Perils and Pitfalls of Social Media for Research

Perils and Pitfalls of Social Media for Research

It’s been four years since the AMA convened a panel of thought leaders in market research to ponder questions about how social media fits into research practices and methods.  An excerpt of our discussion was published in Marketing News in 2010.  Last month, another top industry group (AAPOR) released its Emerging Technologies Task Force report…

How to Succeed with Biased Samples

How to Succeed with Biased Samples

Leading practitioners of survey research now agree that online polling and other forms of non-probability sampling can work.  The key is to give careful attention to the survey protocols, data collection, cleaning, and back-end weighting so that ultimately the sample being analyzed matches the population you want to know about in as many relevant ways…

New Approaches for Faster (& Cheaper) Research

New Approaches for Faster (& Cheaper) Research

When customers talk about wanting faster and cheaper research, we’ve learned they’re not clamoring for all research to be faster and cheaper than ever before. Rather, they’re looking for new methods and niche solutions that fit specific problems they face.  The distinction is crucial, because the first pushes us to automate, routinize, outsource, and make…