System and method for psychographic profiling of targeted populations of individuals

• US 8,805,759 B1
• Filed: 08/10/2009
• Issued: 08/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Healthcare Interactive, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Healthcare Interactive, Inc.
• Inventors: Cha, Alexandra N., Cha, Hyuk, Liu, Lei
• Primary Examiner(s): Gaffin, Jeffrey A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Traktovenko, Ilya
• Application Number:
  US12/538,224
• Time in Patent Office: 1,828 Days
• Field of Search: 706/45, 706/46, 706/62
• US Class Current: 706/45
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/00 Computing arrangements using knowledge-based models
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/04 Inference or reasoning models
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A system and method are provided for psychographically profiling a target population of individuals, programmably implemented in a server apparatus. The psychographic segmentation portion includes a questionnaire processing part, a segment solution part, and a typing tool part. The questionnaire processing part acquires a plurality of responses to a predetermined set of questionnaire questions by an initial pool of target population members. The questionnaire processing part uses a combination of weighted statistical methodologies to arrive at a rule-based decision on whether the question would serve as a good wedge variable. Optionally, the rule based decision is then compared to an expert'"'"'s opinion and the weights and threshold parameters of the weighted statistical combination are adjusted accordingly to more accurately match the expert'"'"'s decision. The identified wedge variables are used for effectively segregating the target population into groups of homogenous individuals. The typing tool part selectively generates an abbreviated set of questions from the predetermined set of questionnaire questions for profiling an individual respondent to at least one of the segments.

Claims

1. A method for obtaining an indicia indicative of a spread of parameter frequencies within a computer system defining a resultant final indicia of a histogram spread, wherein said computer system includes a computer usable medium having a computer readable code, the method comprising:

establishing a computer processor;

providing a computer program to selectively define psychographic profiles for distinguishing between respondents to a plurality of psychographic queries, the computer program having modules configured for;

compiling a plurality of frequencies of alternative responses to each said psychographic query obtained from members of a population of users to form a histogram of more than two bins representing the alternative psychographic responses, said responses corresponding to characteristic data for respective segments of the population;

applying a plurality of statistical functions to said histogram for determining frequency characteristics of said responses within said histogram;

applying a weighting factor to at least two of said statistical functions for indicating a spread of a histogram for each of said statistical functions to provide a plurality of weighted outputs;

combining said weighted outputs corresponding to each of said statistical functions for determining a final indicia of histogram spread for the responses to each said psychographic query;

selectively generating at least one wedge variable responsive to comparative analysis of said psychographic queries in said final indicia thereof, said wedge variable corresponding to a psychographic query evoking a histogram having a substantially flat or multi-peaked distribution for maximizing a disparity of psychographic responses by the respondents for separating the population of users in corresponding ones of said segments; and

,

outputting said final indicia of histogram spread to;

(1) a computer peripheral device, or (2) to a computer processor program for compiling subsequent responses.

2. The method for obtaining an indicia indicative of a spread of parameter frequencies within a computer system, as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of compiling a plurality of frequencies within a computer system further includes normalizing the histogram to unity.

3. The method for obtaining an indicia indicative of a spread of parameter frequencies within a computer system, as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of statistical functions are selected from the group of statistical functions consisting of:

standardized entropy, standard deviation, individual maximum odds ratio, neighboring maximum odds ratio, individual index of qualitative variation, and neighboring index of qualitative variation.

4. The method for obtaining an indicia indicative of a spread of parameter frequencies within a computer system, as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of:

selectively flagging a question correlating with said histogram as a wedge variable to segment the population of users into homogenous groups responsive to the final indicia of spread.

5. The method for obtaining an indicia indicative of a spread of parameter frequencies within a computer system, as recited in claim 4, further comprising the steps of:

evaluating metadata associated with said question represented by said histogram; and

de-selecting said question as a wedge variable if a predetermined number of preselected wedge variables have substantially the same metadata.

6. The method for obtaining an indicia indicative of a spread of parameter frequencies within a computer system, as recited in claim 5, wherein said metadata comprises a thematic category which said question pertains to.

7. The method for obtaining an indicia indicative of a spread of parameter frequencies within a computer system, as recited in claim 6, wherein said thematic category is of a category selected from the group of categories consisting of:

demographics, psychographics, behavioral, need-based, media-based, product-based, service-based, and health.

8. The method for obtaining an indicia indicative of a spread of parameter frequencies within a computer system, as recited in claim 1, wherein said computer program is further configured with modules for:

comparing the final indicia of spread to an expert opinion regarding the spread of the histogram; and

adjusting a weight factor and a threshold to align the final indicia of spread to the expert opinion.

9. The method for obtaining an indicia indicative of a spread of parameter frequencies within a computer system, as recited in claim 8, wherein said computer program is further configured with modules for:

iteratively repeating modules on a plurality of questions until the final indicia of spread for each question substantially aligns with the expert opinion regarding the respective question; and

automatically evaluating the spread of histograms.

