When I started Researchscape in 2012, it was with the vision of “Do It Together” research and “DIY Rescue” (Do It Yourself), to recognize the trend towards more and more business professionals conducting their own research through SurveyGizmo, SurveyMonkey, Question Pro, and many other platforms. Over the years, though, we’ve evolved into more of a traditional full-service consultancy. We’re differentiated by our transparent pricing through our web store and by a heavy investment in automation, in order to improve consistency and product quality.
As a result, we’ve scaled back the amount of a la carte services we offer, and we will no longer be doing standalone survey-programming projects. We’ve found that integration across the entire research process not only produces the highest quality results for our customers, it’s actually faster and more affordable.
Here are some case studies on why a la carte doesn’t really work:
- One client did a paper survey and just wanted us to analyze the results. It cost us more time and energy to data cleanse three spreadsheets, make them consistent, and import them into the analytical system than we would have charged them to do the entire project from the start.
- A client designed and fielded their own study using MaxDiff, but they had misunderstood how MaxDiff works and the data couldn’t be analyzed in the manner they intended.
- Many clients design 60- to 80-page questionnaires that ignore research into respondent engagement. We encourage shorter, more focused surveys, and will sometimes propose two separate studies, when length warrants.
- A client fielded a survey to their house list and tried to generalize from it, but their house list was deeply skewed and didn’t reflect the wider market they were trying to generalize to.
Here are the synergies of entrusting the entire research process to us:
- Questionnaire design – We design to your objectives, with the capabilities of the survey platform we use in mind.
- Custom programming – For unique, complex validations and automated scorecards, we have an extensive library of past scripts written specifically for SurveyGizmo.
- Fielding – We recognize the strengths and weaknesses of the different panel providers, and use the right provider for the right type of study. For low incidence populations, we use a mix of providers. We can integrate with research from your house list, as well, to minimize costs. We control the pace of fielding, and typically build-in a soft launch to incorporate a more agile mindset, providing an opportunity to change the questionnaire based on early returns.
- Automated Analysis – We design the questionnaire with our analytical system (ResearchStory) in mind. As a result, 81% of our clients in 2018 used our automated reports, with the percentage purchasing written reports declining from 49% in 2017 to 19% in 2018.
Reach out to us for those times when you need help from questionnaire design through data collection and automated analysis.
Author Notes:
Jeffrey Henning
