The Survey Geek

Author: RegBaker

  • Six of one . . .

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    RegBaker
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    We do a large amount of survey work with physicians and virtually all of it relies on online panels. Not that long ago we had a client who insisted on our using mail to recruit physicians to Web surveys, partially on the premise that it would produce a more representative sample. That client has since…

  • Where is the insight?

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    RegBaker
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    Just prior to the holidays the folks at the Harvard Business Review released the results of a survey that asked 2,100 companies about their use of social media. This finding is especially telling: Nearly two-thirds of the 2,100 companies who participated said they are either currently using social media channels or have social media plans…

  • The relentless march of cell-only households

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    RegBaker
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    NHIS has released the latest estimates of wireless-only households in the US and, to almost no one's surprise, the steady increase continues. As of June 30, 2010 26.6 percent of US homes had only a telephone, a sharp increase of 2.1 percentage points since December of 2009. Another 15.9 percent of homes report that they…

  • For those mobile users sneaking into Web surveys

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    RegBaker
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    AAPOR's online journal Survey Practice continues to be one of my favorite places to go for quick updates on the latest methodological research. To wit, the December issue has a nice little piece by Mario Callegaro on mobile users who perhaps unexpectedly show up to take an online survey designed for administration via a laptop…

  • Not that I am or ever was a seer but . . .

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    RegBaker
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    Just about 15 years ago I had the good fortune to collaborate with some friends on a book with the unfortunate title, Computer-Assisted Information Collection. In addition to editing the chapters on new technologies, I wrote the last chapter, a somewhat lame attempt to predict the future of survey research. I was heavily influenced by…

  • Ode to the New MR

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    RegBaker
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    Courtesy of John Henry Saxe (1816-1887).                  I.It was six men of Indostan To learning much inclined,Who went to see the Elephant (Though all of them were blind),That each by observation Might satisfy his mind.                  II. The First approached the Elephant, And happening to fallAgainst his broad and sturdy side, At once began…

  • FTC vs. MR: A Fight to the Death?

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    RegBaker
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    That's at least what Quirk's email newsletter is telling me today. So what's the fuss? Something called the Best Practices Act (HR 5777), also known simply as "The Rush Bill." MRA has been sounding the alarm about this bill for some months now, and while I'm not a regular reader of Quirk's I gather that…

  • Is “Good Enough” really good enough?

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    RegBaker
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    Earlier in the week I was fortunate to attend and speak at the International Journal of Market Research Methods Forum. It was one of those one-track, everybody in the same room conferences with lots of time to interact. Myself excepted, the speakers and presentations were of uniformly high quality and centered around the theme of…

  • The problem that won’t go away

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    RegBaker
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    A few weeks back I saw this press release from Forrester which is worth quoting at length: "Social networking continued to grow over the past year . . . The number of people who joined social networks increased by 11 percent in Europe, 18 percent in metro China, and 11 percent in Australia. By comparison,…

  • KISS

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    RegBaker
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    One of the links in the blog roll down on the right is to Jakob Nielsen's site, usit.com. Nielsen does a steady stream of Web usability research and has published a number of excellent books on the topic. It's always interesting to look at his work and see what lessons there might be in it…