Market Research meets Neuroscience!
As market researchers, our goal is to uncover genuine and meaningful insights about specified target markets. However, we are often thwarted when research participants share superficial responses that fail to reveal the true motivations behind their behavior. Of course, it isn’t always intentional; we humans are complex creatures and we don’t always know our own motivations or how to articulate our wants, needs, aspirations, values, and feelings.
How can we, as market researchers, dig deeper and craft questionnaires that will yield deep insights, and do so within today’s current survey research constraints (hint: nobody is taking your 40-minute questionnaire)? In our most recent Conversations for Research Rockstars episode, we spoke with Hunter Thurman, the founder of Alpha-Diver, about using neuroscience to develop better questionnaires and uncover the deeper why.
Introducing Alpha-Diver’s Neuroscientific Approach
Hunter’s research and strategy company, Alpha-Diver, is made up of both neuroscientists and market researchers to help better understand consumer behavior. At the heart of their approach lies “The 9 Why’s” model, a framework that encompasses the four core sub-conscious drivers and five sub-conscious barriers to consumer behavior. Built upon ongoing digital survey research, the model leverages neurodiagnostic profiling identified through Alpha-Diver’s proprietary monthly digital study. This model provides insights about consumer decision-making far beyond the perfunctory role of price promotion.
Drivers:
- Rational: shop & buy based on practical knowledge and info
- Tribal: shop & buy based on what others like me trust and agree upon
- Experiential: shop & buy to discover unique sensory experiences
- Instinctual: shop & buy to serve impulsive, emotional desire
Barriers:
- Emotional
- Physical
- Social
- Time
- Price
To learn about how these drivers and barriers can be leveraged in your next research project, we suggest listening to Hunter explain it himself in this recent Conversations for Research Rockstars episode. He shares examples from his own research experience, showcasing how these factors can affect our questionnaire design and moderating experience.
A Useful Guide for Questionnaire Design
There is no need to have a “kitchen sink” questionnaire design when existing models can be used to prioritize content.
Alpha-Diver’s insights reveal that emotions, relationships, values, costliness, and social influences play pivotal roles in shaping decision-making. Understanding these drivers can help researchers ask the right questions, even when the respondents themselves may not know why they make the decisions they do.
Please be sure to review Kathryn Korostoff’s full conversation with Hunter in this recent Conversations for Research Rockstars episode.
About Alpha-Diver:
Hunter Thurman, President of Alpha-Diver, is a research and marketing strategy pro who applies behavioral science to understand consumer behavior. He founded Alpha-Diver in 2011 to uncover untapped insights from the world of decision science and psychology. The firm’s neuroscientists and strategists have built the 9 Why’s framework to explain consumer behavior, helping clients drive double-digit brand growth through activation strategies. To connect with Hunter or learn more about Alpha-Diver, please visit Alpha-Diver.
