Weighting Software – Choosing the Right Software for Your Needs
Weighting is a data preparation technique for when your survey responses are not representative of the population you are looking to study. Certain demographics and customer groups may be either under-represented or over-represented in your survey, which could lead to inaccurate conclusions about your customer base. We want our survey data to be representative of the population we are surveying, and so to compensate for the shortcomings of our data set, we need to apply weights.
How does weighting work?
Let’s say you collect the responses from your survey and find that only 30% of respondents are female. You know that roughly half of your customers are female, so the data set you have collected is clearly not representative of your customer base. If you were to analyze this data set without weights, your results would under-state the views and opinions of female respondents while over-stating the responses from men. By applying a weight based on gender, we can amplify responses from women so that they reflect 50% of the survey.
This is a simple example of a weight based on a single variable, but the underlying principle is the sample for all weights.
Weights in Q
Q Research Software comes with state-of-the-art tools to provide you with the best possible analysis. Our software allows you to:
- Use pre-computed weights without any extra work
- Create your own weights based on variables in your data set
- Apply advanced weighting techniques such as rim weighting.
- Add weights quickly and easily
