What Are the Limits of Research?

There is not enough space for me to offer all of my thoughts on the limits of research. Research can be incredibly helpful to answering critical questions that inform business decisions. However, the researcher and the end client both have to be prepared to ask different questions to arrive at the most helpful business intelligence. Take this example from early in my career when I was working for a large PR firm’s research division.

Our mutual client was a major sport based in the U.S.. The sport was trying to identify the biggest metropolitan market where they did not have a team that had the largest number of avid fans. Why? Because they were convinced this would help to determine an expansion market where they would have the greatest likelihood of success. My response was, “We can easily do that. But, have you already established that avid fans are the biggest predictor of stadium fill?” Silence. It turns out no one had. This was just an assumption they were making.

Together, we decided to model what was driving attendance in existing markets first. Interestingly enough, the “avid fan presence” was not as big a driver as other factors including stadium characteristics, weather (hint: it was a sport most typically played outdoors), and the composition of attendees. More women and kids, and diverse attendees, had a greater impact on attendance than some of the expected drivers. Why? We suspect that not everyone is there for the “love of the game.” They’re there for fun, the stadium experience, and to share all of it with their families and friends (i.e., community).

Even more surprising was the effect of the size of the metropolitan market on stadium fill. Turns out, bigger is not always better. Market size matters to a point, but then it takes a big nose dive. We speculate that much larger markets are competing for the same butts in the seats, particularly since the love of the sport itself may not be driving attendance.

To us this says that research may be limited both by the imagination of the user and when important questions are left unasked by the investigator. What questions are you trying to answer? How certain are you that they are actual drivers of the decisions you are trying to make? Got questions? We are here to help.