What are typical costs?
Since we offer many services, the total cost depends on which services you need. Following are estimates for research designs where there is a relatively small number of questions that need to be answered (say, 5 to 10) and single data file with a relatively small number of variables (say, less than 20). Marketing research and business productivity analyses cost more since they usually involve substantially more variables and corresponding output.
- Research Design
We give advice about a proposed design and statistical analysis. The client may need help defining your population of study, choosing a method of sampling, editing your hypotheses, a power analysis, help choosing a statistical method, and/or general research design issues. Designing a plan is $360.
- Test Construction
We guide you through the multi-stage process of developing a test or survey. This may include developing a table of specifications (a.k.a., test blueprint), writing items, factor analyzing the items, and assessing the psychometric properties (reliability, etc.) of the measure. More stages are required if the initial pool of items are poor. For a standard one or two page test/survey, $540.
- Data File Construction/Data Entry
We prepare a computer file and give instructions regarding data entry. This data file can be in Excel, Quattro, or some other common program. After the data file is received from the client, we read the data using statistics software and add variable and value labels where appropriate. Setting up the data file is usually $90. The fee is usually higher if we are converting an existing file that we did not set up.
Data entry is additional. We bill at an hourly rate and the estimate will depend on the amount of data to be entered.
- Data Analysis and Written Summary
This may include screening the data for errors, running the analysis, providing instruction specific to the statistical methods that were used, and summarizing the conclusions. The fee is $495 per analysis. When multiple methods are used to answer different questions, this goes up.
- Professional Editing
Editing is almost always $135 per edit. We print out and edit a paper copy of the client’s results section. This usually involves comments to improve tables, text, and the overall presentation of the statistical output. Most research involves only one edit. Having more than two edits is rare.
Market research designs and data mining usually take longer, simply because the amount of output can increase dramatically. This estimates will increase if the client needs the output in a highly specific format.
If you would like a free estimate, select the following link. If you agree to the estimate, be advised that we work on a retainer system. We begin work after payment clears our account. We accept money orders, checks, and online payments via PayPal (a 3% surcharge is added to all PayPal transactions within the United States, 5% is added to all PayPal transactions outside the United States). PayPal is an account-based system that lets anyone with an email address securely send online payments using their credit card or bank account. Let us know if you are interested in using the PayPal system. If you have any other questions about us, please don't hesitate to ask.
Note: These estimates are based on our knowledge of the typical amount of time spent on these tasks. We bill at our hourly rate ($100) if any of these services get repeated (I.e., a decision is made to scrap an entire research design, hypotheses, and start over, additional analyses are requested after the main hypotheses have been answered, etc.) We also bill at our hourly rate for additional questions answered via email after the analysis and summary have been completed and sent to you.
The hourly rate of $100 per hour (USD) applies to other services not specifically indicated here.
