Dear Market Researcher,
The new client, a maker of sewing patterns, wanted to
know how many people in each sample household do
sewing. There was no room on the postcard survey to
print “people who sew,” so...
…the question that almost went out was, “How many
sewers in your household?” Even worse, the question
after that was “How old are they?”
This actually happened – I was working at the research firm
at the time – and marketing guru Bob Peterson later used my
anecdote in his book on questionnaire design.
Every question needs to be looked at by a second pair of eyes, before it’s fielded.
General Informatics LLC has now migrated to government and university work, advising on
research policy. But, we were thinking, why let all our survey research expertise go to waste?
So we’ve designed this trial offer: We’ll review and mark up your draft questionnaire for
$149, and turn it around PDQ. Here are the terms:
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Send the draft q’aire to questionnaire@generalinformatics.com in MS-Word format.
English-language questionnaires only. We’ll use Word’s comment feature to suggest
changes, and will tell you our reasons for the suggestions.
Indicate your deadline, if applicable.
We suggest improvements in clarity and format, for making questions and answer scales
unambiguous, and to eliminate potentially offensive wording. We check against other items
on our “good questionnaires” checklist.
This special price is only possible for pre-paid orders, by PayPal (to
fp@generalinformatics.com) or by Visa or Mastercard. It’s also possible only if you promise
not to blame us for anything that goes wrong. So, your email to us should include your phone
number (so you can securely tell us your credit card number) and the words, “[Your Firm]
holds General Informatics LLC harmless against any liability that may arise from this
transaction.” No problem there, since you are free to ignore our suggestions if you don’t like
them.
Be assured of complete confidentiality. We are not a market research firm. None of our staff
work for market research firms. We will destroy our copy of your file when the job is done,
and no one outside General Informatics LLC will ever see it.
Check out our research and editing chops on www.generalinformatics.com/overview.html, or
by reading my earlier articles in Quirk’s Marketing Research Review:
- http://www.quirks.com/articles/a2004/20040502.aspx?searchID=101135142&sort=5&pg=1
- http://www.quirks.com/articles/a2002/20021105.aspx?searchID=101135142&sort=5&pg=1
Of course you may email and ask for references. Our prior clients in your industry include
MRCA, Millward-Brown, and Intelliquest.
1-2-3’s of ordering:
1. ‘Copy’ the legal boilerplate “[Your Firm] holds General Informatics LLC harmless
against any liability that may arise from this transaction.”
2. Click ‘Reply’ in your email program. Attach your MS-Word questionnaire.
3. ‘Paste’ the boilerplate, include your name and phone number, and click ‘Send.’
Best wishes,
Fred Phillips, PhD, Managing Partner
General Informatics LLC
P.S. Avoiding one “sewer”-type mistake pays back our fee many times over.
P.P.S. Today’s market research industry is rife with error-prone and ineffective – yes, really
useless – questionnaires. Let us help you be part of the solution and not part of the problem.
Reply to this message and let’s get started.