American Online Research Award for Burke

Burke Inc in the US has announced that an online study using its "CHOICES" research system has just won the company an honourable mention in the prestigious 2001 American EXPLOR awards. These are designed to recognise "Exemplary Performance and Leadership in Online Research" in the States.

The research survey in question was conducted on behalf of a client called Sprint last September. On top of the survey, Burke also designed and programmed the web survey instrument and performed the complex data analysis the study required. The Sprint project then culminated in a five-year forecasting model from the research results.

The Sprint study was designed to look at the increasing convergence of telecommunications and entertainment services. About 1,500 technically savvy US consumers were asked to select preferences from sets of individual and "bundled" services offered by a variety of national and regional providers of local, long-distance, and wireless telephone service, Internet access, and cable television and other entertainment content. The service choices in each set were randomised within a complex set of constraints, resulting in data on 9,000 unique choice sets.

"It is doubtful that this research could have been completed except by leveraging the flexibility of online interviewing," Burke vice president Todd Jacobson, commented. Burke senior analytical consultant John Seal added "The nature of the model makes it possible for Sprint to customise it for specific communities with different demographic profiles. It also can be adapted as national demographic and technology-usage patterns change over the next several years."

Stan Frear, group manager of Sprint's consumer marketing research division, is set to discuss the study at the 2001 EXPLOR Forum, to be held in November in Chicago.

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

• All news