Ethical marketing research in the digital age: how can academics and practitioners work together?

‘And what is good, Phaedrus, and what is not good — need we ask anyone to tell us these things?’ (R. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance) Like everything else in its path, the advent of interactive digital technologies has transformed research, both for marketing academics and practitioners. Not only have tools such as online surveys, email interviews and online focus groups provided wider access to participants and quicker results, but entirely new areas of research have sprung up. Topics such as online consumer behaviour, engagement with social media and responses to smartphone advertising have become areas of profound interest to the marketing academic and practitioner alike.