We censor what we say all the time – it’s something that researchers should be especially aware of…

In any given day when we’re around other people we withhold our thoughts. Take a typical encounter in a meeting and think about how many times you actually hold back – because you don’t want to be unkind, because you can’t be bothered to contradict someone, because you think it would be expedient to keep quiet. As adults, we practise this self-restraint an awful lot. And a good thing too.

However, that withholding makes life difficult for the researcher because we want to know what’s going on in people’s internal lives – the conversations they are having with themselves about what they are doing, thinking and feeling.

In groups in particular we need to develop techniques (or revive old ones) to encourage people out of their holding-back habitual behaviour.

Let’s revive the visual enabling technique where respondents are asked to write down what someone would say about a brand, and also what they’re thinking.

Let’s remind people that they hold back their thoughts all the time (as part of everyday life) and encourage them not to, for the benefit of the discussion group

Let’s remember to give time for private responses in group discussions so respondents can send secret messages (the big brother diary room at the end of the group…) to the researcher…