SPSS recently put out a news release (which has been picked up by at least two news sites CRM Today and TMCnet) whose sole purpose appears to be to scare companies away from using the plethora of survey research tools in favor of their multi-modal survey system. How can you begin to know what your customers are thinking, reasons the release, if you only ask those who are online when hardly anyone is even using the Internet these days?

"Web-based surveys may appear to be less intrusive and easier to conduct, but without pen and paper or a good ‘old-fashioned’ telephone, organizations miss the opinions of many, including those without a computer, the forever and selectively computer illiterate and a large part of the senior population that simply missed the tech revolution."

The release goes on to remind everyone that paper and phone survey are "in many cases essential, if organizations expect to present clients with the most accurate and complete view of customer attitutes and opinions." 

It then proves its point by referring to a recent Pew report:

"In fact, the Pew Internet & American Life Project recently found 49 percent of Americans only occasionally use modern gadgetry and many others bristle at electronic connectivity — the Internet."

Wow. Who would have thought that in 2007 more than half of the US population either doesn’t use and/or extremely dislikes the Internet. We all may need to rethink our online programs and go back to the phone banks, door-to-door solicitors and shopping malls many of us have mostly abandoned.

…but before we do, here are some stats not included in the SPSS release:

• Total US population is about 300 million people with 225 million of them over the age of 17. (US Census)
• There are 178.8 million web users in the US (comScore, June 2007)
• 71% of all adults are online (Pew)
• 87% of 18-24 year olds, 83% of 30-49 year olds, 65% of those 50-64 and 32% of those over 65 are online. (Pew)
• 73% of white, 62% of black, and 78% of English-speaking Hispanic are online. (Pew)
• 73% of people living in Urban/Surburban Environments and 60% living in rural areas are online. (Pew)
• 93% of those earning $75K+, 82% of those earning $50K-$74K, 69% of those earning $30K-$49K and 55% of those earning less than $30K are online. (Pew)
• Total number of households is 105.4 million (US Census)
• Almost 70% of US households have Internet access at home.  (Leichtman Research Group Q1 2007)
• 53% of US households have high-speed access (Leichtman Research Group Q1 2007)

The Pew study that SPSS refers to in their release is called "A Typology of Information and Communication Technology User." The study measures not whether or not people have internet access (as implied by SPSS) but instead tries to categorize people by the degree to which information and communication technologies are utilized and enjoyed.

According to the report, only 15% of the population can be characterized as "Off the Network" — that is, individuals with neither cell phones nor internet connectivity. They tend to be in their mid-60s, nearly three-fifths are women. Only 7% have college degrees (vs. the US average of 27%) and only 4% earn over $75K a year (vs. the US average of 22%). They are the heaviest users of "old media" such as radio and TV but do not have the inclination to try new information and communication technology.

Obviously, not everyone is online and if you’re looking for a particularly special group you may want to revert to paper, pencils and phones. However, I’m thinking that for most purposes you’re going to be able to find who you’re looking for online.

But the implication of the SPSS release is that unless you use (expensive) multi-channel research techniques (provided by them?) you will be collecting bad information and misleading your clients. This isn’t true and is in fact extremely misleading.

• Read the SPSS news release
• Read Pew Report "Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users"

SurveyGold from Golden Hills Software is an easy to use Internet-based survey software system that has been around for some time and has to some degree mastered the art of making online research a simple, don’t-have-to-think-to-hard-about-it process. Although the software is limited to a basic set of question types, it does allow for some basic skipping based on responses and if you’re looking for a program that will get you the results quickly with very little training, this package may be worth exploring.

I’m not going to go into an entire review of the software package here at this moment (although I did just download it — Golden Hills offers a free 30-day trial), what I did want to say is that version 8 of the software was just released a few weeks ago and it offers a variety of features such as:

• Opportunity to organize surveys into folders.
• Basic weighting.
• Multi-page web survey form (takes SurveyGold to the next level!)
• Basic validation
• Ability to import/export surveys for other SurveyGold users.
• Memorized filters (you can set up data filters for viewing your results and it will remember them)
• Wave reporting (view mdata collected over time against prior periods)
• Updated user interface (very XP-like in my opinion)
• Faster database
• Improved graphing in the reports module

Several bugs from the previous version of the software have also been fixed.

Learn more about SurveyGold 8

Research provider Knowledge Networks (Menlo Park, CA) has published an interesting nine page white paper entitled The Decisions Maker’s Guide to Online Research. Although the document is clearly geared towards illustrating how the Knowledge Networks panel methodology is better than others, the pamphlet does provide a thoughtful framework for deciding between web-based surveys with self-selected panels, web-based surveys with probability-based internet panels, mall intercepts, and mail surveys.

It identifies two types of online panels:

• Self selecting panels, which anyone can join — a "convenience sample" of the internet, and one that is likely to contain "professional respondents" and possibly even competitors trying to get insights into your secret plans;
• Probability-based Internet panels, which are (painstakingly) built by randomly selecting people, calling them, and then inviting them to join the survey panel.

