An overview of how to do more authentic market research with young people (16-24 year old, 'Generation Z'). Outlines how Feeling Mutual used Liveminds' behavioural recruitment' to do more authentic youth research and some of the psychology of young people that inspired us.

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How Behavioural Recruitment can
inspire more authentic youth
research
Tom Woodnutt – Founder, Feeling Mutual
Hugh Carling – Founder, Liveminds

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Too much youth research is artificial
There’s one recurring theme in the context of understanding young
people, and that is the importance of authenticity. Authenticity is
the life blood of the research industry. Without it, our findings and
the recommendations which follow, will be artificial and therefore
meaningless.
All too often in the context of youth research, authenticity gets
compromised.
● Firstly, because researchers are often too distant from the
youth audiences they seek to understand
● Secondly, because traditional, artificial research settings (like
viewing facilities) put participants on edge
● Thirdly, because it's relatively harder to find young people that
accurately meet the recruitment criteria because there are less
of them on panels and in recruiter databases

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How do young people consume music video?
In the context of these challenges, The Box Plus Network - the UK’s
biggest broadcaster of music video (running channels like 4Music,
Kerrang and the BeBox online platform) challenged Feeling Mutual
to go the extra mile and understand ‘real youth’.
● The purpose was to understand how and why, young people
love music video (across platforms, devices, audiences and
contexts)
● The findings would inform decisions across the business, from
scheduling and content to marketing and advertiser
partnerships
It was clear that we needed to go beyond traditional methods of
recruitment and research.
How, who, when and why?
- To inspire scheduling, content
and marketing
- To inform advertiser and label
conversations

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We went beyond claimed behaviour
Feeling Mutual dove deep into the needs that drive music video
consumption, and measured them across contexts, devices and
audiences. We:
● Commissioned a music psychologist to challenge our
assumptions about why young people love music video
● Ran stakeholder interviews and a workshop to clarify the
business decisions that would be made after the research
● Used online and mobile qual to develop our hypotheses -
allowing us to get into their natural environments. Participants:
○ completed mobile diaries of MV occasions
○ conducted mobile deprivation exercises
○ took part in a ‘Simon Cowell record label manager’ game
● Used Behavioural Recruitment to find a sample of 1000 16-24s
for a quant study measuring their behaviour and needs in order
to validate our model
● Ran a debrief to brainstorm implications for the business
Quantitative
Validation
Stakeholder
Workshop02
Psychology
review01
Online & Mobile
Qualitative03
04
Quantitative
Validation04

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Finding fresh, authentic fans
Feeling Mutual set Liveminds - The Behavioural Recruitment
company - the challenge of finding authentic, Generation Z music
lovers who were:
● Actively viewing music videos regularly
● Real fans of particular genres of pop music
● Fresh to research, rather than people who were regularly
taking surveys and doing group discussions
In addition, some participants had to be actively engaged in the
Box Plus Network’s niche channels (including 4music, Kerrang and
Kiss).

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Engaging young people
It was thought that traditional qual and quant recruitment
approaches might have struggled to deliver the representative
sample required, because:
● There is an under-representation of youth in traditional panels
and qual databases
● Some of the sample the client required had a very low
incidence rate
● This younger demographic can also be less reliable for
qualitative research

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Participant quality is the biggest challenge
These kinds of challenges are increasingly common for all age
groups.
The new GRIT report which came out just last week stated that
‘without doubt, access to quality and representative sample is the
single biggest challenge’ facing researchers today.
When you are dealing with a hard to reach audience like Kids and
Youth, these wider problems become particularly acute.
“ Accessing a quality and
representative sample is the
single biggest challenge
”

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What is Behavioural Recruitment?
Liveminds technology allows us to recruit fresh participants,
on-demand, using Facebook’s unparalleled dataset on the daily
activities of more than 2 billion people, in 190 countries.
1. We place our hyper-targeted adverts into the News Feed of
any user whose demographics, interests and behaviours closely
match each project’s criteria.
2. Interested people click through to a page in our Facebook
app, which gives them more detailed information about us, the
project and the reward on offer.
3. If they want to take part they take a detailed screener inside
the Liveminds app. Or if it’s a quant study they take the survey
there and then.
4. For the qual phase we contact all the people who’ve passed
the screener, to further qualify them with a comprehension,
creative and technical test and then we choose the best.

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Key advantages of Behavioural Recruitment
For The Box Plus Network, the method was used for online qual in
the UK, but it can just as easily be applied to other research
methods and markets. Liveminds has used Behavioural Recruitment
in more than 70 countries, for everything from face-to-face focus
groups to placing automated cameras around family breakfast
tables.
In all those contexts, the benefits of utilising social network data are
the same:
1. The vast reach gives you access to more than 200X the number
of people in even the world’s biggest panels.
2. You’re recruiting based on real behaviour, not just what people
claim in a screener.
3. You get fresh participants for every project, not the same
conditioned repeat respondents.
Reach
Freshness
Accuracy
BehaviouralTraditional
10 million
Claimed
Behaviour
Repeat
Respondents
2 billion
Real
Behaviour
Fresh
Participants

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Behavioural Recruitment solved the challenges
Behavioural Recruitment worked really well for The Box Plus
Network because it:
● Gave us access to a huge youth audience
● Allowed us to find people who we could be sure were
genuinely into The Box Plus Network’s channels, based on
their past online behaviour
● Allowed us to find high quality, fresh and motivated
participants

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Access to a huge youth audience
To put this in context, Facebook has 7-8 million monthly active
users aged between 18-24 in the UK.
It is true that this is dipping slightly, some reports say by 3% last
year, but the number of active users remains absolutely huge.

