Insight led by data not gut instinct

Over the years I’ve developed a survey technique that looks absolutely crazy and unworkable. Every time I present it to people their immediate gut instinct reaction is: “This won’t work! It’s horrible!!”

The survey involves giving people a list of up to 100 tasks and asking them to quickly choose their top 5. The list is randomized. It looks impossible to do. But it works. It has worked more than 400 times. 400,000 people have voted. It has worked in 24 languages.

Now, when I initially present these facts—this data—most people laugh, shrug, and then accept that while their gut is telling them that it doesn’t work, the facts are indisputable. Some do resist no matter what evidence I show them. Strangely, those who tend to resist most are research and survey professionals, some of whom vehemently oppose the idea that this sort of survey could work. They refuse to believe the evidence. It goes against the theory of survey design that they have learned.

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