Posts Tagged ‘Data Collection’
Thursday, October 11th, 2012
Figure 1. Example of a Daily Field Report (Click Image)
A mistake often made by both professional and do-it-yourself researchers is letting a survey sit in the field without actively monitoring it. Once we design a survey and put it out there for people to respond, we just wait patiently (or get busy on another project) until we have data for analysis, right? But collecting data is never straightforward. It nearly always requires daily adjustments and decisions from the most senior members of a research team.
So at Versta Research, all fieldwork we conduct or oversee requires a daily and detailed fieldwork report that gives us visibility into all kinds of technical and conceptual issues that might affect the quality and outcomes of research. Figure 1 shows an example of a report; nothing fancy, but full of crucial data. As we review these reports, we watch for several warning signs and intervene where needed:
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Tags: data, Data Collection, data quality, Online Surveys, Sampling
Posted in Data Collection, Market Research, Methods & Tools, Omnibus Surveys, Online Surveys, Survey Tips | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 26th, 2012
Figure 1. The U.S. Census Bureau's current questions about race and ethnicity. Click for full-size image.
Fifteen years ago the U.S. Census Bureau removed “Hispanic” from its question about race and instead created a stand-alone question to assess Hispanic ethnicity. It’s the reason we often advise our clients to ask about race and ethnicity separately, using questions similar to the Census Bureau’s, which are shown in Figure 1.
Well, chances are good that this will be soon be revised back to include Hispanic in a single question about race. The Census Bureau just concluded a large-scale study to assess the reliability and validity of its race and ethnicity measures, along with several potential alternatives. It involved questionnaires and re-interviews with a sample of nearly half a million households, plus 67 focus groups with nearly 800 people. (more…)
Tags: census, Data Collection, survey, Survey Design, survey respondents
Posted in Data Collection, Future Trends, Market Research, Survey Design | No Comments »
Thursday, August 9th, 2012
The AMA featured Versta's president in an article about social media for market research
When all of the hype and uncertainty around social media settles down, market researchers will likely see it as “merely” another useful channel through which to gather data and opinions from the audiences they care about, just like surveys, focus groups, or ethnographies.
In the meantime it is good fun to read articles, like this one, in last week’s New York Times extolling the discovery that social media can be used for market research. And amusing to hear executives and CMOs saying things like “It’s amazing that we can get that kind of real feedback, as opposed to speculating.” As if there were no ways to ask customers for their opinions before the magic of social media.
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Tags: concept testing, Data Collection, Focus Groups, Market Research, MROCs, qualitative research, social media
Posted in Data Collection, Future Trends, Market Research, Methods & Tools | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 11th, 2012
How big of a sample size do you really need? A recent article in the New York Times cited the following statistics:
- A small Voice of the Customer (VoC) research company called Mindshare Technologies collects satisfaction data from 175,000 respondents every day. That’s 60 million in a year.
- ForeSee, a small customer experience analytics firm fielded 15 million surveys in 2011.
These numbers are believable. I get a pop-up survey from ForeSee at least two or three times a week.
And it is absurd. Granted, these companies (and hundreds of other similar firms) are collecting surveys for multiple clients. But almost certainly, nobody needs to collect that much survey data from that many survey respondents. Why not? (more…)
Tags: bias, data, Data Collection, data mining, insight, Market Research, response rates, Sampling, satisfaction research, survey respondents, survey technology
Posted in Data Analysis & Analytics, Data Collection, Market Research, Methods & Tools, Sampling | No Comments »
Wednesday, 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: (more…)
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 »
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
In Versta Research’s Winter 2011 Newsletter, published just this week, we describe a simple method for estimating how long it will take respondents to complete surveys.
Here we offer the “Versta Digest” version as a handy reference card. Once you get the hang of it, you don’t need the examples and explanation. You just need to know the rules. We recommend reading the full article first, so you know what we’re talking about when it comes to “points.” Then, when you need a refresher or a reference source, consult these rules: (more…)
Tags: Data Collection, Online Surveys, phone surveys, research, Survey Design
Posted in Data Collection, Methods & Tools, Online Surveys, Survey Design | No Comments »
Thursday, September 29th, 2011
Is it true that the Associated Press refuses to carry stories from online surveys? Yes, as odd as that seems nowadays. But news media face a difficult problem given how easy it is to conduct biased public opinion polling, especially now with online panels and social networks. So some news organizations like the Associated Press (AP), The New York Times, and ABC News have developed guidelines that specify for a survey or public opinion poll to be valid and reliable, it must be conducted by telephone.
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Tags: Data Collection, Internet, journalism, omnibus, Online Surveys, phone surveys, public opinion, Public Polls, Public Relations, Sampling
Posted in Data Collection, Omnibus Surveys, Online Surveys, Public Polls, Public Relations, Sampling | No Comments »
Thursday, September 22nd, 2011
Two researchers at the U.S. Census Bureau recently outlined an emerging innovation in survey research that could reverse the trend towards passive, boring, self-administered surveys that characterizes much online research. The idea is to use internet avatars in real-time interviewing with survey respondents.
Beyond just the heightened interest of having an animated survey, the avatars would be programmed to register and interpret respondents’ verbal answers, facial expressions, and body language through webcams.
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Tags: Data Collection, insight, Internet, Market Research, Online Surveys, stories, survey technology
Posted in Data Collection, Future Trends, Market Research, Methods & Tools, New Products and Innovation, Online Surveys | No Comments »
Friday, August 19th, 2011
The most recent government estimates of cell phone usage among U.S. households were released a few weeks back, and the pace at which landline usage is disappearing is astonishing. Here are just some of the numbers:
- Thirty percent of U.S. households do not have a landline telephone
- An additional 16% have a landline telephone, but never or rarely use it to receive calls
- The percentage of households without landlines is increasing by about five to six percentage points each year
- Half of young adults under age 30 have no landline in their homes
- Half of adult renters have no landline in their homes
- Nearly four out of ten Hispanic adults have no landline in their homes
(more…)
Tags: consumer behavior, Data Collection, Internet, Market Research, phone surveys, Public Polls, Sampling, social media, survey technology
Posted in Data Collection, Future Trends, Market Research, Public Polls, Sampling | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 9th, 2011
These days most researchers agree that if you want to do a random sample phone survey of the U.S. population, you ought to include cell phones. More than one-quarter of the population do not have landline telephones at home. Those who do have landline telephones are less likely than ever to answer them, and less likely than ever to participate in surveys.
But it is not easy to include cell phones. The sampling protocols and the post-stratification weighting become more complicated. You need to account for a higher probability of cell phone owners being in your sample, because most of them also have landlines. You can’t use automated or predictive dialing to call cell phone numbers. You can’t target geography as well, because area codes and exchanges have become mobile. And people get mad at you if they have to pay for incoming calls, so you need to offer cash.
What’s the bottom line effect on costs for a survey that includes cell phones? A recent study sponsored by the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) documents the following: (more…)
Tags: bias, Data Collection, Market Research, phone surveys, population, public opinion, Public Polls, research, Sampling
Posted in Data Collection, Future Trends, Market Research, Public Polls, Sampling | No Comments »
