Every December, I love to do a year-end assessment of my life and plan for the new year ahead.
Southpaw Insights has had an exciting year of growth, adventure, and research.
To celebrate, I want to share a labor of love that I’ve worked on with three other women-owned businesses over the past year.
The closest I’ve come to 15 minutes of fame was getting a note published in the City Room section of the New York Times on Election Day, 2008.
When I worked in research for public relations agencies, it was pretty typical for an account team to send a survey out to the office to get input on something (like a campaign idea or a tagline) that they were working on for a pitch or even for an existing client.
One of the things lefties are known for is being awesome at “divergent thinking,” or looking at different ways to solve a problem.
I’m always looking for parallels between my research life and my non-research life. Just as playing the ukulele made me a better report writer and ordering decaf coffee influenced my questionnaire
When I worked in research at PR agencies, we often talked about a study having “legs,” meaning it could be presented in different ways and get a lot of media
This is my neighbor, L. He’s a born salesman who scavenges things people have thrown out (not hard, since leaving items you don’t want any more on your stoop is
My parents (pictured here in 1966, the year they got married) don’t live in a part of the country where snowblowers are standard issue, but last year my dad got
One of my favorite clients is a large retailer that hires me for “shop-along” research: walking through the store with customers and asking about their observations and experience. Basically I get
As part of my personal Alzheimer’s prevention program, I’ve added ukulele lessons to my life. In addition to now being able to play both “Sea of Love” and “Hallelujah,” I
….please be aware of how you present research results in the news. Happy Election Day! In the spirit of our great democracy, I wanted to share a few articles I’ve
When I’m not trying to save the world through research, I’m on the board of a tiny non-profit that my friend started out of her living room in 2011. Little Essentials
…but I finally took a vacation! A real, unplugged, no wi-fi, locked up my phone kind of vacation. I had all kinds of worries before I did this: “My clients
This is Connie and Joe. They are amazing in-person interviewers who can get anyone to talk to them, whether it’s someone coming out of a store or a doctor attending a
Tomorrow is my birthday!! Instead of asking for presents, I’m going to give you all one: 5 ways to make your surveys better. 5. Keep the big picture in mind. Why
On the heels of International Women’s Month (that’s March), Jessica Broome Research recently got certified as a woman-owned business by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, and I also joined The Wing,
It’s award show season! Watching the Oscars and the Grammys isn’t my favorite thing to do, but I’ve learned that treating customers like stars can get companies robust insights. Before
“Why should I bother paying for a survey when I can learn so much about my audience from social media?” It’s a fair question, and one I get asked a
The other day on the subway I saw an ad that claimed “Only 3% of kids’ meals options are healthy.” Of course this was disturbing, but then I started wondering,
As the year starts to wind down, I want to thank you for being on this journey with me. “What journey?” I can hear you wondering. Let me explain. Making
I recently gained 35 pounds without realizing it. Scratch that. I realized that my clothes didn’t fit and I felt like I was dressed up in someone else’s body. But
After a three-day conversation with 12 strangers about peeing in their pants, I can now safely say I will talk to anyone about anything. Let me back up. Last month,
Hello from the European Survey Research Association (ESRA) conference in Lisbon, Portugal! It’s a huge conference, and I had a great time yesterday speaking about some work I’m doing with
Have you jumped on the subscription box bandwagon? Blue Apron, Stitch Fix, and Birch Box are some of the big names, but there are TONS more. I get half a
It’s been a busy few weeks, but I’m glad to be sneaking in under the wire with my once a month blog post! I’ve had such a great range of projects
My clients often want to ask people questions like, “Do you like this product?” “Is this ad credible?” “Would you take this off the shelf or take some action if
It’s been a busy few weeks, including a mid-winter trip to America’s heartland! I had never been to Kansas City before, so when I was approached by a food company
Ever since our presentation on the Respondent Experience at CASRO last year, one response has really stayed with me. We asked people what makes a survey experience BAD, and while
It’s that time of year again. My inbox is full of holiday greetings from every research vendor who has me on their mailing list. I know it’s the thought that
It’s been a few weeks since my talk at CASRO, and I’ve been too busy with client work (that’s a good thing!) and current events to really focus on delving
You may have seen the famous 1948 picture where a jubilant Harry S Truman holds up the Chicago Tribune whose front page headline was written based on faulty poll data.
The Respondent Experience (REX to its friends) research on research that my friend and colleague Kerry Hecht of Recollective and I presented at IIEX last summer has exploded! We’ve joined
