MFour Adds Team Members in Data Science, Research Technology and Finance

Posted by MFour on Sep 11, 2018 9:39:27 AM

Prince_Kanad_Kyung_logo 

Prince Mabandla, Kanadpriya Basu, Kyung Lee (L-R)


MFour has added a new Data Scientist and Software Engineer who will help refine and innovate processes for obtaining the efficient, quality data clients need, as well as a new Controller. 

Dr. Kanadpriya Basu joins as Data Scientist. He’s transitioning to the tech and market research sector from a previous career in academia, most recently as an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Occidental College in Los Angeles, where he conducted research in Machine Learning and Data Analytics. Kanad, as he likes to be called, has been published extensively in academic and professional journals, and received a 2015 Early Career Award for great promise in mathematics, conferred by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. He holds multiple degrees: a Doctorate in Computational and Applied Mathematics from the University of South Carolina, Columbia; Master's degrees in Mathematical Sciences from the University of Texas – Pan American and in Applied Mathematics, with a specialty in Operational Research, from the Indian Institute of Engineering, Science and Technology in Shibpur, and a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Presidency University in Kolkata. Food and travel with family are his leading leisure interests.

Prince Mabandla joins MFour as a Senior Software Engineer, having previously led teams and built systems at Adobe, Rue La La, NameMedia and the University of Notre Dame. He holds a Master’s degree in Software Engineering from Andrews University in Berrian Springs, Michigan, and a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama. Prince’s other credentials include reaching the finalist round for seed money and support from Y Combinator, a Silicon Valley organization that incubates startups and mentors their founders as entrepreneurs. 

Kyung Lee brings more than 20 years’ experience with companies both gigantic (Toyota and KPMG) and small to his position as MFour’s Controller. Kyung, who is a CPA, has a track record of finding new efficiencies in financial processes. He will expedite smooth transactions with clients, and provide oversight of internal budget and financial operations. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, with an accounting emphasis, from California State University, Long Beach. In his free time, Kyung likes to snowboard, hike, and watch movies and sports. 

Welcome aboard, Kanad, Kyung and Prince!

Topics: mobile technology, technology, market research, data science, software engineering

5 Facts You Should Know About Mobile Representation & Consumer Insights

Posted by MFour on May 9, 2018 9:30:00 AM

Blog cord cut 9May18

Here’s a statistic consumer insights professionals might consider memorizing: Pew Research Center now reports that 20% of adult Americans rely solely on smartphones for their internet access. That’s up from 13% who reported relying on mobile phones alone in a Pew study in 2015.

Your own data needs to be representative across whatever demographic you’re trying to understand. Which means you need to reach the public where it lives. Just as railroad stations gave way to airports as the main hubs of physical journeys, personal computers are giving way to mobile for consumers' digital journeys. That’s especially true for crucial, traditionally “hard to find” Hispanics, African Americans and young-adult consumers. Reaching out to them on a personal computer for consumer surveys is barking up the wrong device. Data from Pew studies conducted in January, 2018 and in 2015 shows why:

  • Hispanics: 35% are now smartphone-only, up from 23% in Pew’s 2015 study.
  • Ages 18-29: 28% are smartphone-only, up from 19% in 2015.
  • African Americans: 24% are now smartphone-only users, up from 19% in 2015.
  • Whites: 14% are smartphone-only in 2018, up from 10% in 2015.
  • Age 65 and older: Even among these slower adopters, smartphone-only use is now at 10% of the senior population, up from 7% in 2015.

One obvious takeaway is that in order to reach the representative slices of the public that market research requires, it has be done with mobile. But what you need to know is a bit more nuanced than that. We'll tell you why in our next blog post, so stay tuned. In the meantime (or at any time), you can have a personal, one-on-one info session and demo on state-of-the-art mobile research capabilities, simply by clicking here

Topics: mobile insights, mobile research, mobile surveys, mobile technology, technology, mobile apps, smartphone apps, smartphones, consumer insights

3 Friday Insights Into Mobile Research

Posted by admin on Oct 7, 2016 11:02:43 AM

Here's your Friday roundup of 3 items from our blog to keep you up to speed on mobile research as you head into the weekend.

 

Whatever else you do, don't forget to check at the bottom for something to mobilize your spirits and get you humming.

 

Talking Technology With 1,000 Millennials

 

Trump v Clinton Mudsling Splatters MR

 

Follow Facebook's Lead...Into Mobile

 

And here's a Friday tune to send you smiling into your weekend.

