Quantitative Research
8/22/08
Concerns over online tracking
We’ve talked about privacy concerns before, and as society has become more digital, the digital footprint of individuals – and the resulting concern about where that information ends up and how it is used – will only continue to grow. The washingtonpost.com recently reported on how some firms track online behavior without explicit consent. We […]
By David KennedyRead More
8/8/08
The importance of good sampling
One of the most important factors that determines if your [fill in research mode here … survey, focus group, etc.] produces accurate results is your sample. A sample, by definition, is a subset of the population you are studying that is selected for the actual research study. Perform your research with the wrong sample, or […]
By David KennedyRead More
8/6/08
Google Insights
Marketers salivate over the amount of data Google holds, and today Google gives us another window into their database of intentions. Similar to Google Trends, their newest service, Google Insights, allows you to get a glimpse of what terms people are searching for. Insights, however, offers additional tools to make those results more useful. Now […]
By David KennedyRead More
8/4/08
Be Careful What You Ask For
It’s the season for political polling, which is a convenient occasion for illustrating the many potential pitfalls of conducting opinion research. Last week there was a particularly good example of biases in opinions caused by the way a question is asked. There is currently a bill (House Bill 1366) in the North Carolina State Legislature […]
By Geoff UrlandRead More
7/30/08
Obama’s Super Marketing Machine
I should first start off with a general disclaimer. We’re a neutral market research firm with no affiliation with any political party. Oh, and another disclaimer, we do market research for a living, so we are biased in that respect. With all that out of the way… I read an article today on Obama’s Super […]
By David KennedyRead More
7/25/08
Don’t Stop….Graphing?
I’ll admit it — I’m a graph nerd. I tend to obsess over the minutia of tables, charts, and graphs, in search of the best ways to present different types of data. I’ve fully accepted the idea — popularized by Edward Tufte and others– that many of the advances in graphing technology lead to pretty, […]
By Geoff UrlandRead More
7/14/08
Three laws of Great Graphs?
What graphs should you use in your presentations? Marketing uber-guru Seth Godin recently posted an interesting set of guidelines (and a follow-up coda) on his website. As is customary for our culture, Seth’s rules were three: 1. One Story 2. No Bar Charts 3. Motion His rules quickly were a lightning rod for controversy, so let’s […]
By Geoff UrlandRead More
6/18/08
Polling at the POP
I have been offered short surveys during checkout (i.e. POP: Point of Purchase) several times in the last few months at several retail stores. One such example is at Wal-Mart (okay, they could have been doing this for a while, but I don’t shop there frequently). The screen just asked one question: “Was the cashier […]
By David KennedyRead More
6/11/08
They get one right
In a recent post, Auto Dealers and their Research, I chastised businesses that try to sway customer surveys in order to look good, without trying to learn anything from the research. Well, to be fair, I want to offer some praise for something they recently got right.I recently made several trips to my auto dealer […]
By David KennedyRead More
5/28/08
Sugging and Frugging
A comment on yesterday’s post brought up how telemarketers have impacted the credibility of market research. Being able to conduct valid research is our life blood and if we were ever unable to get people to participate in our research, we would be unable to provide accurate results to our clients – at least in […]
By David KennedyRead More