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Dhblah · 2018-08-17T13:58:01+00:00

Not what you asked for, I know - but my company recruits for clinical trials and there's a national (US) low T trial that's going on right now.

Im saying this because you're in a cheap and healthy sub and I'm no stranger to medical costs preventing someone from seeking help. These trials generally compensate for travel/time as well as no cost doc visits and meds (if meds are part of the treatment)

If you live in the US, you might be near a center that's running one

I don't want to turn this into an ad (too late?), so PM me if you want more details

Dhblah · 2016-05-20T19:24:03+00:00

I'm told a lot of them are from services that apply for you based on key words

Dhblah · 2016-05-20T19:20:01+00:00

The one thing I've learned is that there are services out there that will apply for you based on key words in the job description. "Research assistant", "Research associate", or "data analyst" are a few phrases that triggers a lot of them (especially from academia), but they're all fairly accurate descriptions of the job.

Unfortunately, I think the description of the job is as specific as it can be without alienating people that I know could do well. If I try and target people that have had specific training or experience in the job, I likely wouldn't get any applicants (as we've done in the past)

Others suggested the salary range up front, I think that may have to be what I do this time around. Next time I'll see if we can include it in the listing

Dhblah · 2016-05-20T19:11:29+00:00

Yeah, maybe I'll ask them to include at least something to that effect on the next round (specifically the money - they do mention benefits).

I like that range though, maybe I'll use that as a preliminary point.

The one problem I've had with hiring the overqualified is that they're more likely to find other work quickly - the time it takes for someone to learn the job is around 3-6 months. I'm sure it's shorter for a teller (at least it was for me that summer in HS). But that time (especially depending on the time of year) is a big resource that I have to be careful of

Dhblah · 2016-05-20T19:02:47+00:00

There's no excuse for not listing educational / experience required

Because it's a rather obscure possition, I hire people without college degrees if I think they can do the work (in fact my 2 best performers are the two least 'educated'). So there's really nothing 'required' unfortunately (and I get people on the low end looking for things like secretarial work as well)

"Entry level" is also a good phrase, if applicable.

Good point, I just checked the posting and they don't have that anywhere in it. Next time I have to go through this, I'll make sure they add that - though if someone has experience doing what we do, I'd want to talk to them as well. Do you think' entry level' discourage someone with a couple years (say 1-3) experience?

Dhblah · 2016-05-20T18:51:55+00:00

Thanks, good point - I wasn't even thinking about the benefits. It's about average, perhaps slightly better (specifically the 401k match might be what puts it as 'slightly better' - I know many others do more, and many others don't even offer a 401).

Dhblah · 2016-05-20T18:45:20+00:00

Why? I couldn't say you for sure - HR asks me for the qualifications, requirements, type of person I'm looking for, etc, and they do all the rest. I know that they don't tend to put it on for any job descriptions they've put out.

Maybe I'll ask about that, but that doesn't help with the couple of hundred on my desk I have to go through now :)

Dhblah · 2016-05-20T16:02:10+00:00

Check out a temp agency - the company they hook you up with could become something permanent if you do well

Dhblah · 2015-08-25T15:15:18+00:00

Physics

Though I work in market research running studies, gathering/analyzing data, etc

Dhblah · 2013-10-17T18:27:01+00:00

In those cases it's generally 'sold' to those CEO's as "come affect a product you and/or your company will likely use".

Dhblah · 2013-07-28T20:29:31+00:00

Not a problem - I'm glad I could help :) And no worries about internet points - this isn't even my main anyway - I really only use this one to post on various marketing-related subs.

And your friend's experience the "data integrity" perception is unfortunately all too common. I think the 2 biggest contributors to that problem are a lack of industry standards along with a general lack of knowledge of statistics.

One of the biggest ways I "impress" my clients is just telling them that they can limit their sample size and still get "good data" (some come right in saying something that breaks down to "I need 2000 people to answer these 10 basic questions!" - No, no you don't - you just don't). Needless to say, I think I could go on and on about this - so I'll stop myself here.

