Speak Up for Voice Research

Speak Up for
Voice Research
MRMW Conference
London
September 16, 2015
Frank Kelly

Copyright © 2015 Lightspeed, LLC. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved.
Why Voice Technology?
• How fast can you read?
• How well can you read?
from a small device?
• How quick can you type?
on a small device?
• How quickly can you speak clearly?
• In the future will we read less and listen more?
• In the future will we type less and speak into devices more?

Other questions to ponder….
Ten years ago we heard:
Online research is not representative
Five years ago we heard:
Online research can only be done on a computer
Today most people assume:
Online research requires typing
Open end questions are less important than closed end
Marketing Research is about survey taking

What problem are we trying to solve?
• Data storage methods change:
Cursive is no longer taught in many schools
Filing cabinets for printed materials are going away
• Typing is king today, but voice is gaining ground quickly
• People are spending more time on small screen devices
which are difficult for many to read or type on and even
smaller screen devices are catching on (e.g.watches).

Surveys are changing…
• They are getting shorter (at least we hope!)
• They are increasingly completed on a mobile device
Survey design guidelines typically say: Limit open-ended
questions, particularly for mobile.
◦ Mobile respondents write about 20% less than computer
respondents in open ended questions
◦ Should we seek to phase out open-ended questions?
• No, enable the use of V2T instead.

Quantitative
Research
Qualitative
Research
Open ended
Dynamic Input
Closed End
Static input
2015
2015
2020

Text to voice
Do you think the text to voice feature is
helpful?
About a third found the feature useful, about a third found it of some use but had
problems and about a third were negative about text to voice.
“It makes it a lot
easier to respond
while driving.”
“The monotonous
tone is aggravating
after a short time.”
“For the surveys I
prefer to just read.”
“Yes, it is
awesome. I
love it.”
“No. I would rather
read list and select
answer.”
“It can be irritating”
US 50 completes Jan. 2015, 5 minute survey

Voice to text
Have you used the voice to
text feature on your phone
before today?
21 of 50 had used the voice to text feature before this test
“Yes. It makes email
and texting much
easier.”
“I don’t really like it.”
“Sometimes it is
helpful but
sometimes it
messes up and
take too long.”
“Yes. It makes it
easier to provide a
longer and more
detailed response.”
“Yes I use it all
the time.”
“Not really. I'm not
sure what the purpose
of this feature is. For
me, it was more of a
nuisance.”
US 50 completes Jan. 2015, 5 minute survey

NEW MOBILE PARADIGM
NOW: CENTRALIZED INFORMATION SOON: Omnichannel INFORMATION
Information flowing through mobile devices,
opportunities to tie data streams together.
Cloud based data from many devices connected
via voice biometrics

Voice Technology as a Research Enabler
 Better representation in Research
 Improved Research Interaction
Literacy Mobility
Children
Non-literate
Vision Impaired

Applications of Voice in Research
T2V: text read out loud, respondents click on answers
Instructions
This survey can read questions out loud to you. To hear the
questions, just hover over the question text. If it doesn’t work at
first, try hovering again.
V2T: open ends
Instructions
This survey will let you speak your answers to certain questions,
instead of typing them. To do this, please make sure the voice-to-
text functionality is working on your device, and be sure to speak
clearly into the microphone

Text to voice
Is there anything you or your child particularly
liked or disliked about the “text to voice”
feature of this survey?
“it made it easier to
understand the text
that was a little
harder to read”
“He said it was a little
like a robot
“Alex is 12 years old
so he didn't like it. it
annoyed him.
she didn't like it to
read to her because
she can read but this
would be awesome
for my younger kids I
think it was great
It was helpful when
my daughter was
having trouble with a
question.
It was annoying that it
always spoke when
we hovered over the
word
US Jan, 2015 Nat Rep 200 completes Children with parent present

