With declining respondent participation rates the entire industry (well, at least some of it) has been thinking about how we lighten the respondent burden.

And the fact is that it isn’t really our choice anymore. With most populations migratng from landline to mobile, many surveys are going to get smaller and simpler (quickly!).

But, how about online research?

Welll, one thing I can guarantee will NOT be the future of mmarket research is the awful survey design Bad Research; No Biscuit identifies here:

http://researchrants.wordpress.com/2009/09/05/another-fine-matrix/

Ouch!

This entire discussion is reminiscent of an excellent presentation on online research formats given this fall in Las Vegas at TMRE. All kinds of new, interactive online formats are being tried in an attempt to make the survey process more interesting and less painful.

And speaking of pain, the Bad Research; No Biscuit highlight is what the folks at my firm (StrategyOne) refer to as a “deathgrid.” No normal human has the patience to fill out a “deathgrid” and no non-incarcerated individual should be forced to do it.

But, this entire episode raises a good question?

How do we make online surveys more engaging and “fun”?

One radical answer may come from the gaming world. What if surveys began to resemble games? What if a “survey” became more of a “simulation game” with respondents as “players”?

Play and the need for play is hardwired into humans. Filling out “deathgrids” is not. It may well be that some day we all have game programmers working for us.