We know that people behave irrationally, spontaneously, sub consciously, and non-sequentially. However, research is still largely isolated, linear, and at a single point in time. Why do we tell people they have to fill out a survey in one sitting, or join a discussion at their desktop at 8pm on a Monday night or drive 20 miles to a focus group facility on a wet Wednesday in January only to be asked to remember what they were doing in Waitrose at 3pm last Thursday? This is not how people live their lives. Mobile research methodologies have started to open the door to a new way of collecting data, but its potential will remain unfulfilled if the prevailing methodological wisdom is to simply think of mobile as another way to deliver the same techniques, or simply focus on gathering insight quickly. Designing platforms for research should be done solely in the best interest of the people taking part in the research, allowing them to complete tasks on any device they want, maximising the potential of that device, and blending devices as needed. We can then allow people to tell us their thoughts in an online discussion one day, from any device they have to hand at the time, record experiences via their phone in real time, via both qualitative and quantitative means, before engaging in a dialogue with a skilled researcher about their behaviours or sharing with their peers and discovering new insights about each other as a group. When research reflects how people make decisions, based on how we know people to be, and that they live their lives in a series of disconnected moments, we will get more natural, open, engaging and real insight.

1. Richard Owen,
Founder & CEO,
CrowdLab
January 27th 2014

2. Who is this bloke standing here?
Summer of 1989: plans to sit on couch and watch test match cricket scuppered by parents – when you
live in Warwickshire you get a summer job at Millward Brown
Full time there from 1992 to 1998 in UK, US and Latin America
Opened Hall & Partners Chicago Office in 2001 – it’s still standing
Hall & Partner Global Management Team in London from 2008 – heading up innovation
Desire to get research and technology working better together lead me to setting up CrowdLab with two
friends who ran their own digital design agency
April 2011: CrowdLab mobile app launches, scuppering plans to sit on couch and watch test match cricket

12. How are stories told?

13. Even quantitative data is storytelling

15. The way people tell their stories constantly evolves

16. Ways that reflect the beautiful mess of our lives

17. But research approaches often struggle to keep up
We aren’t facilitating the right kinds of conversations in the right kinds
of way – the way that people have those conversations in real life

18. Which means we can miss (interpret) things

19. And over rely on memory
“I don’t
shop there”
Thursday 18th April 2013
8:15 pm
Focus Group
Tuesday 16th April 2013
4:15 pm
Real Life

21. Behind the curtain
The Research Lab
The Technology Lab
The Operations Lab
Mat Mabe
Richard Owen
Jim Willis
Founding Partner
Founding Partner
Niall Smith
Founding Partner
Partnerships
Head of Research &
Technology
Research Project
Management Team
Dev Team
4 x Web Engineers, 2 x
Mobile Developers
Creative
Direction
UX Design
Professor
Green
Lecturer in
User Design

22. All Channels Open
CrowdLab is a fluid, open system that
continually evolves
We allow participants and
researchers to seamlessly weave
between different devices and
methodologies within the same
project
We design projects to mirror people’s
lives and the way they behave

24. Rethink mobile research design
Mobile isn’t about a device, it’s about people on the move
(and require access to software)

25. Rethink mobile research design
It’s not about optimising online research for a mobile world
“We made a bad bet. Our legacy
as a company was building this
big website. So we took a year and
it was painful and we retooled our
mobile approach. Betting
completely on HTML5 is one of
the, if not the biggest strategic
mistake we've made”
Mark Zuckerberg

26. Don’t let shit happen
Badsurveys.tumblr.com

27. Rethink mobile research design
Device Agnosticism
• Not tied to a particular device
• Responsive design focuses on users’ needs regardless of the device
Device Optimisation
• The way people use and engage differs depending on the device, their
environment, time of day and other factors known as ‘user context’.
Google’s Mobile Planet 2012
• Device agnosticism focuses on the device instead of the user. The needs
of the user should be paramount, because applications exist to meet the
needs of people, not machines
The device-agnostic approach to responsive design
By Sarita Harbour | Mobile, Web Design | Jan 3, 2013

28. Rethink mobile research design
Think like a developer
The golden rules of app design by Apple & Google
Always be prepared to stop. Don’t rely on a signal.
London is not the UK. Offline Access.
Project structure should be clean and easy to
navigate –people are experts at Angry Birds, but
should be amateurs at research. Use menus & loops.

29. Rethink mobile research design
Think like a developer
The golden rules of app design by Apple & Google
Break complex tasks into smaller steps that can be
easily accomplished. Slice it up.
Only show what I want when I need it.
Appear/Disappear.
Allow people to manipulate things. It’s a touch screen.

30. Rethink mobile research design
From developer to researcher
•
Don’t think of “surveys” or “guides” think of “content” to be served up to elicit a response
•
Split project content into digestible tasks
- even a 25 minute Quant Survey can be 10 x 2.5 minute tasks
- It’s not about time or questions its about how you serve it up
•
•
•
•
•
Let people co-create not just use a pre defined list
Give them choices of how to answer (whatever means necessary)
Each task can be set to be completed once, or many times
Tasks can be locked and unlocked based on date/time, previous responses
People live with the app for a few days or a few weeks

31. Rethink methodology
Quant? Qual? Just great research
• Driven by the power of complex quantitative design, we give structure to allow people to
tell us their stories
- Quantitative question types, but also text, photo, video and audio questions
- Complex condition engine – unlocking tasks, routing and piping
- Help qualitative story telling by giving a roadmap that they colour in however
they see fit – better than a blank canvas
•
People can move between ethnographic tasks, discussion boards, quantitative
surveys within one project (all methods at all times)

32. Rethink replacement
Technology makes you better, not obsolete
Tracking below the line media
Behaviourally driven conversations
Real world reflections
After workshops/groups, let people go back to
their lives, talk to their friends/family, think
about things and keep the dialogue going
Make your life easier
Mobiles instead of flip cams, tablets instead of
pen and paper – less set up, less process
management, less analysis, less time
Using mobile to record experiences as they go
about their lives: ideal for outdoor, ambient or
POS that usually gets lost via traditional at
home methodologies
Use mobile to capture the moment. Use
depths/groups to explore the real behaviour
not the false recollection of it (“The Aldi
Effect”)

33. Reframe research
So it doesn’t feel like research
A mum’s life – pain vs. pleasure confessionals
In confidence – feeling good and feeling bad
Duty Free – insight into duty free shopping completely
disguised through travel journal approach so duty free
thoughts, feelings and behaviour emerged naturally

34. Rethink decision making
Acknowledge life is not linear; don’t pre-suppose the
way people make decisions
Car buying – a week in the decision making process among
people at different stages with surveys, video records and
photo encounters – getting closer to and further from the
decision
Decorating – a month in the decision process among people
at different stages with surveys, video records and photo
encounters – interlocking online and offline, seeing them
stagnate or progress

35. Rethink analysis
Quantitative (N=lots) with media – the power of
video/photo to support a robust piece of evidence
can make the difference
Qualitative (n=little), recording lots of “moments”
across a week provides a quantitative both lens in
which to understand a topic
Post workshops about a new telecom
app, participants recorded moments in
life where they might use the app – 48
people gave 250 “moments of use”

36. Recap
We want people to tell us better stories – ones that are more
representative of their life
Design research to fit in with their life - get closer to the truth
Design mobile research for mobile people – not online research for a
mobile device
Think like a developer, not a researcher – design like a designer
Rethink what qualitative and quantitative are – stop the silo

37. Regenerate Research

38. Thanks from the Lab
www.crowdlab.com
richard@crowdlab.com
+44 (0) 7590 462342