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.

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The Beauty of Conjoint Analysis

One of the cool things about social science and marketing research is that it brings together mathematics and human behavior.  Mathematics is beautiful, elegant, and abstract.  It is much like art.  Human behavior is messy, contradictory, and frustrating, desperately in need of a way to make sense of it.  Bringing the two together – turning…

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Conscientious and Agreeable Survey Respondents May Be Skewing Your Data

There are three important characteristics of people who “satisfice” on surveys: They are less conscientious They are less agreeable They have different cognitive skills The first two refer to dimensions of the Big Five personality traits. Conscientious people are efficient and organized vs. extravagant or careless. Agreeable people are friendly and compassionate vs. critical and…

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Election Season's Dumb Statistics

Election Season’s Dumb Statistics

Today I saw my first “dumb election statistics” article of the season, with AP News offering this dramatically titled story: Kamala Harris’ election would defy history. Just 1 sitting VP has been elected president since 1836. We are bound to see tons of headlines and stories like this during the next several weeks. It brought…

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Why You Need a Partisan Pollster

Why You Need a Partisan Pollster

In an essay published not too long ago, Stuart Rothenberg, a prominent political (and non-partisan) commentator argued that partisan pollsters (those who work directly for either Democratic or Republican candidates) do a better job than presumably objective third party pollsters. Why? Because they have to get it right. Their campaign strategies depend on it. Quoting…

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Journalist Tips on How to Communicate PR Surveys

Journalist Tips on How to Communicate PR Surveys

On Monday I received media training from one of the research industry’s top professional organizations: The American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR). They hired Brenda Foster, a career journalist and now a communications and PR consultant, to teach research nerds about how to succeed with media interviews when talking about research findings. First she…

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The Coolest Chart You Probably Never Use

The Coolest Chart You Probably Never Use

Here’s a chart that will dazzle the research and design teams you are working for. It’s called a Sankey chart. In the context of market research, it is used to show the “flow” of respondents from one cut of data into another. For example, suppose you have data on how respondents started shopping online for…

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