Is your Market Research Subject to Analysis Bias?

Bias can get introduced at various points in a market research project. Here is a look at an often overlooked source of bias: bias that gets introduced during analysis and reporting.

Professional researchers are often trained to mitigate bias during the research planning and data collection phases of a project. For example, survey researchers are trained to word questions and select scales that mitigate bias. And moderators are trained to ask questions and probe using techniques that mitigate bias. But what about after data collection? When data (quantitative or qualitative) is being analyzed, synthesized and reported?

Tip: This conversation is a great one for a team "lunch-and-learn." We suggest watching the video as a team, and then using the following discussion questions:

1. Thinking about the team's most recent projects, do you think there was any bias introduced during the analysis or reporting phase?

2. Is your team comfortable reporting "bad news"?

3. Does your team use any techniques during the report writing process to mitigate over-relying on researcher recall or researcher-cultural bias?