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Survey research, done properly

Everything we've written about running defensible survey research — methodology guides, a free calculator, and honest platform comparisons. No signup walls.

Methodology guides

Guide

Market research surveys, type by type

Market research surveys, type by type: brand tracking, concept testing, U&A, pricing, segmentation, and ad testing — each with sample questions, plus the rigor layer the templates skip.

Guide

Market research methods: the honest map

Market research methods, mapped honestly: surveys, interviews, focus groups, observation, and secondary research with the costs left in, and how to choose by question and budget.

Guide

How to analyze survey results

How to analyze survey results in six steps — clean, weight, topline, crosstab, test, report — plus the mistakes that quietly ruin conclusions.

Guide

Survey weighting, explained

Survey weighting, explained: how raking actually works, how to pick targets, and the conventions — effective bases, trimmed weights — that keep weighted results defensible.

Guide

Bad survey questions: 12 examples, each with the fix

Bad survey questions, rewritten: twelve before-and-after fixes for leading, loaded, and double-barreled items, plus the review checks that catch them all.

Guide

Political message testing, step by step

Political message testing via split-sample experiments: randomized arms, sample-size math per arm, the push-poll line, and what a defensible test costs.

Guide

Cross tabulation: how to read a crosstab

Cross tabulation on a worked crosstab: what the significance letters test, chi-square vs pairwise letters, weighted percentages on effective bases, and where Excel stops being enough.

Guide

Gender survey questions: wording and analysis

Gender survey questions from wording to analysis: the five-option standard, sex vs gender, weighting five answers against binary census frames, and small-base reporting.

Guide

Ranking survey questions: 30 examples

Ranking survey questions: 30 examples with item lists across six use cases, ranking vs rating, item-count limits, and the worked analysis — average rank, % ranked first.

Guide

Closed-ended questions: examples of every type

Closed-ended questions of all seven types with example option sets, the analysis each format supports, the four bias traps, and when a question should be closed at all.

Guide

Multiple choice survey questions: 30 examples

Multiple choice survey questions: 30 real examples with option sets included — single vs multi select, the option-writing rules, and respondent-based analysis for select-alls.

Guide

Dichotomous survey questions: 40 examples

Dichotomous survey questions organized by job — screeners, usage, political, consent — plus the favor-or-oppose wording fix and the proportion math other guides skip.

Guide

50 open-ended survey questions

Fifty open-ended survey questions across eight use cases, the wording craft behind each shape, and the coding step that turns verbatims into numbers.

Guide

How to ask about age in a survey

How to ask about age in a survey: birth year vs bands, the census-aligned ranges that keep weighting possible, and wording for the whole demographic block.

Guide

Survey question types, with examples

Survey question types with examples — multiple choice, dichotomous, Likert, rating, ranking, matrix, open-ended — and the wording mistakes that bias answers.

Guide

Likert scale: examples, wording, and the analysis debate

Likert scale examples: label sets for every construct, the 4 vs 5 vs 7-point evidence, and an honest answer to whether you can take the mean of Likert data.

Guide

How much does market research cost?

Market research costs in four tiers from free to six figures, a five-figure agency quote decomposed, cost per complete as the real unit, and when an agency earns its fee.

Guide

How much does a political poll cost?

Political poll costs by method — live-caller, IVR, and online per-complete numbers — the five cost drivers, and the worked math of a 400-voter district study.

Guide

Van Westendorp: the four pricing questions

Van Westendorp's Price Sensitivity Meter: the four questions word for word, the crossing chart, the monotonicity check, and when to use conjoint or Gabor-Granger instead.

Guide

Survey screening questions: examples, rules, and incidence math

Survey screening questions, good and bad — the rules that stop gaming, screen-out vs quota-full, and the incidence-rate math that sets what fieldwork costs.

Guide

Survey data collection methods, compared

Survey data collection methods compared — online, SMS, telephone, face-to-face, mail, and panels — with honest costs, speed, response rates, and mode effects.

Guide

Customer feedback surveys, done properly

Customer feedback surveys with CSAT, NPS, and CES questions and examples, transactional vs relationship timing, and the response-bias discipline that makes numbers defensible.

Guide

Employee engagement surveys, done properly

Employee engagement surveys with a usable question set across six areas, eNPS, annual vs pulse cadence, and the anonymity rules that decide whether scores mean anything.

Guide

Cross-sectional surveys: the snapshot design

Cross-sectional surveys: descriptive vs analytical designs, the repeated cross-section that trackers actually use, sample size anchors, and what a snapshot cannot tell you.

Guide

Quota sampling vs. random sampling

Quota sampling vs random sampling: what actually separates the two, when each applies, and how quota cells get filled, tracked, and closed in a live study.

Guide

Survey programming, explained

Survey programming (scripting), explained: what it involves, what it traditionally costs, and how an AI agent now does it from a brief in minutes.

Free tools

Tool

Sample size calculator

Sample size calculator: set a confidence level and margin of error and get the number of completes you need — free, no signup.

Tool

NPS calculator with margin of error

NPS calculator with the margin of error every other calculator hides — enter promoters, passives, and detractors and get your score. Free, no signup.

Platform comparisons

Service

Market research services, priced up front

Market research services with prices on the page: full studies run for you — design, vetted panel sample from $3.50 per complete, weighted reporting.

Comparison

Online survey platforms, sorted by the job

Online survey platforms: 12 tools across form builders, research platforms, CX suites, and open source, compared on pricing and analysis depth, with a 'where it beats us' verdict for each.

Comparison

Wavefield vs. Qualtrics

Wavefield vs Qualtrics: per-project pricing against enterprise XM contracts — an honest comparison of what each is actually built for.

Comparison

Wavefield vs. SurveyMonkey

Wavefield vs SurveyMonkey: research-grade analysis against per-seat form tools — where a form builder stops and a research platform starts.

Product

Customer satisfaction survey software

Customer satisfaction survey software priced per project: CSAT, NPS, and CES studies with weighting and significance testing built in. From $99.

Product

Concept testing software

Concept testing software for monadic split-sample tests — purchase intent, significance between cells, honest bases — from $99 per test.

Product

Survey analysis software

Survey analysis software with weighting, significance-tested crosstabs, AI-coded open ends, and SPSS exports — automatic on every study, from $99.

Product

Brand tracking software

Brand tracking software for awareness and brand health trends with wave-over-wave significance testing — $299 to stand up, repeat waves $99 flat.

Product

Political polling for campaigns

Political polling for campaigns: district studies from $99 — ballot tests, message batteries, past-vote weighting, and margins of error stated honestly.

Product

SMS surveys, done compliantly

SMS surveys done compliantly: text-message invitations with enforced consent, automatic opt-out handling, and flat per-plan message allowances.

Put the method to work

Everything in these guides is built into the platform by default — upload a brief and field a study this week.

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