To what degree is the individual participation behaviour in MROCs affected by personality traits?

1. CHRISTIAN DÖSSEL
FLORIAN TRESS
PERSONALITY
MATTERS

2. WHO WE ARE
CONSUMERS
NORSTAT
MM-EYE
END CLIENTS
Masters of the Art of Market Research
Follow us: @olympiamilano @FTress #GOR14
2

3. THE COMPOSITION OF WORKING MROCs
RECRUITMENT
NO WILLINGNESS
TO PARTICIPATE /
NO AVAILABILITY
FIELD PERFORMANCE
NO LOGIN /
SAMPLE FAILURE
RECRUITMENT
 over recruitment
 phone call to enhance
commitment
 reminder mails
LURKERS
SILENT OBSERVERS
REGULAR
PARTICIPANTS
OUTSTANDING
PARTICIPANTS
FIELD PERFORMANCE
 Would it be possible to recruit outstanding participants only?
 To what degree is performance a matter of participants' personality?
 What is the personality of outstanding participants?
 Is performance a matter of social dynamics / formation of social roles?
Follow us: @olympiamilano @FTress #GOR14
3

4. THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS


accounting for different traits in personality without overlapping
high consistency in interviews, self-descriptions and observations
openness
conscentiousness
extraversion
emotional
stability
open
average
conventional
extroverted
X
average
agreeableness
agreeable
X
introverted
Follow us: @olympiamilano @FTress #GOR14
average
disagreeable
emotional stable
X
average
neurotic
conscientious
X
average
spontaneous
=
243
personality
profiles
4

5. THE STUDY DESIGN
GROUP 1
 all participants score average values in
every domain of their personality
GROUP 2
 all participants score average values in
every domain of their personality
 but there is exactly one dimension with
extreme positive or extreme negative values
openness
openness
conscentiousness
emotional stability
extraversion
agreeableness
Follow us: @olympiamilano @FTress #GOR14
conscentiousness
emotional stability
extraversion
agreeableness
5

6. REQUIREMENTS
 Modular software: diary,
community, surveys, media
uploads
 Multiple topics: performance
as a matter of relevance
Follow us: @olympiamilano @FTress #GOR14
6

7. RECRUITING
PRE-SCREENING OF 2.627 PANELISTS
560 ELIGIBLE PANELISTS (IR: 21%)
2.067 NON-ELIGIBLE PANELISTS
169 PANELISTS
391 PANELISTS
SCREENING OF 560 PANELISTS
GROUP 1
GROUP 2
invitations to 50 selected panelists
to get 20 participants
invitations to 70 selected panelists
to get 20 participants
CONVERSION: 40%
CONVERSION: 29%
Follow us: @olympiamilano @FTress #GOR14
7

8. CONVERSION
REGISTERED
PARTICIPANTS
ACTIVE
PARTICIPANTS
Group 1
40% (20)
55% (11)
Group 2
29% (20)
55% (11)
Conscientious
50%
67%
Unconscientious
43%
100%
Agreeable
25%
50%
Disagreeable
43%
67%
Emotional labile
25%
50%
Emotional stable
25%
0%
Open
50%
33%
0%
n/a
Extroverted
33%
50%
Introverted
0%
n/a
CONVERSION TO
Conventional
Follow us: @olympiamilano @FTress #GOR14
RECRUITMENT
• Different personalities seem to have a
different likeability to join a MROC.
• Introverted and conventional people pose
a risk to be underrepresented.
• On the other hand, unconscientious and
disagreeable people tend to be
overrepresented.
FIELD PERFORMANCE
• However, on the surface, both groups
performed similarly, once they were
recruited.
• But on closer inspection, there are huge
differences between different personality
profiles.
8

9. PERSONALITY TRAITS: AGREEABLENESS


Agreeable individuals value getting along with others. They
are generally considerate, kind, generous, trusting and
trustworthy, helpful, and willing to compromise their interests
with others.
Agreeable people also have an optimistic view of human
nature.
Agreeable person in respect to possible risks of online dating:
"… an awful lot of things can go wrong. For example you
could meet you boss or your neighbor on an online-dating
platform, it is unpredictable…"
Disagreeable person regarding same topic:
"… I find it very risky to look for a partner this way. Especially
young people are very easy for someone and really know
nothing about the other person…"
Follow us: @olympiamilano @FTress #GOR14
9

10. PERSONALITY TRAITS: AGREEABLENESS

Disagreeable participants showed a competitive attitude,
e.g. strived to obtain a special status in the community (first /
last post of the day).

