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Tag Archives: margin of error

Why Your CEO Loves NPS: It Is Never Audited, and It Never Declines

Why Your CEO Loves NPS: It Is Never Audited, and It Never Declines

Future Trends, Presenting Research, Topics in MarketingBy Joe HopperApril 22, 2020

Market research has made it all the way to the top! It has a seat at the c-suite table just as marketing and research champions have hoped for all these years. According to a recent analysis by The Wall Street Journal, a large number of CEOs now track their company’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) obsessively,…

This DIY Tool Promises Statistically Significant Research

Data Collection, Methods & Tools, SamplingBy Joe HopperJanuary 30, 2019

Here is a sly little test I recommend giving the next researcher who offers up their help on your next quantitative survey. Ask if they have ever used a DIY survey tool, and what advice they would give you about sample size based on this selection tool you looked at from one of the largest…

Your Margin of Error Is Bigger than You Think

Your Margin of Error Is Bigger than You Think

Data Analysis & Analytics, Public PollingBy Joe HopperAugust 2, 2017

If you conduct a well-designed, well-executed survey of 500 people you probably think (and yes, we may have told you) that your margin of error is ±4%. It’s beautiful. It’s all based on math. And if you ever had that “aha” moment in statistics class, you probably agree that the mathematical proof of it is…

Big Fat Margins of Error

Big Fat Margins of Error

Data Analysis & Analytics, Presenting Research, SamplingBy Joe HopperOctober 19, 2016

Whenever you see those “margin of error” statements on political polls and other published surveys (even in market research industry publications, unfortunately!) take them with a grain of salt. They reflect only one type of potential error in surveys: namely, sampling error associated with sample size. Chances are that the “real” margin of error (if…

Versta Research Post

Testing Your Data for Illusions

Charts and Data Visualization, Data Analysis & Analytics, SamplingBy Joe HopperJanuary 28, 2015

Here’s a useful way to think about statistical significance.  When looking at your data, what’s the probability that it looks like something is there, when in fact nothing is there.  Randomness in data (because of sampling) often causes illusions.  So testing for significance is all about measuring whether the patterns we see in our data…

How to Calculate an NPS Margin of Error

Best of Blog, Data Analysis & Analytics, Methods & ToolsBy Joe HopperJanuary 14, 2015

One critique sometimes heard about NPS scores is that they can’t be stat tested.  That is not true.  Though I know of no statistical packages that do it automatically, it is an easy calculation you can do on your own.  Here’s the math: n = sample size a = % promoters b = % passives…

Versta Research Post

NYT Blunders on Sample Size

Public Polling, Public Relations, SamplingBy Joe HopperJune 19, 2014

Readers of this newsletter and blog know how much we value and respect the New York Times.  It is one of the few resources we cite regularly, as it always has relevant, authoritative information that informs our work and that of our clients.  So  my heart sank when I read this description of a new…

Bon Appétit Gorges on Supersize Samples

Bon Appétit Gorges on Supersize Samples

Data Analysis & Analytics, SamplingBy Joe HopperMarch 26, 2014

Every year I enjoy getting an invitation to participate in Bon Appétit’s “most important survey of the year” because it provides so many good lessons for survey research.  This year it has me thinking about the absurd e-mail subject line that says: “We need your help to get 100% participation.” Bon Appétit has 1,442,388 subscribers. …

Versta Research Post

Why You Don’t Need Big Data

Data Analysis & Analytics, Data Collection, Future Trends, SamplingBy Joe HopperApril 4, 2013

Some business managers and marketing executives mistakenly believe that “big data” will deliver better insight because of the sheer volume of data now at our disposal. Now we just need the statisticians, the computing power, and the analytics software to sift through it all, right? Not so. The truth is, for most purposes you don’t…

Versta Research Post

Credibility Intervals Are the New Margins of Error

Data Analysis & Analytics, Future Trends, Public PollingBy Joe HopperNovember 7, 2012

What IS a credibility interval, you ask?  It is a term making its way into mainstream market research just as Bayesian statistics are making their way into market research.  A credibility interval provides a range of values, calculated using Bayesian statistical techniques, within which a statistical estimate is likely to fall.  It is analogous to…

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