Voice to text
Is there anything you or your child
particularly liked or disliked about the
“voice to text” feature of this survey?
“Liked it because it’s
easy to use
He wanted to type like
a big boy so he didn't
use it
he didn't want to
try it in case it
didn't work
“it was a fun way to
take survey”
it didn't work
just was shy and
didn’t want to speak
out the answers
US Jan, 2015 Nat Rep 200 completes Children with parent present

Kids Satisfaction Results
SATISFACTION AMONG THOSE EXPOSED WAS GOOD:
Text to Voice
81% “Really Easy to Understand”
78% “Want more surveys to talk to you”
Voice to Text
72% “Really Easy to Do”
46% “Want to speak answers on more surveys”
Adult interest less certain
55% “yes” to either V2T or T2V

How do you deploy Voice Technology?
• Operating System approach:
Android: some variation in the way deployed
iPhone: capability varies by model
Windows: considerable variation in set-up
• Survey System approach:
Text to voice: few have it and typically only works for
certain browsers such as Chrome
• Apps: V2T can be deployed through a research app, but that
requires that the mobile device has the inbuilt technology and
that it is turned on and it needs to be used while online.

Some pointers on V2T
• V2T works well enough in Google Chrome which at latest
check had about 26% of browser usage
You can test it out at these sites:
http://Talktyper.com
https://speechpad.pw/
https://dictation.io/
http://ispeaktext.com/

UK Research on Research
If V2T is good, would audio or video files be better? We fielded
research to check quality of responses by input type:
Method chosen for
answering question:
• Research panel members are
not willing to provide audio or
video responses.
UK 200 completes August 2015 on Mobile devices

If surveys were to offer you the option of using video, audio, voice to
text or typing, which f these methods would you choose most often and
why?
Typing,
because I can
do it where ever
I am
Text, as it
does not cost
you money
on the
Internet
Typing, it's easier
and my house is
too noisy for
recording things
Text, audio and
video are far too
fiddly and waste
time, as well as
costing more
Text, I provide
more careful
thought instead of
off top of the head
Text... because
I can think
about my
response
Text, don't
want to be
seen or
heard

WHERE WERE YOU WHEN YOU
COMPLETED THIS SURVEY?
88%
7%
1%1% 2%
Location
At Home
At Work
On Public
Transport
Waiting for
Someone
Someplace Else
UK survey 1,000 completes on mobile devices June 2015

60% OF RESPONDENTS WERE ENGAGED IN
ANOTHER ACTIVITY WHILE COMPLETING THE
SURVEY
40%
37%
4%
8%
2%
6%
3%
Nothing Else
Watching TV
Reading or Studying
Eating or Drinking
Playing an Online Game or
App
Surfing the Internet on
Different Device
Surfing the Internet on Same
Device
UK survey 1,000 completes on mobile devices June 2015

Natural Conversation
Usage of voice search has doubled in the past year!
SIRI
Source: LS US Mobile Panel – respondents with location permission Nov. 2014
37% of SIRI sessions at home
63% of SIRI sessions away from home
70% out of home SiRI sessions occur while moving faster than
walking pace or 44% of all SIRI sessions done while on the move
Voice search is handy when moving about
Although most (87%) surveys are done while at home

Assessment of ways to obtain data?
Within ten years, commercial application of Natural Language
Understanding will be widespread. In time, research surveys will
once again be a conversation, but in the future it will be humans
conversing with machines.
Method Concerns
Interviewer assisted Potential Interviewer Bias
Self completion Difficult to probe
Guided self completion
using A.I.
Complex Development

Summary
May not be ready for prime time – but still an interesting
option.
• Voice gaining acceptance across a wide variety of
applications, may become the norm – what’s wrong, the
survey can’t understand my voice. (2 years!)
• T2V is good for pre-literate or non-literate groups – or for
when driving - specific situations or populations, but not a
key driver of innovation in research.
• V2T may be more useful since most people can speak
faster than they type.

Speak Up for Voice Research

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Featured

Featured (20)

Speak Up for Voice Research

Editor's Notes