Versta Research Blog

Versta Research Blog

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Versta Research is a marketing research and public opinion polling firm that helps you answer critical questions with customized research and analytical expertise.

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Versta Research Blog

Explore industry trends, research methods, and tips for your own research projects in the Versta Research Blog. All opinions are our own, and some may change over time.

First time reader? Check out the Best of the Blog for the most popular posts from almost 10 years of blogging. We’re glad you’re here.

Versta Blog Makes Public Opinion Quarterly

Versta Blog Makes Public Opinion Quarterly

This familiar sentence opens the lead article of Public Opinion Quarterly’s 2017 special issue on survey research: “Telephone surveys are dead, claim some survey researchers, and should be replaced with nonprobability samples from Internet panels.” Hmm, I’ve said something similar to that in the past, I thought to myself. I guess I’m not the only…

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Five Cautions for Crowdsourcing

Five Cautions for Crowdsourcing

There is a small academic niche in market research that relies heavily on extremely cheap crowdsourcing for data. But before getting up in arms about the reliability and validity of such data, you should know this: They used to rely heavily on students enrolled in their college classes for data. Remember having to work six…

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When to Use Multi-Check vs. Yes-No Questions

When to Use Multi-Check vs. Yes-No Questions

Here are two ways you might ask a question to document multiple behaviors, purchases, interests, etc. They seem like they would be equivalent, but they are not. The first is called a multi-check format: The second is called a yes-no grid: If respondents were super careful, thoughtful, and unbiased in how they answer, the information…

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Good Reasons to Ask Bad Questions

In the Versta Research spring newsletter, Build a Better Customer Satisfaction Survey, we mentioned—but did not speak to—the seventh question in our newly developed survey for clients. It was added at the last minute. We put it right at the top, so it is the first question you see. If you didn’t yet test drive…

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Build a Better Customer Satisfaction Survey

Build a Better Customer Satisfaction Survey

We have never deployed a customer satisfaction survey for our own customers. Why? Because most CX surveys are not designed to help customers. But we’ve just taken inspiration from a unique survey from Skype for Business, in order to Build a Better Customer Satisfaction Survey. It’s our feature article in this quarter’s newsletter. It highlights…

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Try Using Tables Instead of Charts

One memorable lesson from reading Edward Tufte’s books about visual displays of quantitative information is that charts are not the only way to display data. Indeed, they are sometimes a worse way. We should always at least consider a table as a superior alternative: Tables are clearly the best way to show exact numerical values,…

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Versta Research Post

A New KPI for Jargon-Free Research

When Dilbert starts making fun of the most common words in market research—actionable insights—it’s time to consider letting them go. And now that nearly every marketing and research professional, every market research firm, and every data analysis tool touts a unique ability to offer actionable insight, I think we can now safely agree that the…

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Please Do Not Gamify Your Surveys

Please Do Not Gamify Your Surveys

Which of these two questions do you find more annoying, question A or question B? A. Foodie TV has announced a competition to select the best destination for food. What can your city do to win? B. In terms of the restaurant choices, what is important for a city to offer? Now which of these…

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Statistically Significant Sample Sizes

Statistically Significant Sample Sizes

There are no magic numbers for sample size. There is no such thing as a statistically significant sample. Unfortunately, those two words—statistically significant—are bandied about with such abandon that they are quickly losing their meaning. Even people who should know better (the data wonks at Google Surveys should know better, right?) are saying ridiculous things…

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Data Geniuses Who Predict the Past

Data Geniuses Who Predict the Past

If there is one thing I hope you remember from your college statistics class, it’s this: Correlation does not imply causation. This is especially important to remember in our world of big data. Any large dataset will have hundreds of thousands of correlations, but most of those correlations will reflect purely random occurrences that mean…

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