Qualtrics offers hundreds of suggestions for superior research techniques. Our last blog series, posted every Wednesday, highlighted some research tips. If you are looking for some more in-depth guidance to improve your research, consider the following resources.

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.

There comes a time when you can throw away training wheels and speed away on that sleek two-wheel bicycle. But let's not underestimate the time spent using training wheels. During this period, you can make or break the whole experience. If training wheels are faulty, enthusiasm can die.

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 know that spell check is almost a necessity these days, so we provide this feature within Qualtrics. It is easy to use and very straightforward.

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.

With Qualtrics, sometimes its best to go back to the basics. If some of you are having trouble getting started, this post is for you.

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.

Researchers have forever struggled with measuring that one single concept that provides the silver bullet for describing, understanding, or predicting that all important concept of interest. For survey researchers, concepts must be identified, understood, with relationships identified and measured.

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.

You can insert a video into your survey through the Edit Survey section. Click on the text of the question that you would like to insert the video 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. 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.

Every respondent learns differently. Some can digest information simply after reading it. Others are more visual and some learn after hearing it.

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.

Purpose of Employee Behavioral Interviews

Behavioral interviews are designed to predict behavior or to explain the reasons for past behavior. A classic example of behavioral interviews is where an employee made a poor decision and then made a worse decision by lying or failing to report the mistake and repercussions of the initial decision.

During behavioral interviews, questions are presented about how the employee acted or reacted in a specific job-related situation. In many situations, employees do not recognize the source of the behavioral problem and how decisions could or should have been made differently.
Behavioral interviews can be instructive, diagnostic, and insightful for both the interviewer, manager, and the employee.

Employee Behavioral Interview Questions

Behavioral interview questions may be asked in personal interview, phone, or questionnaire form and focus on specific decisions or challenges that were faced. Employee Behavioral Interview questions that are general in nature may be used in employee job interview questionnaires. These questions would provide insights about behavior in future employment situations. In general behavioral situations, we might include questions like:

• Describe a time that you were challenged or put under pressure.
• Tell me about a time when you took it upon yourself to accomplish a task on the job, without being asked.
• Which accomplishment on the job gave you more satisfaction than any other?
• How would you handle it if a coworker (or subordinate) was not pulling his or her fair share of the load?
• What was a major obstacle you have overcome?
• Depending on the initial questions and answers, secondary behavioral interview questions might include:
• How did you deal with it?
• How did you go about achieving it?
• What was the outcome?
• What were you thinking at the time?
• How did it make you feel?
• What did you say or do?
• What are some examples?
• How did you know there was a problem?

Employee behavioral interview questions of a specific nature would focus on understanding past behavior. In specific behavioral situations, we might include questions like:

• Describe the situation in which the challenge took place.
• Describe your assessment of the situation and challenge.
• What were the risks involved?
• What alternative courses of action could have been taken?
• How did you deal with it?
• What did you say or do?
• How did you go about achieving it?
• What was the outcome?
• What were you thinking at the time?
• How did it make you feel?
• What are some examples?
• How did you know there was a problem?
• What could have been done better?

We hope these suggestions can get your mind turning. Maybe conducting behavioral interview surveys is the answer for you!

Qualtrics has a couple of simple, little-known shortcuts that can be helpful when working with the Survey Flow in Qualtrics, especially when needing to copy branching or something similar.

When an item in the Survey Flow is selected (outlined blue), you can then Ctrl+click (or Shift+click) on any of the "Add a New Element Here" buttons and it will create an exact copy in that location of what was selected. This is very useful, powerful tool when needing to replicate a large branch of elements or logic where minor edits might be needed to then complete the setup.

Smaller, but still quite useful shortcuts are the up/down arrows on your keyboard. When an element in the flow is selected, if you press up or down on your keyboard, the item will move one space up or down. This means it will enter and exit branches and randomizers as well.

Sampling is the process of selecting a subset of units from the population. After choosing a sampling method, the next step is to decide how many people should be sampled.

We use sampling formulas to determine how many to select. It is important to select the right amount of people because it is based on the characteristics of this sample that we make inferences about the population.

The most common method of sample size determination is based on proportions. For example, suppose we are preparing for the winter Olympics and are interested in estimating "the proportion of out of state skiers that took at least one overnight trip." We might use this number of people that would consider traveling to the Olympics.

In this case, the sample size is estimated using proportions. sp = (p/(1-p)/ n) where p is the proportion of "out of state skiers that took at least one overnight trip". The most conservative number for this proportion is .50 and if the desired accuracy was .05 and the formula would appear as: (Number of Standard Errors)^{2 * ((proportion)*(1-proportion)) / (Accuracy)}

Using this formula explained above, the following sample sizes will result. If you are curious how your sample size will match up, take a look at this table.

Remember to carefully select your sample size to ensure a representative study.

You can see that as the sample size increases, the percentage of error decreases. Hope this explanation will help you choose the best sample for your research.