12. What are the Responsibilities
of Marketing Researchers? 

(Textbook page 479)

Guidelines that set out ethics and responsibilities help us establish a common understanding to guide our behaviour and improve the likelihood of harmonious business relations.  This textbook unit discusses our responsibilities for each hat we wear. 

Researcher as Colleague (P.480)

In addition to employment standards set out in labour laws and human rights codes, we have an obligation to our firm to

• treat colleagues fairly and respectfully 
• be financially responsible, and 
• prepare the next generation through internships, mentoring and professional development upgrading.

Researcher as Client (P.482)

Researchers can be clients to interviewers and recruiters, to field houses and facilities, to specialized firms (sample, panel, analysis) and to research firms across a full range of business sectors.  They must respect the professionalism and business obligation of providers by: 

• Being informed – by staying up-to-date on the offerings of their suppliers
• Sharing information – to equip suppliers to meet your needs
• Being responsive – understanding how slow action can reduce quality and increase costs
• Avoiding unnecessary proposals – respecting suppliers’ time and resources
• Respecting intellectual property – not sharing one firm’s approach with competitors
• Avoiding Scope Creep – adding to a study design ‘while we are at it’
• Making on-time payments – to ensure a supplier is able to pay their expenses
• Building in contingencies – in case unforeseen costs arise
• Challenging the easy answer – thinking through conclusions in the context of their understanding and knowledge and challenging anything that seems too facile. 

The client-provider relationship should be a mutually beneficial partnership.  Pressures and stresses can beset both and can lead to unreasonable behaviour and demands, but both succeed when each can succeed. 

Researcher as Provider (P. 487) 

Supplier-side researchers may be employees or independent researchers.  Client-side researchers are providers to brand or marketing managers, sales and c-suite.   The provider can be:

• An auto-updater – regularly updating a dashboard with little analysis or insight
• An order-taker – taking instructions from a client without questioning
• A supplier – who dutifully executes each study, then retires into the background
• A partner – with an on-going relationship that involves staying informed, consulting on long-term planning, providing broader perspectives, and is involved in decisions that stem from research

A provider should: 

• Stay informed – understanding the client’s business, watching consumer trends and keeping up with the impact of past research-based decisions, etc. 
• Strengthen Communications and Listening Skills – rapport is built on understanding the needs and expectations of all stakeholders, achievable through tips provided in this section.
• Bid responsibly – providing realistic costs based on reasonable response and incidence rates and achievable timelines.  Lowballing to win is just bad business. 
• Keep the paperwork up-to-date – as expectations change, keep statements of work up-to-date to minimize misunderstandings
• Put quality control first – errors can cost a provider their profit margin and reputation.  Budget and timelines must include quality checks at every stage.
• Manage time efficiently – if delivery windows pass, the value of the research drops.  Use PERT, CPM or Gantt charts to keep track of timing at each phase. 
• Avoid surprises – the sooner a client knows of a problem, the sooner contingency plans can be developed. 
• Make it right – if you discover an error or a roadblock, inform the client with one or more solutions ready to go.  Allocate hard costs of correcting the error to the source. 
• Analyze thoughtfully – organize the report to tell the story that answers the client’s questions.
• Keep a close eye on costs – common over-runs include:  fieldwork issues, design hours, custom analyses, client servicing time, sample list handling etc.  
• Manage the Team Efficiently – carefully match the personalities of the team to that of the client, and ensure the client is serviced by the people promised in the bid. 

Responsibilities to the Public (P. 473) 

Without the goodwill of respondents, there would be no marketing research as it is now practiced. At the core of our responsibility is respect for their integrity and safety, protection of their identity and personal information and respect for their time and intelligence.  

• Codes of conduct have been established my industry associations in many countries.
• The right to privacy has been recognized in legislation throughout the developed world, for example in Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act’s (PIPEDA revised 2019) ten core principles. 
• The principle of consent requires that information collected is only used for the purpose for which consent was obtained.  Implied consent leaves it to the respondent to refuse; explicit consent requires us to ask the respondent and get an affirmative answer.  
• Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (2018) is 88 pages of additional rules and spells out severe fines for non-compliance.