Versta Research is a marketing research and public opinion polling firm that helps you answer critical questions with customized research and analytical expertise.
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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I have never been a media poll watcher or politics junkie who tracks every new poll saying which candidate is favored to win. It is hard to see the point of spending so much time and money predicting the outcome of an event that will be known with certainty within a matter of days, weeks,…
What IS a credibility interval, you ask? It is a term making its way into mainstream market research just as Bayesian statistics are making their way into market research. A credibility interval provides a range of values, calculated using Bayesian statistical techniques, within which a statistical estimate is likely to fall. It is analogous to…
By elephants, we mean Republicans. Or maybe you have too many Democrats. Maybe it keeps going back and forth, which is the problem that Gallup sometimes has. In the spirit of learning all we can from election season polling, this week we focus on whom to include (or exclude) in your research, analysis, and market…
Last week when we took Google Surveys for a test drive, we did not mention one disturbing aspect of their tool. It does not affect how you would use the tool, but it is worth talking about because Google unfortunately perpetuates the false notion that technology and tools can generate insights at the mere click…
Six months ago Google launched an intriguing new way to conduct cost-effective surveys that offers an alternative to omnibus surveys. One or two easy survey questions are presented to online users as they seek access to high quality media sites. They gain free access in exchange for answering the survey questions. Google tracks how many…
A mistake often made by both professional and do-it-yourself researchers is letting a survey sit in the field without actively monitoring it. Once we design a survey and put it out there for people to respond, we just wait patiently (or get busy on another project) until we have data for analysis, right? But collecting…
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…
Fifteen years ago the U.S. Census Bureau removed “Hispanic” from its question about race and instead created a stand-alone question to assess Hispanic ethnicity. It’s the reason we often advise our clients to ask about race and ethnicity separately, using questions similar to the Census Bureau’s, which are shown in Figure 1. Well, chances are…
During a presidential election year there is no escaping the flurry of public opinion polling and the intense scrutiny that surveys get from the media. But love it or hate it, there are excellent reasons to pay close attention to this year’s political polling.
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…