• Naming
• Wording
• Describing
• Picturing
• Symbolizing
• Animating

The personal benefits and values of the core product are reinforced and strengthened as the brand meaning grows and it becomes more connected to the person. In the language of a brand manager, the result is a high equity brand that is surrounded by loyal customers.

To flesh out a brand design schematic, researchers often integrate means-end research with other forms of marketing or consumer research.

Hierarchical Value Maps: Hierarchical Value Maps based on the means-end analysis identify the connection between the brand attributes and the market needs. These are expressed as personal benefits of brand use and values that are reinforced and give creative directors a rich set of concepts for producing advertisements.

To sell a product we must "play to strength," but often that strength is not valued by people. Our "strength" is a "so what." The goal of market driven strategies is to change the "so what" into a "WOW." One way of doing this is to use means-end analysis and hierarchical value maps.

The following example shows a portion of a hierarchical value map for a bank considering how to position its credit card.

The means-end study was used to produce a hierarchical map based on a set of attribute statements that were linked to positive and negative psycho-social consequence statements (benefits).

Higher order value statements were also used in the study and appear at the top of the map. This portion of the hierarchical value map clearly shows two psychological values as key to credit card users: "Peace of Mind" and "Self Esteem." Peace of mind is a direct result of the card being broadly accepted by merchants and the support locations available. These credit card attributes are seen to link, in turn, to independence, dependability, and security.

The branch of the hierarchical value map dealing with Self Esteem is similarly interpreted through the linked positive benefits and associated attributes.

Understanding the values behind the brand will help you better conduct your research.

In the article, AACSB International , an accreditation organization, asks “What is the ultimate goal of business school research?”

They argue that business school researchers should produce work that can be immediately applied to the practice of business.  At Qualtrics, we know that these students often enter the corporate world and encourage their employers to use professional research software. As a result from the push for business schools to explore research, we have seen an increase in business school users.

“[AACSB] is merely hoping to get business schools thinking about the types of research they are conducting,” said Joseph A. Alutto interim president and provost of Ohio State University.

The article emphasizes the requirement of research in the management field. The need for research has been discussed years and years over, while Qualtrics continues to remain a practical solution.

At Qualtrics, we think that the goal of business school research should be similar to every other organization: collect information to make better decisions.

We currently serve over 200 business schools and help them do just that—perform research that can carry over into the real world to increase profits and sustainability.

The Early Warning Whistle Blower system is a must for today's corporate environment. Corporate clients can implement an early warning system for employee feedback on the most critical internal issues.

As an employee logs in to the corporate intranet or visits your corporate website, they are able to report on the issues critical to corporate health, including Bias, Discrimination, Sexual Harassment and Abuse, Corporate Malfeasance, Theft or Misuse of Funds, and any other topic deemed critical to top management or the employee. It pays to stop problems while they are small.

This anonymous whistle blower tool will trigger an e-mail copy of each complaint to designated individuals inside the corporation. Triggers may be sent directly to the corporate ombudsman, legal department, or executive who has the responsibility to investigate and oversee the health of the corporate employee climate.

Quick, Confidential and Easy

Qualtrics professional services team is now available to assist your company with all HR related surveys. The experts at Qualtrics offer survey packages ranging from simple employee satisfaction surveys, to management style indices,  to sophisticated theft and honesty indices, to exit interview surveys.

You can count on our professionals to develop, host and distribute surveys for your employees quickly and confidentially so that you receive valuable and useful data.

Our professionals have developed a series of rotating surveys that poll employee opinions regarding job satisfaction, benefit program reaction and internal systems.

We recommend rotating selected employee feedback surveys through our system that polls employees on a quarterly, bi-annual and annual basis. All surveys can be branded for your organization or set up under a third party brand to protect the anonymity of your employees and give them the greatest confidence in their responses.

Choose from over 40 pre-built survey that will cover all HR related topics. Our professionals have years of experience in HR research.

Sample Employee Surveys are also available for all users in our Qualtrics Survey Library

1.      Fundamentals of Marketing Research.

This book covers all the facets of advanced marketing research including method, technique, and analysis at all levels. Our founder, Scott Smith, Ph.D. co-authors this 900-page reference book that is sure to answer your questions about advanced research.

2.      Articles in Marketing Research

Having people describe a brand by picking attributes from a list is a quick and simple way to assess brand performance and positioning. When used for online survey research, such pick data can also save time and reduce respondent dropout rates. This article outlines how best to collect pick data and construct a multi-brand sample in order to optimize pick data reliability and discriminating power.

3. An Introduction to Marketing Models

This book covers the essentials of building marketing models andconsequently has been required in many marketing courses. Some topics include models in marketing, product planning, segmentation, distribution models, and more.

At Qualtrics, we give you the best training wheels.

We offer anywhere from 35 to 40 trainings per week, designed especially for our customers. We want you to get the most out of the tool so you can improve relationships and better use your assets.

