Years of experience hosting online long-term communities helped us at C+R to develop a set of best practices that maximize the value clients receive.
It is clear that Online Communities are a growing research method. But, what are communities exactly. It is not an idle question, as I was reminded this week when I was asked to explain them to a marketing manager who had never used them.
By Bob Relihan, Senior Vice President
The title is meant to be a bit clever. I am not talking about actual focus groups; I am referring to the term. I have always suspected that focus group was used to refer to any casual, open-ended, small sample, non-projectable research method. And, I always thought that those who used the term this way were misinformed. Well, I have to throw in the towel. I have no better authority than the Pew Research Center.
By Bob Relihan, Senior Vice President
No, I am not about to present a sociological treatise here. I want to talk about what it feels like to be a member of a community -- a research community. We quite literally ask questions of a good deal of community members. Most of the time we don't give much thought to them, as long as they are there ready to do their job. Is that fair? Is that short-sighted?
