Getting Closer to the Truth

To get to the truth, when designing research and evaluating results, realistically look out for and avoid known sources of bias.  People, for example, will often answer in a socially desirable fashion, inflating or deflating their answers; they may be trying to “look good,” or may be hiding the truth.  If not identified or avoided, such bias can totally mislead researchers and their clients.  To avoid being misled, we recommend the following:

• Establish the importance of providing truthful, realistic answers, and convey that there are a lot of offerings (they won’t hurt our feelings if they don’t like this one)
• Use questions to measure whether or not social desirability is  still occurring
• Use a consistent test bed and develop “norms” to get a more realistic perspective of what is promising and what may be an up-hill battle
• Calibrate surveys against additional Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and external measures of success (e.g., recontact respondents, ask if they did buy/watch/visit, and marry callback data to original data)

Getting Closer to the Truth

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