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There is a lot of buzz about new programs that analyze data visually rather than with numbers and tables. We are big fans of Edward Tufte’s approach to visual explanations. But even the basics of visualizing data can be challenging and it is worth thinking about how and when to use some of the simplest…
Versta Research uses Survey Monkey for its own Versta client satisfaction work. At the end of an engagement we send clients a link and ask them for an evaluation of our work. Why would a market research firm use such a primitive tool for its own feedback? Are we like the cobbler who can’t afford…
This article has been updated. Please see 4 Things to Ponder Before Choosing an Omnibus Survey.
This article has been updated. Please see A Better Way to Get Census Data.
This article has been updated. Please see Focus on Solutions in PR Surveys.
Market researchers complain a lot when they get data back from surveys and see that people have been “speeding” through their surveys or that people are not giving thoughtful responses. But the problem is rarely “bad respondents” – instead the problem is lazy researchers. When people discover that the survey they just agreed to take…
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…
It’s fascinating that new survey technology and easy access to millions of consumers could be affecting the focus group industry more than the quantitative survey industry. But a colleague who has been doing focus groups for over 20 years says that’s exactly what she is seeing.
Good open-ended questions and thoughtful responses to these questions can yield amazingly rich and insightful data. But given the generally poor quality of responses to open-ended question in mail surveys, some have speculated that open-ended questions in online surveys would suffer a similar fate. Research seems to show this is not the case. Further, a…
How to Add Value: Provide Insight and Understanding In a provocative new book entitled What Would Google Do? author Jeff Jarvis claims that “Middlemen Are Doomed” because the Internet has made information so easy, accessible, and cheap. He argues that the Internet links buyers and sellers directly, and it allows buyers to get information and…