Sigma tests duplicate e-mail service for online research
Fort Lee, N.J.-based Sigma Validation has begun a second round of beta testing on its Duplicate Email Search capability, which tracks respondent participation in online research studies based on the e-mail address. The program will now conduct a primary match by e-mail address, telephone number and/or physical address. In addition, if there is a match based on one of these primary variables, the system will conduct a secondary match by respondent first name and/or last name. If a respondent/ interview matches with another respondent/ interview on any one of the primary variables, it will be included in the Sigma Report.
Sigma’s Duplicate Number Search program helps to identify respondent-level issues such as professional/conditioned respondents, fraudulent activity and unmet screening requirements. The Duplicate Email Search uses a similar methodology for online research. For more information visit www.sigmavalidation.com.
New online qual app designed to go deep
San Francisco-based KDA Research has launched Revelation, an online qualitative research Web application for immersive research, online ethnography and remote contextual research. It combines the rich-media data collection capabilities of blogs with qualitative analysis tools to help capture customer experiences as they unfold and analyze those experiences to answer business questions. Revelation’s patent-pending system enables researchers to design, moderate, analyze and manage online studies that capture day-to-day customer experiences, without needing to learn any programming or complicated interfaces. For more information visit www.revelationglobal.com.
CMOR offers compliance guide
The Council for Marketing and Opinion Research (CMOR), Washington, D.C., has created a government affairs online companion, the CMOR Compliance Guide, for all users and suppliers of survey research. “The number of restrictive legislative bills that threaten research continues to increase nationwide,” says Donna Gillin, CMOR’s director of operations. “Navigating the legal landscape for the survey research profession can be complicated and time-consuming. The Compliance Guide provides guidance to prevent legal issues for today’s researcher.”
The online research component (release 1) of the Compliance Guide is the first of five components to launch and is available now. The online research component provides companies with information regarding state, federal and international online research-related laws, best practices for online research, information on industry codes and standards for online research, model privacy clauses and model opt-out clauses as well as additional guidance for conducting online research. Specific topics address spam or sales e-mails, spyware, electronic solicitation of minors and security breach laws. Other components of CMOR’s Compliance Guide, including information on telephone, qualitative and privacy compliance laws, are set to be released throughout 2007. For more information visit www.cmor.org.
MarketTools adds concept test capability
San Francisco research firm MarketTools has added an offering to its Concept Development and Testing Suite to help companies better identify big ideas earlier in the product development process. With the firm’s new MPI (Market Potential Index) Concept Test, companies can identify product ideas with the strongest business potential and increase the odds that those products will become successful, sustaining businesses. The MPI Concept Test is designed to help companies cut their time in finding winners by providing an approach to concept testing that incorporates interactive text analysis tied to market potential. MPI Concept Test gauges all the components of an idea’s business potential. The study is conducted early in the concept development process, even before marketing plans and traditional volume estimation models are done. Additionally, interactive text analysis helps to refine these ideas by gathering consumer reactions to specific components of the concept description. MPI Concept Test with interactive text analysis is available now as part of MarketTools’ Concept Development and Testing Suite. For more information visit www.markettools.com.
Mobile interviewing using IVR
Dallas-based Common Knowledge Research Services now offers mobile interviewing that combines interactive voice response (IVR) and a permission-based cell phone panel. The combination of IVR and mobile panel capabilities is designed to give more options for respondents to connect, leading to higher response rates from a broader range of ages and incomes, and allows for more complex surveys than with text alone.
IVR capabilities provide ease and convenience for the majority of mobile respondents by allowing them to take a survey using the buttons on their keypads or by speaking their answers. IVR combined with a permission-based mobile survey panel (necessary since the FCC banned the use of automated dialing to cell phones), provides a way to conduct surveys and collect consumption/use diary data via text or voice, allowing for anytime, anywhere data collection. For more information visit www.commonknowledge.com.
Word directory aids communication with mobile kids
Young Author’s Magazine Anthology (YAM) has published The Ad Word Directory, based upon word association studies within its Mobile Kids Feedback Forum. YAM is a program of Regulus Communications Inc., Lincoln, Neb.
Companies and organizations marketing to mobile kids will now have a keyword tool for helping them develop Web and mobile content based on the language of mobile kids. The Ad Word Directory is a word-association roadmap for brand managers, Web content developers, advertising agencies and mobile marketing services designed to help identify words and word associations that mobile kids know and use. The directory contains over 900 stimulus words with keyword associations organized by teen, preteens and gender, plus stimulus word contexts for adjectives, adverbs, nouns and verbs. For more information visit www.regulus.com/adworddir.pdf.
Scarborough updates PRIME NExT; adds Personicx data
Scarborough Research, New York, has made enhancements to its proprietary data analysis software, PRIME NExT. The main enhancement is the addition of a Trade Area Builder function, which enables the user to create a customized geography for analysis by indicating one or more ZIP codes in an area, and a radius around those ZIP codes. The Trade Area Builder automatically creates the custom trade area accordingly, which can then be used for data analysis in a variety of applications.
Separately, Scarborough Research and Acxiom Corporation, Little Rock, Ark., announced a marketing arrangement that will make Acxiom Personicx household segmentation data available through Scarborough Research and make the Scarborough Local Market and USA+ data available through Acxiom Personicx. For more information visit www.scarborough.com.
Scarborough has also debuted www.scarboroughdelivers.com, a new online portal that lets Scarborough clients download local market and national databases and software they subscribe to via the Internet. Previously, subscribers received data and software via CD. For more information visit www.scarborough.com/sdelivers.php.
