Canmark solves your data needs and delivers market research solutions

SURVEY DESIGN AND DISTRIBUTION

Canmark’s in-house team can design creative, user-friendly paper and web surveys according to your needs and specifications, or tailor your survey for scanning or web. We can personalize and mail large volumes of paper surveys using in-house equipment and host web surveys on secure sites. Canmark has the know how to create surveys your customers will want to complete and to distribute them effectively.

Many of our projects involve mailing personalized paper surveys to customers who are also given an opportunity to complete the survey online using a unique login identification code. An increasing number of respondents are making use of this option and their data becomes available more rapidly than through return mail as well as saving you the postage costs.

Paper Surveys: Design and Printing

If you know what you need to ask your target group, Canmark has the people and the technology to turn your content into a world-class survey instrument. No matter what type of question: multiple choice, sliding scales, pick-from-list, open text, Canmark Technologies can design a survey look and feel to engage, not just interrogate, your survey respondents. You'll see a difference in response rates with Canmark in your corner. Depending on survey size and volume, Canmark can print your survey in-house on high speed colour printers or oversee production on offset press by a dependable print shop.

Web Surveys: Design and Hosting

The internet has made reaching thousands of survey respondents in a very short period of time a reality. Canmark Technologies has made accessing meaningful data from web survey respondents a reality, with quick turn around or real-time access as viable options. Canmark can turn your content into an easy-to-navigate web survey and host your survey on secure, continuously accessible sites. Our knowledge of the data side of research means that the path from the completed surveys to an analyzable dataset is smooth. Key features.

Sampling

Canmark has extensive experience in sampling from client-supplied lists in order to achieve specific response targets.

Volume Mailing

From concept through response, Canmark has the skills and experience to effectively manage your research mailing needs. From hundreds to thousands, multiple inserts, return mailing, multiple response options, Canmark makes the logistics of mailing work in the most cost-effective way possible.

Laser Personalization

There is no more cost-effective way to personalize your research messaging than PostScript programming. Canmark's expertise in this area is rivaled by few in the industry. Our expertise, combined with proprietary technologies, lets us deliver flexible personalization at the best cost for getting your message out.

Automated Survey Production

Canmark has developed unique custom software that allows us to generate different versions of a survey for different markets based on a database of, for example, store lists or local entertainment facilities available in each market. Contact us for details if you have a multi-market survey in mind.

OPTICAL SCANNING

Start with state of the art optical scanners, add Canmark's proprietary scanning software and custom programming and you have the most viable, scalable and flexible data capture methodology in the industry. Forms processing and scanning is where Canmark got started in the early 1990s and we've stayed ahead of the curve ever since. We scan and process over 3,000,000 pages annually!

Canmark’s scanning software was specifically designed to capture data from multiple response formats that allow you to ask the questions you really want to ask and make it easy for respondents to answer (no more bubbles to fill). Our scanners and software accomodate multi-page and multi-size surveys and allow the respondent to answer in a natural manner with no special instructions required. Our accuracy in mark capture is near perfect. If you have been "burned" by bad experiences with other scanning software, give Canmark a try and you will be amazed at the difference.

DATA PROCESSING

Data needs to be clean to be useful, and Canmark Technologies has one of the most experienced teams in the industry when it comes to identifying data issues, validating responses, and correcting inconsistencies. Together we will establish and validate the business rules of your project and rigorously apply them - without losing sight of the project objective. Feedback and constant testing ensure that shifts in responses will be flagged and investigated.

Canmark’s proprietary software ensures responses are within range and flags inconsistent, ambiguous or multiple responses for efficient correction by trained operators, ensuring clean and complete data. We can also custom program the application of “business rules” we develop with you to ensure the logical integrity of your data. We do not believe in blindly modifying data according to unexamined business rules, so you will receive detailed reports of "Business Rule Hits" which indicate the extent to which data has been modified by this process, allowing you to re-evaluate the rules and/or the design of your survey.

