New transcript tool from ActiveGroup
Atlanta-based ActiveGroup is now offering InstantTranscripts to all clients who use ActiveGroup to broadcast their qualitative research. Â InstantTranscripts are the real-time, textual transcripts of groups or interviews. Â When the ActiveGroup is being broadcast, the event is being transcribed at the same time. Â The transcripts and the ability to create video clips from the transcripts are available via the Internet 30 minutes after the group or interview ends. Â The audio feed of the event is summarized by the transcriptionist in real time. Users can view the transcripts at the same time as their event - similar to closed-captioning on a TV. They can click on any text in the transcript and the video of that moment will play. Â All InstantTranscripts are ActiveNotes-compatible, allowing users to immediately create video clips of any transcript items they like. Clients can save the transcript file as a Microsoft Word document and can access the video and create the clips from the Word document (Internet access required). For more information visit www.activegroup.net .
Raosoft updates EZSurvey
Seattle-based Raosoft has released EZSurvey 2004, the seventh version of its electronic data collection program. Users can build either simple or complex questionnaires on Web sites and distribute them over the Internet, intranets, any standard e-mail system, and now Pocket PCs, Palms, tablet PCs, and mobile phones (SMS). The improved GUI is designed to make designing an electronic form easier, more straightforward and faster with more automatic wizard guidance. For advanced users, more options are available. The Standard package contains most of the new advanced features, including live previewing on the new EZSurvey Personal Server. The Professional  adds improved ODBC connectivity and advanced scripting. Enterprises can customize and extend both versions by writing plug-ins in JavaScript. For more information visit www.raosoft.com .
Free stat testing utility
DataStar, Inc., Waltham , Mass. , is offering an online statistical testing utility, Starware/Stat, on its Web site at www.surveystar.com/i_starstat.htm. Starware/Stat was originally introduced in 1995 as a statistical testing utility designed to perform significance tests commonly used by survey researchers. These same tools are now available online, free to use for individuals or businesses of any type. The tests performed include significance testing on two-sample proportions (z-test), significance testing on two-sample means (z-test), and sample precision calculator to determine overall reliability of various sample sizes. Â All testing is configurable to test at various confidence levels (80 percent, 90 percent, 95 percent and 99 percent), and provides details on probabilities and other pertinent statistics.
New online omnibus for Britain
London-based HI Europe, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Harris Interactive, Rochester, N.Y., Â has launched the QuickQuery Great Britain (QuickQuery GB) online omnibus service. It is the first expansion of a product created and developed originally in the U.S. in 1999 by Harris Interactive. HI Europe plans to extend this service to France , Germany , Italy , Spain and Belgium in the coming weeks and months. Each month, questions are added to the omnibus survey and a representative sample of about 2,000 people across Great Britain , aged 16 and over, is interviewed online. HI Europe can gather these responses in eight days or less, and the large online samples provide the ability to reach low-incidence populations. For more information visit www.hieurope.com .
Research system for product developers
Cincinnati-based Marketing Research Services Inc. (MRSI) is now offering PRISM, a research system designed to provide an easier way for market researchers and product developers to utilize marketing research to guide decision making. PRISM is composed of four stages that follow the product development process: market understanding, concept development, product development, and product management. The system utilizes MRSI’s quantitative and qualitative research tools in a framework that links the individual steps involved in the research process into an integrated research system. The system is designed to enable researchers and product developers the flexibility to customize the PRISM system to their specific needs. Clients can enter or leave the system at any stage or work with MRSI throughout all stages, whichever level of research guidance they require. Numerous research tools are used throughout the four stages of the PRISM system. Tools utilized in PRISM Stage 1, Market Understanding, include qualitative research, attitude and usage studies, and segmentation. Stage 2, Concept Development, includes tools such as brainstorming, concept evaluation, and volumetric forecasting. Research tools in Stage 3, Product Development, include product testing, pricing research, and product line optimization. Stage 4, Product Management, includes research tools such as point-of-purchase, tracking, and customer satisfaction research. For more information visit www.mrsi.com .
Version 4.5 of Net-MR
Seattle-based Global Market Insite (GMI) has released Net-MR version 4.5, an update to its suite of marketing research software. The Net-MR 4.5 represents a regularly scheduled upgrade to the software product. Â Some features of the Net-MR 4.5 release include: an interface that is designed to improve the overall usability and functionality in the development of Flash-based questions; an enhanced Net-MR Report Publisher tool; export analysis output directly to Microsoft Excel; enhanced e-mail campaign reporting; and faster performance for large datasets. For more information visit www.gmimr.com .
