iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Nonfiction Research is a young research-based company from New York looking to approach research for businesses differently.
“We’re basically an independent research company that helps other companies understand their customers better,” the company’s co-founder, Gunny Scarfo, tells ABC News. He worked as the head of Digital Strategy at VICE Media before founding Nonfiction Research with Ben Zeidler.
What makes them unique, Scarfo says, is the “unusual things we do to get to the truth” of how people are feeling. He recently spoke with ABC News about their approach:
“Traditional market research is really powerful at answering an easy question that people have no problems giving you information about. But a lot of modern challenges businesses are facing in understanding their customers need to go further than that. Nonfiction’s approach is to try to get underneath the surface to get people to say things they might not say to market researchers.”
Scarfo and Zeidler were collecting data for the company’s new study to better understand the personal financial situations of Americans. Some of the strategies they employed included surveying rap lyrics to understand personal finance, baking with mothers and asking questions about their financial situations, and interviewing people in a prison unchaperoned.
Discussing their strategy, Scarfo adds, “Part of it is being willing to go where other researchers aren’t willing to go and take angles that they aren’t willing to take. And the other is to make a safe space.”
The new study, The Secret Financial Lives of Americans, documents the financial stress many citizens experience, and how they veil their struggles on social media and in public. They found 52 percent of Americans have broken down into tears over money, 37 percent have gone to sleep hungry because of money, and 12 percent have stolen something they could not afford.
Scarfo likens the experience of many Americans to “superheroes, in reverse.” He says many people project themselves as invincible in public, but lead a secret life of daily stress triggered by their finances.
Their research also examines how institutions struggles to meet the financial needs of Americans, such as helping them budget month-to-month and plan affordable vacations.
The company’s study is 100-pages and is based on four years of research. It can be found on the Nonfiction Research website.
As for Nonfiction Research’s future plans, Scarfo hopes to explore “something where there’s a gap between what people are really experiencing and feeling, and what businesses are delivering to them.”
He plans to delve into topics such as medical care and privacy.
Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
New York research company discusses different means to gathering data
(NEW YORK) — Nonfiction Research https://www.thisisnonfiction.com/ is a young research-based company from New York looking to approach research for businesses differently.
“We’re basically an independent research company that helps other companies understand their customers better,” the company’s co-founder, Gunny Scarfo, tells ABC News. He worked as the head of Digital Strategy at VICE Media before founding Nonfiction Research with Ben Zeidler.
What makes them unique, Scarfo says, is the “unusual things we do to get to the truth” of how people are feeling. He recently spoke with ABC News about their approach:
“Traditional market research is really powerful at answering an easy question that people have no problems giving you information about. But a lot of modern challenges businesses are facing in understanding their customers need to go further than that. Nonfiction’s approach is to try to get underneath the surface to get people to say things they might not say to market researchers.”
Scarfo and Zeidler were collecting data for the company’s new study to better understand the personal financial situations of Americans. Some of the strategies they employed included surveying rap lyrics to understand personal finance, baking with mothers and asking questions about their financial situations, and interviewing people in a prison unchaperoned.
Discussing their strategy, Scarfo adds, “Part of it is being willing to go where other researchers aren’t willing to go and take angles that they aren’t willing to take. And the other is to make a safe space.”
The new study, The Secret Financial Lives of Americans, documents the financial stress many citizens experience, and how they veil their struggles on social media and in public. They found 52 percent of Americans have broken down into tears over money, 37 percent have gone to sleep hungry because of money, and 12 percent have stolen something they could not afford.
Scarfo likens the experience of many Americans to “superheroes, in reverse.” He says many people project themselves as invincible in public, but lead a secret life of daily stress triggered by their finances.
Their research also examines how institutions struggles to meet the financial needs of Americans, such as helping them budget month-to-month and plan affordable vacations.
The company’s study is 100-pages and is based on four years of research. It can be found on the Nonfiction Research website.
As for Nonfiction Research’s future plans, Scarfo hopes to explore, “something where there’s a gap between what people are really experiencing and feeling, and what businesses are delivering to them.”
He plans to delve into topics such as medical care and privacy.
Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.