved extremely successful. It met CEA's research objectives and exceeded the CEA market research department's expectations of the methodology. "This study is an invaluable directional guide for youth wireless phone behaviors,” says Joseph Bates, CEA's director of research. “Through [this methodology], we were able to find that wireless phones are the center of life for many teens today, providing a sense of security and freedom, as well as entertainment and a social resource.”

The core challenge with using an in-depth qualitative online research methodology is the immense amount of data gathered. CEA's youth phone project involved 36 participants over a period of seven days and it was difficult to absorb the 679 specific wireless phone uses reported by the participants. However, for a market researcher, if there ever is a good problem to have it is having too much data. The key to overcoming this challenge is having an analysis plan and knowing from the start of the project how you will organize the data as it comes streaming in.

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Join the GMI Call Center Network

If your Call Center wants ready access to a global pool of work without geographic restrictions, equipment requirements or capital expense, join the CCN. It's free to qualifying organizations.

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Who's new at GMI?

GMI welcomes eleven new hires this month:

Frank Den Daas - New Sales Director in the Netherlands office
Before joining GMI, Frank was responsible for the Dutch non-profit sector at SPSS. He then moved to the Market Research division as a key account manager, setting up web and scanning solutions for corporate, government, police and health applications. From July 2003 until 2006 he served as the Account Executive responsiible for Dutch Non Profit sales for data, text and web-mining applications. He holds a degree in Business Economics and Technical engineering from HTS in Enschede.

Iris Bartlein - AP Specialist, Seattle
Hannah Capinpin - AP Specialist, Seattle
Mandolin Lextrait - Marketing Assistant, Seattle
Trish Aune - Legal Assistant, Seattle
Brian Dougherty - Account Manager, Seattle
David Smith - AR Manager, Seattle
Georgia Colkitt - Research Analyst, Seattle
Shawn Ramberg - Developer, Vancouver
Denis Bubnovsky - AP Accountant, Seattle
Claudia Doeland - Associate Sales Director, The Netherlands

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