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recent article in the Seattle Times covering a poll by Elway Research gives me an opportunity to discuss statistical testing. The description of the methodology indicates, as I’d expect, that the poll was conducted properly to achieve a representative sample:
About the poll: Telephone interviews were conducted by live, professional interviewers with 405 voters selected at random from registered [...]
The press release for a study by Mintel, a world-wide market research firm, states that "people still prefer real-life recommendations to online". The study was intended to test the idea that real-world referrals are still more important than those received online. Mintel's results show that only 5% of people buy based on suggestions from bloggers or chatrooms, while over 5 times as many buy on recommendations from friends, relatives, and spouses or partners.
I don't [...]
Sunday's New York Times Magazine has an
article about a new program being introduced by the Hyatt hotel chain intended to stimulate real loyalty in the form of future business through gratitude generated by generous acts such as having [...]
A couple of interesting studies relating on newspaper issues have recently come across my screen. Combine with continuing speculation on how long the Seattle Times will last, and the segment on the Daily Show about the New York Times last week, it's time to share.
The Pew Internet and American Life
study on online classifieds contains no big surprises. Use of [...]
The recent comScore presentation on the State of Online Retail in the U.S. contained few surprises, but mainly confirmations together with some interesting perspectives. For those unfamiliar with this material, comScore creates a quarterly report on Online Retail, combining survey results along with data from comScore's behavioral panel. The behavioral data covers many aspects of online behavior related to retail, including search, media exposure, and of course actual online transactions. [...]
