How We Do IT

Data and public opinion have never been more important to a business' survival.  Rep Data's goal is to collect mission critical data quickly and reliably, so researchers can make proactive informed decisions.  Through thousands of repetitions, we built a six stage repeatable process, which can be found here.

“How We Do It” Index:

Used for both B2B and B2C audiences to obtain insight into predetermined segments of people. Quotas are typically set on demographic and ethnographic criteria.

Rep Data ensures you have statistically significant base sizes in each group and subgroup you are studying by implementing quota management systems.

Used for B2C audiences where objectives focus on market sizing, brand or advertising awareness, and/or studies requiring precise demographic analysis. When this methodology is implemented, the respondents entering the survey will mirror the general population of the city/ county/ state/ country you are studying.

Used for both B2B and B2C audiences. This approach is recommended when a high level B2B or a niche consumer audience is required, such as C-Suite at large companies or highly specific consumer types in limited geographical areas.

Feasibility Tests help set reasonable goals and expectations for the full project. We are big believers in running frequent feasibility tests to ensure no surprises once we are in field.

There are two principal aspects to feasibility tests:

IR Checks

These are ‘pre-tests’ of screening questions performed before the full study goes into field to determine the qualifying rate and degree of difficulty reaching an audience.

Population Estimates

These estimates carefully take into consideration the IR, population size, and known quantities of sample to determine a range of respondents who would qualify for a survey within a target geography.

If you program your own surveys internally, Rep Data can easily link up with any survey platform to deliver sample.

If programming is needed, we can make recommendations on the survey questions and layout before programming the written survey into an online format.  The output is an online survey link and live reporting link, which Rep Data will test and QA to ensure it is accurate before sending to you for review and approval.

The Process

Survey programming is an iterative and collaborative process that involves you, your project manager, and a programming specialist. The goal of this stage is to produce a survey instrument that provides a positive respondent experience! By tailoring the survey to the respondent, we keep them engaged and focused, reducing respondent fatigue and producing quality responses.

After sharing a final version of your survey questionnaire, our programming team begins building out an online survey and will deliver a Test Link in as little as one day. The time it takes to program a survey depends on the length and complexity of the survey.

Testing your Survey Link

When you receive the test link, you should thoroughly test the survey to try and “break” it, and check that:

- Questions are displayed how you wanted them to

- Questions or question sets are being shown to the correct respondent groups

- Answer choices are appearing properly & hidden where applicable

- Hidden variables are being assigned correctly (by using advanced testing tools)

Programming Edits & Feedback

If changes are needed to the survey, you can add them to the programming log provided by your project manager and any requests will be processed and pushed to the test link for another review.

Once the survey is approved, the link will pass through a final quality assurance test before being set live for our Fielding Stage.

Once fieldwork has closed, we typically send a raw data file, in SPSS or Excel file type. If you need data processing services, we can provide a topline report, crosstabs, open-end (verbatim) coding, and statistical analysis with a PowerPoint deck. These services should be requested at the beginning of the engagement to ensure on time delivery and to hash out necessary frameworks required to produce these analyses.

Topline Report

Provides a quick snapshot of frequencies for all questions so that you can quickly dive into your data.

Crosstabs

Crosstabs or tabulations are a technique of looking at the intersection of data variables from your survey results. Tabulations include statistical significance analysis of data-points, which can be adjusted to a higher or lower confidence level. Building crosstabs requires a banner plan, which depicts how data should be shown - cuts, questions, nets, etc. We can assist you in tailoring your banner plan to best suit your research objectives. We can also produce an interim set of crosstabs while the study is in field to give you a preview of the deliverable and allow for any tailoring. This helps ensure rapid delivery at close of field.

Open-End Coding

Serves to classify open-end responses into similar themes to make responses easy to understand. The process for OE Coding is as follows:

1. The coding process involves manual review and categorizing of each response. We take your research objectives and understanding of the product/service being researched to develop a code frame once we have 25% of the total responses.

2. Due to the subjective nature of this process, we will share a proposed code frame for your review and can add or remove codes/ themes on your request.

3. Once fieldwork has closed, we will deliver the coded files. Timelines will depend on the number of individual verbatim responses for review.

Advanced Statistical Analysis

A comprehensive analysis of your survey data, which aims to answer the main questions and hypotheses of your research. The final deliverable comes in the form of a PowerPoint deck that is ready to present. Our experts will meet with you to discuss needs, contents, format, and recommend statistical analyses to include in the presentation deck.