by david allan van nostrand | Oct 26, 2020 | How to tell good research from bad, Surveys
Two categories of regular readers are marketers who use research and people who conduct the research marketers use. Both groups often ask how to tell the difference between good information and bad. Because most research is privately funded for competitive purposes...
by david allan van nostrand | Oct 19, 2020 | Misinformation traps, Organizational Behavior, Unintended Consequences
When interviewing study subjects, researchers hear many of the same themes and comments repeated, as you can easily imagine. No one liked how cassette tapes snarled, for example, and everyone hates long wait times. The temptation for impatient researchers and study...
by david allan van nostrand | Oct 12, 2020 | Artificial Intelligence, Fads, Marketing
In a shell game, three walnut shells are moved about swiftly and onlookers bet on which one the pea is under when they come to rest. It’s not actually a game at all – it’s a swindle con artists control through sleight of hand and illusion to fleece the mark (the...
by david allan van nostrand | Oct 5, 2020 | The Myopia of Experts, Unintended Consequences
Asymmetry is when two sides of a thing are out of whack, like the male Fiddler Crab’s pincers. They eat with the tiny one and use the big one to wave at females. There are two types of imbalance we hear about among humans. The most obvious one is that most of us...