Testing center opens near Cincinnati cultural sites
SIRS (Service Industry Research Systems, Inc.), Cincinnati, and the Cincinnati Museum Center have created the Family Market Testing Institute (FMTI) to offer research opportunities focused on products and services geared to families with children. FMTI is located in Cincinnati’s restored Union Terminal, which houses the Museum of Natural History & Science, the Cinergy Children’s Museum, the Robert D. Lindner Family OMNIMAX Theater, and the Cincinnati History Museum. Research techniques available include intercept interviews, onsiteproduct preference and usage testing, home placement/use testing, focus group/panel discussions, and video/advertising concept and copy testing.
Update of AutoData Survey Plus
Minneapolis-based AutoData Systems has releasedAutoData Survey Plus 2000 survey creation software, version 3. The software lets users create scannable surveys, scan and verify data, and create quick reports. AutoData Survey Plus 2000 software, combined with an imaging scanner, eliminates manual data entry. Applications include employee or patient satisfaction studies, market research instruments, assessments and evaluations, enrollment and HN forms in all market segments.
Point-and-select from a library of scannable object templates for simplified form design. OMR check marks, numeric ICR hand print, tracking barcodes, key entry or image capture fields appear on the form, along with survey questions. During the scanning phase, AutoData soft~vare processes and verifies the scanned content. Any questionable data is presented on-screen for operator verification. Create aggregate or individual histogram and trend reports by pressing a button. Data is automatically tabulated.
Survey Plus 2000 software allows standard response scales or custom formats; "multiple marks allowed" questions; barcodes to track different departments, sites or personnel; key-fromimage as an option to automated scanning; three turnkey reports to get the user started; up to 10 custom crosstabulation roles for each report; and the ability to capture and report on freehand comments.
Survey Plus 2000 also features proprietary AutoData Smart-Memory technology with improved intelligent character recognition. Based on a neural network design, SmartMemory learns new character shapes and different handprint styles over time. Recognition accuracy improves and becomes "smarter" with increased use, thus reducing manual verification and key entry edits.
New research program for vision care industry
Rochester, N.Y.-based Harris Interactive has signed an agreement with Boucher Communications Inc. (BCI), and has, in conjunction with Vision Council of America (VCA), launched a new service called InSight, which will provide vision care companies access to multi-client and proprietary Intemet-based consumer information. In addition, the new strategic alliance will offer vision care industry suppliers opportunities to craft questions that will help them get the answers they need on a subscription basis. Harris Interactive and BCI researchers will work with each subscriber to develop confidential, customized questions to which only that subscriber will have access. These questions will provide information on topics such as market trends and consumer purchasing habits. Topline results will be published as part of BCI’s regular editorial content with more detailed reports reserved for Insight subscribers.
Service targets research needs of lifesciences firms
Jstreetdata.com Inc., a Washington, D.C., online research firm, has launched its real-time marketing research service for lifesciences firms following two pilot studies. Using Web-based technology, Jstreetdata.com’s service is serfserve and eliminates steps found in traditional market research. Researchers now can construct online surveys in a manner similar to writing an e-mail. The firm also provides access to its database of pre-screened physicians and other medical professionals. As soon as a market researcher posts a survey, appropriate medical specialists are notified via e-mail of the study topic and time frame. Physicians are compensated for their time and participate when it is convenient for them by answering the survey online. Responses are gathered and calculated in real-time.
Total measures brand equity online
Total Research Corporation, Princeton, N.J., has launched EqniTrend Online, its first syndicated online consumer survey. EquiTrend Online (ETOL) is a measurement of brand equity that utilizes Intemet technology to provide a survey of 30,000 Internet users on their perceptions of the quality of more than 1,300 brands in 17 industry categories. EquiTrend Online measures how brands compare to other branded products and services in their specific industries, and also shows companies how their brands stack up against all brands across America's brandscape. For more information visit www.total-res.com.
New Romanian media study
Bucharest. Romania-based Mercury Marketing and Research Consultants has launched TGI (Target Group Index), an international single-source market and media survey. TGI Romania is a syndicated continuous study, based on 10,000 respondents. The survey covers media usage for print. TV, radio, outdoor and cinema; product information and usage of more than 2,000 brands, as well as information on leisure habits and attitudes of Romanian consumers aged 18+ located in urban areas. A series of over 250 attitude statements provides opportunities for specialized segmentation based on lifestyle. On their own PC, using software named Choices 3, users can analyze media plans, market segmentations and consumer clusters for special target groups. For more information visit www.mercury.ro.
