Friday, December 16, 2011
JavaScript, Free Format, and Overflow SSI Web Survey Programming
In previous feedback surveys and correspondence, our customers have indicated that many wished we could provide overflow SSI Web programming services to
help them with their tricky Free Format questions, JavaScript, or even just for straightforward SSI Web survey programming.
We are finally in a position to provide these services!
Contact Aaron Hill for more information, by writing aaron@sawtoothsoftware.com or by calling +1 801-477-4700.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Expert Panel Discussion (Turbo CBC 2011)
This summer we held a Turbo CBC seminar in Monterey, California. Part of the event featured a 2-hour panel discussion.
Topics included best practices in conjoint, panel sample, most common mistakes made, and future developments in conjoint. The expert panelists were:
- David Bakken (KJT Group)
- Chris Chapman (Microsoft)
- Keith Chrzan (Maritz Research)
- Joel Huber (Duke University)
- Rich Johnson (Sawtooth Software)
- Kevin Karty (Affinova)
- Bryan Orme (Sawtooth Software)
The complete discussion may be downloaded from http://www.sawtoothsoftware.com/download/techpap/panel2011.pdf.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Online Simulator Included in Annual License
Sawtooth Software’s online simulator has been added to the Annual Corporate Subscription License. Previously, the annual subscription gave up to 10 users at a company access to all Sawtooth Software’s products except the online simulator. Now, the 10 users may also have "admin" accounts within the simulator, which allows them to set up an unlimited number of projects for internal simulation use. The Online Simulator is more streamlined and attractive than the installed SMRT simulator. You can customize (and lock down) which settings in the software (i.e. simulation method, Exponent) should be used. Clients may be licensed for just $500 for a 2-year account.
You can set up a free trial on our website, to see how the online simulator works.
Also, we are offering similar access for annual subscription holders to the Online MaxDiff Analyzer. Write support@sawtoothsoftware.com or call +1 801-477-4700 for more details.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Steve Cohen Wins 2011 Parlin Award
Congratulations to Steve Cohen (In4mation Insights) on his receiving the 2011 Charles Coolidge Parlin Marketing Research Award! The Parlin Award is given by the American Marketing Association "to honor distinguished academics and practitioners who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and sustained impact on the evolving profession of marketing research over an extended period."
In describing Steve's accomplishments, the American Marketing Association cited Steve’s research with Choice-Based Conjoint Analysis, Latent Class, Menu-Based Choice, and MaxDiff. It's not coincidental that these techniques also are prominent ones offered by Sawtooth Software. Steve has been a leader and early adopter in applying these advanced techniques to marketing research problems, and has published many papers that have influenced our thinking on various matters related to our software development.
Steve has been a past presenter at the Sawtooth Software Conferences (winning the "best paper" award in 2003), and together with Sawtooth Software president, Bryan Orme, won the 2005 David K. Hardin Memorial Award for the best article published in Marketing Research Magazine during the previous year. Steve and Bryan's winning article was entitled, "What's Your Preference?" and compared the merits of different item scaling approaches: monadic, paired comparisons, and MaxDiff.
We should also note that Sawtooth Software's founder and chairman, Rich Johnson, received the Parlin Award in 2002.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Panel Sample: Who We're Using
In our latest customer feedback survey, we asked our users which Online Web Sample/Online Panels they
primarily used over the last 12 months. Up to six mentions were allowed, asked in open-end format with no
pre-coded responses. Sample providers who were mentioned by at least 3% of the sample in 2011 are reported
below.
Percent of Respondents Using Panel/Sample Supplier in Last 12 Months
(Sorted by 2011 Results)
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Call for Papers, Conference 2012
We are pleased to announce that the 2012 Sawtooth Software Conference will be held March 21-23, 2012, at Disney's Boardwalk Inn in Orlando, Florida.
This conference is held only once every 18 months. Given this location and the success of our last conference, we expect between 225 to 250 people
for the 2012 conference.
Papers presented at our previous Sawtooth Software Conferences are cited frequently in journal articles. We're looking for exceptionally strong papers.
If you'd like to be on the program, please respond promptly (by August 12, email: bryan@sawtoothsoftware.com) with a one or two-page abstract
describing your proposed paper, with special attention to the findings and what the audience will "take away" from the presentation. You must also
include a 50-word description of your paper to include in the conference brochure.
We are interested in papers on a variety of subjects, including Web interviewing, market segmentation, scale development, customer satisfaction
modeling, conjoint/menu/choice analysis, MaxDiff, perceptual mapping, hierarchical Bayes methods, forecasting, pricing research, market simulations,
and case studies. These papers need not involve Sawtooth Software's programs or approach.
Presenters receive a complimentary conference registration. To be accepted, a paper must show promise of being sufficiently practical to be of use
to the least sophisticated members of the audience, while having enough substance to be of interest to the most sophisticated members. In addition
to standard presentation slides, authors are required to submit a journal-quality written paper for publication in the Conference Proceedings.
We strive for the highest quality in our conferences. If your abstract is accepted, a member of the steering committee will review early drafts
of your presentation and offer suggestions. Authors are expected to consider these suggestions conscientiously and rework their presentations as
needed. Sawtooth Software reserves the right to remove any author from the program or proceedings that fails to meet deadlines or produce high
quality work.
