How to use Research Technology to Gather Data Ethically?

For quite a few years now, cookies have been used to track website visitors and gather data that facilitates targeted ads and improved UX (user experience). Internet cookies, known as HTTP cookies, are small files that a website stores on your device so that the site can monitor you and gather certain information about you. Now, web browsers have started giving users the option to restrict cookies so as to protect their privacy. This is mainly due to the fact that a lot of users feel like internet cookies are invasive, raising a myriad of privacy concerns. Marketers must, therefore, adapt to a new environment that is independent of cookies while still enabling the collection of knowledge-driven data. 

This is where ResTech, or research technology, comes in. ResTech refers to a field of research that is conducted with the objective of creating and delivering enhanced technologies that support, enable, and enhance the entire research lifecycle. ResTech is designed around the concept of ethically-sourced data and, therefore, it relies on consent-based insights. 

These are a few market research tools that have been introduced through research technology as a solution to gather data without cookie tracking: 

• Directly Asking Users: A straightforward alternative to the use of cookies would be to directly ask users to answer the questions that cookies would be used to answer. 
• In-App and Interactive TV Environments: Your organization can partner with media platforms and publishers to facilitate server-to-server integrations on first-party identifiers, allowing for the collection of data that has already been provided by users with their knowledge and consent.