Determining strategies for increasing loyalty of a population to an entity
First Claim
1. A method for determining information related to a population'"'"'s perception of an object, comprising performing the following steps by computational equipment:
- obtaining interview data for conducting an interview session with each of one or more respondents indicative of the population, wherein the interview sessions are for determining perceptions of the object by the respondents, the interview data substantially defining how the interview sessions are conducted;
conducting the interview sessions with each of the respondents;
wherein for each of the respondents, the corresponding interview session is interactive with the respondent for obtaining responsive data related to the respondent'"'"'s perception of the object, wherein the respondent is presented with each of;
(i) a first request for a first characteristic of the object that the respondent perceives as more positive than another characteristic of the object;
(ii) a second request for a second characteristic of the object that the respondent perceives as more negative than another characteristic of the object;
storing the responsive data obtained from the respondents, said responsive data including responses to each of;
the requests of (i) and (ii);
coding said stored responsive data using a plurality of code categories, each category for identifying respondent responses in the responsive data having a common semantic content that is associated with the category;
first determining, for each category of at least some of the plurality of code categories, a corresponding importance data indicative of an importance of the category, wherein the corresponding importance data includes a result of a function that is non-decreasing in a number of respondent responses in the category, wherein the result is dependent upon a number of the respondent responses in the category obtained from both the first and second requests;
second determining, for each category (C) of the at least some of the code categories (CC), a corresponding belief value indicative of a perception of a degree of favorableness, by the respondents, of the category C as applied to the object;
wherein each of the belief values (BV) includes a result that is;
(a) dependent upon a corresponding number, N, of responses to the first request, in the corresponding category for the belief value BV, and (b) dependent upon a corresponding number, M, responses to the first request for another of the categories CC whose respondent responses include the respondent responses of the corresponding category to which the belief value BV corresponds, wherein the dependency of the belief value BV on M is inverse to the dependency of the belief value BV on N;
wherein for each of the belief values, the corresponding result therefor is obtained from a function that is non-decreasing as the number, N, of respondent responses increases for the belief values; and
identifying a first category of the categories CC for improving the first category, as related to the object, to thereby establish a more favorable perception of the object, or a related object, by the population;
wherein the identification of the first category is;
dependent upon the importance data of the first category, and dependent upon the belief value for the first category;
wherein for performing the step of identifying, a step of ranking the categories CC is performed for identifying for the first category; and
wherein in performing the step of ranking, when at least one category of the categories CC has a first belief value that is indicative of a lower perception of object favorableness than a second belief value for a second of the categories CC, the first belief value influences the ranking of the at least one category more for identifying the at least one category as the first category, than the second belief value influences the ranking of the second category for identifying the second category as the first category.
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Abstract
A method and system is disclosed that provides: (a) a theoretical framework for designing psychological research that uncovers individual decision-making networks, both in terms of sampling requirements and questioning methods, (b) an implementation interface to schedule and administer the appropriate question sequences between an interviewer and a given individual, in real-time, via a web-based system, and (c) a coding and analysis system to summarize and quantify the potential of alternative decision structures to be used to optimize the development of marketing and communication strategies.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method for determining information related to a population'"'"'s perception of an object, comprising performing the following steps by computational equipment:
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obtaining interview data for conducting an interview session with each of one or more respondents indicative of the population, wherein the interview sessions are for determining perceptions of the object by the respondents, the interview data substantially defining how the interview sessions are conducted; conducting the interview sessions with each of the respondents; wherein for each of the respondents, the corresponding interview session is interactive with the respondent for obtaining responsive data related to the respondent'"'"'s perception of the object, wherein the respondent is presented with each of; (i) a first request for a first characteristic of the object that the respondent perceives as more positive than another characteristic of the object; (ii) a second request for a second characteristic of the object that the respondent perceives as more negative than another characteristic of the object; storing the responsive data obtained from the respondents, said responsive data including responses to each of;
