Kochevar Research Associates

We design and implement custom research projects that get to the heart of our clients' concerns.

We have special expertise in the following methods and disciplines:

• Focus groups
• In-depth interviews
• Interviews with experts and influentials
• Advisory boards
• Survey instrument development
• Sample design and weighting
• Survey fieldwork
• Cross-national comparisons
• Supplier management and quality control
• Advanced statistical analysis
• Database creation and analysis
• Data mining
• Reports, presentations
• Consulting on strategy and practice

• Most companies rely on large research suppliers to conduct international research through their affiliates. Results are often mixed.

  
  

  We help design projects, write questionnaires appropriate for each culture, and pick the best suppliers for your project, monitoring their work on-site.

  
  Our services include:
  
  
• Secondary Research. Quick, cost-effective secondary research on the social, political and consumer characteristics of international markets.
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• Research Suppliers. We know how research is done and who does it best. Our contacts in Japan are exceptional.
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• Languages. Boston is home to several first-rate translation companies as well as the Harvard and MIT language departments.
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• Expertise.We use our expertise and writing talents to help you achieve cross-cultural comparability.
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• Reconnaissance. We go places many researchers will not go. We really talk to your customers.
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  We have more than 15 years of international market experience, including research in the following countries:

• United Kingdom, Germany, The Netherlands
• Japan, Korea, Taiwan
• Hong Kong, China
• Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam
• Australia, New Zealand
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  Clients
  
• Seagram Asia-Pacific
• Seagram Global Duty Free
• Seagram Affiliates
• Tropicana Asia Pacific
• Eastman Kodak
• Nikkei Newsletter Group
• Mitsubishi Corp.
• NHK, KDD, Dentsu (International Communication)
• TASC (Japan Food & Beverage)
• Eli Lilly
• Others

• Good research requires high standards, experience and hard work.

  
  

  We focus on acquiring valid and reliable data and use the appropriate statistical techniques to summarize results. Our research will stand up to peer review.

  
  
• Qualitative Research. We combine journalistic techniques with superior questions and interview guides. We use simple quantification to anchor qualitative results.
• Basic Statistics. Sometimes simple is best. We pick the appropriate statistics to answer the most important research questions. Click here for a tabulation case study.
• Testing Tests. Publication and peer review are no guarantee that scales and tests are reliable and valid. We critically analyze and improve on basic tests and methods. Click here for a Medication Possession Ratio case study.
• Market Research. Market sizing. Life style and psychographic segmentations using K-means cluster analysis. We know techniques that would be useful in health care research.
• Biostatistics. Scale construction and validation. Survival analysis. Retrospective database analysis. We know techniques that would be useful in market research.
• Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA). Much of consumer and patient behavior is determined by a multiplicity of factors. MCA is a wonderful tool for data mining and display of data with multiple interactions and clusters. Click here for an introduction and example of MCA.
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  We are very good at data display. Everyone – academics, executives, managers, sales people – can read our reports.

  We create intellectually engaging advisory boards that appeal to key opinion leaders and influentials.

  
  

  We have attended ad boards run by other groups. Here are the features that set us apart:

  
  
• Recruiting. We work with client lists and/or use sociometric techniques to identify experts and influentials. Our staff recruiters are adults: experienced, knowledgeable and adroit.
• Website. We create recruiting websites that pique interest and raise credibility.
• Content. Real opinion leaders hate the heavy marketing focus of most advisory boards. We organize leading experts to make presentations which help frame and provide background for client presentations. Research elements in breakout sessions stimulate exchange and participant feedback.
• Preparation. Each staff member learns the basic content of the ad board, reviews participant background and rehearses informal questions for attendees.
• Meeting Management. We partner with Meeting Management Associates, a company with broad experience locally and internationally. Meeting Management negotiates with hotel and restaurant managers to achieve cost effective quality. It's amazing how much money can be saved by carefully reviewing hotel AV and catering bills.)
• Boston. Our location is a major draw. Transportation is convenient and there are many centrally located four-star hotels, conference centers and restaurants. High quality excursions (e.g. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Aquarium) are nearby and local entertainment (e.g. music, theater) is reasonable and consistent with the ad board’s intellectual orientation.
• Follow-up. Opinions about complex subjects seldom change immediately. We engage respondents in break-out focus groups during the meeting. We call participants two weeks after their advisory board and revisit the major questions.
• Personal Contact. We try to engage participants personally as well as intellectually. We include our well-briefed note takers and runners (Harvard students) in some of the social functions to give participants a feeling for the academic social setting of Boston and Cambridge.
• Outcomes. Participants enjoy the experience, learn about client products and provide useful feedback which we turn into actionable reports. They ask to be invited again. Ask to see our evaluations....