Topics: MFour Mobile Research, clinton, Facebook, technology, MFour Blog, millennials, mobile, trump

1,000-Millennial Study: Views on Technology

Posted by admin on Oct 3, 2016 9:48:46 AM

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To wind up the first phase of MFour’s Millennial Insights Project, here's Part 3, on Millennials' views on Technology & Lifestyle -- with a focus on the smartphones and other computing devices that are the dominant technology in their lives.

Our study aims to generate insights into this crucial, much-analyzed consumer cohort of more than 75 million Americans, while demonstrating to the market research industry that the fastest, most reliable and effective way to reach Millennials is on the devices that define them -- the smartphones from which, as the results below show, they are in many cases literally inseparable. 

The data for this report -- and for the  previous segments on Millennials & Entertainment and Millennials & Money and Finance -- was obtained through the first wide-ranging, demographically representative study of Millennials undertaken solely by smartphone app. The fundamental premise is that Millennials are best engaged -- and will have the most comfortable and productive survey-taking experience -- on the mobile devices  that fully engage them in all phases of their lives.

Using MFourDIY™,  the first all-mobile, do-it-yourself survey platform, we obtained 1,000 validated responses within two hours from Millennials on the million-member active panel that uses the Surveys on the Go® smartphone app. The 30-question survey covered Entertainment, Money & Finance and Technology & Lifestyles, giving a representative picture of the U.S. Millennial population by sex, age, race/ethnicity, income and employment status.

These are key insights on how Millennials use smartphones and other computing devices.

Mobile is Multiple: Smartphone owners haven’t abandoned other computing devices – as long as those other devices meet the portability test. 87.1% also own a laptop, and 71.4% have a tablet.

But Smartphones are Essential: 92.3% of Millennials said they use their phones at least several times a day, compared to 32.1% for laptops. 44.9% said they spend at least five hours a day on their smartphones – compared to 23.3% who spend five or more hours on a personal computer (desktop or laptop). 79.3% of Millennials use their phones at least two hours a day, compared to 45.7% for personal computers.

Only 3.8% of respondents said they use their smartphones less than an hour a day. Millennials are far more likely to make sparing use of laptops and/or desktops - 26.3% report using them less than an hour a day.

A Constant Companion: 45.3% of Millennials say they keep their smartphones with them 24-7. 93.2% say they keep their phones on their persons or nearby at least 10 hours a day.

Minorities are Really Into Their Phones: Majorities of African Americans (57.1%) and Hispanics (51.6%) reported spending five hours or more per day on their phones; Asians (42%) also exceeded Caucasians (38.9%) when it came to epic phone usage.

Desktops are Bottoming Out: Millennials are pushing the granddaddy of personal computers into retirement. Only 45.2% of them own a desktop; men are the diehards, with 50.6% still holding on to desktops, compared to just 39.8% of women. Affluence is another predictor for ownership of what most Millennials apparently perceive as a luxury they can live without. 54.2% of respondents living in households with annual incomes of at least $75,000 said they had a desktop as well as a smartphone. Desktop ownership in Millennial households with earnings under $50,000 was 42%.

Only one-third of Millennials (33.1%) say they use a desktop computer at least once a day. Almost as many (30%) are now using wearable devices such as smart watches at least once a day.

Whole Lotta Checkin’ Goin’ On: 88.7% of Millennials check text messages the moment they get them. They’re considerably less compulsive about social media and app notifications (41.2% and 40.5%, respectively, get checked immediately). Email continues to trend downward -- just 35.3% get opened right away. 51% check their apps' push notifications at least once an hour, compared to 48.6% for email. 

OK With Their OS: Overall, Millennials seem satisfied with whatever smartphone operating system they’re using now. Those saying they were likely or very likely to switch (25.6%) were outnumbered two-to-one by those who said they were unlikely or very unlikely to make a change (51.9%). That left 22.5% who could go either way.

However, there were  differences  in the degree of loyalty commanded by Apple's iOS system and Google's Android. They were comparable when it came to their shares of loyal users -- -- 53.8% of iOS users and 50.4% of Android users said they were likely or very likely not to switch devices. But on the other end, Android users were twice as likely to express  discontent: 32.9% said they were likely or very likely to switch to a different OS, compared to 16.7% for iOS.

