In the past, we conducted the Car Reliability Survey every quarter because people’s memories didn’t seem good enough to go much longer between surveys. Well, we now have proof that solid stats cannot be derived from annual surveys–even though both Consumer Reports and JD Power have long relied on these. The survey conducted earlier this year covered all of 2021.… More →
Category: Research Methods
Research Methods
How many of the people who start the survey finish it?
One big change with the new car reliability survey process is we now save and track partial responses. I have wondered how many of these we’d end up with. How many people who start the survey wouldn’t finish it? We now have an answer. At this point we have 233 partial responses. While this is 233 more than I’d like… More →
How up-to-date are TrueDelta’s stats? Our timetable.
Other car reliability surveys can spend nearly six months from when their survey starts to when they release any results. I designed TrueDelta’s process to provide stats that can be over a year ahead of others, and are never based on data more than five months old. Here’s what our quarterly schedule looks like, using the current quarter as an… More →
Hitting the Numbers
It’s a crazy November in our house, so much so that I’ve given nary a thought to my 44th birthday, now just days away. Our daughter, the oldest of our three children, is having her bat mitzvah this weekend. The complexity is just short of a wedding. At the same time, even as she organizes the bat mitzvah Gayla has… More →
Car Reliability Survey severity question
For years people have been critical of car reliability surveys for not weighting problems by their severity. TrueDelta has had a couple of questions that touch upon severity. One asked if the car had to be towed. Another asked if the car could have been dependably driven for another week. But fewer than ten percent of reported repairs have been… More →
New survey system a success
Three months ago I changed the survey system to greatly reduce the number of emails to Car Reliability Survey participants. And I’ve been very worried about this change ever since. With fewer emails might we end up with fewer responses? Or fewer repairs being reported, and so lower quality data? These are the questions that keep me awake at night.… More →
Car Reliability Survey upgrades: real-time reporting
In designing the Car Reliability Survey and the emails that support it, I’ve had to balance many factors, among them the human memory (or lack thereof), clarity, and the number of emails. The survey has been on a rigid cadence, always covering the previous month. Emails for it went out every month, so anyone with a repair to report could… More →
Is it fair to rate luxury car reliability on the same scale?
A new blog for the Land Rover Freelander charges that it’s not fair to rate the Freelander’s reliability using the same scale for all cars. The two reasons given: luxury car buyers are pickier, and luxury cars have more features. It might or might not be true that luxury car buyers are pickier. Many people have suggested this, but I’ve… More →
July is finally over. Well, almost.
The survey covering June ended today. July was not an easy month. The response rate was running two to three percent below the norm for much of the month. Not good, as this would have nearly cancelled out all of the people who joined in the last three months. And I’m not much for running unless it gets me somewhere.… More →
Can we clear up some misunderstandings?
The emails we receive suggest that many people misunderstand TrueDelta and its research process. Here I’ll attempt to address the most common misunderstandings. Misunderstanding #1: TrueDelta wants survey responses many times a month. Reality: We usually only need a survey response the first month you’re eligible to participate, then at the end of every quarter after that (four times a… More →