Custom Research or DIY: What do you need when?

Market research can be compared to getting the oil in your car changed. 

Sure, you can change your oil yourself. But unless you have experience changing it, your chance of making a huge mess or causing more issues with your car are much higher. 

On the other hand, you can take your car to a trusted mechanic who has decades of experience with changing oil and who guarantees their work. It may cost a bit more upfront, the price of having confidence in the work is priceless. 

Similarly, anyone can go and create an online survey on any one of those DIY survey platforms. But depending on your experience with writing, programming, fielding, and cleaning the data of an online research study, you really embrace the possibility of getting bad or biased data back - data you can’t trust to use for critical decisions.

We’ve had several clients come to Lab42 after they have attempted a DIY research study and failed somewhere in the process - whether it running with a questionnaire that was littered with biased questions, not having proper data-quality protocols in place, or just having the process end up being far too confusing and harder than anticipated. 

Knowing from the get-go what makes a study a better candidate for a DIY vs. a custom research project with the professionals will save you time and money in the long run. 

While there are some instances where a study conducted on a DIY research platform will suffice, we always recommend seeking a professional if your project checks any of the boxes below:

You have a very specific audience

Collecting the survey responses can be one of the more straightforward portions of research. 

Many audiences are easy to come by online. While all online data needs cleaning, that doesn’t have to stop you from doing research yourself. 

However, if you have a difficult to reach audience that needs to meet specific criteria, finding them on your own is going to be even more difficult. Especially when conducting B2B research, it’s better to seek professional assistance than try and recruit yourself.

You need more in-depth analysis

Are you doing research as a gut check or just need simple analysis among total respondents? Or do you need more in depth analysis that you can use to make strategic decisions for your brand or company and that requires analysis among subgroups? 

If the former, a DIY tool may give you the output and data you need for your analysis. If the latter, it may be better to trust professionals with your research needs, as they can build the survey that will make it easier and more efficient to analyze once the responses have been collected.

Your team lacks survey writing knowledge

Writing a questionnaire seems simple on the surface. You know roughly what kinds of questions you want answered, but few people have the expertise to write a survey that will yield quality data at the end. 

The order of questions, the language of the question, and answer options presented are all opportunities to unintentionally bias respondents. We also see common mistakes in writing logic around questions based on previous answers. This is tricky to get right if it’s not something you’ve done before. 

If there’s any doubt in the questionnaire you’re drafting it’s better to be safe than sorry and seek help from the pros. Even if just for a survey review, Lab42 can help with your survey writing and consultation needs.

Lack of bandwidth

When planning a research project, it’s important to be realistic about the bandwidth of your team. 

Think of all it takes to complete even the simplest of surveys–the questionnaire needs to be written and programmed, data collected and cleaned, and results need analysis, summarizing and to be made presentation ready. 

Research is often supplemental to the work your teams are already doing, you need to identify if there really is space in the workload for each of these steps to be completed well without seeking outside help.

You need the extra boost of data credibility

Some surveys are straightforward enough that DIY seems like a good solution, but for various reasons the data may need additional credibility that can only be obtained by having a professional research firm conduct the research. 

If the research is being conducted for funding purposes, being published in professional journals, or intended for media coverage, using market research professionals gives the data the weight it needs to be taken seriously and ensures its validity. 

Using a third party to conduct research can also be helpful when confidentiality is a concern like when surveying employees, clients, or members of organizations. Respondents are more likely to be honest in those situations when they know the data is being managed by someone outside of the organization.

Still unsure if you should try and go it alone on a DIY survey? Our researchers are happy to discuss your project and give you an honest assessment of whether or not your work is best left to the professionals. 

The last thing we’d want is for you to be cleaning up an oil slick because you watched a YouTube video instead of going to a professional.