by david allan van nostrand | Oct 10, 2022 | How to tell good research from bad, Human Behavior, Organizational Behavior, Social archaelogy
A pecking order is a social hierarchy. With domestic fowl, it is the social hierarchy of a flock of chickens in which the dominant birds peck the subordinate birds who submit to it as a signal of acceptance of the difference between their social standings. All up and...
by david allan van nostrand | Jul 12, 2021 | How to tell good research from bad, Misinformation traps, Surveys, Using Information
Agatha Christie was a British novelist who wrote the Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot whodunits in the 1930s and 1940s. This was the golden era of British murder mysteries, with Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson the most memorable of all. Fascinated...
by david allan van nostrand | May 3, 2021 | How to tell good research from bad, Teaching, Using Information
Lake Wobegone is the fictitious central Minnesota town “where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” It was the setting of a long-running radio variety show, several novels, and a feature film. The radio show A...
by david allan van nostrand | Apr 26, 2021 | Focus Groups, How to tell good research from bad
The grey-haired, steely-eyed Admiral on the bridge of the flagship, leading a fleet of heavily-armed warships into battle, pointed toward the rising sun and said “Set course at 107.25 degrees.” NO, HE DIDN’T! He said “Take us out, Skipper,” because Admirals...
by david allan van nostrand | Dec 7, 2020 | Customer Satisfaction, How to tell good research from bad
McDonald’s aimed its advertising at parents for many years before someone got the idea to advertise directly to their kids instead. Their notion was that the children would relentlessly pester their parents to take them to McDonald’s for Happy Meals, visits with...
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...
