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Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling

NAICS 541910 · Professional, Scientific and Technical Services · SBA size standard: $22.5 million average annual receipts

Marketing research firms design surveys, recruit respondents, conduct interviews or online polls, clean and weight data, analyze results and deliver reports for clients. For a firm that runs both quantitative surveys and qualitative focus groups on consumer brands and public policy topics, the specialists turn client briefs into survey instruments, recruit and schedule participants, monitor fielding, clean incoming data, run analysis scripts and organize findings into client-ready decks while the research director confirms questionnaire logic, sampling plans and final interpretations.

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What makes this business different

  • Client projects with tight deadlines, custom questionnaires and specific audience quotas
  • Recruitment of hard-to-reach respondents using panels, lists, social media and phone
  • Privacy rules for respondent data including consent language and opt-out handling
  • Mixed-mode data collection: online, phone, in-person interviews and focus groups
  • Sample weighting, data cleaning and statistical significance checks on every project
  • Project-specific client deliverables such as topline reports, crosstabs, dashboards and presentation decks
  • Ongoing panel maintenance, incentive payments and quality-control monitoring
  • Sampling plans, incidence rates and fielding costs that must be tracked per project

Specialist bots

  • a researcher at a standing desk reviewing printed client briefs and marking dates on a large wall calendar next to a stack of proposal folders

    Project Intake Specialist

    Convert every new client brief or proposal into a scoped project folder with timeline, budget assumptions and deliverables.

    Works in: Ambitious Tasks, Ambitious Docs, Email Buckets · Workflows: Project intake and scoping

    Automates

    • Parses incoming inquiries and attached briefs
    • Drafts project timeline and quota recommendations
    • Creates standardized project folders and kickoff agendas
    • Tracks client approval status

    Stops for a person

    • Research director confirms scope, budget, sampling plan and methodology
    • A person sends the final kickoff invitation and handles contract signatures
  • a researcher sitting at a long table covered with printed survey drafts, highlighter in hand, circling question wording

    Questionnaire Designer

    Translate client objectives into unbiased, logically flowing survey questions and discussion guides ready for programming.

    Works in: Ambitious Docs, Ambitious Tasks · Workflows: Questionnaire and discussion guide design

    Automates

    • Suggests standard question banks and scales
    • Checks for common wording problems, bias and survey length
    • Formats screening, consent, demographic and skip sections
    • Generates test versions for review

    Stops for a person

    • The research director edits and approves every question and piece of logic
    • Client must sign off on the final instrument before fielding
  • a coordinator at a dual-monitor workstation reviewing a spreadsheet of respondent contacts and availability while dialing a desk phone

    Recruitment Coordinator

    Build sample frames, screen and schedule qualified respondents across multiple modes and suppliers.

    Works in: Ambitious Tasks, Ambitious Sheets, Email Buckets · Workflows: Respondent recruitment and scheduling

    Automates

    • Pulls and deduplicates contact lists from approved sources
    • Applies screening logic and quota counters
    • Sends personalized invitations and reminders
    • Maintains live recruitment tracker

    Stops for a person

    • A person verifies high-value or difficult respondents before scheduling
    • The owner approves incentive amounts and payment batches
  • a researcher leaning over a laptop in a quiet office reviewing colorful live survey dashboards on multiple open browser tabs

    Fielding Monitor

    Watch live data collection, flag problems and adjust recruitment to stay on quota and schedule.

    Works in: Ambitious Tasks, Ambitious Sheets, Process Optimizer · Workflows: Fielding and data collection monitoring

    Automates

    • Builds real-time completion and quota dashboards
    • Alerts when any quota cell falls behind target
    • Flags speeders, straight-liners and duplicates for review
    • Suggests additional recruitment channels when short

    Stops for a person

    • Research director decides when to close or extend fielding
    • Any change to the instrument during fielding requires client approval
  • a data specialist at a desk surrounded by large monitors, comparing rows of survey responses in a spreadsheet with a printed codebook open beside them

    Data Processor

    Clean, code, weight and tabulate raw survey data according to the analysis plan.

    Works in: Ambitious Sheets, Ambitious Tasks, Ambitious Docs · Workflows: Data cleaning and weighting

    Automates

    • Runs data-cleaning scripts and removes invalid cases
    • Applies client-supplied weighting factors
    • Generates topline and crosstab tables
    • Exports datasets in multiple formats

    Stops for a person

    • The research director reviews all open-end coding and weighting decisions
    • A person confirms final dataset matches the sampling plan the client confirmed
  • a researcher standing at a whiteboard next to a large monitor arranging colorful data visualization slides for an upcoming client presentation

    Report Builder

    Turn clean data and analysis into client-ready charts, summaries and presentation decks.

