Radiance

We’ve blogged before about the many uses of research (it’s sort of like the many uses of duct tape), but this one is new to even us.  Apparently surveys can even be used to catch criminals.  No, not by complex analyses, but by tricking them into thinking they’ll receive $500 for participating in the research.
Promising […]

As a fun experiment, I’ve kept track of all the chances I’ve recently had to complete a survey.  In the past two weeks I’m up to six (conservatively counting).  This includes a few invites from research panels, a student’s class project, a mail survey, and a customer feedback form.  This doesn’t count “fun surveys” such […]

I heard the following conversation a few nights ago while on the bus ride home between the bus driver and a passenger regarding a survey that RTD was administering to a few riders on each bus.
“That survey was like a book.”
“It even had chapters.”
“I think they get paid by the question.”
Of course they were referring […]

A good indication that a survey is poorly designed is when it confuses two people who create surveys for a living. Such was the case on a recent flight from Atlanta to San Diego. Beth Mulligan, a fellow analyst, was sitting next to me on the plane and she asked me to take a survey […]

This is the third in a series of posts on our recent trip to Africa.  To see our first two posts, click here and here. We checked into a hotel in Antananarivo, and I was delighted to see that the Malagasy people embrace market research.  Inside our room was a customer service survey asking about […]

Although it came out a little before we started blogging, we have been remiss in not letting you know about an important Colorado Nonprofit Association report that Corona Research played a big part in creating.
Return on Investment: The Economic Impact of the Nonprofit Sector in Colorado details both the breadth and (huge) economic impact of […]

Gallup just released some interesting polling numbers on Americans’ beliefs about God.  Over three quarters (78 percent) believe in God, while 15 percent do not believe in God but do believe in a universal spirit.  Only 6 percent of Americans believe in neither.
But when you slice the data by geographic region, you get some very […]

One of the most important factors that determines if your [fill in research mode here … survey, focus group, etc.] produces accurate results is your sample. A sample, by definition, is a subset of the population you are studying that is selected for the actual research study. Perform your research with the wrong […]

It’s the season for political polling, which is a convenient occasion for illustrating the many potential pitfalls of conducting opinion research.  Last week there was a particularly good example of biases in opinions caused by the way a question is asked.
There is currently a bill (House Bill 1366) in the North Carolina State Legislature that […]

I have been offered short surveys during checkout (i.e. POP: Point of Purchase) several times in the last few months at several retail stores. One such example is at Wal-Mart (okay, they could have been doing this for a while, but I don’t shop there frequently). The screen just asked one question: “Was the cashier […]