Suds and Research: One Night at a Science Pub

Yuping Liu-Thompkins, left, talks with audience members after her Dec. 3 Science Pub at Smartmouth Brewing Co. in Norfolk.

By David Simpson

The professor spoke animatedly, now and then pausing to acknowledge an upthrust hand.

Her voice, amplified, boomed in the cavernous warehouse. To her right stood a pool table. Behind her, a massive stack of canned beer.

What's going on?

Welcome to Science Pubs, a heady brew of scholarship and craft beer presented several times a semester by the ODU Office of Research and the Office of Community Engagement.

The Dec. 3 guest of honor at Smartmouth Brewing Co. in Norfolk was Yuping Liu-Thompkins, a professor in ODU's department of marketing. Her topic: "How Do Online Consumer Reviews Shape What We Buy?"

"By a show of hands, how many of you have looked at some kind of online reviews in the past two weeks?" she asked as her listeners sipped pilsners and IPAs. "Oh, wow, almost everybody."

Like the craft beer phenomenon itself, Science Pubs started small. The series was launched in 2015 with a focus on such topics as flooding resiliency and sea-level rise. Since then the annual offerings have grown and the topics have broadened.

The series is intended to make the local community aware of ODU research. In keeping with the setting, things are informal: no PowerPoints or posters, just a conversation. Typically, more than 40 people turn out, said Daniel Campbell with the Office of Research, and some Science Pubs have been standing room only.

Next on the lineup is "Technology in Schools: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," featuring Helen Crompton, associate professor of instructional technology. It's at 7 p.m. Jan. 28 at Smartmouth Brewing Co., 1309 Raleigh Ave., Norfolk; networking starts at 6:30.

Check the Science Pubs web page for announcements of futures dates and speakers.

At the December event, Liu-Thompkins pointed out just how important online reviews have become for retailers. A 10 percent increase in average ratings leads to about a 6½ percent increase in sales, she said; 10 percent more reviews bring a roughly 3 percent increase in sales.

From a consumer's perspective, we're more likely to trust a review by a fellow shopper than we are to believe the company's own marketing. Of course, that trust may be misplaced, since some reviewers get paid for composing laudatory blurbs and some companies just delete the negative ones.

Liu-Thompkins' research into online consumer reviews focuses mainly on three areas: overall ratings, volume of reviews, and emotions expressed in the text.

"The typical consumer would probably say that the higher the rating, the better," she said. "But research has shown some contradictory evidence on that."

She gave the example of a product that gets 1,000 reviews, all of them five-star.

"Would you really believe that to be the case? What research has found is that moderate reviews - very positive but not necessarily all positive - tend to be a little more trusted."

Online shoppers also like to see a big volume of reviews, which may instill confidence that the product has been well vetted.

But the way the figures are framed may be subtly influencing you, she said. For instance, participants in a study reacted differently to each of two versions of the same information: say, 88% of 50 people recommending a product vs. 44 of 50 people recommending it.

"The consumer mind groups things based on the way the information is presented," she said.

Some tips for online shoppers:

• Be aware of Amazon.com's "secret sauce," she said. The overall rating for a product is not a simple average of all ratings but a weighted average. "Nobody knows what the formula really is."
• Try several platforms when researching a product or service, because reviews can vary quite a bit depending on the audience for each site.
• Watch out for fake reviews. They tend to include more words, simpler words, unrelated information and a lot of exclamation points.

This was the first Science Pub for audience members Andrea Luna and Westin Messer, who live nearby. Afterward, they said they would like to come to more. "Being in a brewery, it's a fun environment," Luna said.

Another couple, who declined to give their names, said they enjoy the series and attend as many events as they can. ODU faculty and staff members also turned out.

Liu-Thompkins said later of her Science Pub experience: "It's such a cool concept!"

She said she's used to presenting her research to an academic audience.

"But giving the talk made me rethink how I can convey nerdy scientific details as cool, fun ideas. I would highly recommend Science Pubs to all researchers and to the people in our community."