Archive for January 28th, 2010

In our recent interview on MRGA radio (thank you Eric Bell) we were asked where our inspiration for the Grand Mean Project came from. We told a couple of stories but this one requires repeating.

In 2008 Ron Gailey brought the first public story of an online train wreck to an industry gathering. It was at Bob Lederer’s IIR. We were lucky enough to hear his tale and readily admit that it kept us on the course toward online quality that we now pursue. So if there is an inspirational force out there, for us it is Ron.

In 2006 and 2007 as head of research for Washington Mutual, Ron completed some 29 studies, including 40,000 interviews using online panel sample. After two years his results showed a drop of some 30% in the demand for WaMu’s financial products. Unfortunately, the results were not confirmed by reality.

Prudently, Ron concluded that sales results trump research results. Before laying his data at management’s door he performed an unprecedented investigation of his sampling frame.

He found, “In all cases…changes in demand were explained by increasing respondent tenure.” Ron was the victim of a time related inconsistency that was not widely, if at all, known. He required deep surgery into the respondent profiles and records of his sample providers. SSI was key (more to come on SSI in our next Blog) among them and after some consternation provided everything Ron requested in an incredible moment of industry transparency.

We heard Ron talk at Bob’s gathering. Our program toward online quality was struggling to get participating companies to be transparent. Ron gave us the inspiration to continue. We will always be indebted to him.