the requests of (i) and (ii);coding said stored responsive data using a plurality of code categories, each category for identifying respondent responses in the responsive data having a common semantic content that is associated with the category; first determining, for each category of at least some of the plurality of code categories, a corresponding importance data indicative of an importance of the category, wherein the corresponding importance data includes a result of a function that is non-decreasing in a number of respondent responses in the category, wherein the result is dependent upon a number of the respondent responses in the category obtained from both the first and second requests; second determining, for each category (C) of the at least some of the code categories (CC), a corresponding belief value indicative of a perception of a degree of favorableness, by the respondents, of the category C as applied to the object; wherein each of the belief values (BV) includes a result that is;
(a) dependent upon a corresponding number, N, of responses to the first request, in the corresponding category for the belief value BV, and (b) dependent upon a corresponding number, M, responses to the first request for another of the categories CC whose respondent responses include the respondent responses of the corresponding category to which the belief value BV corresponds, wherein the dependency of the belief value BV on M is inverse to the dependency of the belief value BV on N;wherein for each of the belief values, the corresponding result therefor is obtained from a function that is non-decreasing as the number, N, of respondent responses increases for the belief values; and identifying a first category of the categories CC for improving the first category, as related to the object, to thereby establish a more favorable perception of the object, or a related object, by the population; wherein the identification of the first category is;
dependent upon the importance data of the first category, and dependent upon the belief value for the first category;wherein for performing the step of identifying, a step of ranking the categories CC is performed for identifying for the first category; and wherein in performing the step of ranking, when at least one category of the categories CC has a first belief value that is indicative of a lower perception of object favorableness than a second belief value for a second of the categories CC, the first belief value influences the ranking of the at least one category more for identifying the at least one category as the first category, than the second belief value influences the ranking of the second category for identifying the second category as the first category. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for predicting how to change a population'"'"'s perception of an object, comprising performing the following steps by computational equipment:
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obtaining interview data for conducting a corresponding interview session, with each of one or more respondents indicative of the population, wherein the corresponding interview sessions are for determining perceptions of the object by the respondents, the interview data substantially defining how the corresponding interview sessions are conducted; transmitting on a communication network at least a portion of the interview data to an interview conducting computer for conducting with each of the one or more respondents, the corresponding interview session; for each of the respondents, communicating with a computer for the respondent and with the interview conducting computer for conducting the corresponding interview session, via the communications network, for obtaining corresponding responsive data related to the respondent'"'"'s perception of the object, wherein the corresponding responsive data includes representations of respondent responses to presentations of each of (i) through (iii); (i) a first request for obtaining a first characteristic of the object that the respondent perceives as more positive than another characteristic of the object; (ii) a second request for obtaining a second characteristic of the object that the respondent perceives as more negative than another characteristic of the object; and (iii) a plurality of questions related to the object, wherein a response from the respondent to a first of the questions is classified within a predetermined hierarchy of classifications of perceptions related to the object, the hierarchy including classifications for;
(a) a perceived attribute of the object, and (b) a corresponding respondent personal value the respondent associates with the attribute, and wherein for a second of the plurality of questions, an additional response is requested for classification within the predetermined hierarchy, the additional response for classifying in a different classification of the hierarchy than the classification for the response;coding, for each of the respondents, said the representations of the respondent responses of the corresponding responsive data using a plurality of code categories, each category for identifying the representations having a common semantic content that is associated with the category; determining at least one relationship between at least some of said categories (CC), wherein said at least one relationship is indicative of how at least some of the respondents associate said some categories; wherein the at least one relationship represents a linkage between a perceived attribute, A, of the object, and a personal value associated with the attribute A of the object, the linkage identified by related associations in the representations of the respondent responses of the corresponding responsive data for the at least some respondents; first determining, for each category, C, of code categories CC, a corresponding importance data indicative of an importance of the category C, wherein the corresponding importance data includes a result of a function that is non-decreasing in a number of the representations of the respondent responses identified by the category C, wherein the result is dependent upon a number of the respondent responses in the category C which includes the representations of the respondent responses from both the first and second requests; second determining, for each category (D) of the code categories CC, a corresponding belief value indicative of a perception of a degree of favorableness, by the respondents, of the category D as applied to the object; wherein each of the belief values (BV) includes a result that is;
