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
Rewrite Agreement Scales to Eliminate Acquiescence
Agreement scales, measuring how much the public agrees or disagrees with a particular idea, are one of the most popular types of questions. Unfortunately, they are also one of the least reliable types of questions. Since respondents tend to exaggerate their actual agreement, other scales should be used instead. In fact, over 100 separate studies […]
Missed the Discrete Choice Conjoint Webinar? Never Fear.
Today Survey Analytics held a very well-attended webinar entitled, “How to Run Discrete Choice Conjoint Analysis.” Missed it? Never fear. Click this link for a copy of the webinar video and slides. The webinar recording will help you understand: What discrete choice conjoint analysis is The theory and logic behind discrete choice conjoint analysis When to use […]
5 Awesome Free Online Data Tools from the U.S. Census
Too often in the day to day business of research, we forget that there’s an astounding set of data resources provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. Doubtless other U.S. federal agencies and statistical agencies in other countries have some nice data goodies for us, but the U.S. Census Bureau is the treasure trove. Here are […]
How to Control Your Customer Satisfaction Scores
We tend to measure customer satisfaction after the customer experience has already happened. But that isn’t when the opinion about the experience is really created. Customer experiences are actually created long before your customer ever reaches your doorstep. They often start with impressions and perceptions created when your potential customer interacts with friends and colleagues […]
Meet the Data Triplets: Data, Metadata and Paradata
There are three sorts of data, and very often you need all three to understand and use the data you collect from your survey. Here are the three sorts: 1. The Data. The data is the data, that is the actually numbers, codes or open ended text that the respondent enters into the survey. There […]
Evaluating Survey Quality
Most of the surveys we analyze and report on are ones we planned and conducted ourselves. But what about when you are assessing surveys conducted by others? How do you evaluate their quality and filter the information they provide accordingly? I decided to ask that question of someone who evaluates others’ surveys for a living. […]
Survey Tip: Pay Attention to the Details
Why survey creators need to pay more attention to the details of wording, question types and other matters that not only affect results but also how customers view the company. A recent survey from Sage Software had quite a few issues, and gives me the opportunity to share some pointers. The survey was for follow […]
How to Use Barcodes for Retail Competitive Intelligence
Did you know you can document your position – and your competitors’ positions – on shelves across thousands of retail locations with a super-simple technique using one of the oldest pieces of modern retail technology – the barcode? For distributors and manufacturers, having the right space on the shelf is a matter of business survival. […]
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 […]
How To Monitor the Quality of Respondent Answers
On March 19, 2015, the esteemed Annie Pettit of Peanut Labs led us through a brief but insightful presentation on data quality lessons from the survey design perspective. As researchers who are actively engaged in survey implementation, we want to ensure that the responses we are collecting are as accurate as possible. This requires a […]
All Hail the Humble Median
At the 2013 Inbound Marketing conference, Nate Silver said, “The average is still the most useful mathematical tool ever invented.” I agree that it is powerful, but I would argue that in fact it is the median that is the most useful mathematical tool ever invented. This lesson was brought home to me as I […]