Can Google poach some of the 29.5% of iOS users who said they were neutral about keeping their current system, while persuading the 16.7% of neutral Android users to stay? Can Apple succeed in prying loose the one-third of Android-using Millennials who apparently are unimpressed with Google's system? Or, with nearly half of Millennials either poised to change operating systems or sitting on the fence, is there an opening for other system designers to compete?

Meet Your Next App: When it comes to discovering new apps to download, Millennials rank advice from family and friends (61%), social media (60.4%) and Apple and Google’s app stores (56.7%) as by far the biggest influences. The advertising about apps that's most likely to influence them is the kind they they receive through an app -- 33..6% of Millennials cited in-app advertising as a factor, compared to 23.4% who said ads on television, radio or in print media helped them discover new apps. News coverage ranked last as a portal to discovering, cited as an influence by 15.1%.

When it came to using  social media to discover apps to download, women were notably more active than men -- 67.6% to 53.2%. The same goes for legacy advertising (television, radio and print), cited by 27.4% of women and 19.4% of men. African Americans also stood out in citing legacy advertising channels as a source of information about apps – 37.1% compared to 22.6% of Hispanics and 20.5% of Caucasians. 

Just A Few Go A Long Way: About half of Millennials (50.7%) use 4 to 6 different mobile apps per day. At the extremes, just 15.4% use no more than 3 apps daily, and 13.5% use 10 or more. App usage varies little across ethnicities, age segments and gender.

Methodology

 

Using MFourDIY, the market research industry’s first all-mobile, do-it-yourself platform for designing and carrying out studies, MFour fielded a 30-question survey on Sept. 10 to Millennials who make up about 60% of its million-member active panel, all of whom participate in research via the Surveys on the Go® app for smartphones and tablets. Fielding time was less than two hours for 1,000 validated responses.

Responses reflected U.S. Millennials’ demographic profile: 50% male, 50% female; 56% Caucasian, 19% Hispanic/Latino, 14% African American/Black, 5% Asian, 1% each for Middle Eastern, Pacific Islanders and Native Americans/Alaskans; 3% Other. Age brackets were 18-24 (36%), 25-29 (31%) and 30-36 (33%). The study also segmented respondents by whether they were parents of children under 18, their type of work (full-time blue collar and white collar, part-time, unemployed), and their income (six brackets from $25,000 or less to $100,000 or more).

To read our previous reports, for Part 1, Entertainment, click here.

For Part 2, Money & Finance, click here

To view  all survey data, visit  surveysonthego.net/tracker and use these login credentials:

Username: MillennialCaseStudy

Password: MFourMillennials

Topics: MFour Mobile Research, News, technology, MFour Blog, millennials, smartphones

New Tech Talent at MFour

Posted by admin on Nov 12, 2015 10:58:55 AM

Screen Shot 2015-11-11 at 1.58.32 PMMFour has just hired Roger Nolasco as senior systems administrator for the firm. As senior systems administrator, Nolasco is responsible for the upkeep, configuration and efficient operations of the MFour computer systems and server. Nolasco comes to MFour from Distribution Service Technologies, LLC, where he supported infrastructure.

Linux+ certified, most of what Nolasco knows is self-taught. He attended Irvine Valley College as a computer science major, attributing his education there to his current success.

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Roger was also mentioned in Quirks "Daily News Queue Publication's" In the News section. Great to have you on board!

Topics: MFour Mobile Research, new hire, roger nolasco, technology, MFour Blog

PACE-USC Education Poll Results

Posted by admin on Aug 26, 2015 3:33:19 PM

inthenews

Click here to view crosstabs

Click here to view topline

Topics: mfour, mobile research, mobile surveys, technology, MFour Blog

MFour in the News - August 2015

Posted by admin on Aug 12, 2015 12:23:42 PM

inthenews

 

August is a busy month for MFour, with new hires, rollout of MediaMatch 360° technology, and news of our impending expansion to Newport Beach. Here are some of MFour's recent press mentions below, including coverage by Quirks, Research-Live, and Daily Research News Online.