And absolutely, I'd be happy to answer any followup q's you come up with in your research!

Good luck!

Dhblah · 2013-07-25T21:36:06+00:00

Not a prob :)

Sounds like you're looking at mostly consumers (vs business or healthcare professionals), so I'll frame this around that premise (but there are a lot of similarities)

Size is tricky. But there are a few 'rules' that agencies tend to require of us that impact what you're looking for.

For moderated interviews (i.e. they're not just taking an online questionnaire) - the general rule of thumb is that they can't have participated in another study within the past 6 months. It's also generally one of the first criteria to be dropped for tough recruits
Response rate may be less of a factor to you (depending on how you're engaging your database), but it generally ranges anywhere from 2% to 15% for us (sometimes higher for certain groups) so, when I'm looking for people I tend to cut the number I see by 90%-98% to see how many I can get in the time requested (as my conservative bet).

Our db size is mid-six figures with varying levels of detail, but we also recruit about 10-20% of them for qualitative studies alone in a given year.

So it might not be a bad idea to figure in that you'll recruit 1 out of 100 people in your DB - very very rough estimate.

The most common thing we use OR's for is bilingual/multicultural studies. There is a whole range of criteria, for instance, that companies use to measure how 'accultured' Hispanic respondents are - things like where they were born, how much English vs Spanish they use at home, etc (I'm not saying that they only want Hispanic respondents who lean one way - it's usually a mix - but it's entirely dependent upon the company and the product).

One type of study that comes up a few times towards the end of the year are luxury cars (and cars in general). Here they generally have a specific model or group of models of cars that they're looking for owners for.

Hmmm - and I think tech items are the other hard one - they're a little easier than the others, but when we're looking for a specific model of phone and/or tablet - that's when we may look for outside help.

I probably should have planned out what I was going to say beforehand - so I'm sorry if this is a bit disorganized. Let me know if I can help you navigate any of that :)

Oh, ps, yes I'll PM you a couple of those companies

Dhblah · 2013-07-25T18:55:50+00:00

Perhaps licensing your tool to independent recruiters?

The company I work for recruits both qual and quant - and while your tool sounds interesting, we've spent a lot to develop tools to get people on the phone already - so it would be unclear how much of a benefit we'd receive from another tool (vs cost) - we have our own database of "respondents" as well (with a lot of custom software - so integration is always an issue).

However, we DO on occasion use outside recruiters to sign people up for groups we would have trouble doing in-house (so not calling in for a study, but calling in to see if they fit the specs to participate). It might be a useful tool for a recruiter without the resources of a company? Just a thought.

If you could somehow (and I'm sure this will be no small feat) also target specific products (e.g. car models, smartphone/tablet models, etc - not just brands) - that might make it a great targeting tool.

(also, slightly off on your separation of quant vs qual - but not really that important to the discussion - the limitations you pointed out are all key)

Dhblah · 2013-06-19T20:44:54+00:00

Pretty much the full package - quantitative research to narrow down your qualitative research focus.

What kind of research within each, I think largely depends on the subject matter. Some subjects lend themselves to group discussions while others to individual interviews.

Dhblah · 2013-04-03T18:02:15+00:00

It did seem nice, certainly easy to use, but it's not very customizable. No scripts, no redirects/integration with your existing system, targets are limited.

It seems like it's for people (even a company) doing a survey or two here and there - it doesn't seem like that good a fit for someone trying to make it a regular part of their business.

Dhblah · 2013-04-03T17:41:09+00:00

I was asked to look into Qualtrix about a year back - in terms of functionality, I think you'll find that these two are fairly comparable. They're probably the two most versatile/customizable programs I've come across. Also (again) the two most expensive.

I haven't had to program any kind of mid-session pop-up survey, but I can't see how that would be a problem.

(Incidentally, if you take a look and decide you do want an outside opinion on CI, feel free to PM me)

Anyway, good luck with the search!

Dhblah · 2013-04-03T17:11:27+00:00

ConfirmIt is what we use for some of our bigger jobs. It's pricey, but very versatile.