Handle PR crises with research
StrategyOne, the research and communications subsidiary of Daniel J. Edelman Inc., and Ntercept Communications, the online research division of SpeakOut, Inc., have introduced a new Internet-based research product designed to provide corporations and organizations with instantaneous reactions to issues and image crisis situations. The product, Crisis IR, combines Web-based surveying methodology with technology that deploys the traditional locus group "dial meter" on the Internet. As respondents watch TV coverage of breaking news, they convey their opinions on the crisis via their computers. When a company becomes aware that a potentially damaging story is about to break on TV, a Crisis IR panel of 500 potentially affected consumers will be recruited to view the broadcast and provide feedback. The panel completes a brief survey prior to the segment to gauge consumer preconceptions, after which they view the program, providing second-by-second feedback using the Crisis IR Dial Meter. Another short survey after the segment gauges how the panel's preconceptions have changed. Results are available immediately, with reporting and analysis available the following day. For more information call Joshua King at 202-777-3123.
SYSTAT 10 from SPSS Science
Chicago-based SPSS Science is now shipping SYSTAT 10, the latest version of the scientific graphing software from SPSS Inc. SYSTAT now includes graphExpress, new technology that enables SAS software users to create SYSTAT graphs from within the SAS environment with the click of a button. SYSTAT also includes new statistics capabilities, including mixed regression and power analysis, as well as a range of user interface enhancements.
GraphExpress provides a way to create any SYSTAT graph from the SAS software for Windows environment. Users choose from more than 20 general graphics toolbar buttons that call up dialog boxes of plot options to create customized graphs. GraphExpress also creates immediate diagnostic plots for common analytical procedures such as GLM, correspondence analysis, factor analysis, and discriminant analysis to visually represent analyses. In addition, users can select an image from the wizard-like Graph Gallery to plot their data from existing graph templates. Integrated with the latest release of SAS software for Windows, version 8.00, GraphExpress syntax can be added to production jobs. Other new features in SYSTAT 10 include:
- Mixed regression - Users can fit regression models in nested. 2-level data to explore group effects, such as schools within a district, or fit unbalanced repeated measures data.
- Power analysis - Researchers can quickly explore the relationship between sample si/e and statistical power and create simultaneous displays of power curves and tabular data.
- New command and dialog options - New options include the ability to submit command tiles from the Windows clipboard, file list or command log; increased user control over dialog boxes and temporary data sets.
For more information visit www.spss.com.
Yahoo! launches Buzz
Santa Clara. Calif.-based Yahoo! Inc. has launched the Yahoo! Buzz Index, an interactive market research system developed by Yahoo! to measure public engagement with brands, products, people and technologies on the Internet. Part of Yahoo!'s Fusion Marketing suite of services, the Yahoo! Buzz Index is calculated each weekday and is designed to help marketers measure the effectiveness of their online and offline campaigns. By aggregating and ranking the search queries of Yahoo!'s users, the Yahoo! Buzz Index provides insight into the interests of the online audience. Buzz is a measure of engagement, which is calculated when users search for terms and products on Yahoo!. The Yahoo! Buzz Index allows marketers to measure and compare this engagement. Individual users and their searches remain anonymous.
Conduct employee surveys online
Richmond, Va.-based SurveyMind.com. Inc., has released Survey Mind 360 as part of its Employee Experience Management System. The product works with SurveyMind's systems to create a 360-degree employee feedback environment, providing team feedback from peers, subordinates and superiors.
Augmenting standard employee appraisals in real time, Survev Mind 360 integrates with the firm's survey systems, including Survey Mind Pulse, Feedback Loop, Real Time Advantage and others. When deployed, SurveyMind 360 provides immediate feedback from business associates working with the associate being measured to provide a balanced discussion tool for the face-to-face review.
A 24-question, multiple-choice survey covering topics from leadership to managing results is specified within 12 topics. Coworkers are e-mailed an invitation to a Web-based survey form, which is summarized in real time, confidentially on the Internet. For more information visit www.surveymind.com or call 804-897-4872.
Briefly
- Tokyo-based Video Research Ltd., has expanded its research services throughout the Asia-Pacific market. The firm is due to release a syndicated, single-source survey conducted in Thailand. It will include information beyond standard product category research to show people as both consumers and as a media audience. This data service will soon be available in English.
- Dallas-based Digital Marketing Services, Inc., an online marketing research and a division of America Online Inc. (AOL), has expanded the sampling frame of Opinion Place, its online survey and marketing research area, to include more than three out of four online households (as measured by Media Metrix).
- New York-based Arbitron added five new radio markets Middlesex-Somerset-Union, N.J.: Westchester, N.Y., Clarksville-Hopkinsville, Tenn.-Ky.; Flagstaff-Prescott, Ariz.; and St. George-Cedar City, Utah - to the Fall 2000 Arbitron radio survey schedule, bringing the total number of radio markets measured by Arbitron to 283.
- Custom Research Inc., Minneapolis, has developed Criterion, a concept testing database that now includes individual respondent-level data. The database incorporates face-to-face and online learning and includes more than 500,000 individual concept evaluations. For more information call Beth Ann Rogers at 763-542-0843.