They were more likely to take extreme positions during the
discussions and were stimulated by controversies. These
extreme positions potentially intimidated other participants
from contributing to these discussions.

Our findings suggest, that disagreeable persons are more
likely to join a community and to participate actively.

In contrasts, agreeable participants were not remarkable in
an either positive or negative way.
Follow us: @olympiamilano @FTress #GOR14
10

11. PERSONALITY TRAITS: EXTRAVERSION

The trait is marked by pronounced engagement with the
external world. Extraverts enjoy interacting with people, and
are often perceived as full of energy. They tend to be
enthusiastic, action-oriented individuals.

Extroverted person about early childhood care:
"... children do join childhood care earlier and earlier so that
parents can continue working much quicker. Children are
getting more independent than in previous times. It is
important that children learn how to deal with technology
very early, it is important for their working life..."

As mentioned before, we were not able to recruit
introverted participants.
Follow us: @olympiamilano @FTress #GOR14
11

12. PERSONALITY TRAITS: EXTRAVERSION

As expected, extroverted participants are very likely to open
a discussion by writing the first post. They serve as a good
example for other participants and break the ice in a
community.

Extroverted participants are very receptive for positive
recognition by the moderator. Their behavior can easily be
reinforced positively.

Like disagreeable participants, extroverted participants
strived to obtain a special status with their posts, e.g. first or
last posts of a thread or a summary of the day.
Follow us: @olympiamilano @FTress #GOR14
12

13. PERSONALITY TRAITS:
CONSCIENTIOUSNESS



Conscientiousness is a tendency to show self-discipline, act
dutifully, and aim for achievement against measures or
outside expectations.
High scores on conscientiousness indicate a preference for
planned rather than spontaneous behavior.
Conscientious person about online dating:
"… face to face is the only true communication to begin a
partnership because otherwise I do not know if my opposite
is lying or not. Nowadays everybody seems to be cowards,
easily hiding behind computer screens and longing for the
dream prince or princess. But reality is different…"
Follow us: @olympiamilano @FTress #GOR14
13

14. PERSONALITY TRAITS:
CONSCIENTIOUSNESS

With regards to the activity level, conscientiousness has no
impact on the general amount of contributions.

However, unconscientious / spontaneous participants had a
slightly different style when contributing to the community.
They used more abbreviations, enumerations and
incomplete sentences than conscientious participants.

Only in some very involving topics, unconscientious
participants got more into the topic. It seems that
unconscientious participants have difficulties to get deeply
engaged with a topic.
Follow us: @olympiamilano @FTress #GOR14
14

15. PERSONALITY TRAITS:
EMOTIONAL STABILITY



Being emotionally instable (neurotic) is the tendency to
experience negative emotions, such as anger, anxiety, or
depression.
Those who score high in neuroticism are emotionally
reactive and vulnerable to stress. They are more likely to
interpret ordinary situations as threatening, and minor
frustrations as hopelessly difficult.
Emotionally instable person about car-sharing
"… the success is surely on the cheap alternative for people
who only need the car very little…"
"… typical user: living in the city, because car-sharing is not
common in rural areas, either single or family (in that case:
car sharing as second car)… "
Follow us: @olympiamilano @FTress #GOR14
15

16. PERSONALITY TRAITS:
EMOTIONAL STABILITY

Emotional stable participants were not remarkable in an
either positive or negative way.

On the other hand, emotional instable participants
contributed in a very restrained way: a lot of descriptive
posts, extensive use of impersonal pronouns, confirmation of
what has already been said, avoiding to take a personal
standpoint.

