Survey Scales: Market Research Fundamentals

How many points in a scaled question is “enough”? That’s a pretty common question in survey design. If you’ve spent some time with online market research surveys, you’ve probably noticed that they often have five points. “Please rate your satisfaction on a scale from 1 to 5, with one representing ‘not at all satisfied’ and five representing ‘extremely satisfied’.” Sometimes, though, you may see a 7-point scale instead of 5. Is 7 points an improvement? How about 11? Is higher resolution better? The answer is, “that depends”.

Sample Size for Market Research Surveys: How Big Is Big Enough?

Sample Size for Survey ResearchHow many people need to take your survey, for you to have confidence in the results? I can answer that question two ways; a long, academic way, or a short, friendly way.
Today, let’s take the short and friendly approach.

Surfing Lessons for Market Research Survey Designers

In any market research survey, some participants will drop out, which is just the nature of the beast. The goal is to minimize this drop out rate so that we can meet our overall sample size goals, completely…

It’s not a Survey, It’s a Contest!

People like contests. I don’t know why. Must have something to do with why so many people like gambling.

People generally don’t like surveys. And it’s getting worse. How I long for the days when 20% response rates were considered “low.”