Millennium Marketing Research®

Tom Schori DBA Millennium Marketing Research®, 808 Ironwood, Normal IL 61761, 309-532-8466

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How to avoid the 'paralysis by analysis syndrome.'

By Thomas R. Schori, Ph.D., and Michael L. Garee, Principals,  Millennium Marketing Research, 808 E. Ironwood, Normal, IL 61761-5239. Tel. 309-532-8466 -

Anybody who has ever been involved, even tangentially, in a research project for their company quite likely has witnessed it first-hand. "It" is known as the "paralysis by analysis" syndrome, and it is widespread, time-wasting and can prove to be quite costly in both dollars and in lost business opportunities. Here is how the syndrome manifests itself.

Let’s suppose your company has a strategic goal to grow market share by at least two share points during the next five years. In order to accomplish that goal, management decides to launch a major research project to determine the best way to go about accomplishing the goal. Soon, the survey instrument is developed and fielded. Several weeks thereafter, most of the pertinent data have been gathered and analysis begun. The final research report is presented several weeks later to management. It’s at this point (or shortly thereafter) that "paralysis by analysis" is most likely to occur.

Even though the research findings may be crystal clear regarding what the company should do to begin accomplishing its strategic growth goal, there will usually be someone in management who asks if they can "take these findings to the bank." In other words, are the data "perfect," i.e., can they in fact be 100% guaranteed. Of course, the short answer is that no data are perfect, and that no 100% guarantees of any kind can be made on the basis of any research results. There simply are too many intervening, unknown and unpredictable factors involved in the equation to make such guarantees.

The net result therefore can be that management may balk at implementing the tactical measures the research suggests should be implemented because they need "more time to think about it." That is, they need more time to "analyze" the data before even considering making any decisions.

Now, this is not to suggest that we believe important decisions should be made without due consideration of all pertinent details, all possible outcomes, both positive and negative, resulting from those decisions. However, we do strongly believe that once these considerations have been made, decisions definitely should be forthcoming as soon as possible. Otherwise, as surely as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, the old "paralysis by analysis" will indeed set in and nothing will happen to get the company underway to accomplishing its strategic growth goal.

Over the years, as marketers and researchers, we have developed an approach that can go a long way toward helping to avoid the "paralysis by analysis" syndrome. The approach won’t eliminate all indecisiveness among key decision makers, but it certainly can substantially reduce it. This is how the approach works:

• Make sure that all key decision makers agree upon and, equally important, "buy in" to the general and specific research objectives before even thinking about creating the survey instrument, let alone launching the actual research project.

• Never, never, never include questions on surveys that deal with issues, policies or procedures that either cannot or will not be modified¾even if research results clearly and unmistakably indicate that such modification is necessary or desirable to achieve some stated objective. (Example: If your company’s management has taken the position that it will never lower prices, don’t take up valuable survey space and respondents’ time by including questions regarding the price issue.)

• Present the final research report in person to the key decision makers. That is, never simply distribute the final report through inter-office mail, and, except under the most unusual circumstances, don’t distribute the report before the actual presentation, in order to "prepare" decision makers for the presentation. (This can literally prove to be "the kiss of death" because it provides report recipients the opportunity to "lobby" other recipients before the researcher ever has the chance to correctly position the results.)

• Make sure that the final report contains very specific recommendations regarding what should actually be done as the result of the research findings. (This may seem somewhat presumptuous, however, we have found that most non-researchers simply can’t accurately determine what research findings actually "mean" without some interpretation and guidance from the researcher. Usually, research data are simply too overwhelming for the non-researcher to deal with unassisted.)

• Work individually with key decision makers after the final report has been presented, offering to assist them implement or operationalize the research findings by, say, testing various concepts against focus groups, etc.

Again, using this approach won’t guarantee that there won’t still be some "foot dragging," or that the research results won’t simply be read and then "put on the shelf," but it can go a long way toward significantly reducing the risk of "paralysis by analysis."