Full Service Research

We have been located in fully-equipped, company-owned facilities since 1984. Our commitment is to assume direct hands-on responsibility for every phase of the research process, from project inception to project completion. This includes overall project design, questionnaire development, sampling, interviewing, data processing, and analysis.

  • All activities are conducted in-house for the highest quality control, and rapid turnaround.

  • Because we are experts in design with a full-range of methodologies available, we customize every research strategy to meet the unique needs of each client.

Quantitative Survey Research


Quantitative Survey Research to be able to produce statistically projectable results.

Full range of services:

  • Design
  • Interviewing
  • Tabulation
  • Analysis

Full range of data collection options:

  • Phone Surveys
    • Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI)
    • Over a half million completed interviews
  • Mail and Self-administered surveys
  • Internet (web-based) surveys
  • Intercept (on-site) interviewing

Focus groups


Focus groups for qualitative insight. Full design, recruitment, moderation, and analysis.

Executive focus group facility

  • Spacious 18 by 24 foot executive conference room [Click here for Pictures]
  • Three-tiered viewing room with seating for 15 behind a wall-to-wall floor-to-ceiling one-way mirror
  • Comfortable executive-style leather chairs in both rooms
  • Upgraded sound system with built-in audio and video recording and monitoring as well as operator-assisted video capabilities
  • Recently remodeled

The Research Process

A research project at O'Neil Associates goes through several distinct phases: assessment, design, data collection, data processing, and analysis.

Assessment


When approached to consider a particular project, our first step is to assess the real needs of the project. We then design a research plan that matches the project's methodological needs to its objectives, considering time frame, available budget, audience, and other relevant factors. Dr. O'Neil is always intimately involved in this process, inasmuch as it draws upon his diverse training in both quantitative and qualitative research methodology. The research plan is drafted, discussed with the client, revised and then approved. The result of this multi-step process is the generation of a research plan and a proposal that best meet the project's objectives. This assessment consultation, usually offered free of charge to serious clients, is a major feature of our customized approach.

Design


Once an overall assessment and a research plan have been completed, appropriate design materials are drafted. In the case of a survey, this is a draft questionnaire. In the case of focus groups, this consists of appropriate focus group screeners and moderator's guides. In each case, these documents are sent to the client for interactive discussion, refinement and approval. Our experience has been that the best results occur when our clients are engaged in active collaboration with us: neither micro-managing precise question detail (which would deprive them of our expertise), nor delegating the entire process without comment to us (which would deprive the project of the specific expertise which our clients usually possess). Our expertise is in measurement. A client who attempts to circumvent our involvement in question design would not get the full value of our expertise. At the same time, it would be foolish to design our research plan without full consideration of a client's knowledge, as our clients usually know much more about the detailed requirements of their respective industries than we do.

Data Collection


Data must be collected under highly controlled conditions, regardless of the method chosen. In the case of surveys, this will most often consist of either centralized telephone surveys conducted by experienced interviewers or intercept (on-site) surveys. There are also applications for self-administered surveys through the mail or over the Internet. Focus groups are assigned to highly trained moderators, and the proceedings are usually audio and videotaped.

  • Professional Research Interviewing: When we conduct phone surveys, O'Neil Associates employs Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) for the highest quality control. Our Field Supervisors are responsible for training interviewers, ensuring the quality and consistency of the interviewing, and validating completed interviews by making supervisory callbacks. Each interviewer is monitored randomly by the Field Supervisors, whose desk is located in the center of the phone bank allowing for direct, continuous observation of the entire room. Monitoring is accomplished by use of a dual, silent monitoring system that cannot be detected by either the respondent or the interviewer. Supervisors grade their interviewers on procedures such as explanation of the survey, reading questions verbatim, following skip patterns, probing techniques, objectivity (not biasing), refusal conversion, courteousness and overall voice and diction. Using this monitoring system, the Supervisors are able to provide instant feedback to an interviewer, offering positive suggestions and recognizing successes.

  • Profiles of Executive Interviewers  Click to View

Data Processing


Once a survey has been completed, we typically run tabulations and nearly always cross-tabulations. Cross-tabulations present not only the overall results, but also the breakdown of all questions by relevant demographic and significant, substantive variables. In other words, we will not only present the overall statistical results of the survey, we will also explain how significant groups differ in their responses to key questions. Increasingly, this data processing includes the extensive use of graphs and charts, which we have found to be a highly efficient means of communicating results in an ever more time-pressured world. This graphically oriented presentation is particularly useful for clients who may not be statistically savvy. The analogous process for focus groups includes a review of audio and videotapes, full transcription of focus group proceedings, and the sorting of text responses by topic.

  • Technology: Our primary data processing is handled by more than 25 networked personal computers. Data input mechanisms include Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI), programs for scanning self-administered surveys, and for design and execution of Web-based surveys. Much of our data cleaning and tabular processing is performed with XTAB, an innovative piece of in-house proprietary software which was engineered and tested to be as easy as possible for laymen to read while still providing the comprehensive data needed for thorough analysis. This in-house software is supplemented by a full complement of commercial statistical packages, such as SPSS, Abtab, Stata, Scout, and Kwikstat for specialized applications.

Analysis


A full research process at O'Neil Associates does not stop with the mere tabulation of numbers. We are continually astounded by reports we read that consist of nothing more than numbers or graphs. We typically recommend engaging O'Neil Associates to undertake an analysis of results unless there is a reason that is inappropriate in a particular instance. Our analysis does not simply consist of a recitation of numbers, but rather it draws upon our experience to carefully interpret their meaning and place the results into context. We take pride in the production of highly readable, insightful analyses. We believe that it is our duty to present study results in a manner that is as clear, straight-forward and easily understood by the reader as is humanly possible, given that many studies are in and of themselves highly complex. It is in both the design and analysis phase that O'Neil Associates' world-class training and twenty plus years of experience in the field sets us apart.

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