Implicit Testing

The questioning approach that is followed in a typical quantitative research project is one that captures the reactions of respondents – to a stimulus, say description of a new product idea, an advertisement, a packaging, a brand logo, or perceptions of a brand, a celebrity, a social influencer, etc. – only as stated by them.

The responses that we get in a traditional questionnaire-based survey, namely explicit response, are those that are derived from conscious thinking.

When respondents are exposed to a stimulus, they do not always tell us what they really think about it. It is not that they are unwilling. Oftentimes they are just unaware of their true reactions.

What gets stated in a survey are their thoughts that are rational, logic-based, slow and deliberate. And what remains not revealed are their reactions that are unconscious, intuitive, fast and emotion-based. But it is those that matter when consumers make decisions such as purchase or recommendation of a brand, or form impressions about the brand.

There are two modes of thinking, System 1 Thinking and System 2 Thinking. System 1 Thinking is fast, unconscious, and automatic. System 2 Thinking is slow, conscious, and effortful. Of all the thinking we do when making decisions or taking actions, System 1 Thinking accounts for 95%, and System 2, a meagre 5%.

Unbeknownst to them, what respondents express in a survey is influenced by various unconscious cognitive biases that tend to make them come across as rational, conformist, positive, polite, and so on.

Implicit Testing helps overcome such hurdles in responses due to those unconscious biases and unearths the reactions of the respondents that are unsaid and unknown and reveals to us the true bias-free response to the stimulus.