Your target panel has been recruited, your survey questions have been well-defined according to Management's objectives, and you are about to collect the responses from your survey participants. On the face of it, all the boxes are checked for the study to be smoothly conducted. Well, yes, but with one small detail missing, namely that when a client tells you everything, you can be sure... they're not telling you everything. And no. That would be too simple.
Mark our words: if your survey relies solely on direct self-reported measures (i.e., the analysis of only the consciously expressed responses from your clients), a gap will inevitably emerge between what they declare in a theoretical situation... and what they actually do in a real situation. For example, why would a client never buy your product, even though it seemed to please them during your study? Simply because they are subject to a whole host of cognitive biases, stemming from several factors, which will inevitably influence their responses during the test; these responses will indeed be altered by your client's unconscious need to please themselves, and/or to please others. Here's why.
Let's start with the social desirability bias : your client may, especially if situational constraints are strong, provide not the answers they should give, but those that will allow them to present themselves favorably, according to social norms. Presenting a good self-image often takes precedence over the "truth," since no less than 10% to 75% of the variance in participants' responses can be explained by this social desirability bias alone.
The self-presentation bias occurs when a client, placed in a social interaction or evaluation situation, more or less intentionally modifies all responses directly concerning them, in order to exaggerate their qualities, minimize their flaws, and/or enhance their own personality compared to other participants.
Furthermore, if you have informed them of the survey's intentions and objectives, it can happen that the client unconsciously modifies their behavior to conform to the answer they assume you expect from them. Somewhat as if they wanted to please you, by answering your questions "correctly"; this is the demand characteristics bias.
The self-presentation bias occurs when a client, placed in a social interaction or evaluation situation, more or less intentionally modifies all responses directly concerning them, in order to exaggerate their qualities, minimize their flaws, and/or enhance their own personality compared to other participants.
Furthermore, if you have informed them of the survey's intentions and objectives, it can happen that the client unconsciously modifies their behavior to conform to the answer they assume you expect from them. Somewhat as if they wanted to please you, by answering your questions "correctly"; this is the demand characteristics bias.
Finally, don't forget that your clients have limited capacity for introspection ; they cannot express what they don't know, and are also inevitably constrained by their affects and emotions.
Due to these various biases and given that some decision-making processes are unconsciously inaccessible, direct self-reported measures such as surveys are naturally limited in predicting behavior, and can therefore generate skewed results – results upon which your strategic decisions nonetheless rely. That's why it's essential to make your studies more reliable by complementing them with indirect measures, which are less susceptible to these various biases. And, good news: we've heard through the grapevine that at IGONOGO, there are methods to capture what your clients aren't saying... ;)
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