It is open to question, if this personality profile has a function
in MROCs: these participants are neither moderating /
counterbalancing extreme positions, nor adding new
arguments to the discussion.
Follow us: @olympiamilano @FTress #GOR14
16

17. PERSONALITY TRAITS: OPENNESS



Open people are, when compared to closed people, more
creative and more aware of their feelings. They are more
likely to hold unconventional beliefs.
On average, people who register high in openness are
intellectually curious, open to emotion, and willing to try new
things.
Open person about differences between renting and
owning a house:
"Whether there is a typical tenant, I do not know. Many do
not have the ability to build a house, financially or for other
reasons. A homeowner is proud of its acquisition in general
and often looks down from above on the tenant. For him,
tenants are almost second-class citizens. Typical saying a
homeowner is "Yes, my tenants ..."
Follow us: @olympiamilano @FTress #GOR14
17

18. PERSONALITY TRAITS: OPENNESS

Participants with an open personality generally answered in
complete sentences, are specific, weight their arguments
and use examples to underline them. They reacted
positively upon new content and follow-up questions.

These participants are absolutely vital for MROCs. They
support the moderator by providing a lot of stepping stones
for getting deeper into the topic. Usually, their contributions
are very meaningful and make the interpretation of the
contents easier.

Conventional participants could not be recruited. A possible
reason is an aversion to the “new experience” of an MROC
(against the backdrop of a known panel membership).
Follow us: @olympiamilano @FTress #GOR14
18

19. GROUP DYNAMICS

There is no evidence, that heterogeneous groups (GROUP 2)
are per se more dynamic than homogenous groups (GROUP
1). However, there are differences in the dynamics.

Homogenous groups less variance in the activity level of
their group members. New stimuli generate an even level of
engagement with the discussion.

On the other hand, heterogeneous groups tend to be very
selective with regards to stimuli: if they are too controversial,
they intimidate some participants while provoking others at
the same time. These groups require a more thorough
moderation, to get every participant involved.
Follow us: @olympiamilano @FTress #GOR14
19

20. WHAT ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS?

In average, the heterogeneous group was more satisfied with the overall community
experience. Even though there had been irrelevant posts as well, the multitude of different
opinions and statements increased the value of participating.
GROUP 1
GROUP 2
Overall Satisfaction
The posts of other participants were interesting to me.
The questions were clear and concise.
I did ok with other participants.
I would participate again in this community.
I would have liked, if others revealed more about them.
It was fun to discuss with other people.
I have learned something new in this community.
Follow us: @olympiamilano @FTress #GOR14
20

21. SUMMARY I
PERSONALITY MATTERS
 Open and extroverted participants have a clear value for
the discussion in MROCs.
 Disagreeable participants can spice up the composition of
a group, but should be supervised by the moderator.
 Including emotionally labile participants seems to add no
value to the discussions.
COMPOSITION MATTERS
 It’s easy to blight the dynamics of a group, it’s hard to
create dynamics.
 Homogenous groups run risk to lack new impulses from
different perspectives.
 Heterogeneous groups run risk that single members loose
track with the rest of the group.
Follow us: @olympiamilano @FTress #GOR14
21

22. SUMMARY II
MODERATION MATTERS
 Although there has to be conducted additional research to
support the findings, knowing personality traits for
community members help moderation to…
 … control undesirable effects
 … steer "ideal" composition of communities
 … moderate more individually according to the traits
 … optimize the interplay of research objectives,
methodical setup of the community and participation
 … better - and more targeted - motivate participants
and help to a more satisfactory research experience
Follow us: @olympiamilano @FTress #GOR14
22

23. DISCUSSION

Inter-dependence of single personality traits: working with complex personality profiles (e.g.
open, extroverted and agreeable)

How to deal with MROCs about topics that correlate with personality traits (e.g. fashion,
drinking out, …)
Follow us: @olympiamilano @FTress #GOR14
23

24. CHRISTIAN DÖSSEL
MANAGING DIRECTOR
MM-EYE
christian.doessel@mm-eye.com
+49 (0) 40 3068 88-28
@olympiamilano
FLORIAN TRESS
DIRECTOR R&D
NORSTAT DEUTSCHLAND
florian.tress@norstat.de
+49 (0) 89 5480 194-41
@FTress
Follow credit: morguefile.com
image us: @olympiamilano @FTress #GOR14
24