What a Yankee Legend Can Teach Us About Research - 1st & 2nd Innings

As I write this, we’re in the midst of a very hot summer here in NYC. And that means barbecues, vacations, and for many, baseball. With the excitement that comes as pennant races get into full gear, I often read about the history of the game. Moreover, as a researcher who loves analyzing data, I enjoy diving knee-deep into the statistics of the game.

As I’ve read about our national pastime, I’ve also come across many quotes from Yogi Berra, a beloved Yankee icon. During his 18-year playing career (17 seasons with the Yankees, 1 with the Mets), he won 13 World Series, 3 MVP awards, and was named to the All-Star team 18 times.

But in addition to that success on the field, he was well known for his good humor and malapropisms. These statements, known as “Yogi-isms”, sound absurd at first, but contain pearls of wisdom. A few examples:

“Nobody goes to that restaurant anymore, it’s too crowded.”
“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
“It gets late early out here.”

In addition to the quotes above, here’s one from Yogi that resonated with me:

“You’ve got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, ‘cause you might not get there.”

Seeing that quote caused me to hearken back to interactions I’ve had with Product, Marketing, and Sales teams I’ve supported over the past two decades. On numerous occasions I’d be stopped in the corridor by one of the team members I’m supporting and get the following request:

“Hi Chris, I’d like to do a [focus group, online survey, or some other research method].”

As a young, inexperienced, but eager researcher, I’d often entertain these discussions. But after a few situations where things went awry, I realized this approach would only lead to confusion, frustration, and waste (of time, money, energy, and goodwill).

What can a research team do to change this mindset for the team and the group they support?

Starting below and continuing in the blog entries to come, I lay out some of the most important questions today’s market researcher needs to ask before conducting any research. In the absence of significant thought by their clients as to how to answer these questions, a good researcher should avoid any discussion regarding research methodology as it would be a wasted exercise. If researchers and their clients can arrive at definitive answers, decisions regarding the most appropriate research method can be made much more easily.

Read through the following questions to come, and you and your clients will have a better understanding of where you’re going, so you’ll know when you’ve gotten there. I’ll also include a “scorecard” with all the questions on it for you to use.

1st Inning – What are your objectives for this research? What do you want to learn?
If any client expresses interest in conducting a research study, this is the question they must give considerable thought to as this will be the main determinant of research methodology. As a result, it should be the very first question the research professional should ask. If your client is the slightest bit unsure of what they want to learn, tell them to go away (professionally, of course) until they’re absolutely sure. No questions regarding methodology should be entertained at this point as they will simply be a waste of your time.

2nd Inning – When do you need results/insights from the research for them to be actionable?

In many cases, output and analyses from research studies will be used as inputs into things like marketing plans or new product development. Generally, such plans are on tight, specific time horizons. Therefore, any research conducted needs to be thoroughly analyzed and understood (by researchers and clients) before subsequent work can begin.

But, given that timing (along with cost and research quality) is a fundamental factor in determining the appropriate research methodology, if researchers know about the client’s needs regarding timing as soon as possible, the more of a chance the researcher has of designing an approach that will be both timely and robust.

For example, if a client’s needs are urgent, research that was previously conducted could be re-packaged in a way that will get clients what they need quickly while incurring little or no incremental cost.

3rd and 4th “inning” questions to come…stay tuned