Developing a cognitive test battery for consumer research

Pollara Strategic Insights是一家舆论和市场研究公司，为加拿大和国际上的私人、公共和非营利部门的客户提供战略建议。Pollara经常通过使用焦点小组和调查，就与公共事务和消费者行为相关的问题向客户提供建议。虽然这些方法无疑是有用的，但它们也带有一些局限性。例如，有一种倾向是，人们会以一种“社会合意”的方式做出反应，而且--尤其是在焦点小组环境中--会受到他人行为的影响。此外，市场研究人员早就认识到，人们并不总是知道他们为什么做出这样的选择，而且一个人对自己将如何行动的信念(例如，在消费者环境中)并不总是与他们的实际行为相匹配。认识到这些缺点，近年来许多公司转向了所谓的“神经营销”方法，这些方法是 基于大脑成像，以努力更好地了解消费者的想法和行为。然而，除了实施成本高昂外，这些方法在满足营销人员的要求方面并不总是合适或有效的。在这个项目中，我们将与Pollara的领先市场研究人员合作，开发一种评估消费者态度和动机的新指标，该指标纳入了认知心理学的范式，以克服现有方法的局限性。基于将自我报告偏差降至最低的方法，这一新工具将使人们更深入地了解推动消费者决策和行为的因素，同时对Pollara来说，实施起来容易且负担得起。

Pollara Strategic Insights is a public opinion and market research firm that provides strategic advice to clients in Canada and internationally in the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors. Pollara advises clients on issues related to public affairs and consumer behaviour, often through the use of focus groups and surveys. While these approaches are undoubtedly useful, they also carry with them some limitations. For example, there is a tendency for people to respond in a 'socially desirable' manner, and - especially in focus groups settings - to be influenced by the behaviour of others. Furthermore, it has long been recognised by market researchers that people do not always know why they make the choices they do, and a person's belief of how they will act (for example, in a consumer environment) does not always match their actual behaviour. Recognising these shortcomings, in recent years many companies have turned to so-called 'neuromarketing' approaches that are based on brain imaging, in an effort to better understand how consumers think and behave. Aside from being expensive to implement, however, such methods are not always appropriate or effective in meeting marketers' requirements. In this project, we will work with leading market researchers at Pollara to develop a new measure for assessing consumer attitudes and motivations, which incorporates paradigms from cognitive psychology to overcome the limitations of existing methodologies. Based on approaches that minimise self-report biases, this new tool will give deeper insight into factors that drive consumer decision-making and behaviour, while being easy and affordable for Pollara to implement.