The editors at The Quorus Line sat down with Rick Nadeau, the President and Founder of Quorus Consulting Group, to ask some fun questions to get to know him better.
Before the fun part, let’s start with a basic introduction.
Rick has worked in the market research and public opinion research industry for 30 years and is an established qualitative and quantitative research consultant. He founded Quorus in 2008 and has been involved as a senior researcher in every assignment that has come through its doors.
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Rick’s deep quantitative and qualitative research experience spans public, private and not-for-profit sectors, helping clients achieve their public policy, public affairs, marketing, advertising, and strategic planning objectives. He has run hundreds of projects over the years, touching most major issues that have faced clients and citizens since the mid-1990s.
Whether the audience being studied is the general public, stakeholders, customers/prospects, or members, Rick designs and delivers studies that tend to satisfy and create long-term clients.
In terms of credentials, Rick earned an M.B.A. from Queen’s University after earning a B.S.Sc. in Economics at the University of Ottawa. He’s a Certified Analytics and Insights Professional (CAIP) and is an active member in several associations related to his profession including the Canadian Research Insights Council (CRIC), the Qualitative Research Consultants Association (QRCA), the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), ESOMAR and the Visitor Studies Association (VSA).
Now, the fun part! Who IS Rick Nadeau? We asked him six questions:
What first sparked your interest in market and public opinion research, and what keeps you passionate about it after 30 years?
I am often asked this question by market research students, actually. The company where I was first immersed into market research was called Opinion Search (I think anyone who has worked in market research in Ottawa probably crossed paths with this company at some point or another). Anyhow, I started off on the phones, but soon got into different tasks like translation, coding open-ended questions, programming, etc. which all gradually led to a full-time position as an analyst. The appeal at that time was two-fold: it was a young company, with young staff and young owners so it was a really fun place to work. As well, there was such a wide range of tasks to be done on a wide variety of projects, so every day seemed different and there was always something new to learn. These have both remained constants throughout my career, either serendipitously or by design, and this has sustained my passion for this industry 30 years later.
What’s the most unusual or surprising research project you’ve ever worked on?
There are too many to list, but one that certainly stands out for me was a national survey I designed from the ground up for a client based in Mauritania – that’s right, Mauritania (I’ll pause here while you Google Map that). Anyhow, the client was the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and they wanted to undertake a first-ever national public opinion survey on public policy priorities of Mauritanians, voting intentions and civic engagement. And when I say “from the ground” up, that is exactly what I mean. It was 2013 - there were no local call centres, no fancy online panels, etc. but there was widespread use of cell phones so we did a telephone survey, but because there was no way we could build a computer-assisted interviewing – aka “CATI” – system, we needed to work from paper questionnaires, recording answers on them. However, nobody in the country was trained as a telephone interviewer. From NDI offices in Nouakchott, we hired and trained all the local interviewers from scratch in French! I also created a respondent call-back system to account for the many dialects spoken in this country, and set-up an online data entry system that my Canada-based team monitored for quality control and the various quotas we had in place. From the ground up! All the research infrastructure, systems and knowledge we have in countries like Canada were nowhere to be found in Mauritania. This was absolutely one of the most fascinating, stressful, unique and rewarding projects I’ve ever led.
Coffee, tea, or something else entirely — what fuels your day?
Wins, big and small. Full transparency - I am competitive. But my competitiveness has evolved with the years – I feel now that I can have a “win” without it necessarily involving a loss by someone else. By “wins” I am referring to anything that, at the end of the day, I can look back on and feel good about. It might have been a big win such as getting news that we won a big contract or absolutely nailing an important presentation. It can also mean different, though no less significant, wins. As a business owner and active researcher, I see a ton of those. They can be project-related (e.g., designing an innovative set of questions for a challenging questionnaire, finishing a night of focus groups, etc.) and they can be business-related (e.g., getting an invoice out the door, getting staff trained on some new piece of software, helping a Quorus colleague with a task on which they’ve been spinning their wheels, etc.). This is what fuels my day.
What’s a small habit or routine that makes a big difference in your workday?
A while ago, I adopted a philosophy of finishing the day by taking stock of the “wins” (personal and professional) rather than looking at what I didn’t get done – that philosophy has definitely helped me sleep better at night.
What’s your go-to comfort food — the one thing you can never say no to?
Lobster in any shape or form: lobster roll, mac’n’cheese with lobster, lobster bisque, lobster dip, lobster poutine, surf’n’turf, etc. Right out of the shell – cold or warm, it does not matter, just don’t forget the garlic butter!
Do you consider yourself more of an early bird or a night owl — and what’s your ideal way to spend that time?
This has definitely changed over the years – I used to be a night owl who could watch VHS movies (dare I say from Jumbo Video!) or work until all hours. Nowadays, I shut it all down at far more reasonable hours and feel more productive in the early part of the day. Ideally, I like to spend those first hours in our family room sharing some coffee and reading time with my wife.
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