MICHELLE NIEDZIELA
HCD Research, Flemington, USA

At the beginning of this year, Der Spiegle Magazine shook the world of Market Research with a damning article: “Manipulation in market research: How surveys are forged and customers are cheated”. The article revealed internal documents leaked from various (popular and large) market research companies proving repeated and deliberate research fraud. The range of deceptive market research studies spanned from fake interviews to fake respondents bringing into question even the most trusted forms traditional market research.

Qualitative and quantitative market research methodologies, such as interviews and surveys, are the backbone of strategic business strategy. Getting the voice of the consumer is one of the key factors used in maintaining competitiveness against competitors. Being able to trust in research results is paramount to healthy, functioning industry research and often this is entrusted to research partners.

The problem of trust in consumer and product research is not limited to the company-research provider relationship, however. Trust in research extends into the consumer-company relationship. From using consumer research to drive innov ...