My Researching Days

One of the transcriber I often worked with back when I was working for a research agency added me on Facebook. Then I saw her convo with my ex-partner on their walls. I wanted to laugh out loud. Instantly, I could feel her pains. Ahahahahahahahaahh... So sorry, mbak. Been there, done that. Hihihiks...

My agency, let's call it ResAg (for Research Agency, :p), was not a big one. But we have quite impressive portfolio. My position was Research Executive. I didn't have to look for new clients as they all came to us. The new ones wanted to make new market researches, and the old ones wanted to check the results of their actions against the benchmarks. We did research on markets and products such as cars, motorcycles, banks, snacks, drinks, confectionaries, insect repellents, energy drinks, isotonic drinks, coffees, and even condoms. Neat, eh??

Because it's a small agency, mostly we outsourced for some of the jobs needed to be done. For example, we worked with recruiters to recruit our respondents, there were also transcribers, translators if needed, notetakers, even runners. Oh, and also video and audio men. But when it still could be handled by us alone, we didn't need to outsource. That was also as a saving reason. Hehee... So I need to be able to multitask. Recruiters were always needed, it's impossible if I recruited the respondents all by myself. What I could do was check the respondents, were they fit with the respondents' questionnaire, then prepare the questions for the Focus Group Discussions or In-Depth Interviews, depends on which one we were going to use. Oh by the way, we specialized on qualitative research. For small ones, we might do the quantitative as well. I kept in touch with the clients, whether they need revisions on the RQ, or the amount of groups, etc. I also prepared the basic elements needed to conduct those researches, eg: FGD rooms, audio video, stimulus, flipcharts, recorders, blah blah blah... So many small things but none I could afford to miss, otherwise I might blew the research. One important thing: This thing can only be done once. It cannot be repeated.

After preparations were done, we conducted the actual researches, be it FGDs, in-depth interviews, quick interviews, one day in a life, observations, etc. Most of the time, the clients would want to observe when we conducted the research. That's why the FGD rooms have one way mirrors. Recording is compulsory. We use the record to make the transcriptions of the discussion and interviews. The those transcription were used to make the content, or when we needed to quote the verbatim from the respondents. Then we used it make an analysis and then compiled into the reports.

So, it's all not as simple as it looks. In fact, it's complicated and ribet... But you could say I enjoyed it. Even if the boss were hard. She was really good in making people frustrated. I heard at her company now she has made 2 people resigned. Wow... How rad is that?? Hahahaaa... Anyways, more often than not, she was more frustrated at me than I was at her. :D So sorry, boss.

In this kind of work, you can't stay still. There's always something to learn. Research, research, research. You always get new knowledge, from the actual research, from the Internet, from observation, etc. This job taught me to observe. Not just sightseeing, but also to analyse. Always looking for insights. Always being alert. And always know the new things, the trends, what's hip, be it fashion, clubs, hangout places, movies and soap operas, celebrities, socialites, advertisements, even politics and economics. I also need to know all about the products itself, the brands, and their competitors. The profile of the users. Everything. It's cool, eh?

Now, my brain is frozen. I really need to melt it and make it work again. I need it badly.