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Based on actual behaviour
Through the hyper targeting of Facebook’s advertising system,
Liveminds was able to narrow that huge audience down to those
people:
● whose online behaviour on both Facebook, and 10 million
other connected websites, had clearly demonstrated that they
regularly watched music videos, and
● a proportion of music video lovers who were also fans of the
relevant music genres and actively engaged with niche The
Box Plus Network channels like Kerrang.

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Better quality participants
To make confident decisions The Box Plus Network needed to talk
to people who were engaged and reliable.
The participants Liveminds found on-demand were fresh to
research, so were naturally curious, enthusiastic, and keen to
discuss a subject we knew they were genuinely interested in.
In fact, a recent study of Liveminds qualitative research platform,
analysing more than 35 million English words, found that
Behavioural Recruitment participants give 47% more data in
research projects than those recruited through traditional methods.
There is less chance of participants ‘gaming recruitment’ because
there’s no human interface between them and the screener. And
they’ve only been invited to screen, based on hugely in-depth data
about them.

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A more natural conversation
Behavioural Recruitment is fully integrated with the Liveminds
mobile qual platform, which meant the conversations with this
audience could take place in their natural environments and
participants could engage at their own convenience.
This minimised the research effects of talking in an artificial viewing
facility, focus group setting.

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(Some) of what we discovered
Through the psychology review Feeling Mutual identified and
ranked a number of needs that music video addresses in young
people.
These were then refined through the online and mobile qualitative
research.
The findings were finally validated using a survey with the 1000
16-24 year olds before being workshopped with the client team.
All of this was recruited via Behavioural Recruitment.
The psychology review gave us a big headstart when it came to
designing and interpreting the study.
PRIMARYSECONDARYTERTIARY

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‘Teen Narcissistic Vulnerability’
Young people are becoming more preoccupied with their own
image. Campbell (2009) found that each generation is more
interested in their own image than their predecessor. Gentile (2012)
tied this to the rise of social media.
Narcissism and the ability to style identity online in order to
generate attention across networks is a hugely useful skill in today’s
hyper connected world.
One theory takes an evolutionary psychology perspective,
suggesting that adolescents are hardwired to prepare to leave their
families to mate with someone from a different community, to
maintain genetic diversity. Therefore it’s adaptive to be able to
develop an identity different from our parents’.
These insights helped Feeling Mutual focus on the role music plays
in developing and maintaining identity.

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‘Self-Socialisation’
Self-socialisation was another big theme in the study.
Lemming (1987) found that in order to learn about taboo, adult
themes (like sex, drugs and violence), Teens will often turn to music
and their peers more than authority figures like parents and
teachers.
Even back in 1985, a study by Baxter found that 75% of MV
contains suggestive material.
This helped us interrogate the role of music video in the context of
cultural learning.

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‘Picture Superiority Effect’
One of the biggest themes the psychology review revealed was
how music video can be particularly emotionally impactful, even
more so than audio alone. Its emotional significance, is one of its
biggest strengths.
This can be understood by the ‘picture superiority effect’. This was
measured by Hutchinson (2015) who found that music with video
has a deeper emotional impact than music alone.
This can be explained by a study by Hinokosa (2000) that showed
how images go into the subconscious faster via system 1 compared
to words alone.

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Video takes people closer to the artist
“Artists can feel very distant. The music video helps you understand
what they feel. So you connect more with the song, and it feels
more emotional than the audio alone.”
(Joe, West Sussex, 17)
The qual allowed Feeling Mutual to go deeper into the audience’s
experience of video - in the moment. By talking in private
one-on-ones online and asking participants to feedback while they
view music video at home - we got closer to their actual
experience. As demonstrated by the verbatim above.
‘Nothing left to lose’ – Heaven’s Basement

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Music helps people manage their moods
“This song never fails to cheer me up. The video makes me want to
join Taylor and dance, not caring what anyone else thinks; It’s that
carefree attitude you need in life”
(Emma-Louise, Belfast, 17)
We also found that music video plays a vital role in managing
emotion. The importance of mood regulation was shown in a study
by Zilan (2002) which found that in bad moods, people elect to
listen to uplifting music for longer than when in good moods.
In this example, the participant explained how Taylor Swift picks
them up and gets them dancing. Not just making them happy but
also giving them a confidence boost.
The music video diaries consistently highlighted just how important
music video is to mood management.

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Many who watch to lift their mood, dance
One thing we found, that was not present in the psychology
literature, was the high number of young people who watch music
video and dance to it. Most people who watch music video to
escape from the here and now will dance along.

