Is it Really Necessary to Pre-Test our Questionnaires? 

A surgeon wouldn’t begin surgery without first ensuring that their medical instruments were sanitized. And most professional researchers wouldn’t launch a new survey without first testing their instruments (the questionnaire). But these… Continue reading Is it Really Necessary to Pre-Test our Questionnaires? 

Curing the Ills of Online Sampling for Survey Research

Survey researchers often use online panel providers to fulfill their data collection needs. Need 500 working moms to take your survey on vacation planning? Need 2,000 luxury car owners to… Continue reading Curing the Ills of Online Sampling for Survey Research

Getting a 16-Word Survey Wrong [a Special Guest Post by Jeffrey Henning]

I’m a fan of Google Consumer Surveys’ limitation on question length. Google limits you to questions of no more than 125 characters long, primarily – I believe – for a better experience for readers of the sites of its publisher partners … [Guest post by Jeffrey Henning of Researchscape]

3 Quick Tips for 2012 Market Research Success

December can be a nice, calm month for market researchers. Typically a month with little data collection, few presentations and no travel, it’s an ideal time to do a little 2012 planning. Here are three tips to keep in mind:

Market Research Strategy Trends in the Fortune 500

Fortune 500 researchers often juggle the need to deliver fresh customer insights with the mandate to minimize research costs. How do they do it? By cutting costs where they can,… Continue reading Market Research Strategy Trends in the Fortune 500

How to Use Facebook Polls for Fun and Profit

Typically when we think about market research surveys, we think of questionnaires that have 20, 30, or even more questions. Getting qualified people to complete these questionnaires has become a serious challenge. One alternative is the single-question poll. After all, you’re much more likely to get high response and low dropout rates if you can simply say, “Hi, we have a single question we’d like your opinion on”, rather than requesting a novel’s worth of responses.

Facebook is making polling insanely easy these days…

Online Survey Ads S*ck

Online surveys are often treated as guilty, until proven innocent. The onus is on the researcher to assure the client (internal or external) that the research design is sound, the sample source is authentic, the data analysis thorough, and the deliverables error-free.

Market Research Budget Planning Tip 1: Getting Lower Fees from Your Research Suppliers

One of the easiest ways to improve budget efficiency is to simply ask your research suppliers: “What options can you offer to reduce our research costs?” Let them know you are open to creative ideas.

Conducting Online Surveys Using Online Research Panels

If you are considering using an online panel for an upcoming project, and want some tips on how to manage this important resource, please check out the new white paper on online panels.

Customer Survey or non-Customer Survey? Tips for Market Research Success

When conducting survey projects, should you survey your own customer base (people who actually by from your company), or non-customers? Or both?

After all, you may very well have a list of customers that would be convenient for you to use for your survey project. But is that a wise choice? Maybe, maybe not.