QRCA Views

8 QRCA VIEWS WINTER 2 014 www.qrca.org T he title of this letter is a direct quote from Jim Bryson's interview with our Mike Carlon in this issue's featured podcast. Jim is the founder of 20/20 Research as well as VIEWS magazine. In this excellent interview, Mike and Jim talked at length about 20/20's evolution and where our industry is head- ed. While the importance and passion behind the work are the same, tech- nology is forcing most of us to change the way we do the work in order to continue to make a living. Clients today expect research to be inexpensive, easy, fast and focused on solving their problem. Our real value is as effective consultants to the business vs. just moderators. To get a sense of how technology will change what we do, Jim's advice is to "follow the communication patterns" that we see all around us. You can find Jim and Mike's conversation at podcast.qrca.org. This podcast is a perfect introduction to our winter edition. You'll find articles that focus on traditional qualitative research methods as well as on new technolo- gies that you should know about. For our cover story, Trend's editor Shaili Bhatt offers an accessible and practical explanation of Google Glass, its benefits and pit- falls as "wearable" technology and how to use it within a research project. Kathleen Glandorf provides a detailed cook's tour of the Zakta search engine, which boils down immense amounts of search results into organized visuals. In "Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is: Why a Prediction Market is a Great Qual-Quant Tool," Julie Wittes Schlack explains what Prediction Markets are and how to leverage them in online communities. Judy Langer interviews Scott McDonald, Senior Vice President of Research and Insights at Condé Nast, who offers a research-buyer's perspective on when to use traditional vs. online qualitative approaches. While he sees the efficiencies of online, Scott favors face-to-face qualitative research because there's power in seeing the actual human consumer. Raji Bonala and Misha Mathew eloquently describe the social forces at play as Indian housewives make purchasing decisions and the implications of those decisions when doing qualitative research in developing coun- tries. Their choices are largely driven by how their husbands, family, and friends will feel about the purchase. Laurie Tema-Lyn offers great advice for carrying out successful Shopalongs, and Dana Chisnell describes how she does intercept recruiting. Caroline Volpe presents a sweet and funny account of her adventures traveling for work through Europe as a nursing mother. In this issue you'll also find practical ideas for improving your business. Janet Rouss provides a framework for evaluating your brand based on the five elements: earth, air, water, ether, and fire. We review Book Yourself Solid, Michael Port's pro- gram for finding your best niche and target market as a small business owner and All In: How the Best Managers Create a Culture of Belief and Drive Big Results by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton, which would be particularly valuable for our readers who do employee research. Finally, we hope you like VIEWS' new look, as well as our greatly enhanced digi- tal edition, which you can check out at www.qrca-views.org/qrcaviews. Our new publisher, New England Business Media, has done a phenomenal job with both the print and online versions of our magazine. We look forward to working with them to expand VIEWS' value for our readers and advertisers. We also greatly appreciate the work that Ewald Consulting has done to help us make this transition successful. Happy reading! Bring the right tools to the table to provide actionable and clear insights Kay Corry Aubrey Usability Resources Inc. Bedford, MA kay@usabilityresources.net n FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF n

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