Methods

The Prospectory uses a range of research methods:-

1     Focus groups, interviews and analysis of Internet chatlines

Our research focuses on discovering what people value and how and why they think and behave the way they do. We are keen to uncover the fundamental psychological needs or values which drive any behaviour or attitude.

We like to record people discussing a topic as freely and naturally as possible. Sometimes this involves running informal discussion groups or in-situ interviews. Other times, we monitor conversations on Internet chatlines or personal blogs when these happen to address the topic in question.

We record and transcribe these dialogues and then analyse the language using special purpose software tools. This yields an initial set of insights into a topic and a working model of people's values and behaviour.

2     Surveys

We use paper and online surveys to test our insights and models against larger and more representative populations and to explore correlations between people's values, behaviours and their demographic profiles.

3     Observational and ethnographic studies

When appropriate, we observe people's behaviour and interactions in the field, e.g. attending a family entertainment event or browsing products in a store.  We record each activity they engage in and the time they spend on it. This approach can generate some surprising findings which we then follow up through subsequent interviews.

Increasingly, we are 'observing' people's online behaviours as the latter become more accessible to us.

4     Psychology experiments

We design and run online psychology experiments, e.g. testing the effect of image size on aesthetic appreciation or the effect of the number of choices on product decision making.

5     Field trials

We design and run field trials of early technology or product prototypes. These provide early feedback on design, usability, value and product positioning. But most importantly, they often uncover surprisingly innovative uses which customers find for the product.

6     Statistical data mining

Most companies collect statistical data on their customers, sales and/or event attendance and companies who sell online also now collect a mass of data on web traffic.

We dig deeper into these data in order to identify significant causative factors, patterns over time or interesting cross-correlations. This can yield rich commercial insights which are not apparent from the summary data charts produced by most software packages.