Sawtooth Software Conference 2012 Steering Committee Members are:
- Ken Deal, McMaster University
- Joel Huber, Duke University
- Rich Johnson, Sawtooth Software
- David Lyon, Aurora Market Modeling
- Bryan Orme, Sawtooth Software
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Menu-Based Choice (MBC) in Beta
In May, we hosted 21 beta testers in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida for the beta program kickoff of the new MBC Software
for Menu-Based Choice. The beta period will last about 9 months. MBC is an extension of CBC methodology to
handle a variety of complex multi-check/configurator choice tasks. Common applications include bundling vs.
a la carte product and service configuration for restaurant menus, autos, telecom bundling, single vs. multi-drug
prescription, warranties, insurance, banking options, etc.
The beta training experience was very satisfying, and as usual we had a great time interacting with our clients.
While there were a few bugs uncovered during the two days of training, our programmer (Walt Williams) has been able
to act quickly to release patches that fix most of the most pressing concerns and move the software development
forward.
To become a beta tester, please email bryan@sawtoothsoftware.com regarding your interest in these events.
You will be placed on an email circulation list for periodic updates regarding our progress and about MBC methodology.
Beta testers are trained on the software and may use it during the beta period (expected to last until about March of 2012).
Either internal or client projects may be completed.
We are continuing to polish the software and add new capabilities. Our next scheduled events for beta tester training
are:
October 13-14, Park City, Utah
October 26-28, Vienna, Austria
To read preliminary documentation on the MBC software, download a PDF document at
www.sawtoothsoftware.com/download/mbcbooklet.pdf.
Monday, March 29, 2011
Introducing the MaxDiff Analyzer
We are pleased to introduce the MaxDiff Analyzer, a new online analysis tool. Although it has been in use for over a year now among a limited audience, we have recently updated and improved the MaxDiff Analyzer. We now are ready to announce it formally and with enthusiasm to our user base.
(View a PowerPoint presentation describing the MaxDiff Analyzer.)
What does the MaxDiff Analyzer offer you and/or your clients? We'll summarize it in a nutshell:
- TURF (Total Unduplicated Reach and Frequency). TURF is an optimization search routine for finding bundles of items that best "reach" respondents. For example, you may want to investigate the top 3 items within the MaxDiff project that will best "reach" respondents. Our TURF routine includes some advanced functions, including the ability to exclude certain items from appearing within sets together, or for forcing the inclusion of certain items into sets.
- Simple Market Simulator. You can select a subset of items from your study, and run a simulation that projects what percent of the sample would prefer each item, if these were the only items offered (first choice or Share of Preference simulations available).
- Automatic rescaling of your scores if using CBC/HB. Some of you use the CBC/HB system to compute your scores for MaxDiff studies. If you do this, you know that there is some extra effort to insert the "omitted/reference" item's score, and rescale all the items to the probability scale. The MaxDiff Analyzer does this for you, after you upload the .HBU file that CBC/HB has generated.
- Confidence intervals on scores. For either the probability or raw scores, MaxDiff analyzer will report the 95% confidence intervals.
- Analysis by segments, including weighting. MaxDiff Analyzer provides a cross-tab looking display for showing the results by different segments. Respondents may be weighted.
MaxDiff Analyzer is an online service, so there is nothing to install. Your data reside on a secure server. When you interact with the Web Analyzer, you do so over SSL (Secure Socket Layer).
Licensing Details: $250 per year per user, supporting up to 10 projects concurrently loaded.
Questions? Call Brian McEwan at +1 360 681 2300, or write support@sawtoothsoftware.com.
You may request a 30-day complimentary evaluation period.
Thursday, March 2, 2011
Software Grants Total $363,500 in 2010
Sawtooth Software awarded a total of 32 separate software grants to masters and Ph.D. students involving software worth $363,500 during 2010.
These grants have been used in a variety of projects on both social and business-related topics. As examples, grant recipients have used our software to study and propose solutions for managing coral reefs, green energy solutions, risk factors in avian flu transmission, public transportation planning, and World Cup soccer logistics.
We congratulate Klaus M. Miller and Reto Hofstetter for their recent publication in February 2011’s Journal of Marketing Research, based on work completed using a Sawtooth Software grant.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Events and Development in 2011
A big thank-you to all our customers for making 2010 a great year. You rated us #1 in the “MarketResearchCareers.com” satisfaction survey, the 2010 Conference was attended by the most people in recent memory, and our overall revenues reached a new high. We are thriving as a company, and it is because of your confidence and support!
Events
We are planning a number of training events and conferences in 2011:
- 3-day CBC workshops: January 10-12 (Orlando, FL), January 12-14 (Orlando, FL), April 18-20 (Anaheim, CA), and August (probable site: Monterey, CA).
- MBC (Menu-Based Choice) beta tester trainings: Probably sometime in Q2 (two East Coast venues and perhaps Q3 in London).
- Overseas Events: Singapore Q2, joint European event with SKIM in Q4 (probable site: Vienna), and a jaunt down under to Sydney in Q4.
- Turbo CBC: Two years ago, this advanced conference was a huge success. We are planning on hosting Turbo CBC 2011 in Monterey, CA, probably in August.
Software Development
- We will be working on SSI Web v8 throughout 2011, and do not expect to finish it until 2012. Significant improvements are planned for nearly all components, including CiW, CBC, ACBC, and MaxDiff.
- We are well along in development of our new MBC (Menu-Based Conjoint) software. We will start the beta test program in about Q2.
- We’ll continue to add new features to our new Online Market Simulator as well as the Online MaxDiff Analyzer.
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