One of the primary sources of data for the Knowledge Networks publication was a study conducted by the Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society entitled "Comparing the Results of Probability and Non-Probability Sample Surveys." The study begins by acknowledging that in general, the same survey conducted by two firms with the same methodology will usually yield comparative findings. However, most studies that led to this conclusion focused on surveys conducted in the same mode with comparable sampling methods. The folks at Stanford wanted to find out what would happen if the mode and sampling methods differed.

Nine data collection firms participated in the study: seven of whom use a self-selecting, volunteer sample (self selecting panel) and the other two who used probability-based panels (one that used a probability based telephone sample, the other (Knowledge Networks) that used an Internet-based probability panel). Each data collection firm asked their respondents the same set of questions, and the results were compared against benchmark probability-based responses.

The findings of the folks at Stanford were that the results were "remarkably comparable" across the board. Knowledge Networks had the most accurate findings, followinged by SRBI (telephone survey) and Harris Interactive (volunteer sample) who tied for second place (all of the others were about equally as accurate).

A few questions led to bigger differences between the self-selecting and the probability based methods: for example, volunteer respondents tended to be more comfortable using computers than probability-based respondents. Otherwise, however, it would appear based on the results of the study that a volunteer sample base will ultimately lead to results that are closely comparable to the more expensive probability-based sample.

Read the Knowledge Networks publication.
Read the press release announcing the publication.
Read the results of the 2005 Stanford study.

SurveyMania.com certainly isn’t the first web site to collect information about different companies that pay/reward people for taking surveys, but their recent press release and their relatively full-feature web site make really makes you stop and think about online survey panels and whether or not it is the same set of people who join all of them.

The site presently provides instructions for joining over 30 different panels, broken into categories such as "Consumers," "International," "Technies," "Parents," and "Specialty."

The site makes money from selling ad space to survey panels and through banner ads.

In addition to maintaining the list of online research panels you can join, the site also promises to e-mail members (at no cost to join) new opportunities as they arise. The site claims to have over 750,000 members (only 65,000 of which are in the United States).

Read the SurveyMania.com press release at PRWeb.
Visit SurveyMania.com

Atlanta-based Mobile Transit Authority (MTA) and New York-basedscenarioDNA have launched a new mobile opinion solution called mDive, a turnkey mobile-based market research tool that engages consumers on the cell phones. The service works by using MTA’s mobile research platform to survey users through SMS text messages, WAP-based mobile internet connections, or a click-to-call voice-driven survey. Following collection, analysis, interpretation, reporting and recommendations are provided by scenarioDNA.

A complete mDive survey with 400 responses costs $6,500 and includes question development, delivery and management; an invitation in text format with link to WAP survey; a 10-question multiple choice survey; a CSV file of the raw survey data; setup, hosting and deployment of survey questions; and analysis of data and strategic recommendations in a PowerPoint presentation.

Read the the mDive data sheet (PDF).
Read the press release announcing the service at PRWeb.
Visit Mobile Transit Authority online.
Visit scenarioDNA online.

eDigitalResearch today released a press release highlighting their relationship with U.K. based department store John Lewis, who is using their system to collect and report on real-time customer satisfaction related issues.

eDigitalResearch’s Satisfaction Suite collects customer purchase information from the John Lewis database and emails surveys out to customers, tying in all the purchase information with customer responses. Monthly reports are produced which can be cross-tabbed and filtered in terms of product groups or particular divisions.

John Lewis’s particular satisfaction solution uses elements of both eDigitalResearch’s eMystery Shopper program and their eCustomerOpinion program. eMysteryShopper specializes in the in-depth and structured studfy of website usablity, functionality, and customer service using a eDigitalResearch’s panel. eCustomerOpinions also provides feedback, but from directly from randomly selected web site visitors.

View the press release at PRWeb.
Learn more about John Lewis.
Learn more about eMystery Shopper.
Learn more about eCustomer Opinions.

Palo Alto, California based Attensity recently announced the release of version 4 of its text analytics suite which includes new methods of searching, querying, charting and graphing freeform text dynamically in an "easy to use" browser based interface. This release is designed to improve usability, add functionality, enhance results, streamline collaboration and increase interoperability with other applications.

Attensity 4 combines Attensity Server (used for text extraction); Attensity Discover (freeform text exploration); Attensity Analytics (quantitative analysis of text); Attensity Text Search and Attensity Manage.

Attensity 4’s new Text Search module allows users to test hypothesis by running ad hoc searches to determine if documents contain keywords, concepts, issues, or problems they are seeking to understand. It also allows users to easily find documents of interest employing advanced search features like fuzzy search, phrasal search and relevanc scoring; and it allows users to delve deeper into documents of interest by running advanced text analysis against documents returned in search results.

Read Stephen Swoyer’s aritcle in Enterprise Systems.

Read the full press release at the Attensity web site.