The biggest group we’ve trained included over a hundred people. On average, our weekly webinars have about 60 people and trainings have an average of 7 participants.

If you haven’t had Qualtrics training, don’t worry—we’re here for you. This month we released a training calendar, so you can simply register for a basic session that fits your schedule. With these trainings, users can utilize the tool as effectively as possible. See  http://www.qualtrics.com/wiki/index.php/Basic_Training_Calendar

In a business or a university, assets that go unused can be a detriment to progress. We don’t want this to happen with your Qualtrics account. Whether it is a small training that is tailored to fit your needs or a large training with many questions and ideas, Qualtrics training is an asset that should not be overlooked.

An October 2008 article in Software Mag, discussed training programs and how to provide the best trainings for each step of the process. It suggested that every person in the process needs to be trained to ensure a smooth roll out and increase effectiveness.

If you are one of these people who have not had Qualtrics training, don’t hesitate. Before you know it you could be cruisin’ on your two-wheeler.

Contact training@qualtrics.com for more information.

We can only imagine the embarrassment that could come if there was a simple spelling mistake on a survey. It could damage your credibility and distract respondents.

Our spell check tracker comes up as you design and create your survey. If you mistype a word, Qualtrics will immediately underline it in red. You can fix the mistake quickly and move on.

We also provide a comprehensive spell check function that will ensure your overall spelling is correct throughout your survey. This icon has a green check mark and is found in the Edit Surveys tab.

When you run spell check with Qualtrics, an image like this appears:

We give you suggestions, tell you where the word was found, and allow you to change each word quickly. Qualtrics works hard so you don't have to. What could be better?

Although Qualtrics really seems to do it all, we do suggest reading over your survey to catch those common misplaced words or other mistakes that might slip through the spell check system.

It is simple to create, delete or move questions with our tool. Here is a quick overview.

Add a question by clicking on the green Create New Question button at the bottom of each block. This adds a question at the end of a block. As a second option, you may click one of the add a question buttons at the top right or bottom right of a question. This adds a question directly before or after the question on which you selected the add button.

To delete a question click on the red delete question button located on the right side of a question when you hover over it with the mouse. This will move the question to the trash section from which you can move the question back into a question block if you change your mind. To delete questions permanently you can select the delete button while they are in the trash section.

To change the order of a question, hover over the question with your mouse. On the left side two arrows will appear pointing up and down. Click on one of the arrows and the question will move one space. If the question needs to go farther or to another block, select the question and then click on the move icon in the question menu to the right of the question. The question will be highlighted blue and will follow your mouse. Move your mouse to where you would like the question to be placed and click.

Metatheory, the investigation of investigation, is a critical part of being a superior researcher who understands not only what is being measured, but why.

Metatheory may be broadly defined as the theory of investigation. In survey research, metatheory gives understanding and interpretation to that all important process of reducing abstract concepts to observation and measurement.

Surveys are conducted with the goal of providing an operational interpretation of the concepts of interest. Surveys apply measurement, or the “assignment of numbers to respondents to represent amounts or degrees of a property (concept) possessed by all of the respondents.” This measurement provides interpretation of the properties of persons, cognitions, behaviors, emotions, events, objects, relationships, and many other “concepts” of interest to the researcher. Metatheory is a prized resource for preparing a well designed, organized, and meaningful survey.

Modeling for Completeness Metatheory involves the organization of the concepts being investigated into models that represent relationships. We are all familiar with the use of models, whether model airplane kits, drawings of buildings, descriptive text and flowcharts, or icons on a computer screen. The most fundamental issue in modeling is the convergence between the model and the reality it is designed to represent. This applies to both the process being modeled as well as the components that are part of that process. Models are intended to represent reality.

The most exceptional and powerful surveys are not hodge-podge lists of questions, but are questions built around a model of what is being investigated. Survey questions are most effective when they focus on concepts that model a process or components and confidently represent reality on all significant issues.

When the Rich Text Editor is brought up, you can click on the filmstrip icon (it is on the top row, the third icon from the left). This is the "insert a video" option. you will then need to type in your video URL. You can also specify the media type and the video's width and height. You can also preview your video at this time.

The video will appear in your survey, looking something like this:

This is an effective research tool that is often used to hold attention of respondents, gather feedback in subsequent questions, or gather opinions about the content.

With Qualtrics, we try to give you the right tools to reach each respondent. Because of this, we have an audio feature.

You can insert audio into your survey through the Edit Survey section. Click on the text of the question that you would like to insert the audio in. After clicking on the question's text, you have the option of clicking on Rich Text Editor, which will be directly above the question's text.

When the Rich Text Editor is brought up, you can click on the filmstrip icon (it is on the top row, the third icon from the left). This is the "insert a video" option. Although it is the video icon, it allows you to insert audio as well. You will then need to type in the URL for the audio that you want to insert.

It's as easy as that. You can check to make sure the audio was inserted correctly, simply by previewing your survey.