Posts Tagged ‘insight’

Forget about Research — Focus on Verstehen

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

Early this month, David Blackwell, a prominent statistician and mathematician died at the age of 91.  For many he is well known because he was the first African American to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences.  For others, he is well known because he wrote an important and early book about Bayesian statistics, a type of statistics that is becoming central to market research.

For those of us at Versta Research, he is well known for his focus on understanding versus research:

“Basically, I’m not interested in doing research and I never have been,” he said. “I’m interested in understanding, which is quite a different thing. And often to understand something you have to work it out yourself because no one else has done it.”  (From an interview cited in the New York Times) (more…)

Click Here for Actionable Insights!

Friday, May 28th, 2010

We saw an ad today for a downloadable survey app similar to Survey Monkey or Zoomerang that was pitched as a tool for actionable insights.  Wow!  Download, install, run . . . click again,  and there they are, sitting on your desktop or smart phone: actionable insights. (more…)

Of Lust and Tracking Studies

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

Today, an industry colleague (another owner of a market research firm) said to me, “We all lust after those big tracking studies.”  For most market research firms, tracking studies are attractive because they involve big samples, multiple ongoing deliverables, and multi-year commitments, all of which means predictable, ongoing (and usually substantial) revenue.

At Versta Research, we lust after them for a different reason: they are the true test of whether our key personnel can really add value and insight to the work that we do.  How do you take something routine and predictable, and turn it into an effort that delivers an “Aha” every week?  Here’s how we do it: (more…)

Don’t Do Research in Your Sleep

Sunday, May 2nd, 2010

A colleague in market research once complained to me that he felt bored and unchallenged by all the client satisfaction and loyalty research he was doing, claiming he had mastered it to the point that he could do satisfaction and loyalty research in his sleep. I was struck because I could not think of any market research that I found boring or unchallenging, and certainly none that I could do in my sleep.  On the contrary, my experience is that doing great research requires intellectual work and waking thoughtfulness no matter how many times it is done and for how many clients. (more…)

Conflicting Surveys Give You Insight

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

When multiple surveys about the same topic give different results, consider yourself lucky.  It provides an opportunity to dissect and understand the question you are trying to answer in a way you might not get otherwise.  A recent New York Times article provides a nice example when it comes to polls about health care. (more…)

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.

People Don’t Lie on Surveys

Thursday, December 24th, 2009

For some reason I’m always a little surprised that people tell the truth on surveys.  I like to think of my “healthy skepticism” as a professional asset, because it forces us to check and double check, corroborate and triangulate.  Before we commit to the findings of a research effort, we need to feel 100% sure we’re right and that our findings are based on solid data. (more…)

Execs Highlight Need for Research and Stories

Friday, November 20th, 2009

Five of Chicago’s PR leaders gathered at a PRSA forum this week to discuss current trends and the future of public relations.  The discussion was striking in how fully it echoed the trends and challenges facing the polling and research industry, and what we need to do to keep our eye on the ball.  Here are a few take-away ideas from that forum that apply to both PR professionals and their research partners: (more…)

There Are Too Many Surveys

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

You might think that a research firm specializing in surveys would be glad to see a world in which customer feedback surveys are everywhere.  Not so.  I take part in a lot of webinars, and unfortunately I am asked to complete a survey (at least one) every time I attend.  Some websites ask me to evaluate my experience every time I go there.  Some companies ask me to evaluate my customer service call every time I call with a question or complaint.  The companies asking me to complete these surveys are convinced by pitches like this:  “The real power of [our survey tool] can only be unlocked through a commitment to continuous listening.  Listening to your visitors is truly a process, not an event. Continuous surveying can help you to establish benchmarks and trend your performance on key metrics.” (more…)

Visualizing Data: Six Hints on Using a Pie Chart

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

There is a lot of buzz about new programs that analyze data visually rather than with numbers and tables.  We are big fans of Edward Tufte’s approach to visual explanations.  But even the basics of visualizing data can be challenging and it is worth thinking about how and when to use some of the simplest tools, like pie charts and bar charts. (more…)