You've seen these too -- they come in the mail from a charity usually, and the envelope says something like this:
Your response to a survey is urgently requested. Please take a few minutes to respond, even if you have responded to a similar survey in the past. Thank you.
Inside is an official looking document with the logo of the good cause prominently displayed, and questions that look like research questions. There's a bank of attitudinal statements with a Likert Scale.
And then there are a list of BIG WORLD PROBLEMS: I need to select what concerns me most from a long list. Things like children, refugees, security, global warming, terrorism, natural disasters, AIDS.
Just in case I had forgotten for a moment what a troubled globe we live on, here's a list to remind me. What is going through my head right now ? Well, probably some thought like this: "how can you pick just three???" And that is exactly what I am supposed to be thinking.
The whole survey is a sales pitch, designed to get me to a place where I am favorably disposed to writing a cheque, or even better, joining the AMBASSADOR'S CIRCLE by agreeing to a monthly debit to my account.
Deconstructing
This is not research. It is very well written direct marketing. Why can I say that so definitively, when you may be thinking this organization is just trying to be efficient with stamps? Here's why:
- You can't research complex issues this way.
We know in our hearts that the UN (United Nations Association in Canada was the issuer in this instance) does research on public opinion. But this isn't it. The real research probably asks me about a number of other organizations as well, such as Medicins sans Frontiers, Red Cross, Salvation Army, Save the Children, Amnesty International, and others.
- These questions are biased
For example, one question asks me to choose from a long list what I see as the UN's "greatest successes to date". Isn't that a clever way to claim that list as successes, without directly saying it? Such good copywriting! But not a good research question.
- The sampling alone is a deal-breaker
There is not nearly enough information about me to know where I fit in the national demographic mix. What if my spouse actually answered the questions, instead of me? Are only those people who send in a cheque going to have their opinions included? (I'm doubting if anyone's opinions are going to be included, actually) Real research manages these issues with some care.
So What?
But really, what is wrong with this? Why are Selling Under the Guise of Research and Fundraising Under the Guise of Research against the code of conduct for all professional researchers? And why shouldn't organizations use this method if it helps them raise money?
Well, it's against the code of conduct becuase it brings real research into disrepute, It looks like it might be real, but then there's this request for money. Hmmm...
These kinds of things make it harder to get real opinions from people.
It's not even nice from a straight consumer-protection perspective. We all have our sensors set up to "raise shields" when we are dealing with advertising messages. But this doesn't immediately look like one, so it sneaks in under the sensors, and subtly influences our opinions before we even get to the fundraising question.
People don't really like this much. That is why reputable research firms now go to some lengths to tell people at the start "we are not trying to sell you anything".
The Bottom Line
It probably works. That's why we see so much of it in our mailboxes. But we don't have to play along. You can withhold your financial support from organizations that use these tactics. And you can tell your direct-marketing company that you want to see different options presented for fundraising.
And if you ever get a call like this from a broker (as I did once), RUN. Because the last person you want to trust with your investments is someone who is trying to deceive you before they even have your business.
(Someday, NUGGING will be thought tasteless too -- that's networking under the guise of begging for employment or referrals. )
