How to use Research Technology to Gather Data Ethically? Research Technology

How to use Research Technology to Gather Data Ethically?

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Big data is being leveraged increasingly in the business world to improve operations, enhance customer experience, and create targeted marketing campaigns that ultimately contribute to increasing sales and profits. As the value and importance of big data continue to rise in the business world, the need for privacy appears to be increasing at the same rate. Marketers seem to have found themselves in a perplexing conundrum; How can we gather data regarding users’ opinions, behaviours, and sentiments without compromising on their need for privacy? 

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How ResTech can be Used to Gather Data Ethically (Without Cookies)

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. 

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Takeaways

Like every other aspect of business, the requirements regarding data privacy are continually evolving. Businesses must adapt by providing users with the privacy they covet without compromising on the quality of the data they gather. Research technology provides businesses with alternatives to achieve this vision while acting in users’ best interests. 

Organizations have the power to inspire and stimulate the use of ethically-sourced data by investing in the right players in the data industry. With power comes responsibility; businesses should leverage ResTech to identify and employ the right measures that enable the collection of data-driven knowledge in an ethical and privacy-conscious way. 

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FAQs on ResTech and Ethically-Sourced Data

Big data is a term that is used to refer to large volumes of data, structured and unstructured, that increases exponentially with time. This data is collected by organizations and can be used to enhance customer experience and the efficacy of targeted marketing.

ResTech, or research technology, refers to the field of research that is conducted with the objective of creating and delivering enhanced technologies that support, enable, and enhance the entire research lifecycle.

HTTP cookies, or internet cookies, are small blocks of data that a website sends to your device when you use it. This gives the site the ability to monitor you and gather certain information about you.

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