« Love Libraries, Eat cake | Main | Regional Delay Centres »
June 26, 2006
Market research
There was an event last week hosted by the Minister, the DCMS, the MLA, and the LASER foundation at which they presented some market research about how people from age 16-34 feel about libraries. The conclusions were so mysteriously drawn as to be reminiscent of children making sandcastles in a downpour.
Some commentators to this blog have asked Mr Grimsdyke to explain how market research should be conducted in a normal professional manner. He shyly defers to others more expert, but his explanation is
"a. Qualitative research (focus groups) indicate what issues are at stake. No conclusion can be drawn at all from this kind of work - it is carried out in order to design-
b. Quantitative research which means asking appropriately large samples of carefully selected citizens non-leading questions.
c. If there you are trying to find out peoples' attitude to what you do (eg using libraries), there are at least four groups you can ask:
1. People who use the service- they will generally say they like it
2. People who work in the service- their perspective may be influenced by the small number of users who talk to them
3. People who don't use the service- they will generally say they don't need it
4. People who have recently used the service (in the last 2 years), but no longer do. These are called "lapsed users" and they will reveal everything that you do both right and wrong. They are the people, in the main, who hold the secrets of improvement.
So to be useful a survey needs to have been both qualitative and quantitative and the quantitative work needs to be properly portioned among the community, with emphasis particularly on lapsed users.
"PLUS" - The libraries', government sanctioned, "Public Library User Survey" is certainly not conducted in this way and I have never seen proper market research carried out, except rarely, in a local council.
No government could draw up a meaningful libraries policy without conducting this work, which needs as trained an eye for analysis as that of a horticulturalist. It is not for amateurs, like me. Mr Elgar Atkins of Bloggington on Sea is a pro in this field. I have learned to hang on his every word- which is why the library service in Bloggington on Sea is so good.
In my experience, if ever there was a subject in which it is essential to be in hands of a professional and to listen carefully to the reasons why the information can be misleading, market research is one. It can be useful, but only when used alongside concrete factual information and dollops of common sense".
Such resources are not available to the Ministry of Common Sense, Delay, the Department of Libraries and Archives and the Knitting Agency, who have neither information nor common sense and have never listened to anyone outside their own circle and consequently don't know what they are doing. I think "inter-breeding" is the word the Minister would use. It is an expression used of sheep.
Posted by Tim Coates at June 26, 2006 7:27 PM