The Survey Geek

Author: RegBaker

  • Plus c’est la même chose

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    RegBaker
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    Here is a quote I recently came across and wanted to share. When Eileen Campbell, CEO of Millward Brown, was asked at this year's ARF re:Think conference (I hope I got that funky capitlization right) what she thought the industry would like in 2020 she responded: "I’ve been in this business for a long time,…

  • Why does it work?

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    RegBaker
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    Now there is a question that we ought to ask more often. At last week's MRMW Conference we heard about a whole lot of different methods—some mobile and some online—for which their evangelists made great claims. And those claims generally focused on the great insights they can deliver about some generic ill-defined group, typically "people"…

  • Final thoughts on MRMW

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    RegBaker
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    In the final session of last’s week MRMW Conference chair Lenny Murphy asked me to share my three takeaways from the conference.  Here is more or less what I told him. First, if you are in the data collection business find a new business.  It’s clear that the sheer amount of data available is going…

  • Storytelling comes to the conference podium

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    RegBaker
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    The first two presentations at the conference this morning have helped me to understand what it is that I'm finding so disquieting about this conference. What we are hearing is not the usual kind of research conference presentation. What we are hearing are stories. No data. No experiments. No hypothesis testing. Just stories. Oral blog…

  • Kids in a candy store

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    RegBaker
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    I'm at the Market Research in the Mobile World Conference in Cincinnati where the constant stream of cool MR mobile applications is off the charts. You can't help but be impressed with the creativity being brought to the task of using mobile to give us a whole new perspective on consumer behavior. And the people…

  • Ying versus yang

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    RegBaker
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    NCHS just released the latest data on US wireless only households. The relentless march continues and as of December, 2011, a whopping 34% of US households have only a wireless telephone. To put it another way, you can only hope to reach about two-thirds of the US population when only calling landline telephones. Clear evidence,…

  • Truth in texting

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    RegBaker
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    I admit that I've never been much of a fan of SMS surveys. Too many limitations to do anything meaningful. Once Nathan Eagle started showing up at conferences and talking about his experiences with SMS in developing countries, especially in Africa, I could see a niche. That is, if you can call accessing two billion…

  • AAPOR catches the wave

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    RegBaker
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    I’ve been going to the AAPOR Annual Conference for more years than I can count.  The last several have been like trips back in time.  While web survey design was often discussed the the new and rapidly-evolving methodologies that occupy MR conferences were seldom acknowledged in any meaningful way.  Or, if acknowledged hardly welcomed.   But…

  • The Mosaic of Global Research

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    RegBaker
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    Last week I attended the much-retooled CASRO Global Conference in Miami. The event was co-sponsored by CASRO and ARIA, the Americas Research Industry Alliance. There were around 100 attendees and the program seemed to me to be stronger than in previous years. Day 1 was interesting. The highlight for me was a presentation by Simon…

  • The limits of outsourcing

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    RegBaker
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    Virtually every MR company of any size that I can think of does some amount of outsourcing to offshore entities, whether to a wholly-owned sub or one of the major providers of market research services. The attraction has tended to be threefold: (1) a smart, well-educated labor force; (2) a near fanatical reverence for process;…