Using a systematic random sample with digit dialing on the telephone, a sample of 1,082 registered voters was surveyed. The margin of error with this sample was +/- three percentage points. The demographics sampled were gender, age, race, and political party.

The published survey has general stakeholders. Since it only asked the one question, it is safe to assume that the stakeholders are the normal consumers who purchase soda pop; although because the survey asked registered voters, other stakeholders could include political officials and parties who may want to have a brand as a political sponsor.

The findings of the survey concluded that Coke topped Pepsi by a margin of 45 percent- 29 percent. With the demographics, encouraging results for Coke showed that they were favored with the 18-29 year old range by a 61 percent- 23 percent margin. These finding were represented in an easy to read cross tab data set, giving a reader the ability to clearly analyze the results. The reliability and validity of the survey are strong. Although the reliability could be proven stronger if the survey team had asked multiple ways what brand the sample preferred, although with such a simple survey the answers would most likely not have mattered.

The survey does not tend to have a bias. The question asked is not leading or loaded, and the answer options given do not discriminate between any demographic. The only agenda that looks like the studier could have had would have been if they were working for one of the brands and wanted to persuade voters to choose their brand. For the purpose of this survey, I would only have changed one thing about the survey. I would have added an income demographic. Brand loyalty could be based on how much a person makes in their salary and which brand they think is more costly or luxurious, it would have enriched the study to see what income levels like which soda brand.

This opinion poll comes from a non-probability sample. Non-probability sample is a type of sampling method that does not rely on random chance. It does not permit generalizations of a whole population because it does not take into account a diverse sample.

With the college hockey poll, the type of non-probability sample it is, is a purposive or judgmental sampling. A specific person or media content meets specific criteria the researcher needs. National collegiate sports polls are gathered from sports professionals who can make valid opinions on the subject. The general population are not invited to partake in the polling process because they might not have the knowledge and insight that the professionals do to rank certain teams.

But if it were up to me, and I was allowed to be apart of the polling process...

GOPHERS WOULD BE #1!

"Our publishers, large and small, are asking questions about business trends that they simply couldn't ask before, and they're using the answers to make better decisions. It's really got them excited." - Tom Williams, director of web services, Barnes & Noble Inc.

With the popularity of technological inventions such as the Nook or Tablet, a lot of literature is read from a screen instead of a page. Barnes and Noble saw a decrease in sales from their retail stores. In the provided case study, Barnes and Noble recently adopted a new strategy that would allow them to provide their authors and clients with fast insights about the behaviors and attitudes of being buying the merchandise.

Their solution to their problem was to use a data warehousing appliance to look at trends and then be able to make swift decisions about what needs to be stocked and promoted in the stores. This allows the stores to be up-to-date with products and always have what costumers want to buy in stock, instead of having to wait weeks for inventory.

This new data produced the following benefits for the company:
1. Reduced the time required to run analytical queries by more than 95 percent.
2. Reduced employee time required to administer the business intelligence solution by more than 70 percent
3. Improved publishers' ability to understand and react to market trends, optimize print runs and reduce the cost of unsold book inventory
4. Enabled the company to optimize its inventory mix, reduce stock-outs and plan more effective promotions

These benefits were collaborated based on the researchers' ability to read the research itself. By analyzing the numbers and identifying the trends through the statistics and information, this is an example of how researchers can interpret data to serve the general purpose for the client.

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/2414/social-media-networks-politics-voting-voters-discussing-vote-encouraging-voting

We all have that one friend... the one who during election time decides to suddenly become very political and very outspoken. During the last Presidential election, I had so many of these friends that they made me want to turn off social media all together until after the election was over.

This research was based off a survey done in Novemeber 2012 by the Princeton Survey Research Associates International (PSRAI). They obtained telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,011 adults living in the U.S. The interviews were conducted by both landline and cell phone. The survey was done in English, and was weighted in order to correct known demographic discrepancies. The margin of sampling error was+/- 3.6 percent.

This sampling method is very popular during election season. Many lobbyists make phone calls to people trying to see how they will end up voting.

The found statistic of 22% of registered voters talk about their political views on social media surprised me. Based on my own experience with the election, I would have thought that the statistic would have been higher.

Clearly nobody came and surveyed my social media friends..... :)

Here is Chris, Hi Chris!

Chris spoke to us about some new social media strategies that Target used this past month for the retail stores popular and annual Black Friday sale. This sparked my interest in the new strategic communication strategy as I am a HUGE fan of Black Friday chaos, and a HUGE fan of Target.

