Our Capabilities

Hart Research personnel perform sampling, telephone interviewing, focus group moderating, data processing, statistical tabling, and analysis of results. This self-contained operation enables the firm to observe rigorous methodological standards and ensure the highest caliber of work throughout the process. Indeed, we pride ourselves on the ability to balance the personal attention that comes from a small firm with the benefits of being large enough to see a project completed from start to finish in-house.

Research Approaches

Hart Research is able to offer the entire spectrum of research methods, including:

• Traditional telephone surveys
• Online studies
• Executive one-on-one interviewing
• Mall intercepts
• On-site interviewing
• Focus groups - including those that use dial technology

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Our Phonebanks

Few, if any, public opinion firms have in-house capabilities equal to ours. In addition to our Washington, DC, headquarters, Hart Research operates three state-of-the-art call centers (two in Ohio and one in Arizona). All of our interviewing stations are equipped with SPSS/Quancept computer-assisted telephone interviewing software.

We employ nearly 250 interviewers, and on any given night, 150 of them are calling Americans from all walks of life to listen to what they have to say. The real "heart" of Hart Research, our interviewers often make long-term commitments to the firm; indeed, it is not uncommon to see 10-year interviewing veterans placing calls to respondents.

All our new interviewers are put through a rigorous training class that teaches them not only computer skills, but also the skills needed to talk respondents through questionnaires. Our monitoring of interviewers ensures that they have learned the needed skills, and again makes certain that only the highest quality work is being conducted.

Moreover, in order to guard the interests of our respondents and our clients, as well as to promote good business practices, we train our interviewers in accordance with the standard public opinion research industry principles of honesty, professionalism, fairness, and confidentiality.

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Focus Groups

For qualitative research such as focus groups, Hart Research has long-standing relationships with more than 400 focus group facilities across the United States. Our continuing relationship with these facilities is an additional quality check. Because we know and trust the facilities and individuals who run them, we are able to closely track the progress of all recruits for participants. In some cases, we have adjusted our recruiting quotas in midstream to account for unanticipated variables. All of our partner facilities provide accommodations for viewing the focus groups live; several now offer real time on-line viewing opportunities.

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Ad Testing

This semi-quantitative research approach helps identify which of several alternative advertisements or message concepts garners the greatest desired reaction. The stimuli used do NOT have to be television ads, per se, but can be written message statements, mail brochures, videos of spokespeople on the news, etc.

Hart Research offers several variations of the ad testing approach, including

• Focus groups, either the traditional, two-hour long discussion among 10 to 12 participants or a smaller, shorter “triad” session, conducted by Hart Research moderators among pre-screened participants;
• Dial sessions, usually part of a larger focus group, result in the most detailed response data by using an electronic system in a viewable facility setting to provide instant quantitative measures of each participant’s reactions throughout the course of each ad;
• Intercept interviews at shopping malls, conducted by trained mall intercept facility staff and administered among pre-screened respondents who are visiting the mall; and
• Pre-recruited one-on-ones, carefully screened, fewer in number than mall intercepts, but longer, more in-depth interviews, usually conducted by Hart Research personnel.

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Brand Exploration and Development

The branding research we undertake for our clients typically involves most or all of the following steps:

• A qualitative exploration - through focus groups among key constituencies - of where the brand is now and how much latitude it has to grow in other directions;
• A quantitative survey to identify the motivations of key constituencies, and to understand the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the "brand" in question;
• Creative development of new brand positionings, usually undertaken by a creative agency in close cooperation with the Hart Research and client research teams;
• Evaluation of several realistic alternative brand positionings, usually through mini-focus groups with in-depth questioning on the various alternatives; and
• Testing the alternative positionings quantitatively in a follow-up survey.

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Benchmark Surveys

The full-length (20-minute), in-depth benchmark survey is the tool of choice when the research goals include measuring current public support, ascertaining which issue areas and/or messages resonate the strongest, figuring out which constituencies will be the most critical for victory, and establishing a baseline for future efforts to move public opinion. (Additionally, mid-length and shorter tracking surveys can be used as part of an overall polling strategy.)

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Special Analysis Approaches

Regression Analysis - Hart Research has considerable analytical experience using multivariate statistical techniques to determine the relative importance of a variety of factors, including experience creating predictive models

Demand Curve Analysis - For our commercial clients, Hart Research has undertaken several studies to develop hypothetical demand curves for products under widely varying pricing scenarios.

Predictive Modeling - We have been at the forefront in developing sophisticated and effective new techniques, including predictive modeling, for identifying key target voters within the electorate and segmenting audiences for specialized communications.

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Language Options

In addition to English, we are able to conduct research in Spanish and other languages, as needed.

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