Austin, TX, January 29, 2020 – – HARK Connect, a division of MediaScience, advances qualitative research to take advantage of digital technology harnessing control over information and enhancing the total experience for clients, moderators and facilities.
The company introduces Virtual Glass™, which leverages augmented reality to enable marketers to view research sessions anywhere on any screen with subtitles (coming soon) in any language, superimposed information about respondents, and instant tagging to label and bookmark key sections. Virtual Glass also provides the ability to chat with anyone on the team, including the moderator, and to take notes right on the screen. When the session is over the transcript is ready to review, tags are in place for immediate, easy to find, fast clip extraction.
According to Duane Varan, CEO of MediaScience, “HARK Connect 1.0 software is only the beginning of a global movement to revolutionize the capabilities of qualitative research. Soon to follow will be features for multiple measures of emotional response, including biometrics and sentiment analysis, as well as additional innovative methods.
Leading the division will be Elissa Moses, managing partner, former CEO of Ipsos Neuro and Behavioral Science Center, who has extensive experience adopting new technology for market research. She also has expertise in qualitative research from both sides of the glass in her years guiding strategic planning at agencies, including: Grey, BBDO and DMB&B, and as a client at Philips, Joseph E. Seagram and Gillette.
“HARK Connect is a market researcher’s dream come true,” said Moses. “For years I have wanted to add technology to Qual for deeper insights. Now it will be possible to treat all types of information generated as data across sessions for new levels of understanding.”
HARK Connect has been in development at MediaScience for three years, starting when clients requested focus groups to enhance their neuroscience, biometric research and surveys the company provides. “We were really surprised,” said Duane, “how much more could potentially be done to improve the experience using digital technology. We aimed to make it better for our clients and more like how they view media in a ‘lean back’ mode with the ability to chat and tag.”
HARK Connect is supported by an outstanding team of 50+ software developers, researchers and data scientists across offices in Austin, Chicago and New York. “We are just getting started”, says Moses. “The new Qual Tech capabilities, as well as our full, fast moving pipeline, changes what is possible for focus groups, one-on-ones, UX research and ethnography.”
For more information, visit: www.harkconnect.com