What is behavioural science and why is it important to market research?

What people say is often different from what they do. Stated attitudes differ from observed behaviours. This is the “say-do” gap — and it limits traditional market research. Behavioural science is the key to helping us design research programmes that close the say-do gap. 

Simply put, it’s the systematic study of human behaviour.

The “behavioural” part relates to what people do, not what they say. The “science” part relates to being systematic — making predictions and collecting evidence to test them. 

Four elements of human decision making cause the say-do gap we observe as researchers:

1. We don’t think the way we think we think. Much of our decision making is intuitive thinking (“System 1” – fast, instinctive, and automatic).
2. We rely on mental shortcuts to help us get through the day. Adults make thousands of decisions in a day, which leads to decision overload. Shortcuts serve us pretty well as we go about our daily lives.
3. These shortcuts are prone to predictable patterns of error. These are the “cognitive biases” you’ve likely read about.
4. Context shapes our decisions far more than we realise. I happily pay £4 for a coffee at the train station, but I’m annoyed a 20-serving packet costs the same in the supermarket.

How can we apply a behavioural science lens to market research? 

Over the next few articles, we’ll explore how we as researchers can…

1. Define the behaviour 
2. Observe, not just ask 
3. Measure emotion
4. Experiment and test
5. Triangulate approaches

The next post in the say-do gap series will delve into how to spend time defining the behaviour in question. 

Free copies of our book ‘Closing the Say-Do Gap’ are available now. Drop us a line to get yours.