Versta Research Blog

Versta Research Blog

About Versta

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 Research Post

Fifteen Basics of “Brand Smart” Research

This past week the American Marketing Association in Chicago held its 2011 annual BrandSmart conference, bringing together top-level marketers from companies such as Groupon, Motorola, Allscripts, Cars.com, Deloitte, Coldwell Banker, Accenture, Hospira, Walgreens, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Grainger, Morningstar, and many others, all of whom shared the newest strategies and case studies for brand building…

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Versta Research Post

Entrepreneurial Advice: Rethink Your Research

Executives who lead entrepreneurial firms have dramatically different attitudes about market research from their counterparts at larger established firms, according to a recent study from Saras Sarasvathy, an associate professor of business administration at the University of Virginia. The study suggests that entrepreneurs are more focused on immediate and practical questions that will help them…

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Versta Research Post

Online Surveys Have Same Accuracy as Phone

A new study presented by two professors from Harvard University and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst was probably one of the liveliest and potentially disruptive presentations at least week’s annual meeting of the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) in Phoenix. Why?  Because their research challenges the beliefs of many AAPOR-ites who disregard…

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Versta Research Post

Lessons from Dilbert on the Perils of Research

We like this cartoon because it highlights the unrealized potential of really smart research, but also the potential perils of research gone bad. The cartoon brings to mind three lessons worth pondering: Customer satisfaction research is often “not fun”—but it can be Internal data can be a goldmine of insight and there is often a…

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Versta Research Post

How Data Can Highlight Mistakes

We are often surprised by the number of senior researchers in the market research industry who never touch raw data.  Often they don’t even have the tools, since “data processing” is outsourced to lower levels or other countries.  It is surprising because we almost always engage in work where getting into the data and puzzling…

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Versta Research Post

Advice for PR Surveys: Avoid Numeric Scales

As much as we love numbers, we find ourselves often advising clients against using numeric scales in their surveys.  A numeric scale is any response format that asks people to give a number within a certain range to indicate the strength of their feeling or opinion.  The insanely popular survey question used to calculate Net…

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