He explained how over 50% of all corporate companies have a Facebook page, and over 60% of them have an official Twitter handle. Social Media is not the rare bread anymore, yet it is a necessity for any thriving business. Utilizing Twitter, there are multiple ways to be successful.

Chris explained how when it comes to using Twitter to promote their Black Friday sale, there was a difference in approach from 2011 to 2012.

In 20111, Target focused their Twitter efforts on promoting the items that would be going on sale. They introduced the deals, and hoped that word would spread of what would be sold in order to boost their sales and revenue. However, after last year's Black Friday sale, Chris showed an IBM statistic where they researched that 0% of sales from the Black Friday sale came from Twitter. So Target decided to change their game plan and this 2012 sale, they used Twitter not as a method to drive sales but instead to simply encourage followers to tweet about the B.F. experience. With this approach they hoped that it would get people to the store itself.

Hearing this social media strategy really intrigued me. As important as social media is, and as useful it can be to companies, especially retail companies, for improving sales and marketing, social media at the root was simply created just for people to talk. All people really want is just to be heard. So for research to show that 0% of tweets led to sales, it emphasizes so much more that people just want to tell others what they are doing. Thus Target's new strategy is perfect in analyzing exactly what social media is intended for.

http://www.ratemyprofessors.com

How many times have you wanted to try something new, but was not sure it is was going to be exactly what you hope it to be, so you look at customer reviews online to see what others say about it?

I do that too. EVERY TIME.

Above are links to three very popular review sites. Rottentomatoes gives reviews on movies, zagat gives reviews on restaurants, and ratemyprofessors give reviews on teachers.

Each review that a customer posts on a product or event on a website is a method of research. The website host is the surveyor and is collecting information via a convenience sample. Every review that is written comes from a participant who voluntarily chooses to share their opinions. But the public use these reviews as a type of opinion leader and most of the time allow the review to persuade them to how they perceive the product. Thus reviews have a lot of power.

If you are unsure is the new restaurant in town is any good, if you see a review where other users have ranked it at a 97%, you are not going to have any hesitation about going to eat there that night. But if the review is only at 28%, that restaurant will probably be going out of business soon.

The age of the baby boomers are on the decrease, and the generation known as the millenials are going to be soon taking over as the dominant generation. And with their invasion, they are changing the way that money is being spent, especially with grocery shopping.

Here are some statistics from the article linked above:

There will be lots of Millenials. By 2020, Millennials over the age of 25 will make up 19% of the population (they are only 5% in 2010). By that time the Baby Boomers will finally fall to below 20%.

Analyzing these two generational patterns is complimentary of a trend study. It is a trend study because it measures the same items over time. In this case, grocery shopping habits from one generation and again to the next.

I am categorized in the millennial generation. And for the most part I agree with most of the found research. I prefer organic and natural foods, and I am also more price sensitive as the research suggests. I like to use coupons and wait for things to come on sale. The only statistic I do not relate to is the one stating that millennials are less likely to be brand loyal. I find that personally I am very brand loyal. I find items that I like, and then choose to only buy that product. For example, I am a Coke person all the way. You will never in my life catch me buying anything Pepsi.

A recent survey I just received in my e-mail was one from Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA asking U of M students to participate in the national survey. The goal of the survey is to gain knowledge about students academic experiences on campus.

It is obvious of why student receive so many surveys to complete by e-mail. The contact method of e-mail is perfect for students in college. Each student is given a university gmail account where other students and professors all can contact them. Students check their e-mails several times a day. With e-mail being one of the lower cost survey contact methods, it is expected that it becomes the most popular method to reach the student's attention. The surveys try to entice students by offering compensation of some sort. In the case of the UCLA survey, students were told that after completion they would be entered into a drawing for a chance to win a $50 gift card.

Survey contact methods all have their advantages and disadvantages. Can you imagine if it was someone's job to call every single student and ask them to take a survey? The method would be pointless and ineffective as no students would answer the phone.

The video link is a clip from the popular show Mad Men. In the video, the advertising agency that the show revolves around is conducting a focus group. The focus group in meant to gain research and insight about a women's beauty product. What is interesting and noteworthy about the video and focus group shown is how they portray the group proctor.

The woman in the video changes her style of clothing, and decides to act a certain way in order to keep the women participants at ease and comfortable with the study. When the actual questioning was occurring, she kept the conversation flowing, and kept reassuring the women that they were in a safe place and could be themselves and be honest.

The proctor is a key asset to the success of a focus group, and thus the success of the study. Focus groups are meant to capture the opinions that consumers think are important. These opinions and data can only be collected if the participants are willing to open up and share how they are feeling. They need to answer the questions being asked. In order to do that, the questions asked need to be in a manner that makes them worthy to be answered.