10. A system for obtaining an indicia indicative of a spread of parameter frequencies within a computer system defining a resultant final indicia of histogram spread, said computer system including a computer usable medium having a computer readable code, the system comprising:

a computer processor;

a computer program to selectively define psychographic profiles for distinguishing between respondents to a plurality of psychographic queries, each said psychographic query having a meta-data attribute electronically stored therefor, the computer program configured to include distinct software modules including;

a histogram compiling portion, operable to compile a plurality of frequencies of alternative responses to each said psychographic query obtained from members of a targeted population to form a histogram of more than two bins representing the alternative psychographic responses, said responses corresponding to characteristic data for respective segments of the targeted population;

a frequency determination portion, operable to apply a plurality of statistical functions to said histogram for determining frequency characteristics of said responses within said histogram;

a weighting portion, operable to apply a weighting factor to at least two of said statistical functions for indicating a spread of a histogram for each of said statistical functions to provide a plurality of weighted outputs;

a combining portion, operable to combine said weighted outputs corresponding to each of said statistical functions for determining a final indicia of histogram spread for the responses to each said psychographic query, said combining portion selectively generating at least one wedge variable responsive to comparative analysis of said psychographic queries in said final indicia and metadata attribute thereof, said wedge variable corresponding to a psychographic query evoking a histogram having a substantially flat or multi-peaked distribution for maximizing a disparity of psychographic responses by the respondents for separating the targeted population in corresponding ones of said segments; and

,

an outputting portion, operable to output said final indicia of histogram spread to;

(1) a computer peripheral device, or (2) to a computer processor program for compiling subsequent responses.

11. The system for obtaining an indicia indicative of a spread of parameter frequencies within a computer system, as recited in claim 10, wherein the histogram compiling portion normalizes said histogram to unity.

12. The system for obtaining an indicia indicative of a spread of parameter frequencies within a computer system, as recited in claim 10, wherein the plurality of statistical functions are selected from the group of statistical functions consisting of:

standardized entropy, standard deviation, individual maximum odds ratio, neighboring maximum odds ratio, individual index of qualitative variation, and neighboring index of qualitative variation.

13. The system for obtaining an indicia indicative of a spread of parameter frequencies within a computer system, as recited in claim 10, said computer program further comprising:

a wedge variable selecting portion, operable to selectively flag a question corresponding to said histogram as a wedge variable to segment the targeted population into homogenous groups responsive to the final indicia of spread.

14. The system for obtaining an indicia indicative of a spread of parameter frequencies within a computer system, as recited in claim 13, said computer program further comprising:

an evaluating portion, operable to evaluate metadata associated with said question; and

a de-selecting portion, operable to de-select said question as a wedge variable if a predetermined number of preselected wedge variables have substantially the same metadata.

15. The system for obtaining an indicia indicative of a spread of parameter frequencies within a computer system, as recited in claim 14, wherein said metadata comprises a thematic category which said question pertains to.

16. The system for obtaining an indicia indicative of a spread of parameter frequencies within a computer system, as recited in claim 15, wherein said thematic category is of a category selected from the group of categories consisting of:

demographics, psychographics, behavioral, need-based, media-based, product-based, service-based, and health.

17. The system for obtaining an indicia indicative of a spread of parameter frequencies within a computer system, as recited in claim 10, said computer program further comprising:

a comparison portion, operable to compare the final indicia of spread to an expert opinion regarding the spread of the histogram; and

an adjusting portion, operable to adjust a weight factor and a threshold to align the final indicia of spread to the expert opinion.

18. The system for obtaining an indicia indicative of a spread of parameter frequencies within a computer system, as recited in claim 17, said computer program further comprising:

a looping portion, operable to iteratively repeat calls to software modules on a plurality of questions until the final indicia of spread for each question substantially aligns with the expert opinion regarding the respective question; and

an automated portion, operable to automatically apply modules to automatically evaluate spread of histograms.

19. A non-transitory computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein for training a system to recognize wedge variables to segment a population of users into homogenous psychographic groups comprising the steps of:

(A) establishing a computer processor;

(B) providing a computer program to selectively define psychographic profiles for distinguishing between respondents to a plurality of psychographic questions, the computer program configured for;

(1) compiling alternative answers to each said psychographic question from a plurality of users within a targeted population into a histogram of more than two bins representing alternative psychographic answers, the answers corresponding to characteristic data for respective segments of the population;

(2) applying a plurality of statistical methods for analyzing the spread of the histogram, each statistical method outputting a value indicating the spread of the histogram;

(3) applying a weight factor to said value indicating spread of the histogram output by each statistical method to derive weighted outputs for each statistical method;

(4) combining said weighted outputs of each statistical method for deriving a final indicia of histogram spread for the answers to each said psychographic question;

(5) selectively generating at least one wedge variable responsive to comparative analysis of said psychographic questions in said final indicia thereof, said wedge variable corresponding to a psychographic question evoking a histogram having a substantially flat or multi-peaked distribution for maximizing a disparity of psychographic answers by the respondents for separating the population of users in corresponding ones of said segments; and

,

(6) outputting the final indicia of spread of the histogram, whereby the spread is indicative of the segmentation of the population.

20. A system for obtaining an indicia indicative of a spread of parameter frequencies within a computer system defining a resultant final indicia of histogram spread, wherein said computer system including a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code, the system comprising:

a computer processor executing the computer readable program code to selectively define psychographic profiles for distinguishing between respondents to a plurality of psychographic queries;

means for compiling a plurality of frequencies of alternative responses to each said psychographic query obtained from members of a targeted population to form a histogram of more than two bins representing alternative psychographic responses, said responses corresponding to characteristic data for respective segments of the targeted population;

means for applying a plurality of statistical functions to said histogram for determining frequency characteristics of said responses within said histogram;

means for applying a weighting factor to at least two of said statistical functions for indicating a spread of a histogram for each of said statistical functions to provide a plurality of weighted outputs;

means for combining said weighted outputs corresponding to each of said statistical functions for determining a final indicia of histogram spread for the responses to each said psychographic query;

means for selectively generating at least one wedge variable responsive to comparative analysis of said psychographic queries in said final indicia thereof, said wedge variable corresponding to a psychographic query evoking a histogram having a substantially flat or multi-peaked distribution for maximizing a disparity of responses by the respondents for separating the targeted population in corresponding ones of said segments; and

means for outputting said final indicia of histogram spread to;

(1) a computer peripheral device, or (2) to a computer processor program for compiling subsequent responses.