Course Correcting the Direction for MR

There comes a time when all professions begin to question their purpose. Consider it therapy for the profession. Market research is no different. Since the new millennium started, the MR profession has seen the rise of data mining, social media, online survey platforms, big data, gamification, The...read more

5 Benefits of Online Employee Surveys to Improve Your Small Business

Not long ago, I learned some startling statistics: The loyalty of employees who work for small businesses has dropped by almost 20% since 2008, and currently stands at a paltry 50%. Although I have never experienced any serious turnover in my own venture, I decided to take preemptive action by...read more

Getting Back to the Trenches: Getting too Far Removed from the Customer Experience

Some days as a B2B market researcher, and in my previous lives in consumer research, I find myself becoming more intimate with SPSS files and questionnaires than with our customers. Ah, you might say, such is the life of a quant junkie. Well that may be true, as I do love working with the data that...read more

New Release Highlight: Introducing Survey Chapters

Looking for a better way to organize your web survey questions and control survey flow? You’re in luck – April 19th marks our Web Survey new release and we’ve added a Chapters feature. Survey chapters can be used for a variety of reasons: Structure ‒ Just like chapters in a book, survey chapters...read more

Key Drivers for Research Supplier Selection

It is rare that as a marketing researcher I get to take a survey. That may sound odd, but more often than not one’s occupation is used as a screener. Most researchers don’t want other researchers taking their survey, even though they may be qualified on all other accounts. The rare occasion is the...read more

Assessing Statistical Significance

The concept of significance is central to generating consumer insights. As market researchers we are tasked with providing data to decision makers that is both useful and meaningful. How we measure statistical significance depends upon the types of questions we ask and the associated data structure...read more

Hey You! Feeling a Bit Irrelevant?

Is market research becoming irrelevant? If you follow the published works of Forrester Research then you may be tempted to believe that we should scrap our career path and pursue something different. Don’t be tempted! What Forrester brings to light in their article What needs to happen in market...read more

Keeping Market Insights on the Edge

Those in the behavioral economics field hold onto the mantra of trust in what people do, not what they say. Can consumer insights professionals gain from this, and if so how can it be applied? The short answer is yes, those of us in the consumer and B2B market research space can benefit from...read more

Where the Wild Things Are

Seldom is there a customer experience that doesn’t have an underlying emotional dimension. Harnessing this fact is an issue that Big Data has yet to fully resolve. However, for decades those in the consumer behavior camp have understood this. The emotional component to a decision or experience is...read more

Are You Using More Than One Barrel? Tips for Question Writing

When is two not better than one? In survey design two is certainly not better than one. In this case it refers to the use of double-barreled questions. Those with little research training often do not realize they are combining two distinct elements into one question. The best practice is to...read more
The Rise of the Smart Phone: Are you Leverging Mobile? 10 Tips for Mobile-Friendly Survey Creation