I’m not sure if this cartoon is funny because I don’t really get it. But it was interesting enough that I started thinking about the null hypothesis, and what it means, and how statistics is changing so quickly that “the null hypothesis” we learned about in our classes may soon feel like an odd artifact…
We ran this script of a Christmas Eve phone survey interview two years ago. It’s time to bring it out again! It’s an amusing and oh-too-true parody of how market research pollsters ask questions in clear, precise, linear ways to gather data we need for analysis. Although it takes the form of a phone interview…
Does this sound familiar? I hope not, and I am happy to report that I have never encountered a business manager or senior executive who would say that research is stupid. Instead they might use words like ineffective, off-target, expensive, irrelevant, over-complicated, unhelpful, and so on. Indeed, there is a lot of research that is…
Dilbert could have read one of many articles over the last two decades about employee satisfaction and engagement. There is an abundant literature on (1) how to define, conceptualize, and measure employee engagement, (2) how employee engagement drives business outcomes and improves profitability, and (3) the social-psychological antecedents of employee engagement, like the “sense of…
I’m not sure if this cartoon is funny. Maybe I’m just not cynical enough (ha! my friends are laughing already!) But I can’t think of any managers or clients for whom I’ve worked that are like the pointy-haired boss in this episode. I have never been asked to provide tons of data that look so…
If you ever feel like strangling the next research consultant who promises to deliver “actionable insights” then you can join me and the Dilbert team in making fun of it instead. Not only is it a horrid phrase, but it is unfortunately meaningless now that every research firm claims to be different from others by…
We love this cartoon because it raises such interesting issues about probability and prediction in market research. Here’s a quiz. Suppose you own a retail store and want us to help predict which customers that come through the door will buy. You want to focus your sales efforts on the best prospects. We do our…
I’m always inspired by this video from Vi Hart, who describes herself as a “mathemusician.” She doodles and draws, finds numeric patterns and insights as she does it, and weaves interesting (and funny) stories around those insights.
Most research professionals know there is a kernel of sad truth in this Dilbert cartoon. But it is not because the world is random, so that made up numbers work just as well as accurate numbers. It is because research is often not used at all, in which case the difference between real numbers and…
We came across these images in a series of humorous montages that professionals had created about what they do. This one was created by Jason Sullivan.