In many cases, responses need to be categorized and coded to meet the project need. Our proprietary software allows us to code responses efficiently from on-screen images and to pass the cost savings back to you.Nobody does this more efficiently than Canmark; however, since our clients are the experts in the content areas of their surveys, Canmark works collaboratively with clients in establishing coding frames. For paper surveys, this includes providing browsable PDF documents showing all or a sample of the handwritten responses to each question that will require coding BEFORE the coding frames are established. We can also provide quality control documents that show the handwritten responses that have been classified into each code AFTER the coding is done, allowing our clients to verify the accuracy of our work.

Our expert programmers can clean up and integrate your old databases with the new ones we develop for you. We have the expertise and software to weed out duplications and other “garbage” to ensure the integrity of your data. Experience has taught us that data received from many other suppliers requires intensive scrutiny. Our work in this regard has often revealed surprising issues to our clients. We consider it our job to understand and validate the datasets that we are asked to integrate. Our clients are the beneficiaries of our diligence in doing so.

DATA ANALYSIS / REPORTING

Research results have no meaning if you can't derive take-aways and action items. Not only will Canmark provide detail on trends and propensities, we will work with you to make sure you mine as much content from your results as needed.

Clean Dataset Delivery

Our simplest deliverable is a clean dataset, one that is guaranteed to be clearly defined, easily analyzable and to be free of "garbage" data points.

Data Weighting

When the obtained data sample does not match the target population, Canmark has the statistical and programming expertise to assign weights to reflect the target distribution.

Crosstabs

Many data-intensive projects require complex crosstabs. Canmark has the know-how to produce the tables that you need efficiently and cost effectively.

Graphical Reporting

Canmark has developed proprietary software for generating graphical PDF-format reporting that is customized to client requirements. Canmark can also populate the data into complex graphical spreadsheets designed by our clients.

Online Reporting

Canmark can develop time flexible reports available online to allow for easy access to the data you need for the time period you specify. You can track number of respondents to date as well as other information you need. Canmark can develop custom reporting sites that allow multiple users to have access to restricted subsets of the data, including the ability to view online the new survey returns that have come in since they last checked the site. Since the surveys can be classified by the degree of urgent attention which they require, this allows, for example, store managers or district managers to keep on top of critical survey responses in a timely manner.

Verbatims

Canmark facilitates data extraction from verbatim responses in the most cost effective way for any given project. We can provide an organized, bookmarked PDF file that contains the handwritten comments. The bookmarks allow you to view comments from specific respondent groups classifiied according to their answers on closed-end questions, or to view all comments. This feature allows for quick action by those responsible for getting back to target customers. Verbatims can also be coded into client defined categories. Canmark has developed software that makes coding efficient and accurate. Our capability to present codes and handwritten comments in organized groupings give our clients the opportunity to validate the accuracy of coding. Canmark can also key in the handwritten responses to produce a transcript of verbatims, with capability of translating responses from several languages into English during this process.

TECHNICAL PROJECT GUIDANCE

All Canmark customers have access to a combined 100-plus years of technical expertise. If all you have is a concept, we can show you how to take it to the field and get the results that answer the questions that inspired the project in the first place. If you have an ongoing project that is floundering or suffering from overextended resources, lack of vendor support, or less than optimal returns, get us involved and together we can turn it around.

DATA CONVERSION

Canmark has developed expertise over the years in receiving data that is in less-than-optimal form and converting it into a usable dataset (subject to the "garbage in / garbage out" rule). Canmark will provide as complete an analysis of the structure of your dataset as you require in order to help you evaluate its usefulness. Many tools developed at Canmark for evaluating data integrity and identifying invalid data elements contribute to our expertise in this area.

SPSS DATA MANAGEMENT CONSULTING

Canmark offers industry leading SPSS data management consulting as part of your project, or on a stand-alone or contingency basis. Whether the need is for data integration involving historical data, legacy systems, or mixed methodologies, take a few minutes to call and talk to us. If data manipulation, processing or advanced analysis are called for, ask our experts to take a look.