Increasingly, the constant sum question format is becoming one of my go to question styles. It allows the respondent to divide their “sum” across a fixed number of categories creating metric data. To clarify the “sum&rdquo...Read More

Let’s face it, qualified respondents who have nothing better to do than to complete our survey accurately, truthfully and in a timely fashion are a rare breed. In today’s crowded email inbox our survey invitations are competing for...Read More

As a trend watcher in the IT space I have noticed a consistent drumbeat over the last few years. CIOs and their interest in analytics and business intelligence has been consistent if not increasing. This makes perfect sense as companies realize...Read More

Not all scales in market research need be of the Likert, Semantic Differential, or Constant Sum variety. They don’t have to involve Bayesian theory like the extensions of Maximum Difference Scaling do. In fact, sometimes the simplest...Read More

When we strip away the glamor, the surveys we create and administer are nothing more than data collection platforms. Novice researchers may focus on basic question types, but as we expand our skills the more astute researcher realizes there are...Read More

As market researchers it is our task to sort the wheat from the chaff. Whether the data is from a survey or customer transactions it is our function to extrapolate meaning and educate those who can do something with it. When we dig into the...Read More

There comes a time when a direct marketing piece catches your eye. I was cleaning out some files recently and came across a white paper that covered one of my favorite topics - the use of the top box as a measure for conveying scale scores. If you...Read More

It is an alchemist’s blend of art and science when it comes to qualitative marketing research. The analysis of open-ended questions found on most surveys is indeed a qualitative endeavor. At its core this is an iterative process, even with...Read More

If you have been around survey research for any length of time you have come across the ubiquitous Likert scale. But, do you ever wonder what the Likert scale really is? This question format and its strongly agree to strongly disagree framework is...Read More

My interest as of late as turned to surveys that support employee loyalty, however, today’s topic applies just as well to consumer or B2B market research. As a research professional I find it useful to keep my feet on the ground and...Read More