A focus group can go very wrong if the procurator does not know what they are doing. The way questions are asked, the wording, the tone, the timing, all affect the answers. It is the job of the proctor to make sure all of those categories are presented accurately.

The video was impressive, as the proctor was able to identify with the participants and able to get them to feel worthy of being there. She got them to open up and really share their thoughts and emotions. Most importantly, she got them to be honest. Honesty is the root and goal of what focus groups are aiming to achieve. Honest opinions can lead to honest results and research. Companies and strategists are then capable of using the gathered information and ensure that their studies are going to be reliable and valid for whatever their conclusive goal in mind is.

Although the video was scripted, the concept is still true. The Mad Men actress is an ideal model of what a focus group proctor should be.

A Recent study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project shows that parents are opting to join the social media sites that they worry their kids are in danger of.

The problem with this survey is that is did not reference any questions or research about whether or not the parents that have joined social media simply just want to join it. Social media is becoming more and more popular in this day and age. Companies themselves even have facebook and Twitter pages. Thus although the research was set to prove that parents are worried about their children and thus the effect is that they join it as well, the research fails to take in account the simply fact of pleasure.

I think that it is worth mentioning in this study because it makes it seem that parents only join the social media because they are concerned for their children. If it was such a concern then why wouldn't parents just make their children get off of social media. As much as parents try to pull the "worried about you card," they have to admit that deep down they are actually interested in the websites as well.

My mom has a facebook account. She does write on my wall and pictures, and questions me about the people who I am photographed with. But when I see her posting Pinterst pins onto her facebook timeline, she can't tell me that she only uses her facebook to check up on me.

For my Comm3211 class Electronic Media and Development all the students and I were given the chance to earn some extra credit toward our final by completing a survey. The survey researched mindfulness when it comes to individuals communicating with one another.

Immediately after beginning the survey, which was just a survey created through SurveyMonkey, I recognized that it was a Likert scale. Based on the NOIR research model, it was quite easy to differentiate the type of survey and categorize it as a type of interval measurement. What caught my eye however is the confusion that was present with the distribution of answer categories within the Likert. The responses that were given were true to the Likert as they ranged with even categories between strongly agree and strongly disagree, but it was the categories in the middle of the polar opposites that caused the confusion.

The order of the responses as you can see by the picture goes as follows:

Strongly disagree, moderately disagree, slightly disagree, neutral, moderately agree, slightly agree, strongly agree.

There was no symmetry.

Am I wrong or should it go as follows:?

Strongly agree, moderately disagree, slightly disagree, neutral, slightly disagree, moderately agree, strongly agree.

Because of one little error, one little misplacement of a likert category, it caused confusion to the participant. This can cause errors to the reliabilty and validity to the survey as a whole.

So in conclusion....

MAKE SURE THE LIKERT IS CORRECT!!

He began to tell us how he had participated in a focus group sponsored by Oscar Meyer. They were looking to test out their newest Turkey dog brand. Each participant was given multiple samples of different hotdogs and then they were asked to rank which ones they preferred the most. The participants were not told which hotdog was a turkey dog. This fellow leader shared a very positive experience about the focus group, he even said he was compensated $100. But what stood out to me the most about his story was how he mentioned that there was one participant from the focus group who looked like he had dressed up for the study. He went out of his way to wear name brand clothes and have nice cologne on, in an effort to impress not only the company but the other participants as well.

That got me thinking about the reliability of focus groups....

Are people as honest as they "pretend" to be in focus groups? Or do some people put on a facade?

The truth is that some people do indeed care what others think of them, so even in instances such as a silly hotdog study, they will present themselves as being someone admirable. Doing so eliminates their credibility because they could be skewing their responses. However, in the end researchers are willing to take this risk with having the participant be included in the study, because the sampling is so small they could not discredit the whole study.

Social media within sports has already been a very steady growing marketing strategy. Professional sports have recognized that they must have a presence in social media in order to keep up-to-date on the current trends in the communications world, especially since rates of reaching mass quantities of audiences is the most productive through social media platforms; (it only took five years for Facebook to reach 150 million users, compared to television which took 38 years.) It is not uncommon for a team to be utilizing Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, however now that every team is aware of social media as a necessity and are all over its' game with the websites, coming up with new and original initiatives is the challenge that is facing many sports organizations.
The Boston Celtics social media and digital team recently unveiled the use of a brand new social media campaign that has set them apart from other NBA teams. During their November 9th home game against the Philadelphia 76ers, they introduced a new way for fans to get involved. Fans in attendance at the game were encouraged to use their Twitter accounts to tweet about the Boston Celtics using the #CelticsTalk. Randomly selected tweets were then broadcast up on the 360 degree ring scoreboard inside the TD Bank Garden. This is also not the first time that the Boston Celtics have innovated new ways to use social media.

