Speak Up for Voice Research

Speak Up for Voice Research

MRMW Conference

LondonSeptember 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 typingOpen end questions are less important than closed endMarketing Research is about survey taking


What problem are we trying to solve?• Data storage methods change:

Cursive is no longer taught in many schoolsFiling 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 endedDynamic Input

Closed EndStatic input

2015

2015

2020


Text to voiceDo 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 textHave 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 PARADIGMNOW: 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 ResearchT2V: text read out loud, respondents click on answersInstructions

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 endsInstructions

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 voiceIs 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 textIs 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 ResultsSATISFACTION AMONG THOSE EXPOSED WAS GOOD:Text to Voice

81% “Really Easy to Understand”78% “Want more surveys to talk to you”

Voice to Text72% “Really Easy to Do”46% “Want to speak answers on more surveys”

Adult interest less certain55% “yes” to either V2T or T2V


How do you deploy Voice Technology?

• Operating System approach:Android: some variation in the way deployediPhone: capability varies by modelWindows: 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.comhttps://speechpad.pw/https://dictation.io/http://ispeaktext.com/

http://talktyper.com/

http://talktyper.com/

https://speechpad.pw/

https://dictation.io/

http://ispeaktext.com/

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 foranswering question:

• Research panel members arenot willing to provide audio orvideo 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 HomeAt WorkOn Public TransportWaiting for SomeoneSomeplace 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 Dif-ferent Device

Surfing the Internet on Same Device

UK survey 1,000 completes on mobile devices June 2015


Natural ConversationUsage 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 aboutAlthough 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 ConcernsInterviewer assisted Potential Interviewer Bias

Self completion Difficult to probe

Guided self completion using A.I.

Complex Development


SummaryMay 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

Technology

Transcript of Speak Up for Voice Research