Presentation by Pala Kuppusamy and Steve von Bevern (presented at MRS Mobile Research 2013)

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Smartphones Now Dominate Mobile Share In
Most Developed Countries
• 2013 estimates say 1.4 billion smartphones and 268 million tablets in
active use (not just units shipped)
• Android leads in smartphones; is in tablets
• EOY 2013 estimates:
• 45 million Windows phones; 20 million Blackberries
(3.2% and 1.4%, respectively)
• Android = 798 million handsets (57% share); is = 294 million devices
(21% share)

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Geo Surveys

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Behavioral

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Rich Media Uploads

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In-The-Moment Surveys

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Home Ethnography
How comfortable are respondents are with
qualitative aspects of mobile research?
Research Now Mobile invited 3,500 panelists to take
part in a home ethnography study designed to
understand respondents‟ willingness to participate in
qualitative parts of mobile studies, particularly
media uploads.
CASE
STUDY
• 679 completes in 2 days,
despite the study being long &
media intensive
• 97% scanned barcodes
• 99% uploaded pictures
• 82% uploaded audio
• 80% of those with pets
uploaded videos

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Sporting Event Diary
How do researchers collect in-the-moment data at
the 2012 Olympics?
Research Now Mobile recruited for 40 respondents to
complete two two-day diaries for people at the 2012
Summer Olympics or watching them at bars or
at home.
CASE
STUDY
• 69 respondents across
both diaries
• 62% uploaded images
• 19% uploaded video
• Impressed with detailed
open-ended responses
• High level of respondent
engagement

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Holistic Insights
How does a digital newspaper use passive data
capture to gain deeper reader insights?
A digital newspaper that caters to tablet users
through a newspaper app uses Research Now
Mobile+ to send targeted surveys and overlays the
survey data with behavioral data for
deeper insights.
CASE
STUDY
• Behavior data like app
downloads, music played,
etc. are passively captured.
• Survey data is collected
periodically by pushing
surveys.
• Data from repeat surveys
and
passive data capture are tied
together for deeper insights.

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Retail Surveys
How does a major CPG company get shopper
feedback on their in-store displays?
Research Now Mobile created a mobile survey for
shoppers, whose locations were validated by GPS
data, to complete while inside targeted supermarkets.
CASE
STUDY
• Respondents uploaded photos of
in-store displays and scanned UPC
barcodes of products
• Geo-fencing ensured the survey was
available only when respondents were
in the store, ensuring strong
validation and data quality
• Rich In-The-Moment data and insights

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How Do Mobile Panelists Differ from Online?
Comparisons (Un-Weighted):
U.S. Panel
Mobile Online Gen Pop Census
Gender Male 51.1% 42.3% 49.2%
Female 48.9% 57.7% 50.8%
Ethnicity Caucasian/White 84.1% 88.5% 72.4%
African American/Black 5.5% 2.7% 12.6%
Hispanic 7.2% 3.2% 16.3%

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How Do Respondents Feel About
Mobile Surveys Vs. Other Modalities?
What is your satisfaction with this survey?
Respondents who complete a survey on mobiles are more likely to rate the
experience as „somewhat‟ or „very fun‟ compared to those completing a more
traditional online survey (13% vs. 68%).
Online respondents are more likely to be „neutral‟ about the entertainment value
of the survey (65% vs. 26%).
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Boring Somewhat
boring
Neutral Somewhat
fun
Very fun
Online
Mobile
Total

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How Do Respondents Feel about
Mobile Surveys Vs. Other Modalities?
The entertainment value of the survey is more highly rated across almost all the
age groups in our Scout sample, compared to the online sample, which is more
closely aligned to mobile ratings.
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
18-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
55-64
65+
Fun by Age and Sample Origin
Scout Sample Email Sample Online Combined Mobile Sample

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Are There Device Preferences?
Device preference is very heavily skewed by age, with younger age groups from
18 -44 years preferring a mobile device. Over 45 years of age, the preference for
computer completion increased exponentially as respondent age increases.
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+
Mobile Device
Computer

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Are There Device Preferences?
Mobile sample respondents overwhelmingly prefer mobile devices for completing
surveys; the age effect is demonstrated. In the oldest group, 25% of those who
completed a survey on a mobile device preferred to complete a study on a
computer.
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+
Mobile Sample
Mobile Device
Computer

