Posts Tagged ‘ Science ’

The strategic use of market research 4: time as a change process variable

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Lucy: So what proof do we have of its existence? Time gives legitimacy to its existence. Time is the only true unit of measure. It gives proof to the existence of matter. Without time, we don’t exist.
Professor Norman: Time is unity.
https://www.moviequotesandmore.com/lucy-quotes/

In the screen movie Lucy by Luc Besson (EuropaCorp, 2014) the main character interpreted by Scarlett Johansson establishes that it is through time we can realize something exists. Time is the most important variable of the human experience, it is the fundamental reference with which we give meaning to things. The experience of the consumer, of an employee, of a business man, the housewife, the professional athlete, a young millennial or the general business executive in a big city interested in acquiring the last version of the new smartphone are not so different to what happens to business and brands of any type… they all measure their experiences in relation to time… Time is the only element that allows us to see if something has changed, if it became better or worst. If we understand this, the question is: why are we not considering time as a fundamental variable in market research?

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Validity And Expiration: Part One of Change

Todays society has placed innovation and transformation as one of it’s main values, both aspects rooted in the idea of mobility and change. The nature of non-stability and non-permanence of things is motivated as an axel of a society that sees in movement and change the possibility of betterment and reinvention. That is, through change and social dynamics, the world as we know it keeps alive and active.

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From evolution to revolution in science

We have a strong value for the concept of evolution. It is a concept associated to a scientific explanation more accepted than that of the spontaneous generation that some religions and magical believes have used in the past, present and surly will be using in the future. Evolution has strong roots in Darwin’s investigations and theories, and is a concept that fits perfectly in our modern society. Evolution conveys in itself the potential of change in a non dramatic way into something different that is usually identified as something better, that is, if one evolves it may mean that one grew, or became better, and becomes a superior being, at least compared to oneself. One never talks about evolving to a lower state or inferior biological, physical, psychological, spiritual or knowledgable states.

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Film discourse and the work of a qualitative researcher (part three)

Discourse structure 4: Broken stories. Here we find stories told from different perspectives or multiple versions of one same event that complement each other to make out a final version. Or it is stories that travel through time with no specific rule or pattern. Movies have many examples of this. They are frequently referred as a non-linear narration. They also include stories told as a jigsaw puzzle or pastiche of multiple elements that allow a construction of the story as one goes on and on uncovering new pieces. Some movie directors can be identified for directing this type of movies, although they do not always do so: Christopher Nolan, Darren Aronofsky, David Lynch, Terry Gilliam, Federico Fellini, Peter Greenaway and David Cronenberg, to mention a few.

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Film discourse and the work of a qualitative researcher (part one)

I have heard the expression that art precedes science, in particular, social sciences. This idea is supported by the belief that the artist’s sensibility allows him or her to identify the social processes before sciences does, and in doing so, the artist seems to have a real time perception or, we might say, a reality prediction ability, while science has a retroactive perception as it always studies events from the past. It is not my intention to discuss this issue here, I am just trying to point out a general context of this phenomena as an introduction of one of the relations between art and science and how it may aid the qualitative researchers. That is, if we consider this point of view, art expression should be a valuable aid for the social sciences. Additionally, it may encourage qualitative researchers to become more close to art expressions, in this case, cinema. Continue reading

Between a craftsman and a scientist: the Mexican market researchers profile*

Most of the market researchers I know became involved in this field of work by accident. Those with more than 15 years of experience in the field surely did not even know about market research when taking their university courses for some social or administrative degree. Only a few quantitative researchers come from a professional preparation directly related to market research like actuary. I know of people who come from psychology, sociology, anthropology, journalism, history and other careers, and some that do not even have a degree. One way or another, they will all say they have “learned the trade on the go” or that it is something you learn through life, like an experience. I suppose the reader is thinking that psychology, sociology and so are in fact careers related to market research, and they are, up to a certain point. But in their scientific structure none of them contemplates the idea of preparing a psychologist or sociologist to do market research.

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