Track pet health products with PetTrends
Ipsos-Insight , New York , has announced a syndicated service to track consumer purchase behavior of cat and dog health products, called Ipsos PetTrends. It tracks cat and dog owner purchasing of both prescription and non-prescription wellness products for pets through Ipsos’ longitudinal and static consumer panel. Purchase behavior is tracked for treatment across a host of ailment categories for pets, including allergies, arthritis, behavior management disorders, heartworm, and external parasites like fleas and ticks. In addition to capturing purchasing of cat and dog medications and wellness products, the study looks at specialty cat and dog food purchases, specifically those foods that are purchased for a particular health condition. For more information visit www.ipsos-na.com .
WebSurveyor gets new interface
WebSurveyor Corporation, Herndon, Va., has released a new Web interface for its WebSurveyor online survey solution. Â The new interface enables immediate accessibility and mobility for survey administrators, who will now be able to access survey data from virtually anywhere. It eliminates the need to download and install software; instead, users can create and publish surveys and analyze their results using only a Web browser on a variety of platforms, such as Windows, Mac or Linux. The online interface includes a new account management survey dashboard that allows users to instantly see key survey statistics, view a graphical representation of survey activity, and use a new workspace for creating and editing surveys. For more information visit www.websurveyor.com .
Data Entry 4.0 from SPSS
Chicago-based SPSS Inc. has released SPSS Data Entry 4.0, a system for data collection and survey management. The latest version offers complete integration with SPSS for Windows.
SPSS Data Entry enables occasional surveyors, data entry departments, small businesses and medium-sized organizations to create surveys and efficient online forms. Â SPSS Data Entry also allows for the collection of more accurate data for analysis. The ability to create surveys in SPSS Data Entry and analyze the results in SPSS for Windows provides a full survey research solution.
The new version of SPSS Data Entry offers enhanced security options, including a new login/password feature. This ensures more secure surveys by enabling researchers to designate survey respondents. This also allows multiple respondents to take online surveys or tests at shared workstations. For more information visit www.spss.com .
Book covers ‘micropolitan’ areas
With the 12th edition of County and City Extra: Annual Metro, City, and County Data Book, Bernan Press, Lanham, Md., is offering organized data covering the Census Bureau’s newly designated ‘micropolitan’ areas - the population clusters that make up major metropolitan areas. County and City Extra presents key demographic and economic data for each U.S. state, county, metropolitan area, Congressional district, and for all U.S.  cities with a year-2000 population of 25,000 or more. New and updated tables in the 12th edition  include a full selection of data for the 391 all-new Metropolitan Statistical Areas and Metropolitan Divisions, and population counts for the 673 new Micropolitan Statistical Areas; immigration data from the Department of Homeland Security; updated county-level crime data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Census 2000 data for the 108th Congress in the Congressional Districts table. Other titles in the series include Places, Towns and Townships; County and City Extra: Special Decennial Census Edition; and The Who, What, Where of America: Understanding the Census Results. For more information visit www.bernanpress.com .
Physician segmentation product from Ziment
New York research firm Ziment is now offering TAGZ, an approach to physician segmentation research that takes a physician’s combined psychographic and attitudinal data for a prescription drug and links it to their historical prescribing behavior through a proprietary algorithm.
This means that physicians in a company’s call deck that were not included in the original segment research can still be identified or ‘tagged’ as to their segment membership by Ziment’s algorithm and its system of data-mining and modeling techniques.
With TAGZ, reps now have a pre-determined segment identifier that links to knowledge about the physician, including their attitudinal disposition towards the market as well as to the drug itself. Sales collateral and detail pieces can be designed specifically by segment since reps will know what pieces to use with each physician. Ziment’s TAGZ approach is an add-on to its PHYSICIAN SEGZ product, which is part of the company’s COMPOUND-to-PROFIT group of research services. For more information visit www.ziment.com .
Briefly...
Harris Interactive, Rochester, N.Y., has developed a consumer panel to be used exclusively for automotive market research. The Automotive Insights Panel, a body of respondents identified from among its panel of online survey respondents, provides vehicle manufacturers and automotive suppliers with insight into consumer preferences, product knowledge, buying behavior and brand awareness. For more information visit www.harrisinteractive.com .