Posts Tagged ‘survey technology’

Bridging the Quantitative-Qualitative Gap

Friday, June 25th, 2010

The summer 2010 newsletter from Versta Research focuses on how to bridge the gap between quantitative research and qualitative research, whether it be market research or academic research.  Both methods give rich insights, and both offer compelling ways to summarize and communicate data.  But rarely does each method draw upon the strengths of the other.

How do you bring the two together?  (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…)

Top Trends of the Decade: Looking Ahead

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

In the previous post we noted that our industry is driven by data and information, which meant huge changes in the nature of our work over the last ten years.  Looking ahead, here are what we predict will be the five biggest trends that will shape market research challenges in the decade to come: (more…)

Top Trends of the Decade: Looking Back

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

As an industry driven by data and information, market research and public opinion polling has seen dramatic changes in the last ten years and will no doubt change quickly and in big ways during the next ten.

Looking back, here are what we consider to be the five biggest changes that shaped current challenges faced by market research and opinion polling: (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…)

When to Use Survey Monkey

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

Versta Research uses Survey Monkey for its own Versta client satisfaction work.  At the end of an engagement we send clients a link and ask them for an evaluation of our work.

Why would a market research firm use such a primitive tool for its own feedback?  Are we like the cobbler who can’t afford shoes for our own children? (more…)

Online Surveys Replacing Focus Groups

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

It’s fascinating that new survey technology and easy access to millions of consumers could be affecting the focus group industry more than the quantitative survey industry.  But a colleague who has been doing focus groups for over 20 years says that’s exactly what she is seeing.

(more…)