David Smith, a UK researcher who has been a major advocate for what he has called "holistic research" has proposed an interesting list of 12 questions that clients might ask us or that we might ask ourselves to evaluate the quality of our work. Here they are:
- To what quality level was the research conducted?
- What impact will the consumer evidence have on the final decision?
- Was the research design fit-to-purpose?
- What was the ‘agenda’ behind the study?
- To what extent did the research accurately reflect the target group being researched?
- To what degree has the interview medium affected the results?
- Did the interpreters of the research evidence really understand the critical ‘research effects’ at work?
- Was the appropriate analysis approach deployed?
- What level of ‘business conceptualization’ has been brought to the presentation of the consumer evidence?
- How well has all the available evidence been integrated into an impactful compelling story, and have the outcomes of the study been presented in a way that will influence the decision-making audience?
- To what extent has the data been presented in the context of what we know about this genre of evidence-based decisions?
- Has the tactical feedback from the latest research study on this topic been incorporated into a wider ‘meta-analysis’ in order to identify any over-arching strategic trends?
He explains each of these in more detail in the full article on the ESOMAR Web site. Definitely worth a read.