Nearly every survey begins with screening questions to ensure that only the people you are trying to reach are included in the survey. For example, if you are conducting a survey of women, you need to ask about gender and kick out the men. And because every question costs money, you want to qualify respondents quickly and terminate those who do not belong.
Here is a helpful hint: Do not actually terminate respondents until after you have asked all screening questions. (more…)
The U.S. Census is one of the most useful tools for research and marketing because it tells you how many people fit specific demographic profiles and where they live. It started out as a simple count of how many people live in each state in order to allocate congressional seats. But it has since become a rich source of insight, with information about Americans’ age, family composition, work status, income, education, housing, and more.
While the Census provides basic tabulations and counts on its website, you can also query the data yourself to answer specific, customized questions that you are unable to find otherwise. In fact, using this data is so easy that Versta no longer uses the Census’ rather difficult and ever-changing “fact finder” features. We have downloaded the data along with a codebook, and use a statistics program to run specific queries and counts of anything we need. (more…)