Research Incorporated Blog

My New Blog Article

researchincorporated — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:01:44 +0000

Details go here.

Does your content help you achieve your brand and business objectives?

researchincorporated — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:42:27 +0000

Content development projects vary in scope and delivery method. Regardless of their channel, ads, collateral, direct mail; Web, multimedia, trade-show materials, and technical documentation all impact the success of your organization. Internally, content helps communication, knowledge transfer, and efficiency. Externally, content helps promote the organization, connect with new customers, and potentially add additional revenue streams. Unfortunately, despite its impact, content is typically undervalued within the rest of the organization.This is a Free American Marketing Association Webcast (details)

Guidelines for Writing Effective Questions

researchincorporated — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:13:11 +0000

By: Kristin Bright

Clients often ask us about the particular wording of questions and whether questionnaire wording affects the outcome of a survey. Wording of certain types of questions can definitely impact the interpretation by a respondent. Even small nuances can alter the response to a question and therefore yield misinterpreted results. However, it is easier to discuss the ways not to compose questions that cause bias or ambiguity than it is to discuss how to write a proper question. The following quick, five point checklist is a helpful tool when composing questions in any type of survey.

Use vocabulary that is simple, direct and familiar

You need to choose words that are easily understandable by all respondents. Often technical jargon used in questionnaires is unfamiliar to the respondent and can mislead the respondent’s answer. Choosing wording that is simple and easy for a respondent to understand, regardless of their educational level, will ensure a valid response. This should also be considered when dealing with cross-cultural studies. Be careful not to use words that may having a different meaning in different cultures or ones that do not lend themselves easily to interpretation or translation.

Do not use questions that are leading or loaded

A leading question is one that attempts to guide the respondent’s answer or reveals the researcher’s opinion. This can be done easily by framing a question, “Wouldn’t you say half the neighborhood likes to swim?” Certain questions can also be more subtle in nature by not including all possible responses such as “don’t know” or “none of the above”. These are called loaded questions. For example, “When reading for pleasure, do you prefer to do …?” What if the respondent doesn’t like to read or is unable to read. Also, it is important to keep in mind that organizations or groups may have emotional associations. Using them in questioning can almost certainly bias the response. For example, “Doctors from Hospital X suggest that, …: Do you support or disagree with…? It is often wise to refrain identifying the sponsor to avoid this type of bias.

Avoid using double barreled questions

A double barrel question is one in which a respondent can agree with one part of a question, but disagree with another. This leaves the respondent unable to answer the question honestly. They are being forced to accept or decline a particular assumption in the question that simple may not be true. For example, Do you plan to move and buy another house within the next year? You could plan to move, but not plan to buy a house or not move, but plan to buy a second house. Another example might be “Did you receive friendly and accurate service?” This type of questioning leaves the respondent in a quandary again yielding misleading results.

Avoid using words with ambiguous meanings

It is up to the researcher to provide the respondent with an adequate time frame of reference. This is a common mistake when using words like, often, sometimes or occasionally. When the respondent is not given the proper time reference, they will make up their own. When respondents make up their own time reference, results become impossible to interpret. For example, if asked “How often do you play golf? Do you play often, occasionally, seldom or never?” A respondent who has relatives that golf everyday, may consider once a week occasionally, whereas another individual who golfs weekly may consider that often. In this situation, you might ask, “how many times a week do you golf?” Another example would be, “Where are you from?” Do you mean where do you live now, where were you born, where did you spend your youth, or where have you lived the longest? Use words that are time or place specific to avoid confusion.

Avoid forcing respondents to answer questions that may not apply

Often times respondents who claim to have utilized a particular service are asked to rate the performance of an employee in several areas. “On your last contact was the sales representative friendly? Did they shake your hand?” Maybe the last point of contact was via the telephone, thus shaking hands would not apply. Try to ask qualifying questions to avoid these sorts of situations and thereby allow your respondent to skip questions that aren’t relevant to them. If asked up front what the nature of their last contact with the sales representative was, asking whether or not you shook hands mistakenly might be avoided.

In the end, researchers are truth seekers. They need to make sure question wording is easy to understand, not misleading, to the point, and answerable. Any deviations will lead to misinterpreted conclusions that can do more damage than good.

