Whatever you made of the 2010 general election, I bet you remember those squiggly worms.
Perhaps more interesting than the politicians at times, the strangely hypnotising graphs captured voter sentiment in real time throughout the live TV debates. They certainly gave the political reporting an unusual edge, as lives blogs and articles reported on which candidate was getting all the "wormy action".
And while this technology caught our attention, there are many different ways of carrying out research and if you thinking about a market research career, I imagine it's well worth heeding the advice of Richard Ellwood, research director at Walt Disney (EMEA), who told Marketing Week: "I'm a big believer that in market research, you must listen as much as you ask questions."
Thinking back to this year's series of The Apprentice, it's hard not to agree. Candidates held focus groups and gauged (a tiny amount) of opinion on the street, only to rush to conclusions or cheerfully ignore what was said, while pushing forward their own - soon to face boardroom doom - preferred concepts.
So, to avoid repeating their mistakes and shine in market research, what is expected of you and what experience do employers want to see? We've decided to do our own research on what a career in market research involves. So, we're assembling a panel of experts to take your questions in a live Q&A on Wednesday 28 September - join them from 1pm, or post your questions in advance now.
To keep up-to-date with our regular Q&A sessions, you can now sign-up for our newsletter here.
Our panel:
Andrew Hawkins is chairman of market research agency ComRes. Andrew founded ComRes in 2003 after working both in market research and corporate communications roles.
Russell Feldman is associate director of research and consulting organisation YouGov. Russell has more than nine years research experience and quantitative and qualitative experience in online, face to face, and Computer Aided Telephone Interviewing (CATI) methodologies.
Barbara Langer is currently head of research at eBay Europe. She began her career at Research International, before moving to client-side research roles at BSkyB and T-Mobile. Barbara is also a Market Research Society (MRS) council member.
Richard Ellwood is director of brand and marketing research for The Walt Disney Company (EMEA). Richard has worked in media and telecoms research for more than 10 years. A full member of the MRS, Richard holds a BA in Marketing from Manchester Metropolitan University.
Chloe Fowler is co-founder of Razor Research, a qualitative market research agency based in London. Chloe is an elected member of the AQR (Association for Qualitative Researchers) committee and runs events for new and younger researchers as well as tutoring and designing many of the organisation's training courses.
Jessica Bower is account director at Sundance, a brand-building agency focusing on qualitative insight. Jessica started her career in export marketing for a Scottish electronics manufacturer before specialising in consumer qualitative research at Research International in London and Singapore.
Rebecca Harrison is qualitative insight director at Added Value, a brand development and marketing insight consultancy. She has also worked in international roles in Spain, Thailand, Indonesia and Australia.
Praxedis Schnurbein has been working in market research for two years. In her role as a senior research executive at Tpoll, a full-service research agency specialising in online communities, she provides insight for a variety of clients from the media, FMCG and beauty industries.
Karen Brooks is managing director of market research agency Opinion Matters. Karen is responsible for a wide range of clients, including brands and agencies from the health, food, consumer, finance and B2B sectors.
Amy Cashman works for TNS UK. She has responsibility for the areas of the business which support the client-facing functions including marketing, advanced analytics, thought leadership, TNS' client satisfaction programme and the large proposals team.
