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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.
Survey response rates are now staggeringly low—in the single digits. A typical response rate for a relatively high-budget, carefully executed phone survey is merely 9%, down from 36% just fifteen years ago. Here are the numbers from research conducted earlier this year by the Pew Center: If you want to throw money at a survey…
In a typical graduate-level research course on survey methods, students are taught to ask demographic questions about race, ethnicity, age, gender, income, etc. at the end of a survey. The questions are typically off-topic, and they sometimes scare away respondents who feel such questions are intrusive. But with most surveys now fielded through online survey…
Last week there was a flash of news coverage for a PR-driven survey that documented these important facts: Most Americans think Obama would do a better job than Romney in defending against an attack by aliens from outer space Most would not “mind” a minor alien invasion, because they expect aliens to be cute Most…
The New York Times is one of the few organizations trying to push our industry further in developing better data presentation and visualization techniques. Sometimes they do a good job, introducing rich, informative, engaging, and interactive charts that would make even Edward Tufte, the contemporary pioneer in data visualization, proud. Sometimes they do a not-so-good…
If you want to know the future of market research, forget about what the futurists and innovation gurus have to say. Instead, just ask the next generation of marketing and business professionals—the people who will be our future. That’s what we did in a recent survey of business students about market research. We talked with …
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…
A colleague at the University of Chicago is planning to teach a summer course on survey methods in North Korea. He asked a large group of researchers who belong to AAPOR (the American Association of Public Opinion Research) for recommendations on 10 books to bring that he could leave in the library. We get similar…
Cost matters when you choose a sample or panel provider for your survey because there are good panels and bad panels. Bad panels provide survey respondents at cheap prices. But they do a lousy job managing and screening their members. Not surprisingly, a good portion of the data you get from bad panels will likely…
Bad data is worse than no data. With no data, at least you have intuition and experience to rely on. Bad data, on the other hand, will result in “findings” that are likely to spoil important decisions. With most surveys fielded online nowadays, we have lost the opportunity for phone (or in-person) interviewers to assess…