David Kennedy in his article Greening Market Research highlights a recent article published in Quirk’s Marketing Research Review on “How to green your research”

Recently I have just dug up my lawn and turned it into an organic garden so was quite keen to see what more we could to do to green Rock Research. It turns out that we are doing pretty good already.

Turns out the article is pretty generic really with the main thrust of the article being how you can reduce carbon emissions associated with travel and using less energy when you stay at Hotels (i.e. stay at a Hotel with an LCD panel instead of a plasma).

The one suggestion that did stand out is Increase your use of digital tools. Well it is talking to the converted, here at Rock we love online surveys and it is great to know that we are helping the planet with our efforts.

It stands to reason that when considering a research methodology thought should be given to the impact the methodology has on the planet.  When practical consideration should be given to reducing paper intensive surveys like mail surveys and face-to-face surveys which generally require significant travel.

To conclude there a lot of things that businesses can do to reduce their impact on the planet. Where Market Research companies can start to make smart decisions is when recommending and selecting research methodologies. Here at Rock Research our focus is on methodologies that utilise digital technology. Not only will these save you money, they are solution which has less impact on the planet.