Archive for the ‘Funnies’ Category

The Night Before Christmas: A Research Approach

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

If you have never done the hard work of interviewing your customers (or potential customers) by phone for surveys or  in-depth interviews, you should. It will give you deeper insights into your critical business questions than any expert analyses about buyer behavior, marketing trends, or business best practices.

If you HAVE done the hard work of phone surveys, then besides deeper research insights into your business, we expect you will have a deeper appreciation for this holiday survey, written by Mitch Pravatiner, which is written in exactly the format that telephone interviewers typically see.  We have worked with Mitch in the past, and he is a true pro when it comes to telephone interviewing. He recently shared this via aapor-net, which is a discussion group of research professionals who belong to the American Association of Public Opinion Research.

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas . . .

Hello, this is [NAME OF INTERVIEWER] from [NAME OF ORGANIZATION], an opinion research organization. Tonight we’re calling people across the country to find out what’s going on in their homes on the night before Christmas. Please rest assured that this is not a sales call, and that everything you tell us will be kept confidential. Would you be willing to participate? (more…)

Lessons from Dilbert on the Perils of Research

Saturday, May 21st, 2011

We like this cartoon because it highlights the unrealized potential of really smart research, but also the potential perils of research gone bad.

The cartoon brings to mind three lessons worth pondering:

  1. Customer satisfaction research is often “not fun”—but it can be
  2. Internal data can be a goldmine of insight and there is often a lot of it lying around
  3. Ethical considerations dictate that just because research can be done does not mean it should be done (more…)

Dogbert’s Approach to Respondent Privacy

Wednesday, November 24th, 2010

Survey respondents and other participants in our research studies are the lifeblood of the polling and market research industry.  Therefore it is critical that we promote and nurture public participation in research, and that we reward, respect, and thank our respondents.

So whatever you do, please don’t take Dogbert’s approach to conducting a survey:

Dilbert.com

Versta Research believes strongly in protecting the privacy of all research respondents.  We adhere to the strictest standards of ethics and privacy as outlined by The Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO), the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), and other industry organizations to which we belong.  The following two paragraphs nicely summarize our views and approach: (more…)

Who Are Your Anonymous Respondents?

Friday, September 3rd, 2010

We feel strongly that people who give us information through surveys, in-depth interviews, or focus group deserve a promise that this will never happen to them:

Dilbert.com

One of the tenets of rigorous market research is that respondent confidentiality is key.  Why?  Primarily because it benefits you as a client.  To make smart decisions, you need honest and thoughtful information from your customers and constituents.  In most cases, your customers want to give us that information (because they want you to do a better job) as long as it won’t come back to haunt them.

Versta Research adheres to the ethics guidelines for privacy as outlined by CASRO, AAPOR, and other industry organizations to which we belong.  The following two paragraphs nicely summarize our views and approach: (more…)

Keep Your Surveys Honest

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

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?

Dilbert.com

Keeping your survey efforts honest is critical.  Sincere efforts to document issues through rigorous surveys succeed, and when done correctly, people are influenced by numbers.  But trying to shock or manipulate with sensationalist, biased, and phony data gets you only so far.  For a great survey, keep it honest, rigorous, and valid, and carefully control for bias.  We, at Versta, can help you succeed with this.

-Joe Hopper, Ph.D.

Listen to Your Customers

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

It hurts, but when your customers hate you, you should be listening all the more carefully:

Dilbert.com

You need to find out the who, what, where, when, and why they hate you.  Probe deeply with focus groups, in-depth interviews, social media monitoring, and survey research.  Rigorous research done right (our specialty) will give you valuable insight.  And if it is communicated expertly to management (our specialty) you can probably fix the problems.  Then, the next time you listen to your customers, you won’t need to duck and cover.

-Joe Hopper, Ph.D.