QuestionPro Blog

It used to be that the only reputable research was academic studies that involved hidden research methods and concealing of findings until published later in scholarly journals. With many universities having a “publish or parish” mentality, faculty and scholars took careful steps to conceal research in desk drawers promoting a very un-collaborative environment.

However, research is changing, and the ability to search and share data and information is quite different as other platforms are helping scholars organize and navigate data. One such platform is Mendeley, who is changing the world of research for the better.

Mendeley is one of the world’s largest research collaboration platforms, used by more than 1.6 million researchers worldwide. It is a free reference manager and academic social network that helps its users organize research, collaborate online and discover new research trends.

The online community provides real-time statistics, trends by research area, and recommendations for related research based on its crowd-sourced database of approximately 250 million research documents. The company gives control of research data back to the community in an effort to make research more collaborative, open, and efficient.

Mendeley has one of the largest research databases in the world and now they are using the power of crowdsourcing, which involves outsourcing tasks to groups of undefined online users, to connect people with similar interests and highlight and recommends related papers for reading that might have been missed.

Its crowdsourcing research mentality is now producing real-time data on content usage and providing brand new insights into how academics collect, read, share, and annotate research. What is this significant and how does it relate to traditional academic research? This new process of research presents a possible future for academic research where the focus is on collective knowledge. They are changing the way the research process occurs and are opening the doors of academic data to all researchers.

In addition, apps built using Mendeley’s crowdsourced data are providing a greater understanding of content consumption and new metrics that measure the impact of research.

It is an exciting time when research – especially that which is academic in nature – has found a new way to reach people and is more accessible to all interested parties. The new method is a great compliment to traditional survey research, both online and offline. It will be interesting to see how universities and research institutions respond to Mendeley’s successful crowdsourcing approach when conducing research in the near future.

We at QuestionPro often talk about online surveys as helpful tools to gauge customer satisfaction and test new trends. Another great way to use online surveys is to ascertain whether marketing efforts are increasing sales and brand awareness. A great example of this type of survey is FedEx Office’s recently released “What’s Your Sign?” survey.

The FedEx study surveyed 1,000 consumers to gauge their opinions on whether there is a connection between small business signage and positive consumer action, including the impact a sign has on consumer intent to visit a store, make a purchase and more. The survey results are good news for small businesses that use attractive signs to promote their stores.

Key findings include the following.

• Almost seven in ten (68%) American consumers have actually purchased a product or service because a sign caught their eye.

• Almost eight in 10 (76%) consumers have entered a store simply because its sign caught their interest. In addition, 75% of those consumers will tell someone else about the store

• Three out of four consumers (75%) said they have told someone about a store based simply on its signage.

• Seventy-nine percent of shoppers claimed to have remembered the business solely from the signs. What’s also interesting is if the signage was impressive, 51% of consumers later looked up the store online.

The survey found that certain genders and age groups are more likely to be swayed by store signage, especially women and young customers. Two in five females – or 42% – say they would enter a store based only upon the signage, even if they never visited the store previously (compared to only 31% of male shoppers). This finding may be due to the fact that women are attracted to features such as creativity and color.

From a survey research perspective, what is valuable about FedEx’s study is the fact that survey that reached 1,000 people can produce extremely valuable and telling results that can then be applied to retail stores and businesses across the country. It is a great lesson in the power of survey research and what you can learn through simple and well-designed online surveys.