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Research FAQ
So you find it hard to believe that WS&A's market research findings are never wrong. Well, the fact is, they never are. Here is the secret.
WS&A goes out and measures your market.
That's right, all we do is take a whole bunch of measurements, organize them into relevant categories and report the numbers to you. It is just that simple. It is called census based or layered segmented survey research.
What do you measure?
WS&A measures the criteria by which people define their next purchase of goods and services in relation to their previous purchases to satisfy the same needs. These are called market formative criteria.
How can you measure something which hasn't happened yet?
Oh, but it has happened! The attitudes and motivations for the next purchase begin to form immediately after the last purchase. They exist in the form of satisfaction, alternatives, desires, identification, perception, and goals. Just because they have not manifested themselves as a sale does not mean they don't exist. They are very real and by using the right instrument, can be easily measured.
Who do you measure?
We sample everyone related to the purchase of your product in direct proportion to their real-world distribution. This is the key to census based parametric research. If we just tested your customers, it would tell us nothing about those who were not, but could become your customers. In other words, in order for our findings to represent the real world, we must start with a sampling of the real-world.
How many measurements do you take?
There are actually two variables here. First is the number of people we must sample to achieve an accurate representation. This is called the universe or survey base. Second is the number of responses we need from each subject. We call these our data points. The size of the sampling and the number of data points is determined entirely by your information requirements. If you need very precise and highly refined data within plus or minus one percent, then you will want a large sampling of 10,000 or more respondents. If you require tremendous detail about your market, then you will need a lot of data points (possible responses).
How do you collect your data?
To paraphrase "We do it the old fashioned way" whether by phone, mail or intercept, the data comes back to us on questionnaires or response checks. The only proviso is that it contain specific qualifiers to represent lagging, current and leading indicators, and we receive all of the original questionnaires. WS&A collects less than 10% of the data used in its research. 90% is collected by other research organizations or the clients themselves. This is because WS&A is not a field service, but a research curriculum developer.
How do you make sense of it all?
All of our research is programmed into a professional tab package for multi-dimensional sorting and cross-tabulation. This produces a set of chi-square tables for every single answer. Then to make sense of it, sets of values or indices from the tables, representing lagging data and leading data are placed into a standard model or framework for comparison. Basically if the leading data is greater than the lagging data, the market is growing. It is that simple.
So, what good is it?
Knowing what the market will buy next is important to every business, particularly when that next purchase may not be occurring for a year or more. It lets you pre-position your offering to maximize sales efficiency. It eliminates your risk. It gives you advance warning and the opportunity to dominate your market.
So, if it is so reliable, why don't other people do it this way?
There are several other independent firms who conduct primary market research exactly the same way we do. It is quite common in corporate research departments. But, for every survey market researcher, there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of analysts, "experts", and secondary researchers who do no primary research at all.
Isn't "Industry Research" even more accurate than Market Research?
Industry research can be the most accurate of all because it represents historical or empirical data. Industry research tells you what your customers purchased yesterday. What it can't do is tell you what they intend to buy tomorrow. To get the whole picture, you need to apply several different research methodologies. Market research is the control for all of them.
But isn't primary market research prohibitively expensive?
No. Before computers only the largest corporations could afford to underwrite census based primary research. Today most of the labor expense has been automated. In most cases, the cost of an accurate market study is comparable to or less than other, less reliable, techniques.
But primary market research takes such a long time.
Yes and no. Primary market research does take a lot more time than other techniques, but this is one of the trade-off's for accuracy. A decade ago it was not uncommon for a study to require a year or more to complete. Today, even the most complex surveys can be turned around in under six months. Market overlays can be completed in a matter of weeks.
I need answers today!
Unless we have already gathered and tabulated the data which directly pertains to the answer you need, we can't and won't give you a non-definitive answer. This is a planning tool. It is a roadmap to show you what is around the bend or over the horizon.
Then, again, once we have done the research and have your model, you can not only get immediate answers, but those answers will also be dead on accurate.
Finally...
If you are already lost and don't know were you are, just having a map isn't going to help much anyway. For businesses in this situation, we have a special tool called a benchmark survey. It takes market research to the next level and provides a comprehensive integration of the market, the marketplace and your industry. It will tell you exactly where you are and where you need to be to get back on track.