Growth in Global Ad Spending

researchincorporated — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:10:58 +0000

Carat issued a release yesterday with their projections for total advertising growth around the globe. Though many growth rates have been revised down slightly from previous forecasts, they remain bullish on online advertising growth, particularly in several developing markets. They project that the online advertising markets in China and Russia, for example, will grow by 56% and 46% respectively in 2008. Jupiter forecasts the US online ad market to grow by just 15% during that same time period.

More…

Consumer Online Behavior: Community or Content as King

researchincorporated — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:06:32 +0000

An Ad Age story is headlined “Content Trumps Community” and notes that only 7.5% of consumer time online is spent in community sites like Facebook, MySpace, etc. True enough, but the stats say social networks have less of an issue with the number of users and page view consumption than with their users’ fleeting attention.

How can Market Research help you attract new customers?

researchincorporated — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:46:25 +0000

Market research can help you identify…

Who your potential customers are
Criteria on which they make buying decisions
The competition or who they currently buy from
What it would take to get them to buy from you
What they expect from your product or service
When and where they prefer to buy

Why choose a Market Research Firm?

Market research professionals are likely to get better results. They have experience in designing survey questionnaires, running focus groups and asking the right questions.
Customers are more likely to be honest with an outsider, particularly if they have a complaint.
Customers may worry you’re trying to sell them something if you conduct the research yourself.
You may find it difficult to be impartial, particularly if people criticize your business.

Make the most of your market research

Spend time not money
Carefully determine your research objectives
Apply the research
Head for the top
Be disciplined

Ignoring your market research.

The only thing worse than not doing market research at all is spending money on it and not utilizing the results. Some business owners also tend to toss good research aside just because it did not support the answers they wanted to see.

Online Focus Groups: Can They Work for You?

researchincorporated — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:45:54 +0000

By: Debbie McNamara

As marketing budgets become tighter and more consumers go online, businesses are looking to online focus groups to provide a new tool for market research. Focus groups have been used successfully for years to bring together consumers to evaluate a product or service. As a tool for qualitative research, they help businesses determine why something works (or doesn’t) as well as provide insights into new approaches.

Online focus groups do some things very well. They are especially effective in reaching certain demographic groups and are often an effective alternative to traditional face-to-face groups. In deciding whether to use online focus groups instead of traditional focus groups, you need to consider the pros and cons.

Advantages of online focus groups

There are no geographic restrictions. You can reach national and international populations and respondents who are hard to reach in traditional focus groups, such as rural consumers.

The sample size can be larger. As many as 100 people can be invited to an online focus group, while a traditional focus group consists of only 8 to 12 people.

Participants are anonymous to each other, which may encourage more open and honest feedback. Participants who are uncomfortable with face-to-face interaction or who are very comfortable with online communication (such as teenagers and young adults) will respond better in this environment.

More clients can be involved since travel expenses are eliminated.

In an online environment, it’s less likely that one person will dominate the discussion or influence other’s reactions.

If your product is based online, you’ll have the opportunity to observe how it will be used in an interactive environment. This approach is especially relevant if you are interested in online behavior (such as online shopping patterns or the effectiveness of your Web site).

Results can be determined quickly since transcripts of online groups are immediately available and highly accurate.

Disadvantages of online focus groups

The role of the moderator is limited. In a traditional focus group, an effective moderator can be sure that everyone participates and can use the reactions of the group to direct the discussion.

Participants get no visual or auditory cues from other participants or the moderator. These cues are often more important than verbal or written comments, so it becomes harder to gauge the emotional reactions of consumers.

The information you get may be relatively superficial because of this difficulty in gauging emotional reactions online.

Certain populations may not be represented (lower income, older, people who do not have easy access to a computer).

The anonymity of the online group may lead to dishonesty or misrepresentation.

It’s harder to screen participants, making it easier for imposters to enter the discussion.

The client has limited involvement in the actual group – there is no one-way mirror, and it’s harder for the client and moderator to discuss the progress of the session and make adjustments in real time.

The client is unable to see and hear respondents’ expressions, an important benefit of traditional focus groups.

The computer screen is a two-dimensional environment, and the size and quality of monitors used by participants will vary widely.

The nature of your product, your research objectives and your target market will drive your decision on whether to conduct online or traditional focus groups. If your research objectives call for interaction among the participants or you need to see and hear participants’ reactions to stimuli first-hand, you may be better served by traditional focus groups. But if your objective calls for an audience that is comfortable with the online environment or if you are researching a sensitive or personal topic, an online group can give you insight into consumer preferences.