Latest Articles
Hey there…have you heard of me?
In consumer and B2B market research circles we are often asked to assess market awareness and/or familiarity with brands, products and spokespeople or causes. These two related, but separate constructs, represent the first steps on the pathway from prospect to customer. Awareness should be measured in two ways – unaided and aided. Unaided awareness is […]
Census Regions – What it means for Hispanic Sample
Census regions are probably the last thing you think about when procuring Hispanic sample. Language, acculturation, and country of origin are likely at the top of your list. However, census regions are linked to all of the above. The Hispanic population distribution in the U.S. is considerably different than the rest of the population. For […]
Sampling and Other Considerations for Mobile Research
In a prior post I highlighted an interesting statistic – for any given project market researchers can now expect up to 40% response on smartphones. This percentage will continue to increase. The question then becomes one of what do we know about mobile responders and can this be applied to our sampling plans? First and […]
Three keys for designing effective mobile surveys
At the recent MRA Corporate Researchers Conference the training organization Research Rockstar presented a course on designing device agnostic surveys. The trend is clear that more and more surveys are being taken on smartphones and tablets. Desktop computers still account for the majority of responses, but for any given project market researchers can now expect […]
Top 2 Box Score – Avoid the Pitfall
Recently when giving my desk a much needed cleaning I came across an article by Jerry Thomas with the firm Decision Analyst. His whitepaper focused on the use of the top two box score as a measure for conveying scores to survey scales. The top box score is the sum of percentages for the top […]
More from Research Access
“How To” Posts
Report Survey Results without Parroting the Questionnaire
When you analyze and report survey results, focus on the story you want to tell – don’t assume the questionnaire’s structure is the best for analysis. A properly designed questionnaire provides a narrative thread that conversationally moves the respondent from one question to—if possible—another closely related question, abruptly changing topics as few times as necessary. […]
Order Bias Is a Larger Source of Error Than You Think
Last week I was writing a questionnaire for a client using their survey software account, and I was chagrined to discover that it lacked the ability to randomize the display of items in a choice list. This is a common capability of all modern survey software applications, including QuestionPro, Survey Analytics, Google Consumer Surveys, and […]
Review of Salesforce: Throw Away Your Prospect Spreadsheets
This post might be a little outdated for some of you, but I know that there are many small marketing research agencies out there that are still maintaining their client and prospect lists in Excel. I know because I’ve been there, I’ve lived it, and I’ve talked to some of you who are still living […]
How to Do Your Own Retail Audit Using Tablets or Smartphones
As the marketing and market research world get more and more comfortable with mobile technology, there are opportunities to go beyond the traditional survey in this innovative realm. Sure, it’s easy to do your first few mobile surveys using tried and true surveys, such as a customer feedback survey or an attitude and usage study. […]
Improving the Preference Question
Community image studies have changed over the years with the advent of online technology as well as new analytical techniques. One thing that has not changed much over the years is the age-old preference question: “Overall, which hospital do you prefer most?” No matter how you word it, that question has seen a great deal of action in community image studies and is often […]
How to Plus or Minus: Understand and Calculate the Margin of Error
Sometimes in the day-to-day work of conducting and interpreting market research, it’s easy to forget that many people who work with surveys on a daily basis have not had formal training in statistics. Even for those who have been trained, it can be useful to have a refresher from time to time. UNDERSTANDING MARGIN OF […]
Managerial Economics For Dummies
The following is an excerpt from Managerial Economics for Dummies. Published under license from John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Successful businesses satisfy consumer desires. Knowing how consumers decide which desires to satisfy and which to leave unsatisfied is an important component in your managerial decision-making. Consumer theory describes how customers determine the purchases they make. […]
7 Tips for How to Give a Presentation with Data
Here are some suggestions for you to consider when you’re preparing to give a presentation that includes data. It doesn’t matter if you’re presenting to your company’s management, to clients, to industry colleagues at a conference – ultimately most people process data in a similar way. Subordinate the data to the story. When you’re describing […]
Voice of the Competitor Research Must Listen to Partners
Outside of the competitor’s customers, what other voice do we need to hear from when conducting Voice of the Competitor (VOTC) research? A competitor’s partners. This may seem an interesting choice given these organizations are not strictly customers per se. However, the role these organizations play as an information broker is vital. The ability of […]
A Primer on the 4 Data Types You Can Collect in Your Market Research
Making a business research questionnaire is no big deal, but making one that successfully derives the information that is actually required by the business to improve its practices is something not every person can do. One of the things that help make an online survey more effective is the understanding of the different types of […]
Recruit Your Own Survey Panel
Sometimes a survey panel is exactly what you need — and for that, you can use any number of panel providers such as Peanut Labs or EMI. But sometimes, a panel can be overkill and just too expensive for your project, in which case, it’s a good idea to have recruited a panel of your very own. […]