This initiative deals with marketing as it is a part of sport distribution, not only within social media platforms, but within the actual sport's facility. The Boston Celtics are a known successful NBA team, not only for their championship records, but also for their social media efforts. Currently they have an internet following of over 800 thousand Twitter follows, and 7 million Facebook fans. They are within the top five NBA teams with the most Twitter followers and have be unrecognized for their ability to top the competition in the digital world.
In 2009, the Celtics launched an application on Facebook called the Celtics Three-Point Play where it is simulated like a type of fantasy league play where fans log on and pick three players and based on their performance and statistics, fans earn points and then top scorers can earn free tickets to Celtics games. This application was the first of its kind at the time for NBA teams. The Celtics were able to utilize Facebook as not only a way to gain followers, but to take those followers and make a profit off of them. Fans pay for the game application and then challenge friends and family who then also pay for the application and the Boston basketball team collects revenue. Since then, other teams have adapted similar applications.
In 2011, the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx were the first NBA and WNBA team to introduce a social media initiative called WolvesNation and LynxNation. The program was a social media hub that brought together all social media websites into one place where fans could interact with each other, get all the latest news and information on the basketball teams, while also earning points for rewards and prizes just for being a fan. After WolvesNation and LynxNation was introduced, more teams within the NBA and WNBA created similar hub websites such as the Phoniex Suns who created the Fan Hub.

In this day and age, social media is one of the most powerful marketing tools within businesses and organizations- one of which who benefits the most from social media is the sports industry. No other platforms allows one to not only reach mass audiences instantaneously, but to also receive results and feedback just as quickly. Fans no longer wish to log on to ESPN.com to become knowledgeable about a team, they wish to get everything they want just on their mobile device, and from their social media account. It has never been easier for sports teams to relay scores and information to their fans, but also hear exactly what their fans think and feel about what is being reported. But in this ever changing world, it is only a matter of time where the now social media techniques become obsolete. Social and digital teams need to be adapting and cultivating new ideas to attract audiences. If teams want to be successful, then suggestions lead them to hiring social and digital media teams who are creative and imaginative in launching new strategies and campaigns that utilize social media in new ways.

Through PRSSA I became aware of the local Minneapolis based agency Fast Horse.

They refer to themselves as:

An innovative, integrated agency offering a full range of traditional and non-traditional marketing services -- including strategic planning, content marketing, graphic design, media relations, advertising, interactive, social media, sponsorship activation and special-event planning.

Upon browsing their website, I came across a section where they post previous campaigns that they have worked with. They showcase their work through various case studies.

One that caught my eye was their Nationwide insurance case study.

A case study is a type of observation where companies and organizations gather and summarize all their information to write an informative story. The story is meant to help readers learn how the company managed and handled a project so that they may learn insight on how to manage a similar situation within their own company or organization.

The Nationwide case study focused on how people have financial issues, yet have trouble asking tough questions when it came to dealing with the financial issues and decisions. Fast Horse developed a campaign where they used a comedian and promoted a series of videos where they made light of the situation and got people to "Have The Talk".

The success of the campaign was very evident:

"Have the Talk" generated 50 million media impressions and more than a million YouTube views. The "Have the Talk" micro-site garnered more than 8,000 visits per day, with an average site visit time of more than five minutes.

Back in September 2012, Amazon.com launched a new website that will equip children with sporting goods. They will be able to purchase sports, dance, and arts supplies. The website is called:

AfterSchool.com

The website holds over 35,000 products to choose from, and enables kids a new way to shop for all of their favorite sports and activities supplies. The website is unique because it has specials filters and features that allows the users to spend less time shopping

Research analysts commented that they believed the main challenge the website was going to face was brand access. The headline risk could face a short-term overhang. Also they thought that the category market in which they are trying to dive into has a low e-commerce penetration and they will face a lot of competition from vendors who sell the products directly on the internet, such as nike.com

This website launch brings with it the possibility of creating research. Now that the site is up and running, researchers and marketers are able to test its popularity and functionality to see if the site is indeed effective. Researchers can begin collecting surveys, focus groups, and other sampling methods to hear from consumers and the public if they approve of the site.

Sales and profits can be analyzed, and site traffic can be monitored. There are multiple methods that can be researched. With all the challenges that researchers were hesitant about, the poast-launch time allows those challenges to be addressed.