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.
I recently saw a press release about a study showing that only 19.5% of news release headlines are optimized for SEO. It brought to mind all kinds of issues about how best to report numbers in press releases. In particular it highlighted the important issue of whether specific numbers are meaningful and whether they communicate…
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.
We came across this chart from Invisible Children, the group that produced the Kony 2012 video. It shows the organization’s expenditures by category. It is a poorly designed chart for three reasons: 1. The pieces of the doughnut are not correctly proportional. For some reason, the arc widths were compressed for some categories (like Media…
Coincidentally in the same week that Versta Research published its winter newsletter on Turning Data into Stories: A How-To Guide, last week’s AMA event in Chicago was a market research panel focused on telling stories with data. The presentations were solid, with lots of helpful ideas. But there was also a misguided idea working its…
If you want to write a great research report, do not write about the data, and do not write about the research itself. Write about what the data prove, because that is what your clients and managers really care about. Versta Research has just published its How-To Guide on Turning Data into Stories. It outlines…
One lesson I have learned serving on the board of the American Marketing Association in Chicago is that for most companies, research and marketing can no longer be separated. Why not? Because marketers now deal with immense volumes of data. If they want to make smart decisions and execute campaigns effectively, they need to use…
One powerful way to gain visibility and credibility in your marketplace is by sponsoring survey research that documents problems and solutions in areas where you have expertise. To be successful, it requires (1) rigorous research carefully designed to uncover the right topics, and (2) savvy PR work that uses data to tell a credible and…
Earlier this month Arthur C. Nielsen, Jr. died. He left behind a giant and reputable market research company and a brand name recognized throughout the world. The A.C. Nielsen company was started by his father and in its early years tracked the sales of goods through grocery and drug stores. The company then moved into…
Many of us have uneasy feelings when reading statistics that presumably apply to ourselves and our own lives. Often the statistics do not seem to “fit” and seem to misrepresent the lives of real people from which the statistics are derived. It is with good reason that we chuckle when someone tells us that the…