Best Practices for Global Quantitative Research

 Conducting global research is a complex task: it takes a lot of preparation, coordination and ground-work. In Lab42’s spirit of efficiency, we reflected on our experience working in global markets to identify key aspects to help simplify an otherwise arduous undertaking.

SET UP PHASE

1. Involve Local Stakeholders: Talk to key local stakeholders and decision makers in the geographical markets you will research - not only to get their buy-in for the project, but also to help you better understand the market, its issues, complexities and subtleties.

2. Understand your Market: Along similar lines, do your own research to help understand the complexities of each country / market. It’s almost certain that for each country, there will need to be some level of questionnaire localization / customization when it comes to things like demographics, brands, websites used, TV shows, activities, etc.

3. Common Metrics: If you are rolling out a global research program across multiple countries, ensure that you get agreement from all decision makers on a set of key metrics that you will be able to use to make cross-country comparisons.

   1. For example, comparison of the same KPI’s (like Overall Satisfaction or Likelihood to Recommend) can help put guess work and personal opinions aside and enable you to make cross-country comparisons and assessments based on comparable data.

   2. Languages and Translations: If you do not have in-house resources for questionnaire translation, partner with a translation agency.

      1. Not only will you need the questionnaire translated in the native language, you may also need it translated in different languages or dialects within a single country.

      2. Even among English speaking countries, there are words or phrases that are commonly used in one country but not another.

      3. Appropriate Partner and / or Local Team: So much depends on local culture, values, humor, etc., that it would make sense to find a trusted agency to partner with - either a local agency or one with extensive experience in conducting global market research studies - to help you through this process. If you have a local team (especially a local brand team) on the ground, utilize them as much as you can.

         1. These teams will help you understand the local culture, category, guide you on appropriate methodology and translations, and will generally help you avoid any pitfalls that could hinder the efficiency and effectiveness of your research.

RECRUITING PHASE

1. Methodology / Recruiting: While countries like the US, Japan or Western European countries have very high Internet penetrations and you can easily conduct research online, many developing countries still have relatively low Internet penetration. When the online option is not viable, think about other methodologies that you can use to achieve representative national sample: phone, face-to-face, intercepts, mail, etc.

2. Country-Specific Regulations: In some countries, there may be restrictions or conventions (either governmental or cultural) that could add obstacles for how you can contact respondents. For example:

   1. In China, sending emails from a US server may be blocked.

   2. In Saudi Arabia, door-to-door surveying is not culturally or legally encouraged.

   3. Cultural Sensitivity: Be sensitive with how you conduct global research, taking into consideration the cultures and religions of that country.

      1. Conducting research among women in countries like Saudi Arabia (where religion is central to society) may require permission from a guardian (husband, father, etc).

      2. Sending a male interviewer to conduct face-to-face or phone interviews among females in certain countries may be seen as culturally insensitive.

      3. Conducting pharma research where religion is central to culture is extremely sensitive - not just because pharma research tends to deal with very intimate and personal topics, but also because of the way religion may shape patients’ decisions about disease management.

ANALYSIS PHASE

1. Cultural Bias: Different countries have different cultures with different and diverse values, attitudes and behaviors. These differences have an impact on how respondents answer survey questions.

   1. For example, respondents in Asia and Mexico tend to answer more positively versus respondents in the US and Western European countries. If you have the country benchmarks, use them to help you understand performance and to create normalized indexes to do cross-country comparisons.

   2. Methodological Bias: If your global research involves multiple countries with varying methodologies to recruit respondents, doing cross country comparisons is not an apples-to-apples comparison: data collected from different methodologies can result in non-comparable results.

      1. Several studies show that results from research conducted over the phone tend to be more affirmative versus self-administered online surveys, as people want to portray a more positive picture when talking to a person administering a survey.

      2. To minimize the impact of these potential biases when analyzing and interpreting the data: Utilize all the local and cultural knowledge you have, and leverage your local teams and experts to help interpret the results and put them into context.

 CONCLUSION

1. Conducting global research is more complicated than most people think! Make sure you allow yourself and your team time to make all necessary preparations and look for a partner that can guide and advise you on every step in the process. Lab42 has deep experience working with global research projects, including global tracking studies. Please reach out to our team if you would like to discuss any upcoming global research projects or if you need any advice with current global research.

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