Bacon’s cuts through the blog clutter
Chicago-based Bacon’s Information is now offering a service that monitors online news blogs. Blogs - a short term for Web logs - are Internet sites containing reflections and comments published by individuals or groups. A blog’s content is often posted periodically on the Web in a journal or “log” format.
The company has introduced new blog content in its MediaSource Premium Research module and tracks blog coverage in the Monitoring module to help clients determine the possible impact on business decisions and company reputations. “With today’s information overload from often irrelevant or dubious sources, our aim is to help our clients by filtering the communications clutter. Bacon’s will therefore focus on blogs run by reputable, credible professionals. Initially, these will be blogs of active journalists, but as our in-house researchers scrutinize and approve additional news-related blogs, we will add to the scope of our coverage,” says Ruth McFarland, senior vice president and publisher for Bacon’s. For more information visit www.bacons.com.
Qual/quant model describes decision-making process
Insight•mas, a Columbus, Ohio, consulting firm, is offering Customer Perceived Value (CPV), a research model that utilizes qualitative and quantitative research methods to describe the customer’s complete decision-making experience. CPV identifies the customer’s desired outcomes, the relative importance of those various outcomes, and perceptions of the value provided by specific, alternative offerings towards each of those outcomes. Applications include new product development, product positioning, market segmentation, advertising, and brand management.
CPV is designed to provide the foundation for further research initiatives into sub-topics such as emotional motivation, product line extensions, customer service functions, and advertising testing, by providing the total context in which the customer considers those more specific aspects. The model is intended to add value to research initiatives as small as a few focus groups or as extensive as a complete market survey using large samples. It has been applied in both product- and service-oriented industries, as well as non-profit organizations and government agencies. For further information visit www.insightmas.com.
Quick service for simple surveys
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Itracks has launched QuickQs, a 24-hour survey programming service for straightforward online surveys. QuickQs is tailored to meet the needs of researchers who have medium-length surveys of low complexity that need to be fielded fast. While complex surveys require a team to accurately program and manage the project, QuickQs surveys require only one point of contact. The QuickQs project manager and programmer are one, which reduces the time it takes clients to communicate changes and troubleshoot problems. For more information visit www.itracks.com.
ICR offers Hispanic phone omnibus
Media, Pa., research firm ICR is now offering HispanicEXCEL, a nationally representative telephone omnibus survey of the Hispanic population. Each HispanicEXCEL survey gathers 1,000 interviews over a two-week period. ICR’s bilingual interviewers are equipped with questionnaires in either Spanish or English. A CATI software program allows these interviewers to toggle between Spanish and English versions with the goal of achieving better comprehension and higher completion rates. For more information call 484-840-4300 or visit www.icrsurvey.com.
Report profiles gay and lesbian market
Packaged Facts, New York, is now offering The U.S. Gay and Lesbian Market, a report written in collaboration with Witeck-Combs Communications, Inc., a PR and marketing communications firm with expertise on the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.
The report indicates that at least two million gays are approaching or have already reached retirement age. By 2020, some 5.7 million, or 25 percent of the gay community, will be 50 or older. Packaged Facts estimates that there are 1.8 million gay and lesbian households with children, and there are approximately 2.6 million children living with gay parents. The report also examines census data on same-sex households as well as comparative research on single gay men and lesbians to conclude that race and ethnicity among the GLBT population appears to mirror the general U.S. population.
The U.S. Gay and Lesbian Market, now in its fourth edition, provides analysis of the demographic profiles, consumer behaviors, and purchasing power of the estimated 15 million adult gay men and lesbians in the United States. Characteristics profiled include age, income and family structure. Key market opportunities and buying power projections are included through 2008. For more information visit www.packagedfacts.com/pub/952768.html or www.marketresearch.com.
WebSurveyor 5.0 now available
Herndon, Va.-based WebSurveyor Corporation has released WebSurveyor 5.0, the latest version of its online survey tool. This latest version is designed to offer greater control through a survey dashboard, along with a new user interface.
The survey dashboard provides users with centralized control over the survey process. It displays an integrated view of survey activity, presenting the top five most recent surveys, response rates, number of responses and more. It also allows users to manage mailing lists, set preferences for surveys and manage their account, as well as filter and sort relevant data.
Along with a new look and feel, other new features include an enhanced invitation management system that allows users to conduct multiple e-mail campaigns, customize messages, and track e-mail messages sent, surveys viewed and surveys completed. New gateway page functionality allows users to restrict access to a survey through a custom login process. A survey checklist guides new users through the entire online survey process, from designing questions to analyzing results. Survey detail reports provide a concise overview of a survey including questions, question styles, export values, navigation and translations. Date controls allow users to schedule the date at which a survey will stop accepting responses. Improved branching lets users conduct complex surveys by utilizing conditional branching and skipping, data piping, data validation and response randomization. For more information visit www.websurveyor.com/ws5.
Hispanic Cohorts from Simmons
New York-based Simmons has released Hispanic Cohorts, a household-based segmentation system. Hispanic Cohorts identifies 19 consumer segments within the American Hispanic community. Similar to the general-market Cohorts, Hispanic Cohorts identifies clusters of consumers based on specific characteristics. For instance, descriptions include: Luis y Maria, families with a median age of 38 who have teenagers, a median household income of $35,000 and who make up approximately 9.1 percent of the Hispanic population; Andrea, educated career-oriented moms whose median age is 31, median household income is $52,000 and represent over 6 percent of the Hispanic population. For more information visit www.smrb.com.
Briefly
U.K.-based research agency mmr has announced a new positioning, a new Web site and a new interactive approach to create a fresh image for its services. The new positioning - “making more of research” - is designed to emphasize mmr’s research capability and client service approachability. For more information visit www.mmr-research.com.
New York research firm Ipsos-Insight has announced enhancements to its Ipsos BookTrends syndicated service, including improved data delivery, expanded reporting capabilities and increased reporting frequency. For more information visit www.ipsos-insight.com/consumer/publications/books.
The Ipsos-Reid Online Omnibus will now be offered once a week in Canada. Questions received by 1 p.m. on Tuesday will have results the following Tuesday. The Canadian Online Omnibus delivers a representative national sample of 1,000 online Canadians every week. Omni respondents are recruited randomly from the 72,000 Canadians on Ipsos-Reid’s Online Panel. The panel includes both English- and French-speaking participants, and surveys can be conducted in one or both official languages. For more information visit www.ipsos.ca/pa/.