New Hires

MFour welcomed Andrea Han to the team as Senior Research Consultant. Han comes with 16 years of quantitative market research experience, click here to see press coverage by Research-Live

MediaMatch 360° Rollout

MediaMatch 360° launched, a product that integrates media matching technology, validates consumer behavior, and tests recall & behavior with a real-time view of consumers. Click here to see press coverage by: Quirks, by Research-Live, and by Daily Research News Online

MFour Expansion News

MFour is moving to a 14,000 square foot office in Newport Beach , effective November 1, to accommodate the growth of the company and its staff. Click here to see press coverage by Quirks and Daily Research News Online

Topics: new hires, daily news queue, daily research news online, mediamatch 360, mfour, mobile research, mobile surveys, News, quirks, technology, mfour expansion, newport beach, research live

MFour Mobile Research Expanding Headquarters

Posted by admin on Aug 11, 2015 11:16:42 AM

newport building

“Company doubling research and development staff in 2015”

National mobile market research company MFour Mobile Research is tripling its office space and relocating to larger offices to support the rapid growth of the business and its staff. The move will be effective November 1, 2015 to Newport Beach Gateway, where the offices will overlook Newport Beach’s Upper Back Bay Preserve.

MFour will occupy more than 14,000 square feet of space in its new building, compared to the 3,800 square feet it occupies at its current space. When asked about the move, MFour CEO Chris St. Hilaire explained, “it is important to get our growing staff on one floor so we remain collaborative as we continue to establish best practices for mobile market research designs and fielding.”

The larger space reflects the collaborative nature of the company and its core values, featuring an open floor plan, 3 conference rooms, quiet rooms for sales staff, along with work-life amenities such as an on-site gym and bistro.

MFour Mobile Research is the mobile market research industry leader. With its native app, Surveys on the Go® and the largest mobile panel in the industry, MFour leverages the advanced technologies found in todays mobile devices to acquire more accurate research data and reach the hardest-to-find demographic groups.

For more information about MFour Mobile Research, please visit mfour.com or call 714.754.1234 and ask for Allison Fletcher.

Topics: new hires, mfour, mobile research, mobile surveys, News, technology, MFour Blog, mfour expansion, newport beach

Game Changing New Technology in Market Research - MediaMatch 360°™

Posted by admin on Aug 11, 2015 11:11:42 AM

“Largest U.S. Mobile Panel Integrates Media Matching Technology for Breakthrough Media Measurement Tool”

COSTA MESA, Calif. - MFour Mobile Research, the mobile market research industry leader, recently announced MediaMatch 360°™. This new product validates consumer exposure, tests recall & behavior with the first 24/7 real-time view of consumers, on the nation’s largest all-mobile Smartphone panel. Clients see total ad exposures and survey panelists in real-time.

• AdMatch™: Validate exposure by region, age, gender, measure ad recall & overall appeal, monitor behavior shifts & report data in real-time dashboards.

• VideoMatch™: Measure source and video content exposure, gauge effectiveness against competitors & view immediate dashboard reporting in real-time.

• RadioMatch™: Gauge on-air talent with follow-up surveys, validate music exposure by region, age, gender & measure drive-time media consumption against competition by MSA/markets.

Measure the world around you through your mobile device.

For more information about MFour Mobile Research, please visit www.mfour.com or call 714-754-1234 and ask for Allison Fletcher.

Topics: mediamatch 360, mfour, mobile research, mobile surveys, News, technology, MFour Blog, radiomatch, videomatch, admatch, media measurement

April Fools “Panel Going All Beeper, All the time!"

Posted by admin on Apr 11, 2015 9:37:44 AM

April Fools Blog 11Apr15

MFour Abandons All-Mobile Panel in Favor of "Beeper Technology."

Stating emphatically, "Mobile is dead...the return of the beeper is near," MFour CEO Chris St. Hilaire announced today the company will immediately close its 600,000 active person, mobile panel in favor of beeper-respondants wearing "super cool" belt clips.

While recent statistics indicate that more than 75% of Americans carry smartphones and that more people access the internet through smartphones than online desktop computers, even more Americans own belts, and there's hardly anything to attach to them, according to St. Hilaire.

"I own one smartphone and four belts. I have a blue one, two blacks ones and a reversible one that I grew out of after the kids were born and I stopped having time to work out...but that's not important right now," said St. Hilaire.

The new four-step methodology is brilliant in its design: First, respondent attaches a beeper to their belt and waits for a "beep beep." Second, they hear a "beep beep" and immediately head to the nearest phone booth. Third, they insert a quarter and dial the number back. Fourth, they take the survey.

MFour expects the technology to take hold even quicker than online panels are dying. For questions about our super cool beepers, open your rolodex, look up our number, head to a phone booth and give us a call. Either that or fax us. Happy April 1st everyone.

Topics: beeper, methodology, mfour, mobile research, mobile surveys, technology, MFour Blog, april fools, smart phones

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