Versta Research Post

Why Every Business Needs the Census Bureau

Every ten years the Census Bureau provides a count of all people living in the United States.  More importantly, the Census Bureau and other agencies conduct ongoing surveys of the population to document crucial facts and figures about who we are. And every year, it seems, these agencies come under attack from politicians who would…

Versta Research Post

Five Classes to Make You Smarter

Summer provides an ideal opportunity to learn from our research colleagues in the academic worlds.   Many of them offer short, intensive “summer camp” training that is relevant and practical for market researchers.  You get training that is far more rigorous and comprehensive than courses offered by “training institutes” and other commercial providers. Here are our…

Versta Research Post

3 Reasons We Don’t Do Statistics in Excel

Over the last few years we have wondered whether spreadsheet software like Excel will soon make statistics software like SPSS or SAS obsolete. Spreadsheets have amazingly powerful and often intuitive capabilities.  They have many of the statistical functions we use every day.  Younger people entering our profession rarely know programs like SPSS or SAS, and…