Interview Natacha Dagneaud, Séissmo

"Just by looking at the way people talk about finances, we can develop strategies for addressing them adequately."

Germans often still have inhibitions when it comes to participating in the stock market. Besides a frequently existing scepticism, a lack of knowledge about the financial market plays a role. Natacha Dagneaud provides insights into why many people are still reluctant to invest in shares and what contribution qualitative methods can make to financial market research in the run-up to her web seminar on 11 May at Week of Market Research.

 

Your WoM web seminar on May 11th is about the low participation of Germans in the stock market. Why do so few Germans dare to invest in shares so far?

Natacha Dagneaud: On the one hand, stocks are like narratives of births: for the most part, you only hear about traumatic experiences. Likewise, everyone in each family has a bad story of "total loss with stock trading" at the ready. On the other hand, it is difficult to grasp how the capital market works. Many people already fail at a cognitive level: whom should one approach with trust? How does buying stocks work – is it like buying groceries? What are you supposed to buy then and how do you pick a “ripe fruit”? How long should one keep it? How much investment is necessary? These are just a few of the many cognitive hurdles.

► Sign up for Séissmo's finance session here

 

There is a theory circulating among the younger generations that they will not receive any pension at all in the future. To what extent are these generations less risk-averse when it comes to stocks?

Natacha Dagneaud: Your question is already biased and reveals how you think. Stocks are a risk? Over a long period of time, they certainly aren’t – look at the returns of the last 60 years! Stocks require you to think ahead: you have to consider what your life will look like in 20, 30, 40 years. Who’s able to do that? That’s more of a discriminating variable. So, concerning your question: no, this generation is not less risk-averse. But it is open to government incentives and social debate. They are more curious and demand education regarding the future they aim to shape. In addition, young people are making the topic more presentable, more modern, more commonplace thanks to digital forms of transmission – for example, the Trade Republic app. 

 

In financial research, predominantly quantitative methods are used in the field of behavioral finance. Why is it so important to include qualitative methods, especially in this area? What’s the added value?

Natacha Dagneaud: That's what our session will be about. There, Prof. Laudenbach will explain why she believed in qualitative research. Primarily, it was about generating new hypotheses that could be quantified afterward. Our interdisciplinary work has brought not only financial interrelations to light but also sociological and psychological aspects that are oftentimes underestimated. Up to now, people have only ever confirmed the same assumptions over and over using quantitative studies without questioning their meaningfulness. After all, it’s not only a problem that people aren’t proficient in the compound interest effect. It already starts with the reproduction of gender differences as a result of the socialization of women who are much less confident than men when it comes to investment strategies. Last but not least, we have already been able to draw valuable insights from the semantics used by participants. Just by looking at the way people talk about finances, which terms they use, we can identify many of these effects and develop strategies for addressing them adequately.

 

On May 12, you will tackle a completely different topic: qualitative market research in the B2B sector. What prompted you to do this?

Natacha Dagneaud:  For many different branches, both we and our clients struggle to attract professional target groups to participate in market research studies. On the one hand, this can be attributed to the persisting miserable reputation of the industry in general – but also to the disorganization of internal processes in companies since the Covid crisis. Despite the limited travel activity of white collars, they are still constantly caught in meetings. And blue collars are running back and forth between tasks. Availability by mail and phone has diminished. And the attention span is far too low to present a research proposal via phone. We might not be miracle workers but in close contact with very good recruiters we have come up with some ideas of what to do and what to refrain from. We want to bring up some possible solutions.

► Sign up for Séissmo's B2B session here

 

Why should your events not be missed? What new things will the participants learn?

Natacha Dagneaud: Because the finance seminar is about state-of-the-art methodological discussion on barriers (basically applicable learning to all industries, not only finance!), pragmatic approaches in daily research life, and communicating the added value of qualitative approaches. After all, many companies are concerned with the question of how they can convert “disinterested parties” to their category. We set up the B2B-seminar because this topic is still neglected – despite the great importance of these potential contracts. It is especially the issue of involvement (which is even more acute in qualitative research with a per se long survey duration) that needs to be addressed. And because both events are about “substance over show”. An exchange with content, not a sales pitch.

 

Finally, a personal question: What role do stocks play in your portfolio?

Natacha Dagneaud: I have learned so much through this study – also about my own patterns – that I now have many more stocks than before. However, my portfolio is still missing the share of marktforschung.de!

 

ABOUT

Natacha Dagneaud is Managing Director at Séissmo and has been involved in method development and accurate diagnosis in qualitative market research for 25 years.

This interview was originally published in German on marktforschung.de - here