Versta Research Post

Online Surveys Have Same Accuracy as Phone

A new study presented by two professors from Harvard University and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst was probably one of the liveliest and potentially disruptive presentations at least week’s annual meeting of the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) in Phoenix. Why?  Because their research challenges the beliefs of many AAPOR-ites who disregard…

Versta Research Post

How Data Can Highlight Mistakes

We are often surprised by the number of senior researchers in the market research industry who never touch raw data.  Often they don’t even have the tools, since “data processing” is outsourced to lower levels or other countries.  It is surprising because we almost always engage in work where getting into the data and puzzling…

Versta Research Post

Advice for PR Surveys: Avoid Numeric Scales

As much as we love numbers, we find ourselves often advising clients against using numeric scales in their surveys.  A numeric scale is any response format that asks people to give a number within a certain range to indicate the strength of their feeling or opinion.  The insanely popular survey question used to calculate Net…

Versta Research Post

The Myth of Too Many Choices

Ever since the well-publicized “jam” experiments published ten years ago, product managers have been cautious about assuming that more choices generate higher sales.  The investigators of the research found that more consumers purchased a jar of jam if the sampling table offered six varieties instead of 24.  And there has been a healthy literature and…