"Information is any difference that makes a difference"- Research seminar by Prof Nary at PRCIMS on 4th December 2012

Market Research and Data Analysis- Seminar by PRCIMS

5th December 2012: A seminar on research hosted on the 4^th of December 2012 by PRCIMS threw some light on the importance of Market Research and Data Analysis in PR and Advertising through an informative session taken by Professor B. Narayanaswamy, aka ‘Nary’. He is a consultant at Ipsos and has over 30years of experience in the field of Market Research.

The session took us through the basic concepts of Research, its need and importance and the process of doing ‘good’ research. Like in advertising the AIDA model (Attention Interest Desire Action) forms a basis of framing advertisement objectives, similarly in PR, objectives revolve around, Knowledge(Perceptions),  Active(Dispositions) and Practice(Behavior).

Research objectives, depending on these PR objectives, are sized down to a four-letter acronym, DEEP;

Describe – Objective question: “What is happening?”

Explain – Objective question: “Why is it happening?” This according to Nary is best answered when the researchers have absolutely no clue about what is happening. It is best analyzed using the PESTLE approach (Political Economic Social Technological Legal Environmental analysis)

Evaluate – Objective question: “Which works better?”

Predict – Finding causality of observations and planning ahead

Professor Nary emphasized on the need for research in every kind of organization. He said, “Information is any difference that makes a difference”, it is not just random data out of which conclusions or hypotheses cannot be made. It is any form of minute observations that could cause a major difference for the organization.

On conclusion of the seminar, he spoke about the changing requirements of the market and consumers today and the growth of the online world. The upcoming Generation Z, which is extremely tech savvy, is a new market that needs to be constantly observed. He raised questions on how to keep a track of research. This is because, people’s mindsets, choices, preferences, technology is rapidly changing and improving, and hence needs to be constantly watched. He spoke about how blogs and social media today has become an important part and source of research today. He further highlighted the need for social CRM by companies.

He raised his concerns for India being a country with no central research organization unlike PEW in U.S. along with other organizations. All in all the session underlined the need for research everywhere, as even the slightest misinformation or lack of information can leave a company lost and aimless.

by Neha Jindal and Shelley Saha

Research & Advocacy Team