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What to Expect from a Focus Group
If you were to ask me what my favorite pastime is, I’d have to say people-watching. No surprise, I am market researcher! Observing people and their interactions with one another can be a great source of inspiration and entertainment. With that in mind, I recently attended my first focus group excited to study our core [...]
Recent Posts

How to Convert Your Respondent into an Adoring Fan
The biggest mistake which almost every online panel company does is to overlook the critical importance of respondent satisfaction. But we provide adequate incentives for their time & effort! I have often heard panel managers protesting. Let us first get this thing straight – your incentives are really not that lucrative enough that someone will [...]

Innovation Station
By Josh Pelham
I recently attended a great workshop on innovation that was put on by, of all things, a health insurance company. While there’s plenty of room for innovation for products and services in the healthcare industry, sometimes innovating within a particular piece of that industry, like insurance, can seem a bit daunting. For most of us, [...]

Research Access to Cover E2 Conference
By Dana Stanley
I’m pleased to let you know Research Access will be providing coverage of the upcoming E2 Conference in Boston, to be held June 17 to 19 at the Boston Marriott Copley Place. I love going beyond my comfort zone of market research conferences and looking at the wider business environment. E2 is a great opportunity [...]

Research for the Startup
By Josh Pelham
Starting your own company through creativity and innovation is as much an American ideal as, well, something very American. The United States’ quick growth is the result of many heroes and hard working people. Some of the most hard working among them being the innovative thinkers, inventors, and creators from our short history. Without those [...]

The Rise of Infographic Engines
By Dana Stanley
Why are we seeing more and more infographic engines? Infographics remain popular, notwithstanding their seeming ubiquity and the inevitable backlash and parodies. The truth is, people are drawn to infographics because they make data fun. And more interesting. And easier to understand. We in the data world are attracted to infographics not only because we [...]

Data in Action: Paul Miller, CEO, UBM Tech
By Dana Stanley
Here is the fifth installment in the “Data in Action” data innovator profile series. Today Romi’s interview is with Paul Miller, CEO of UBM Tech. Romi Mahajan: Data looms larger than ever in the minds of businesspeople. What does data mean to you? Paul Miller: Agree that Data has taken on a very large role in [...]
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“How To” Posts

4 Kinds of Survey Error: Sampling, Measurement, Coverage and Non-Response
By Dana Stanley
There are 4 generally-accepted types of survey error. By survey error, I mean factors which reduce the accuracy of a survey estimate. It’s important to keep each type of survey error in mind when designing, executing and interpreting surveys. However, I suspect some of them are more ingrained in our thinking about research, while others [...]

How to Use Barcodes for Retail Competitive Intelligence
By Greg Bender
Did you know you can document your position – and your competitors’ positions – on shelves across thousands of retail locations with a super-simple technique using one of the oldest pieces of modern retail technology – the barcode? For distributors and manufacturers, having the right space on the shelf is a matter of business survival. [...]

How to Plus or Minus: Understand and Calculate the Margin of Error
By Dana Stanley
Sometimes in the day-to-day work of conducting and interpreting market research, it’s easy to forget that many people who work with surveys on a daily basis have not had formal training in statistics. Even for those who have been trained, it can be useful to have a refresher from time to time. UNDERSTANDING MARGIN OF [...]

What to Expect from a Focus Group
If you were to ask me what my favorite pastime is, I’d have to say people-watching. No surprise, I am market researcher! Observing people and their interactions with one another can be a great source of inspiration and entertainment. With that in mind, I recently attended my first focus group excited to study our core [...]

What is “Big Data,” and What Can I Do About It?
By Dana Stanley
There are a lot of buzzwords out there in market research, and Big Data is one of them. I’ve been hearing that term everywhere. I’m proud to announce that Research Access is partnering with GreenBook to bring you a webinar to help you understand Big Data. This is the first in a series of webinars [...]

Kano Surveys Explained
By Tim O'Connor
Looking for a way to identify must haves, delighters and don’t need to do requirements – and are Likert scales just not doing it for you? Try a Kano survey. There is a scene in the movie Fiddler on the Roof, when the Rabbi is asked who’s right about an argument between two villagers. One [...]

Election Polls: 5 Tips For Navigating the Clutter
By Dana Stanley
Tomorrow is Election Day here in the States. The big vote (for President) isn’t until next year, but we have the usual spate of races for local offices as well as a wide range of citizen-initiated referenda on everything from the mundane (bond measures) to the highly divisive (social issues). As the expected avalanche of [...]

How to Do a Survey
By Dana Stanley
This brief tutorial outlines the key steps involved in conducting a survey. So, you want to do a survey. Maybe you haven’t conducted a survey before. Maybe you have. Either way, that’s OK. Here are the essential steps to success. 1. Decide who will take your survey The most likely scenario for a business or [...]

How to Present Research Data in a Way that Inspires Action
By IvanaTaylor
It’s one thing to collect data and feedback – but quite another to analyze and present the data in a way that is clear and inspires action. The Power Presentation Outline Here’s a presentation outline that you can use the next time you have to put together a killer presentation using research data.

5 Smart Ways to Use Polling
Editor’s Note: As a follow-up to our recent interview with QuestionPro President Erik Koto about that company’s acquisition of PollBob, I asked QuestionPro Marketing Director Elizabeth Larned to share her recent post announcing QuestionPro’s new polling product and including an excellent list of 5 use cases for web polling. If you’ve logged into your QuestionPro [...]

5 Ways to Avoid Creating Dead Robot Respondents
By Dana Stanley
“When the individual’s behavior and consciousness get hooked to a routine sequence of external actions, he is a dead robot, and it is time for him to die and be reborn. Time to ‘drop out,’ ‘turn on,’ and ‘tune in.’ – Dr. Timothy Leary OK, it’s no longer the 1960s, but the words of Dr. [...]


























