MediaScience is the leading provider of lab-based media and advertising research, incorporating a range of neuro-measures including biometrics, facial expression analysis, eye tracking, EEG, and more. With state-of-the-art labs in New York, Chicago, and Austin, MediaScience is discovering actionable insights in advertising, technology, media, and consumer trends.

Dr. Duane Varan, the global authority of neuromarketing research, founded Audience Labs (formerly the Interactive Television Research Institute) during his tenure at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia, in 2001. In 2005, he launched the Beyond : 30 Project, a consortium exploring the changing media and advertising landscape, and in 2008, he was approached by Disney Media Networks to set up a dedicated custom research lab on a broader scale – and so MediaScience was born. Though he officially left Murdoch in 2015, he continues to maintain some research links with the University of South Australia and has been widely recognized for his innovative contributions to teaching and the neuromarketing industry as evidenced by a long list of awards and over 90 published academic papers in his field.

Below is an abstract from one of his papers about Modeling Self-Selection Bias in Interactive-Communications Research from the Journal of Communication Methods and Measures.

Abstract:
Interactive media use is a key issue in contemporary and future communication research. However, when users can interact with messages, new sources of variation emerge that make generalization difficult. This article introduces methods that communication researchers can use to increase the external validity of studies investigating the effects of interactivity versus noninteractivity. For this area of research, the article recommends the use of forced-interaction studies with random assignment to maximize internal validity, and free-interaction studies with self-selection bias modeling to maximize external validity. The article concludes with examples of self-selection bias modeling, using data from real studies, and a discussion of their implications for communication researchers.

Citation:
Steven Bellman & Duane Varan (2012) Modeling Self-Selection Bias in Interactive-Communications Research, Communication Methods and Measures, 6:3, 163-189, DOI: 10.1080/19312458.2012.703833

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