Posts Tagged ‘omnibus’
Tuesday, 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. (more…)
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 »
Wednesday, November 9th, 2011
One powerful way to gain visibility and credibility in your marketplace is by sponsoring survey research that documents problems and solutions in areas where you have expertise. To be successful, it requires (1) rigorous research carefully designed to uncover the right topics, and (2) savvy PR work that uses data to tell a credible and compelling story.
The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and the American Statistical Association have just published a handy guide for PR professionals that outlines best practices for using, interpreting and reporting statistics in press releases and other PR materials. Some of those best practices include the following: (more…)
Tags: communication, journalism, media, news, omnibus, Public Relations, statistics, stories
Posted in Omnibus Surveys, Presenting Research, Public Relations, Turning Data into Stories | 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, April 28th, 2011
As much as we love numbers, we find ourselves often advising clients against using numeric scales in their surveys. A numeric scale is any response format that asks people to give a number within a certain range to indicate the strength of their feeling or opinion. The insanely popular survey question used to calculate Net Promoter Scores is a good example:
“How likely is it that you would recommend Acme Solutions to a friend or colleague? Please answer on a scale from zero to ten, where zero means not at all likely, five is a neutral score, and ten means extremely likely.”
There are many good reasons to use numeric scales and many types of research for which numeric scales are optimal. The NPS scale is good because it has eleven points with meaningful endpoints and a meaningful midpoint. Research shows that scales like this can be highly reliable and valid, with sufficient variability to allow for sophisticated statistical modeling.
But if your objective is to use survey data for marketing materials, public relations, news releases, or white papers, numeric scales make things difficult. They are not easy to summarize in words, and if you want to use charts that tell quick, compelling stories, you will end up having to do something like this:
A Poor Fit: Pie Charts and Numeric Scales
(more…)
Tags: charts, communication, Data Collection, journalism, media, news, omnibus, Public Relations, stories, Survey Design, visualizing data
Posted in Charts and Data Visualization, Data Collection, Omnibus Surveys, Presenting Research, Public Relations, Survey Design, Survey Tips, Turning Data into Stories | No Comments »
Friday, February 4th, 2011
Research can be powerful for PR efforts because new data and analysis often help anchor a story with facts and figures that have a deep interest and appeal to readers. But if the research is not clearly designed to support key messages in your PR plan, you may find yourself apologizing to managers for a campaign that failed. Worse yet, you may find yourself apologizing to an audience who got exactly the wrong message.
Last week, Allstate found itself in this unhappy situation when it released findings from “research” showing accident rates based on drivers’ astrological signs. (more…)
Tags: media, omnibus, Public Relations, trust
Posted in Public Relations | No Comments »
Friday, September 10th, 2010
With the sad proliferation of silly surveys, non-scientific interest polls, and downright fraudulent polls, the research industry is stepping up with a number of key initiatives to combat the trend. Versta Research is part of that effort, and in August announced that we are part of the Transparency Initiative being developed by the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR).
As of this writing, Versta is one of 67 prominent survey and polling organizations currently supporting the initiative. The initiative is designed to create protocols and recognition for regular disclosure of methods when survey organizations conduct public polls. (more…)
Tags: data quality, ethics, omnibus, Public Polls, research, trust
Posted in Future Trends, Omnibus Surveys, Public Polls, Public Relations | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010
We are strong advocates of using surveys for public relations outreach. Commissioning surveys that answer interesting questions to help drive news stories and other types of communication can build a credible foundation so that journalists and other audiences take note and listen. But we are not fans of silly surveys that rely on outlandish, sexy, or clever comparisons designed primarily to get quick flashes of attention and media hits.
There are three tiers of survey research common in public relations, only two of which can truly optimize your PR: (more…)
Tags: journalism, media, news, omnibus, Public Relations, research, trust
Posted in Public Relations | No Comments »
Friday, May 14th, 2010
Choosing an omnibus survey can be a simple approach to getting survey data, because it is usually inexpensive and fast, and involves asking just a few questions. But there is sometimes a downside to simplicity: You have just a few questions to get that nugget of data you’re hoping to use as a news hook or to provide insight to your client. If your key questions are off target, you can’t turn to other content in your survey to find something usable.
Here are four tips for writing omnibus survey questions to ensure that your effort is successful: (more…)
Tags: omnibus, Public Relations, Survey Design
Posted in Omnibus Surveys, Public Polls, Public Relations, Survey Design, Survey Tips | No Comments »
Monday, January 25th, 2010
Omnibus surveys evolved as a way to share costs by combining survey questions from multiple clients. Because the biggest cost in conducting a survey is getting it set up and then finding a statistically representative sample of respondents to answer the questions, for some surveys it makes sense to pool resources and conduct a larger, shared survey.
But new technologies have made data collection more efficient and less expensive, so omnibus surveys are not always the best option. For many clients, a fully customized survey might be less expensive than an omnibus survey. (more…)
Tags: omnibus
Posted in Data Collection, Methods & Tools, Omnibus Surveys | No Comments »
Saturday, January 16th, 2010
An omnibus survey is a shared-cost survey that can be a good way for you to save money on surveys. It works by combining survey questions from multiple clients and then collecting responses to all questions from the same group of respondents. After that, each client is given the data (the survey responses) to their specific questions. Omnibus surveys are usually fun and engaging for respondents because instead of a 15-minute survey about just one topic, the survey will cover four or five different topics, which adds interest and variety. (more…)
Tags: omnibus, Online Surveys, survey
Posted in Omnibus Surveys | No Comments »