Harris debuts commitment framework
Harris Interactive, Rochester, N.Y., is now offering the Harris Interactive Commitment Model, a research framework designed to allow businesses to understand and measure the drivers of customer loyalty. The firm uses the model to create loyalty simulators that allow businesses to see how changes in service delivery, facilities or any other aspect of business will affect their bottom line.
The Commitment Model represents the bonds between customer and brand in a two-dimensional format, using the rational and emotional dimensions of commitment. This representation of commitment reveals four relationship states: acquaintance (the customer is not connected to the brand); partnership (the customer is rationally connected to the brand); romance (the customer is emotionally connected to the brand); and commitment (the customer is both rationally and emotionally committed to the brand). For more information visit www.harrisinteractive.com/loyalty.
2007 estimates and 2012 projections now available
The Demographic Data Center is now offering the latest U.S. population demographics with its 2007 Estimates and 2012 Projections. The 2007 Estimates and 2012 Projections include the Census Bureau’s post-hurricane county-level estimates that adjust for population displacements in the Gulf states.
The 2007 Estimates and 2012 Projections provide basic demographic variables for the current U.S. population and for five-year projections of population trends. The 2007 Estimates and 2012 Projections are available on CD. Variables include total population, population change, total households, race, age, gender, household income, owners vs. renters and more. The data from the estimates and projections is available in five geographies: states, counties, tracts, block groups and ZIP codes. Users can also run a radius around a latitude/longitude point. For more information visit www.demographic-information.com/estimates/estimates.htm.
The firm is also offering the Estimates Professional 2007/2012 product, which includes all the variables on the standard Estimates and Projections product along with breakouts of sex-by-age-by-race, household types and household size, median incomes by race and more. In addition, the Estimates Professional 2007/2012 has consumer expenditures and demographic profiles. The Estimates Professional is available on DVD and in the same geographies: states, counties, tracts, block groups, ZIP codes and radius. For more information visit www.demographic-information.com/estimates/estimates_professional.htm.
New enterprise feedback suite from Vovici
Dulles, Va.-based research software firm Vovici (formerly Perseus| WebSurveyor) has launched its EFM Continuum product suite. Enterprise feedback management (EFM) comprises tools and services that enable the collection and management of feedback from customers, partners and employees to help shape organizational strategy. The suite includes:
EFM Feedback – a survey management system that enables customers to design questionnaires, manage survey campaigns and analyze survey responses (EFM Feedback replaces the WebSurveyor tool);
EFM Reporting – a tool that provides reporting capabilities including data analysis, sharing and filtering to enable customers to understand and leverage feedback within their organizations to drive strategic decision making;
EFM Community – a community management product that enables customers to widen collaboration on the feedback process within their organization while controlling access to key respondent pools (EFM Community replaces Perseus SurveySolutions/EFM);
EFM Polls – a free online polling tool that allows creation of simple one-question polls for presentation directly on Web sites (EFM Polls is a rebranding of WebSurveyor Polls);
EFM for CRM – a salesforce.com add-on that enables salesforce.com users to embed feedback directly into their sales, service and support processes (EFM for CRM was formerly branded CRMSurveyor). For more information visit www.vovici.com.
Book compiles best ESOMAR output
ESOMAR has assembled ESOMAR Market Research Best Practice - 30 Visions for the Future, published by Wiley, which collects the recent best discussion papers, case studies and methodologies from ESOMAR events and publishing over the last decade.
It is designed to provide insight into how the market research environment and researchers perpetually evolve and innovate to meet the fast-moving needs of their clients.
The book demonstrates how good practice fits with the modern business of research by showcasing innovative and efficient methodologies and approaches developed by market research specialists all over the world. The book is available at www.esomar.org/web/publication/publication.php?id=1513 or at retail outlets.
Pulse Train updates Pulsar products
U.K.-based research software firm Pulse Train has released version 3.17-02 of its Web-based survey analysis tool Pulsar Web, which contains new features to extend the functionality of Pulsar Web to allow greater project customization and a new tool for defining table structure on a global basis.
Logos can now be added to tables and charts, which can be used to brand the project view for specific clients. A new global function, which will apply a common banner to all defined tables, has also been introduced to allow faster redefinitions of the current analysis to a new set of variables. This feature can be activated or deactivated as part of the user permissions if/when required.
Version 3.17 also offers increased performance within profile reports, which will now export many thousands of records to a tab-delimited format within seconds.
The firm has also upgraded its end-user survey analysis package Pulsar. Pulsar 4.00-00 offers new capabilities designed to make data analysis easier for all levels of user. A main improvement is to the user interface and the inclusion of new toolbars that aim to make table formatting, category ranking and suppression easier.
Pulsar 4.00-00 also offers improved analysis of numerical variables by the inclusion of two new developments. Rating scale values can now be directly assigned as part of the variable properties, while a new numeric banding wizard allows the quick creation of banded categories for numeric variables. For more information visit www.pulsetrain.com.
Briefly
Arbitron Inc., New York, has added three new markets to its Radio Ratings Survey: Aspen, Colo.; Hot Springs, Ark.; and Twin Falls (Sun Valley), Idaho. These markets will be surveyed twice a year, in spring and fall, as part of the Qualitative Diary Service. For more information visit www.arbitron.com.
ESRI, Redlands, Calif., will provide ArcGIS spatial data management solutions to IBM DB2 9 for z/OS on System z. This support for a centralized, location-aware DB2 database on System z will enable ESRI’s enterprise customers to extend GIS-based business solutions, applications and Web services throughout their organizations. For more information visit www.esri.com.
Industrial Marketing Research, Oak Brook, Ill., has launched automotiveresearch.com, a site providing current automotive market data on replacement rate trends and channel share trends, etc.