Welcome to The Launchpad, SoundRocket’s blog, where we share our insights and musings on the science of doing science (well), #soundscience.
Soundrocket conducted an interview with University of Michigan professor Bill Axinn. Bill is a valued client and collaborator, and this post outlines Dr. Axinn's new paper and explores the importance of responsive survey design in campus surveys. This is Part 2 of a...
Photo by Michael Barera (CC BY-SA 4.0) Soundrocket conducted an interview with University of Michigan professor Bill Axinn. Bill is a valued client and collaborator, and this post outlines Dr. Axinn's research, how he first came to find Scott Crawford, eventually...
In a previous post we discussed how to minimize survey breakoff. Surveys are a great way to collect data but when designing a survey it’s important to consider how much is too much. Today we are going to discuss satisficing, how to keep respondents engaged, and in...
We often hear—so how long can our questionnaire be? While we love surveys, the reality is most respondents don’t share our enthusiasm, which means long questionnaires can be bad for data quality. Today we are going to look at how long surveys can lead to breakoff, and...
"The piece that has made my thesis and my study unique is being able to survey a representative sample of the U.S. population. This was made possible because of SoundRocket,” says Gabi. Gabriela (Gabi) Wen Hsuan Chen is currently a graduate student at the University...
In 1998, fascinated with the potential for the web to serve as a data collection platform, I wondered what sources of error may crop up with this new technology. Not surprisingly, we noticed early on that if participants did not finish a web-based survey in one...
This post was written in collaboration with Jesus Arrue Why develop live televideo interview methods? In simpler times, pre-pandemic, we conducted user comprehension and other cognitive interview studies through in-person interviews. We would meet with research...
One of the most common questions I am fielding today—with COVID-19 spreading across the nation, is now a good time to conduct surveys? Is the pandemic having an impact on response rates?
As one of my favorite grad school professors, Mick Couper, loved to say, “It depends.”
Whether one engages in a survey right now will depend on their current status. This may not be a good time to survey emergency department staff. Professionals who are engaged in conducting online surveys may also have their hands full of work (from home) and may not have much extra time to spare. But if you are surveying the general population, with exploding rates of unemployment, you may have better luck. Students in higher education have been ripped from their regular social routines and disconnected from others. They may welcome an opportunity to share their experiences . . .
Text messages (also known as Short Message Service, or SMS) have become the go-to medium when contacting others. This is especially the case for today’s college students, who seem to conduct their social and even business lives completely via messaging service.
SoundRocket examined the data surrounding the efficacy of using SMS when surveying college students, resulting in presentation at a past American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) Conference.