What is the right sample size for a survey?

“What is the right sample size?”, this is a question I get asked quite often. In this article, I will address the question in the context of quantitative surveys. In a separate post, I will review the same question in the context of qualitative research.

The assumptions underpinning the question
This question, “What is the right sample size for a survey?” is based on two assumptions.

If the sample size is too small, the results will be unreliable.
If enough people are sampled, the right answer will be reliably found.

Radio NewMR – Priscilla McKinney

Ray Poynter chats with Priscilla McKinney, CEO of Little Bird Marketing. Ray and Priscilla look at what post-pandemic means in insights and research, the key challenges and opportunities facing us, and the rise of digital solutions. Priscilla McKinney, CEO of Little Bird Marketing, is a popular keynote speaker, prolific blogger, podcast host, industry innovator and diversity champion. Her two podcasts are Ponderings from the Perch and Digital Transformation Success.

Radio NewMR – Joaquim Bretcha

Ray Poynter chats with Joaquim Bretcha, the immediate past President of ESOMAR and Internationa Director at Netquest. In this podcast, Joaquim and Ray explore the challenges and opportunities facing the world of insights.

Is your business taking inflation into account?

Most of the people running companies, projects, and investments in the developed economies around the world have no practical experience of dealing with inflation. The last widespread outbreak was forty years ago. However, inflation is the key shadow facing global economies. (Yes, there are other shadows facing the world, like the terrible situation with Russia and Ukraine, but the key, global economic threat is inflation.)

How bad is it?

Very bad! The USA and UK have inflation rates of 9% and the Eurozone has inflation at about 8%. The trend in most regions of the world is upwards. Governments are starting to try to slow down the rate of increase in inflation (for example, by increasing interest rates), but I think they are doing too little, too slowly.

The similarity between winning at Rugby and winning with a Platform and Service combination

In many organizations, there is tension between the DIY/SaaS provision of software and the provision of services. The conversation tends to rotate around whether we are a platform or are we providing services. However, this misses the point about synergy, a concept often referred to as SwaS – Software with a Service. I want to highlight the synergy by talking about my favorite team sport rugby.

Radio NewMR – Charlene Adamah

Ray Poynter chats with Charlene Adamah a director and co-founder of CORe (Colour of Research). Ray and Charlene chat about why Colour of Research was needed, how it was created, its successes so far, and what still needs to be done.

Radio NewMR – Melanie Courtright

Ray Poynter chats with Melanie Courtright Chief Executive Officer of the Insights Association about what is happening in the insights and research world.

Radio NewMR – Mike Stevens

Ray Poynter chats with Mike Stevens, founder and editor at Insight Platforms, about key trends in the research and insight worlds.

The Participant Crisis 2022

The world of insights is on the cusp of a great future where human-centric approaches dominate services, product design and business. However, this opportunity is at risk because of the participant crisis. In this post, Ray Poynter outlines the problem.

Radio NewMR – Kajoli Tankha

Ray Poynter chats with Kajoli Tankha, Senior Director, Consumer Product, Retail and Growth Research at Microsoft about ‘managing a research team in a hybrid world’.