Earlier this year, Nielsen Analytics surveyed a bunch of people in Las Vegas and found 102 people that described themselves as ‘regular podcast listeners’. Thankfully, those 102 (77 men / 35 women) represented. Some interesting bits 61 people (50 men / 11 women) said they “always fast forward” advertisements The survey found that the average […]
Category: Research
Project Launch: Minnesota Judicial Branch Website
I’m happy to see the new Minnesota Judicial Branch site launched this month (old one’s available for a while here if you want to compare and contrast). Looks like it’s a somewhat ‘soft’ launch – as they migrate content from the old to the new. Last year, I helped the Court Information Office with the […]
A Use Case for Identity XML – Demographic Surveys
Stowe Boyd’s running a reader survey. I’ve followed Stowe from Get Real to /Message and thought I’d check out the survey. Standard demographic stuff; age, gender, household income, zip code, employment status, profession, internet usage, etc. Those common questions attempting to build an anonymous picture of people without actually getting involved with them. Reading through […]
Our Memories Are Poor, Measure in Context
“It isn’t as astonishing the number of things I can remember, as the number of things I can remember that aren’t so” – Paine, Mark Twain: A Biography, 1912 This Sunday, the Vikings are playing the Lions. I’m confident they’ll be keeping score throughout the game. Yard by yard, play by play. Rather than having […]
Mobile China Pilot Study Out From JaredResearch
Jared Braiterman, friend-of-a-friend I met when he was in Minneapolis on another research study, just sent a message on his latest project – Mobile China. “Mobile China examines mobile technology and youth culture in the world’s largest technology market. The pilot study focuses on the role of generational change, gender and nationalism in shaping Chinese […]
Anonymous Responses Are Useless
One of my current projects has a major survey component. The survey ends with: “If you’d be open to follow up questions, enter your email address below.” There’s about a 60 / 40 split on responses with emails and those without. The responses without email addresses have skipped questions, irrelevant answers, and are generally unusable. […]
Fake Data to See if Anyone’s Paying Attention
When putting together a prototype for usability testing, it’s best to use realistic data. If you’re evaluating the readability of a search results screen, put in the actual results. If you’re evaluating a check-out process, make all the information throughout the entire process real. Then, after, tweak the data just slightly. Make it humorous, make […]
5 Tips For Better Customer Interviews
The easiest way to collect interesting, usable data from a research effort is to blend into the background of the subject’s life. Media journalists know this – that’s why they’re embedded in the presidential campaigns and in the military actions. To give honest unselfconscious, response, subject’s need to be comfortable with researchers – as peers, […]
How Not To Do Customer Research
We do quite a bit of customer and employee research here at Working Pathways. From in-depth 1-on-1, deep dive, interviews to quick email surveys to observational studies – our expertise runs the gamut. Whatever the study, each participant involved is 1. screened and qualified and 2. receives some level of compensation for their time and […]
You Expect What You Pay For
Recently – a collegue recounted his experience selling a fully-capable product with a price less than half its competitors. “After the presentation, the customer turned to the sales representative and asked, ‘What’s wrong with it?’” This, more than 78 years after J. Walter Thompson’s research for Pond’s Cold Cream proved that price and quality are […]