Presentation given at International Food Technology 2014 Conference in New Orleans http://www.am-fe.ift.org

1. Mobile Research
In The Real World
An Overview of Mobile Research
Best Practices and Ethics
The Moral Compass Within Consumer Testing:
A Comparison between academia and the food industry

2. What is Mobile Research?
• It’s not research about the mobile industry or
mobile devices…
• Or about why or how people use mobile
devices…

3. Mobile Research is About Context
• It’s about using the mobile web to conduct
traditional marketing and social research in
context
– In homes, in kitchens, dining rooms, on the go, in
restaurants
– to create better products, brands, packaging and
customer experiences
• Know your mouse = make better decisions

4. Why use Mobile Research?
• People are highly engaged with their mobile
devices
– Your customer is always within 2 meters of their
mobile device
• Personal media creation and sharing
• More mobile devices are being used to
connect to the internet than desktop
computers
• The Internet of Things is mobile and growing
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5. Why use Mobile Research?
• Best way to know what participants are really
doing (behavior) and feeling (consciousness) in
their natural environment
• Be with and understand your customers
wherever they are
• No recall issues
• Real time data tracking and time stamping
• Validated with geo-location
• Enhanced reporting with video/photo/audio
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6. Types of Data Mobile Research
Provides
• Behavioral What people do
• Observational What people see
• Sentiment What people say/think
• Emotional How people feel
• Sensory How people perceive sights, sounds
• Future sensors will include body temperature,
galvanic skin response, heartrate, eye tracking
and more
• Passive Geo-location, timing, media engagement,
• Visual Codes Packaging scans (UPC and QR codes)
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7. Advantages of Mobile Research
• Immediacy, fewer recall issues
• Fewer questions leading to higher data
quality
• Contextual richness
• Respondent convenience
• Greater reach in emerging market
• Greater youth engagement
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8. “OMG” & “WTF”
• OMG
– O – Online tracking data
– M – Meta-data in photos
– G – Geo-location
• WTF
– W – Wandering device ID’s
– T – Too complex privacy polices
– F – Fees for SMS and data streaming

10. In 2012 MMRA worked with major research
associations including ESOMAR, QRCA, MSPA, to
create guidelines for privacy assurance
Continuing to modify
guidelines.
www.mmra-global.org

11. Key Points
• Transparency
• Informed consent
• Conforming to local legal requirements
• Avoid causing inconvenience
• Need to protect personally identifiable data
• Ensure no harm comes to participants
• Avoid costs being incurred by participants
• Leave a record of what has been agreed to with the
participant
• Chain of custody and data protection

12. Legal Requirements
• Privacy is a right in most countries
• People have a right to see personally
identifiable data held about them
• Limits to what kinds of data can be
transferred across borders
• Controls on unsolicited contact
• Controls on the times of day that
communications can be received

13. Safety Requirements
• Not using their mobile while driving or in
other risky situations
• Not taking photos in places where they are
banned
• Securing participants’ information
• Advising participants about the risks of being
overheard or observed when in public places

14. Whose Consent?
• Informed consent of participant
• Third parties in photos and videos
• Friends, kids, parental consent
• Social media sharing
• Personal data, e.g. address books,
received emails,texts, photos, etc.
• Device interactions, e.g. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi
etc.

15. Videos and Photographs
• Clear pictures of faces are personal identifiable data
• Respondents should be warned not to take
photos/videos in banned locations
– e.g. parts of airports, government buildings
• Pictures/videos of children always require parental
consent
• Images of incidental non-consenting third parties
should have their faces pixelated
• Self-editing and review before approval
• The right to be forgotten

16. Guidelines for Use of Videos/Photos
• If using self-generated video, best to review the video with the
participant and have clearly written permission to approve use
of video AFTER reviewing it with participant
• Similarly with photos – have the participant agree to “post”
EACH photo even if only used for reporting
• Check with country laws if sending photos via mobile devices
• Some countries (i.e. China, Canada) do not allow transfer of images or
video using mobile devices
• Policy for protection of photos and images should be specified
in advance, in a clear manner
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17. Full Mobile Research
Guidelines on Website
www.mmra-global.org