By Olga Strelkova
Russian Public Opinion & Market Research has grown during the last 25 years from a limited number of private research companies to the well-developed industry that provides business and social insights. The work of hundreds small and big companies, who gather and analyze great amount of information about opinions, intentions, preferences and behaviors of people and organizations is well known to state government, business and institutions of civil society, and is widely discussed in mass media.
Today’s market situation is characterized by radical and rapid change of research technologies, growing stratification, specialization and at the same time concentration of the market research companies as well as active appearance of new players. These processes require additional efforts to present the industry to its potential customers and consumers in all its diversity and with all the dynamically changing tools and capabilities.
Guided by the interests of the entire professional community of social researchers, in 2016 an initiative group of representatives of several leading industry companies decided to hold an annual event called Russian Research Week (RRW) http://www.researchweek.ru/.
.The goal of the Week remains to popularize the field of applied sociological and marketing research, to attract additional attention of potential customers and media to the activities of Russian research companies. The organizing committee of this year’s edition includes representatives of nine companies: WCIOM, POF (Public Opinion Foundation), GfK Russia, Kantar TNS, OMI (Online Market Intelligence), ZIRKON, NAFI Research Center, Salt, MAGRAM and two associations: ESOMAR and “Group 7/89”. The general partner of the Week is the Russian Association of Research Companies OIROM.
This year, Russian Research Week includes a number of conferences and other events on the topic of social and marketing research, that are held not only in one week, but during the whole year.
In 2016 it was decided to organize the first ResearchEXPO just after the Grushinskaya conference. this was further developed by the whole week becoming “the research one” and to invite other companies to participate in the week and to organize their own events.
In the 2016, 20 companies organized 22 events during the RRW 2016 in Moscow, Omsk, Saint-Petersburg, Astrakhan, Barnaul and Ekaterinburg. In 2017, 18 events were organized by 18 companies in Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Omsk and virtual events. ESOMAR organized the first virtual conference “Best For Russia”. More than 1500 participants from research companies and client-side organizations took part in the event.
This year, Russian Research Week will take place on 16-21 April and more than 10 events are planned for this period. Key highlights include:
Third annual RESEARCH EXPO 2018 in Sokolniki Hall (on the 20th of April) , check out here
VIII Sociological Grushinskaya conference “Sociologist 2.0: A profession in transformation” (on the 18-19 of April), check out here
ESOMAR virtual conference “The best for Russia” (on the 17th of April) , register here
The Week also includes a marathon of webinars held by the leading marketing research companies (on 16 April) and an international academic event for young researchers “Spectrum of social – 2018: the phenomenon of choice in modern social space” (on the 16-17th of April).
It is important that not only research companies, but also universities participate in the RRW. For instance, the Siberian Interdisciplinary School of Digital Research “Diving in Digital” is organized by Novosibirsk State University.
In general, Russian Research Week provides a great opportunity for the researchers to organise their own events, meet each other and potential clients, make good contacts, discuss issues and trends of contemporary market research industry, and understand each other better. Hope you join us!
By Olga Strelkova, OMI