(a) dependent upon a corresponding number, N, of responses to the first request, in the corresponding category for the belief value BV, and (b) dependent upon a corresponding number, M, responses to the first and second requests, in the corresponding category for which the belief value BV, the dependency of the belief value BV on M being an inverse dependency to the dependency on N;wherein for each of the belief values, the corresponding result therefor is obtained from a function that is non-decreasing as the number, N, of respondent responses increases for the belief values; and identifying a first category of the categories CC for improving the first category, as related to the object, to thereby establish a more favorable perception of the object, or a related object, by the population; wherein the identification of the first category is;
dependent upon the importance data of the first category, and dependent upon the belief value for the first category;wherein for performing the step of identifying, a step of ranking the categories CC is performed for identifying for the first category; and wherein in performing the step of ranking, when at least one category of the categories CC has a first belief value that is indicative of a lower perception of object favorableness than a second belief value for a second of the categories CC, the first belief value influences the ranking of the at least one category more for identifying the at least one category as the first category, than the second belief value influences the ranking of the second category for identifying the second category as the first category. - View Dependent Claims (16)
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17. An apparatus for determining information related to a population'"'"'s perception of an object, comprising:
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a non-transient machine data storage for obtaining interview data for conducting an interview session with each of one or more respondents indicative of the population, wherein the interview sessions are for determining perceptions of the object by the respondents, the interview data substantially defining how the interview sessions are conducted; an interview server for transmitting the interview data for conducting the interview sessions with each of the respondents; wherein for each of the respondents, the corresponding interview session is interactive with the respondent for obtaining responsive data related to the respondent'"'"'s perception of the object, wherein the respondent is presented with each of; (i) a first request for a first characteristic of the object that the respondent perceives as more positive than another characteristic of the object; and (ii) a second request for a second characteristic of the object that the respondent perceives as more negative than another characteristic of the object; a non-transient machine data storage for storing the responsive data obtained from the respondents, said responsive data including responses to each of;
the requests of (i) and (ii);one or more computational machine code processing programs for coding for the stored responsive data, wherein the programs identify at least one category of a plurality of code categories with respondent responses in the responsive data having a common semantic content that is associated with the at least one category; one or more computational machine evaluators for determining, for each of at least some of the plurality of code categories (CC), a corresponding importance data indicative of an importance of the category, wherein the corresponding importance data includes a result of a function that is non-decreasing in a number of respondent responses in the category, wherein the result is dependent upon a number of the respondent responses in the category obtained from both the first and second requests; one or more computational machine evaluators for determining, for each category (C) of the code categories CC, a corresponding belief value indicative of a perception of a degree of favorableness, by the respondents, of the category C as applied to the object; wherein each of the belief values (BV) includes a result that is;
(a) dependent upon a corresponding number, N, of responses to the first request, in the corresponding category for the belief value BV, and (b) dependent upon a corresponding number, M, responses to the first and second requests, in the corresponding category for which the belief value BV, the dependency of the belief value BV on M being an inverse dependency to the dependency on N;wherein for each of the belief values, the corresponding result therefor is obtained from a function that is non-decreasing as the number, N, of respondent responses increases for the belief values; and one or more computational machine programs for identifying a first category of the categories CC for improving the first category, as related to the object, to thereby establish a more favorable perception of the object, or a related object, by the population; wherein the identification of the first category is;
dependent upon the importance data of the first category, and the belief value for the first category; andwherein the one or more computational machine programs for identifying also rank the categories CC for identifying for the first category, wherein when at least one category of the categories CC has a first belief value that is indicative of a lower perception of object favorableness than a second belief value for a second of the categories CC, the first belief value influences the ranking of the at least one category more for identifying the at least one category as the first category, than the second belief value influences the ranking of the second category for identifying the second category as the first category.
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Specification