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Open Ended Response Differences
US Mobile Base %
# of respondents
with an answer
86 100 86%
Avgas (non-zero mean)
length
18
Those with
1-2 word response
2 100 2%
Those with
5+ word responses
68 100 68%
Those with
10+ word responses
43 100 43%
US Online Base %
# of respondents
with an answer
656 663 99%
Avgas (non-zero mean) length 8
Those with
1-2 word response
139 663 21%
Those with
5+ word responses
391 663 59%
Those with
10+ word responses
190 663 29%
Mobile open ends show consistently richer results

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Open Ended Response Differences
UK Mobile Base %
# of respondents
with an answer
84 100 84%
Avgas (mean) length 17
Those with
1-2 word response
5 100 5%
Those with
5+ word responses
65 100 65%
Those with
10+ word responses
50 100 50%
UK Online Base %
# of respondents
with an answer
861 868 99%
Avgas (mean) length 9
Those with
1-2 word response
146 868 17%
Those with
5+ word responses
541 868 62%
Those with
10+ word responses
309 868 36%

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Design
Collecting the Survey Data: Sampling
• Replicate invitations / quota plans
• Five days in field
• 6 Minute Median LOI / 89% QR / <3% abandon

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Comparison
Comparing the Survey Data (Weighted to Demos)
“What I do at work #MarchMadness RT:@espn:
Yes. It is still totally acceptable to fill out
brackets all day - http://t.co/G2D1Qzim”
“Its official...#MarchMadness is back! How
many of you plan on using @CBSSports
"boss button" to hide your habit at work?”

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Do Respondents Answer Differently When
Taking Mobile Surveys?
Generally, respondents do not have issues completing a survey; only a tiny
segment find mobile surveys „somewhat‟ (5%) or „very difficult‟ (1%)
to complete.
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Very difficult Somewhat difficult Neutral Somewhat easy Very easy
Online
Mobile

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How Do Respondents Feel about
Mobile Surveys Vs. Other Modalities?
While there is very little difference in the ease of use rating between online and
mobile respondents, there is a decrease in rating the ease of use score amongst
the older respondents.
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+
Overall Ease
Overall Difficulty

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Conclusions

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Best Practices for Mobile Research
• Sample selection/recruitment
• Target your respondents…natural response rates will skew younger, higher income
• Use both online and mobile to insure broader representation
• Questionnaire Design
• Don‟t be fooled: shorter questionnaires are not a „rule of thumb‟ for mobile
• Use a journal approach if you require more
• multiple surveys (dairies) work well
• Avoid conjoint if it requires real time „pings‟ of another server
• ≠ flash media in native app tools
• Use of rich media
• Keep use of audio, photo or video capture to <5 requests per survey
• Enhance open ends….consider audio instead of text responses
• Diary studies, qualitative, secret shopper
• Mobile is great for diary & secret shopper work.
• 5 to 10 day diaries generate good response rates
• Invites—geo fence, target, venue
• Use of reminder invites…best practices

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Are There ‘Downsides’ to Mobile Research?
• Geo locations are great, but plan wisely
• Do not plan quick „drive bys‟ without larger over-samples
• Geo invites require lat/long for locations targeted
• Tradeoffs of battery life vs. accuracy of measurement
• Avoid conjoint studies or others that require real-time „pings‟ with
other servers
• Adaptive conjoint, max diff, etc.
• Survey Length
• We see wide length variation.
• Don‟t shy away from longer surveys.
• < 10 minutes is recommended or longer with good responses but longer is possible
• Multiple point of engagement on mobile over course of time.
• Consider diaries
• multiple surveys fused together into one set of results (store visit, in-home use, etc.)
• Native app is best confined to high share devices like is or Android devices
• Blackberry, other small share devices: limit them to web app today

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Are There ‘Downsides’ to Mobile Research?
• Be prepared to deal with rich media
• Showing rich media or capturing rich media…
• …Rich media generates a lot of data
• …Be prepared to code, tabulate and analyze audio, video and photos
• Diverse platforms mean you may never achieve 100% coverage
• Use “LCD complexity”: confine it to single choice and multi choice if want all devices
• Richness of survey vs. device coverage
• Cover Android and is; monitor Windows and Blackberry

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