    Works in: Ambitious Docs, Ambitious Sheets, Ambitious Tasks · Workflows: Analysis and report preparation

    Automates

    • Creates standardized chart templates from tabulated data
    • Drafts executive summary bullet points from key findings
    • Assembles slide decks with charts, key findings and appendices
    • Organizes final deliverable folders

    Stops for a person

    • Research director writes and approves all interpretations and recommendations
    • Client feedback is incorporated by a person before final delivery
  • a manager reviewing printed supplier scorecards and panel statistics at a desk with stacks of incentive check request forms

    Panel and Supplier Manager

    Maintain respondent panels, process incentives and evaluate supplier performance after each project.

    Works in: Ambitious Sheets, Ambitious Tasks, Email Buckets · Workflows: Panel and supplier management

    Automates

    • Updates panelist records, participation history and opt-out lists
    • Generates incentive payment rosters
    • Tracks supplier quality scores and response rates
    • Schedules panel refresh activities

    Stops for a person

    • The owner approves all bulk incentive disbursements and supplier payments
    • People handle direct respondent complaints and privacy requests

Workflows

Project intake and scoping

Starts when: A new client inquiry or signed proposal arrives

  1. Capture objectives, target audience, key questions, methodology and deliverables from the brief
  2. Draft a project timeline with fielding, analysis and reporting dates
  3. Confirm sample size, quotas, incidence assumptions and methodology against the budget
  4. Create a project folder with all client-supplied materials and contact information
  5. Draft a kickoff agenda and send for approval

Watch for: Client must approve final scope, timeline and budget before fielding begins; Quotas and screening criteria must match the exact audience definition the client confirms

Questionnaire and discussion guide design

Starts when: After project kickoff

  1. Translate client objectives into clear survey questions or moderator guide
  2. Add screening, consent, demographic, termination logic and skip patterns
  3. Check for bias, double-barreled questions, leading language and overall survey length
  4. Program or format the instrument for the chosen platform
  5. Draft test links or guides and circulate for internal and client review

Watch for: Question wording and order must be locked before programming; Client must sign off on every version of the questionnaire or guide

Respondent recruitment and scheduling

Starts when: Once the instrument is approved

  1. Build or pull the sample frame from panels, purchased lists or advertisements
  2. Apply screening questions and quota counters in real time
  3. Schedule qualified participants for interviews, focus groups or online sessions
  4. Send invitations, reminders, consent forms and incentive details
  5. Track recruitment progress against daily and total targets and flag shortfalls

Watch for: Hard-to-reach audiences may require multiple recruitment waves and list refreshes; Incentives are paid only after completion verification by a person

Fielding and data collection monitoring

Starts when: Launch of survey or first interview

  1. Monitor incoming responses and completion rates in real time
  2. Adjust advertising spend, follow-up calls or panel allocations when quotas lag
  3. Flag and quarantine suspicious, speeding or low-quality responses for review
  4. Maintain live dashboards of sample composition versus targets
  5. Pause or close the project when targets or deadlines are reached

Watch for: Data collection must stop exactly at quota or deadline; Any mid-field changes to the instrument require client approval

Data cleaning and weighting

Starts when: After fielding closes

  1. Remove incomplete, duplicate, fraudulent or out-of-quota responses
  2. Code open-ended answers into categories using the codebook
  3. Apply weighting scheme based on population benchmarks the client confirms
  4. Run topline tables, crosstabs and significance tests
  5. Export clean dataset in all required formats

Watch for: Weighting targets are supplied or confirmed by the client; All cleaning and coding decisions are logged for audit

Analysis and report preparation

Starts when: Once the dataset is clean

  1. Run statistical tests and identify key findings and patterns
  2. Build charts, graphs and insight slides from the tabulated data
  3. Draft executive summary, detailed findings and methodology appendix
  4. Create an interactive dashboard if requested
  5. Compile all deliverables into a final client folder for review

Watch for: All interpretations and recommendations must be reviewed and approved by the research director; Client feedback rounds are incorporated by a person before final delivery

Panel and supplier management

Starts when: Weekly and at project close

  1. Update panelist status, participation history and quality flags after each project
  2. Process incentive payments and send thank-you messages
  3. Monitor panel quality metrics, response rates and refresh sources as needed
  4. Evaluate supplier performance on recruitment, incidence and data quality
  5. Archive completed project materials according to the retention schedule the owner confirms

Watch for: Respondent privacy and opt-out requests are honored immediately by a person; Supplier contracts, rate cards and insurance certificates are tracked separately

Bot templates for this industry

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Size Standards, Table of Small Business Size Standards Matched to North American Industry Classification System Codes, version March 2023 (effective 2023-03-17, NAICS 2022). Size standards are shown for reference only.