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This validated investment in dancing content
The research helped validate a stream of content already in
production which teach the audience dance moves. For example,
this show called ‘Show me the moves’. The research was able to
validate investment in this direction.

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Emotional benefits become rituals
“Usually I watch in the morning after my shower as I dry my hair! I
would say it is now part of my wake up routine!”
(Emma, Dundee)
The qual uncovered a number of rituals involving music video.
For example, watching music video has become embedded in
people’s going out and getting up routines.
When a significant number follow a certain ritual, it suggests there’s
potential to inspire others to follow it.

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The needs behind rituals can inform scheduling
The quant then allowed Feeling Mutual to measure the emotional
needs behind rituals and the context in which they’re active, which
in turn can inform scheduling.
For example, we found that people tend to watch music video for
confidence in the mornings, for motivation in the afternoon and for
nostalgia in the evenings.
This could have implications for scheduling particular types of
music video playlists at particular times of the day.
“You mentioned that often watch music videos for the following reasons. What time do you usually do it?”
| Base: Respondents who ‘Always’ or ‘Often’ watch music videos for each reason (n=158-864)

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Appetite for content can inform production
People into ‘live performances’ are 12% more likely to be
motivated by ‘discovery’. They’re also 34% more likely to
want ‘behind the scenes’ content.
The quant also revealed a number of content drivers which tend to
cluster together and determine engagement, which can be used in
marketing and content development. For example, we found that
people particularly into live performances, are also motivated by
the desire to discover new music and behind the scenes content.
One of the main reasons for winning the project was the innovative
recruitment. Behavioural Recruitment wasn’t just a means to an
end. It was also part of the story of the research to advertisers and
music labels. It showed that The Box Plus Network had gone even
further to find authentic fans rather than professional participants.

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Quality of participants is #1 challenge
As outlined previously, recent GRIT reports have revealed that
quality of sample is a huge issue in the industry. Clients and
suppliers are reporting a…
“…general decline in the quality of sample with falling participation
rates... with accessing niche audiences...another concern.”
Liveminds wanted to know what qualitative researchers in the UK
felt about the recruitment they depend on.
This led us to commision Sketchbook Consulting to do some
Research on Recruitment. Our survey with 100 qualitative
researchers found that they overwhelmingly consider ‘quality of
participants’ to be the biggest challenge facing the industry.
Q: Which, if any, of these do you consider to be challenges facing the qualitative research industry in your
market today?
Base: All participants - 100

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Need for more representative participants
Research on Recruitment 2018 found that researchers consider
‘accurate fit between sample and recruitment criteria’ to be THE
most important factor in effective recruitment.
But often researchers aren’t experiencing this, as the available
databases are too small and too many repeat respondents are
gaming the system.
This is particularly relevant to youth research because there are
fewer of them and therefore more pressure for repetition.
Furthermore, given their need for income and a greater propensity
to take risks, the chance of inaccurate participants is particularly
high in youth research.

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Professional participants are a problem
Most researchers in the survey think that professional respondents
are a problem in qualitative research.
More than half of researchers said they had recognised the same
people in different projects within the last 12 months.
Q: Overall, do you think “professional participants” are a problem in qualitative research?
Base: All participants - 100
Base: All participants - 100 Agree Neither agree or disagree Disagree
Q: I recognise the same participants taking part in my qualitative research projects
51 19 30

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Professional participants reduce authenticity
The problem is that by doing focus groups so regularly, people
become too familiar with the process and less representative.
Also, professional participants can become adept at playing the
system: most researchers consider them to be more likely to lie
when recruited and to lie in the research.
ToofamiliarwithresearchMorelikelytoliewhenrecruitedMorelikelytolieintheresearch
Insufficientlymotivated
Quickerandeasiertofind
Understandresearchwell
Morereliable
Moremotivated
76
73
64
17
64
59
21
16
Q: Which, if any, of these statements do you think apply to "professional participants”?
Base: All participants - 100

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Need for greater authenticity
Base: All participants - 100 Agree Neither agree or disagree Disagree
52 24 24
But this is not just an issue with ‘professional participants’.
Research on Recruitment found:
More than half of researchers in the study believe too many
participants lie to get recruited.
More than half of researchers surveyed believe some recruiters
encourage participants to lie.
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Q: I believe too many participants lie in order to get recruited
Q: Some recruiters encourage participants to lie in order to get recruited
Click here to download the full Research on Recruitment 2018
report.

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Behavioural Recruitment solved the challenges
Behavioural Recruitment, powered by real time, social media data,
solves recruitment challenges and provides truly representative,
fresh participants.
Given the challenge of finding good young participants, its value to
youth research is even higher. In addition to The Box Plus Network
project, using social media data has enabled Liveminds to find:
● Students in Malaysia looking to study business in the UK
● Snapchat users and their mums on the East Coast of the United
States
● Young expats who have recently moved to London, and
● Many others…

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Tom Woodnutt
feelingmutual.com
Hugh Carling
liveminds.com
Please get in touch for further information: