Five Research Lessons from the Pandemic Years
Here is a brief summary of the Versta Research Spring 2023 Newsletter, which outlines five research lessons that have transformed marketing research during the pandemic years.
A Better Way to Ask Race and Ethnicity (and Proof That It Works)
Versta Research has a new way of asking about race and ethnicity on surveys, and it is reducing respondent confusion and complaints by 80%.
A Better Way to Get Census Data
The U.S. Census is one of the most useful tools for research and marketing because it tells you how many people fit specific demographic profiles and where they live. It started out as a simple count of how many people live in each state in order to allocate congressional seats. But it has since become a rich…
Over 100 Million Americans Uncounted in Current Census
As of today, more than one-third of Americans are unaccounted for in the 2020 decennial U.S. Census. If they remain uncounted, we will not know who they are (their demographics) and where they live. The data your business relies on to understand U.S. consumers and your customer base is at risk. Even worse, the foundations…
How to Download and Analyze Your Own Census Data
Oddly enough, there are market research consultants who are unaware that they (and you, and anybody in the world) can have direct access to census data files for analysis. We just wrote a newsletter about the value of census data, and about the amazing rigor that goes into validating questions like those on race &…
How to Ask Race & Ethnicity on a Survey
If demographic benchmarks and trends are essential to your business and the research you conduct (things like age, gender, race, ethnicity, and region) then our just-published 2020 Spring Newsletter has information you absolutely need to know. The U.S. Census Bureau continues to change how it collects and classifies demographic data. Right now the Bureau is…
There Is No Anonymous Research Anymore: How Algorithms Can Find You
In our company we nearly always try to keep data collection “anonymous.” This means that for most of our surveys we intentionally do not know the identity of who participates (though our sample providers do). We rarely ask for any type of identifying information, not even a first name. If for some reason we have…
Here’s Why Market Research Needs Your Patriotism
As we celebrate the 4th of July in the U.S. this year, please make it an occasion to reflect on some of the fundamental values and public goods of our country that make market research possible. There is so much infrastructure that has been built before us. Not just road and railways, but also public…
100+ Data Sources for Market Research
Putting together our winter newsletter, Five Free Data Sources Every Market Researcher Should Know, had me reviewing various sources of free data that we use nearly every day at Versta Research. The really big sources were top-of-mind and easy to come up with: data from The Census, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Institutes…
Five Free Data Sources Every Market Researcher Should Know
For those who feel far removed from the federal government shutdowns, I hope Versta Research’s winter newsletter will inspire an appreciation for what our government provides that is invaluable (and irreplaceable) in market research. Most researchers have no idea how much free data there is from the U.S. Federal Statistical System. They should, because unlike…