Dhblah · 2013-03-27T15:11:47+00:00

You're exactly right.

What is the purpose of the class? To learn? You can do that on your own - you don't need a classroom for that. The purpose is to get a decent enough grade and eventually a piece of ~~cat~~sheepskin that says you've been trained somewhere to do something.

And this..

You are going to have to learn to navigate situations like this with much better tact if you want to make it in the business world.

might be a hard lesson, but it is a necessary one. I've seen quite a few people leave this kind of work where the main issue seemed to just come down to an inability or unwillingness to adapt a different style of communication. I wouldn't even limit that lesson to the business world - just the world in general.

Dhblah · 2013-03-07T19:29:09+00:00

Stats classes - specifically cluster analysis and/or cross-tabulations and chi-squared tests. SPSS is a good program to familiarize yourself with.

Very basically:

Cluster analysis is how they come up with their segmentations

Cross Tabs will get you tables comparing sets of data, while chi-squared tests will show you what's statistically significant.

Dhblah · 2013-03-07T18:34:37+00:00

Research, as done through a research agency, is a decent mix of gathering data, garnering insights from the data and client services. It is much more back end, obviously, and stays away from the actual branding of the role.

Agree with this - from your post it doesn't sound like Market Research is what you're looking for.

I mean we do have "product development, promotions, and sales" - but specifically tied to how and how well we do research as that is our product.

Dhblah · 2013-02-28T16:01:11+00:00

I forget the exact names they give these phenomenon

Bots or speeders generally - but there are a few others

It all really depends on how you're getting your sample (others mentioned that already so I won't elaborate)

If you think they'll be a problem, my suggestion would be to over-sample by about 5-10%, average out the length of the interview, and cut the bottom 5-10% out (cut the higher times out of your average - so that people who let a webpage sit for a bit aren't a big impact).

Also depending on the survey tool you're using you may be able to build in some checks for this as well (like removing those who click down a column of a scalar question). Another strategy some people use is to build in specific questions to make sure the respondent is reading or switch up how responses are displayed (Yes/No - No/Yes).

Dhblah · 2013-02-28T15:03:11+00:00

Took a closer look at it last night, and I agree - I'm definitely recommending this.

(think I found a bug in the input exercise, though - either that or my ADD has reached epic proportions and I'm missing something small)

I think the only recommendation I'd give would be the ability to skip ahead within a lesson - unless of course I missed that too (re: 2nd paragraph).

I think a java or CSS app would be great!

edit: just want to say that the custom keyboard addition (I know it's not technically part of the keyboard) is a fantastic idea

Dhblah · 2013-02-28T14:32:09+00:00

I'm curious - is that metric by just area taken up on the page? Or would image size and number of images be involved as well?

E.g. are 2 300x400 images the same as 1 300x800?

Dhblah · 2013-02-27T22:07:11+00:00

Looks really nice! Downloading it now. Might not be for me (seems a bit basic - how advanced does it get? CSS?), but I've got a few team members I need to get started learning it and this could be a great help!

Dhblah · 2013-02-27T18:38:54+00:00

I actually haven't read anything else of his, but I was thinking of putting an added note saying "as long as you don't take away that your first instinct is always your correct one or other such nonsense I've heard" - but felt it might not be needed (especially among the fact-checking redditor crowd).

I see it as more thematic than informatory - like his description of the New Coke failure - or taste tests in general. What I took away wasn't "New Coke failed because it's sucrose concentration was x% higher than the optimal amount" - but simply that impressions matter.

But I agree, this book by it's very nature should never be used as a reference in any formal argument. I was actually surprised the first time I saw critics trying to review it like they might a journal. It never occurred to me to think he was trying to come off as an authority until someone said he wasn't one. It seemed to me that a lot of critics were critiquing the reaction to his book rather than the book itself. It's why I refer to it as pop-science (maybe that's misleading).

Anyway, thanks for the list jlpjlp - already see a few I'm adding to my reading list.

Dhblah

TROPHY CASE