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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Versta Research Post

More Research on Phone vs. Online Surveys

Another article was just published in the Spring 2010 issue of Public Opinion Quarterly exploring data quality differences between online surveys and phone surveys. The findings were based on a lab experiment in which subjects completed survey questions either on a computer or over an intercom system with an interviewer. Doing the study in a…

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Versta Research Post

Don’t Do Research in Your Sleep

A colleague in market research once complained to me that he felt bored and unchallenged by all the client satisfaction and loyalty research he was doing, claiming he had mastered it to the point that he could do satisfaction and loyalty research in his sleep. I was struck because I could not think of any…

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Versta Research Post

How Good Are Online Survey Panels?

Ten years ago, surveys through online panels were rare.  Mostly we conducted telephone surveys.  Today it is the other way around.  With online survey panels being a $2 billion industry in the U.S., there is now a wealth of comparative data to measure and assess the implications of using online surveys as a substitute for…

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Versta Research Post

The Art of Asking Questions

This quarter’s newsletter from Versta Research focuses on the art of asking questions.  We suggest that the importance of business questions far exceeds the importance of survey questions or focus group questions.  You can’t do the latter without the former, at least not very well, and research that is not specifically designed to answer clearly…

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Versta Research Post

Keep Your Surveys Honest

One problem with new survey technologies that make it easy (and inexpensive) to design and field surveys is that we now have an explosion of poorly done and ill-intentioned surveys.  Have you ever suspected that a survey isn’t quite legit? Keeping your survey efforts honest is critical.  Sincere efforts to document issues through rigorous surveys…

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Versta Research Post

Recent Findings on Phone vs. Online Surveys

A research article the Winter 2009 issue of Public Opinion Quarterly provided some useful comparisons of data quality between phone surveys and various types of online surveys.  The findings are based on an experiment that fielded identical questionnaires via three survey modes, and, not surprisingly, there are strengths and weaknesses to each type of survey.…

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