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The SRA Connection regularly covers the language of market research
and how it can often seem like a foreign language. Last time, our
jargon busters were “editing” and “validation.”
This time, we continue our efforts to demystify the jargon of
market research with two new terms: omnibus survey and predictive
analyses.
Omnibus surveys are conducted regularly among samples
that are nationally representative of the general public. However,
they can be sponsored by a number of clients who do not share the
same data or by clients who buy access to a survey to meet their
individual needs.
Predictive analyses are the statistical procedures and
models that are available to a market researcher to help forecast
future events.
We've also included three pieces of Internet jargon to add to
your vocabulary: PUP, malware, and doorway.
PUP (or PUPs) is a term used to describe unwanted programs
such as viruses, Trojan horse, spyware and adware, along with other malware (short
for “malicious software”) that may compromise your privacy. Some
antivirus and PC security software packages will scan for and protect
your system against PUPs. The term PUP was first used at McAfee's
Avert research lab to avoid any legal issues that could arise from
calling these types of applications “spyware.”
A doorway (also referred to as a doorway page, a jump
page, an entry page or a bridge page) is a Web page designed specifically
for the purpose of gaining high placement in a search engine's
rankings. Often the doorway page contains hidden text in order
to load the page with occurrences of a specific keyword or phrase.
Some search engines are wary of doorway pages and penalize sites
that use them. ‡
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