Posts Tagged ‘Public Relations’
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, June 9th, 2011
A good chart is the best way to understand the law of diminishing returns when it comes to sample size. So for our June 2011 newsletter we built an interactive graph for choosing sample size. It’s cool, educational, and useful. Moreover, it will show you just how mind boggling the numbers behind sampling can be. It may even give you more sympathy for the majority of people who just don’t “get it” or believe it when it comes to statistical sampling.
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Tags: charts, Market Research, population, public opinion, Public Polls, Public Relations, Sampling, survey respondents, visualizing data
Posted in Charts and Data Visualization, Data Collection, Market Research, Methods & Tools, Omnibus Surveys, Public Polls, Public Relations, Sampling | No Comments »
Thursday, May 26th, 2011
A new study presented by two professors from Harvard University and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst was probably one of the liveliest and potentially disruptive presentations at least week’s annual meeting of the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) in Phoenix.
Why? Because their research challenges the beliefs of many AAPOR-ites who disregard most online research as being theoretically indefensible since it is not based on probability sampling. The research presented was based on parallel surveys conducted last year, designed to allow careful comparison of three survey modes: (more…)
Tags: bias, census, Data Collection, Internet, journalism, media, news, Online Surveys, phone surveys, public opinion, Public Polls, Public Relations, Sampling
Posted in Data Collection, Methods & Tools, 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 »
Thursday, April 7th, 2011
I’ve always been intrigued by the promises of data mining because it offers such a magical solution to much of what we do in market research. If only we had a tool or technology that would discover hidden patterns and insights in our data. We would not have to think so hard, or work so hard, or hire really smart people to help our clients design research, analyze data, and present findings to their executive teams.
Finding Gold in Your Data Mine
The truth, however, is that while technology and tools can multiply our capabilities and help us work better and faster, they cannot discover meaningful patterns or find hidden insights. Only smart people can do that. The reason is that market research data only become meaningful within a context of questions that need to be answered, or stories that need to be told. Tools and technology cannot supply that context.
We are working with a client who has been struggling for the last five months to find a story in survey data. They commissioned the survey to generate data for a whitepaper for presentation to business level clients and prospects. They’ve been staring at tables and banner tabs, pie charts and bar charts, correlations and gap analyses. But squeeze the data as they might, the story will not emerge. (more…)
Tags: communication, data, data analysis, data mining, insight, Public Relations, stories
Posted in Uncategorized | 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 »
Thursday, October 14th, 2010
Should you state a survey’s margin of error in your press release when pitching a story to the media? In our view, the answer is no. Why not? Because margins of error refer to sampling error only, not about the overall accuracy or error of the survey itself.
But how many readers of your news story understand what sampling error is? For that matter, how many researchers understand what sampling error is? It was only after four college semesters of advanced mathematical statistics that I finally “got it.” More importantly, how many readers understand that there are many other potential sources of survey error? Most undoubtedly assume that all error is somehow accounted for when you confidently proclaim the margin of error being ±4%. (Or, more absurdly, ±3.6% or even ±3.57% — examples of phony accuracy like this are all too easy to find.)
In short, margins of error are misleading because they deal with only one source of error. They convey a false sense of accuracy. And they should not be used. This idea is not always popular among colleagues and clients. But take comfort: One of the giants of public polling, Harris Interactive, refuses to report margins of error in its work, for precisely the reasons outlined above. Here we quote their methodological statement that accompanies every press release and report they issue: (more…)
Tags: ethics, media, Public Polls, Public Relations, Sampling, statistics
Posted in Presenting Research, 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 »
