Kantar's Profiles Blog

Technology is changing; devices are providing infinite more ways to connect; but are they creating a disconnected culture?

When I grew up there were no mobile phones, the internet had not been created and our most connected game was a snake eating dots on a BBC Micro. Our life was still about connecting, but without the benefit of ‘devices.’ From a telephone call to face-to-face meeting, any arrangements we made needed to be confirmed, agreed and honoured; there was no option to change on the fly through an email or text. This meant that while it may have been difficult to connect widely, the connections themselves tended to be stronger and more personal.

According to a spring 2015 study from Microsoft, the average human attention span has fallen below that of goldfish -- and you can blame it on the gadgets we use to watch YouTube videos and play "Crossy Road." The researchers clocked the average human attention span at just eight seconds in 2013, falling four seconds from the 12-second average in 2000, and putting humans just one second below goldfish. (http://www.cnet.com/news/goldfish-the-actual-fish-not-the-crackers-may-have-a-better-attention-span-than-humans/)

We made the transition from CATI to online, but now we need to make the transition from online to mobile. But, how do we keep survey respondents engaged in a way that captures their attention? Can we carry them past the eight second threshold?

From a questionnaire design perspective, we need to balance the marketing research hat with the respondent hat. Yes, we need to ensure our paired comparison questions are all implemented for proper analysis, but let’s grab the attention of our respondents with some color and images, bringing life to our questions. Let’s be their distraction.