March 9th, 2012
If you want to write a great research report, do not write about the data, and do not write about the research itself. Write about what the data prove, because that is what your clients and managers really care about.
Versta Research has just published its How-To Guide on Turning Data into Stories. It outlines the steps we take every time we write a report, including:
- Reviewing the questions that need to be answered
- Assessing how the data are calculated
- Laying out simple data points
- Organizing the data thematically
- Putting the data into statements as bullet points
- Summarizing the statements in headlines
- Revising and strengthening the words
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Tags: communication, data, research, stories
Posted in Presenting Research, Turning Data into Stories | No Comments »
March 1st, 2012
I received this e-mail invitation because I subscribe to Bon Appétit:
Important survey from Bon Appétit – We need your help to get 100% participation.
At Bon Appétit, we really care what you think. That’s why, as Vice President & Publisher of Bon Appétit, I’m personally asking for your help with this online survey. As a thank-you for your valuable time, you will be entered into a sweepstakes giveaway for a chance to win $50,000.*
I know you may receive countless emails each day, but frankly this is one of the most important surveys we conduct all year, so please take a moment to fill this one out.
Clever headline, an ambitious goal, a well-written letter about the value and importance of readers’ opinions, and Bon Appétit is going to give $50,000 to one of its readers to make it happen, right? Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: ethics, incentives, Market Research, satisfaction research, trust
Posted in Data Collection, Market Research | No Comments »
February 24th, 2012
Journalists and newsrooms are inundated with ever more data, information, and press releases that highlight survey findings in hopes of grabbing reporters’ and readers’ interest. While many surveys are poorly done and grossly self-serving, findings from other research surveys continue to generate newsworthy stories.
Consider this view recently expressed by a business columnist at the Chicago Tribune:
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Tags: journalism, media, news, omnibus, Public Relations
Posted in Omnibus Surveys, Public Relations | No Comments »
February 15th, 2012
Data quality will suffer if respondents are bored with long surveys
It is hard to resist the temptation of asking “just one more question” when you’ve got an engaged respondent answering your survey questions online or on the phone. But it is crucial to do so because plenty of research shows that longer surveys result in bad data. Survey respondents may be willing to answer just one more question, but at some point the quality of information you get from them declines. Survey respondents become inattentive and offer lazy answers, or worse, they offer quick random answers just to get the survey over with.
At Versta Research we have a few rules of thumb for survey length based on (1) academic and industry research measuring data quality, (2) conversations with colleagues and suppliers throughout the industry, and (3) our ongoing experience of what works and what does not work. The maximum survey lengths we typically recommend are: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: data, Data Collection, data quality, Market Research, Online Surveys, phone surveys, social media, survey, Survey Design, survey respondents, survey technology
Posted in Data Collection, Survey Design, Survey Tips | No Comments »
February 8th, 2012
If there is a downside to the success of research in helping organizations make smarter decisions, it is the belief among some business colleagues that research is needed all the time, everywhere, and for everything. It is manifest in an obsessive focus on dashboards, KPIs, analytics, customer satisfaction surveys, pop-up website surveys, net promoter scores, and one of our personal favorites (not really!), metrics.
“Metrics” is the buzzword for measures or measurements. And the problem with focusing so much on measurement is that we lose sight of what we are measuring. We were reminded of this in a recent New York Times essay by Robert Crease, a professor of philosophy at Stony Brook University. Crease argues that in obsessively focusing on measurement: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: insight, Market Research, measurement
Posted in Future Trends, Market Research, Methods & Tools | No Comments »
February 2nd, 2012
One lesson I have learned serving on the board of the American Marketing Association in Chicago is that for most companies, research and marketing can no longer be separated. Why not? Because marketers now deal with immense volumes of data. If they want to make smart decisions and execute campaigns effectively, they need to use that data. And who best to help them find, interpret, and use data than the research team?
This became even more clear at our AMA event two weeks ago, where Luanne Calvert, vice president of marketing at Virgin America talked about her team’s effort to build an airline customer loyalty program from scratch. One of the challenges, she noted, was making sense of their data. “We have tons of data,” Calvert said. “There’s so much we barely know what to do with it. We are just starting to get a handle on it.”
Effectively dealing with tons of data requires a thoughtful research approach, which, by the way, does not necessarily mean doing yet another survey or creating a dashboard of mindless metrics. In our view, it means the following: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: data, Market Research, product innovation, research, statistics
Posted in Data Analysis & Analytics, Future Trends, Market Research, Methods & Tools, Turning Data into Stories | No Comments »
January 24th, 2012
Election years are a perfect time to learn about (and brush up on) the fundamentals of survey research. Not only are the airwaves inundated with public opinion polling, but methodological experts are called upon to talk about developments and current best practices as new technologies and methods become central to measuring consumer and public opinion and behavior.
This week the Poynter Institute is offering a webinar of particular interest for PR professionals, whether or not you care about political polls. We also recommend it for any marketing professional because this type of polling is an exemplar of what all marketing research tries to achieve in measuring what people think and what they are likely to do. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: data quality, journalism, Market Research, media, news, omnibus, public opinion, Public Polls, Public Relations
Posted in Public Polls, Public Relations, Resources and Recommendations | No Comments »
January 18th, 2012
Many of us in marketing research have been deploying web surveys for over ten years, and web surveys are, by far, the dominant mode of data collection in our industry nowadays. But our techniques and methods are an amalgam of practices adapted from other data collection modes, learned in part through trial and error, and taught to others through channels more akin to oral traditions. So it is helpful when our academic colleagues manage to document and codify the art and science of what we do. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: bias, Internet, Market Research, Online Surveys, Sampling, statistics, Survey Design
Posted in Data Analysis & Analytics, Data Collection, Market Research, Online Surveys, Resources and Recommendations, Sampling, Survey Design | No Comments »
January 11th, 2012
In last year’s cliffhanger episode of “Can a Focus Group Save Spider-Man?” we pondered whether market research was powerful enough to save a Broadway show from doom and destruction. After crushing reviews from theater critics, the producers hired a market research firm to help them rewrite the show.
Guess what? It worked. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: concept testing, Focus Groups, Market Research
Posted in Focus Groups, Market Research, New Products and Innovation | No Comments »
January 4th, 2012
Given how common mapping capabilities have become via the Internet and smartphones, it is surprising that we don’t see more geographic mapping in market research. Researchers nearly always look at customer demographics, and a key component of a person’s demographic profile is where he or she lives. This data is far more compelling if you can present it visually with maps.
It does not take super fancy (and expensive) mapping software or specialized firms to create accurate, useful, and compelling maps from market research data. We recently created maps for a client showing where in a three-county region their best customers lived. Everything we used to make these maps was free and publicly available for download on the Internet. Here are the steps we used: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Market Research, visualizing data
Posted in Charts and Data Visualization, Data Analysis & Analytics, Future Trends, Market Research, Methods & Tools, Presenting Research | No Comments »
