The Perception Analyzer®: Real-Time Public Opinion Tool Gets an Upgrade

If you've read me before, you know I've long been a proponent of getting en masse public opinion in real time. A few of my pieces once expounded on the negatives behind fragmentation of polls and how an instantaneous national poll or larger scoop of information for our next census would ultimately benefit us in knowing the truth of collective thinking. Fortunately, I found out not long ago that similar technology has already been around since 1984, though used quietly in the shadows of politics.

But it's recently been taken to a new level by a brilliant businessman named David Paull. As President of his company Dialsmith based in Portland, OR, he acquired, distributes, promotes and develops this technology on a wider scale.

If it all sounds familiar, then you've likely seen this tech used on CNN during the 2008 Presidential debates. It's also been used on Fox News recently via political public opinion ringmaster Frank Luntz to gauge real-time opinions on Presidential candidates.

Consider it fortuitous then that I began communicating with Paull on Twitter when his public opinion device called the Perception Analyzer® was used during a debate of governor candidates on KGW in Portland. David graciously accepted my offer for an online interview to get a better understanding of how the Perception Analyzer® works while giving due credit to the true distributor and developer of this device.

Through his company's vision, you'll see here what Dialsmith has in mind for the future and how it could eventually bring better clarity to how we deal with politics, entertainment or even jury selections and product evaluations:

GB: What persuaded you to start Dialsmith in Portland, OR? Was it to initially gauge political opinion?

DP: As for why Portland, the reason is because that's where we've been for years and it's a great town for running a business and being a technology developer. We work with clients throughout the U.S. and around the world and are on the road a lot, but it's always great to be back in Portland.

I had been running the Perception Analyzer business under its previous owner since 2001 and our main focus was on marketing, media, litigation, and public opinion research. Over the years new opportunities opened up in the areas of meetings and events, and judging and scoring. So I acquired the Perception Analyzer business in 2009 and started Dialsmith. We continue to work closely with firms globally in all aspects of opinion research, as well corporate clients for meetings, conferences, and events. While the Perception Analyzer has been around since the mid-80s and has its roots in political and public policy research, Dialsmith is working to take the technology to the next level.

GB: How would you describe to an uninitiated person how the Perception Analyzer works?

DP: The Perception Analyzer is what's generally known as an audience response, or audience polling system. Hand-held dials allow your audience to give continuous, anonymous feedback-in the moment. This is important for two reasons; 1) all researchers understand that group discussion can allow people to be influenced by one another and use of the Perception Analyzer first allows participants to record their independent opinions, 2) unlike with focus group questioning, the Perception Analyzer also allows researchers to overlay real-time opinions with what is being presented: a campaign speech, a television pilot, etc. It enables them to tell precisely what IS and IS NOT connecting with the audience.

The Perception Analyzer is used extensively for testing television programming, commercial ads, and political speeches and debates, as well as for product development, message testing, and research on brand development, product packaging, market positioning, and more. Questions and test materials get programmed into the Perception Analyzer software in advance and are then displayed to participants during the session. Results are collected from the dials in real-time and used to drive the group discussion, and for further analysis following the session(s).

GB: The Perception Analyzer appears easy to use without distraction. But do you usually monitor the audiences using it to make sure they use it correctly?

DP: That's a good question. The dials are very easy to use, and the LED display gives a lot of additional cues. That said, we do give a quick set of instructions to be sure everyone is totally comfortable.

In a Q&A setting, where we are looking for finite answers (yes/no, discrete choice, scale of 1 - 10, etc.), participants turn their dials to a number and leave them there. In that case, we just poll the dials and move to the next question. In a continuous, moment-to-moment setting such as a political debate or television pilot test, respondents continuously adjust their dials for anywhere from 20 minutes to 90 minutes or more. In those cases, we spend a little more time instructing respondents on how to use the dials before the actual test material begins. Of course, we do monitor the dialing during the test, just to be certain.

GB: As I mentioned to you on Twitter, my ignorance initially thought Fox News' Frank Luntz had created the Perception Analyzer due to its high-profile use by him on the news network. Now due credit for ownership is being set here. How did Luntz get involved with your company?

DP: Frank Luntz has been a long-time user of the Perception Analyzer, first through his previous research firm and now through his new firm, The Word Doctors. For Mr. Luntz's specialty of message and communications testing, the Perception Analyzer has been his go-to methodology for learning what people really think. It has often been misstated in the media that Mr. Luntz developed the technology, when in fact he has been one of our most long-standing, and as you said, high-profile, clients.

GB: Now that CNN and MSNBC have used your Perception Analyzer to obtain viewer opinions on Presidential debates, do you have other high-profile/market uses lined up for the future?

DP: We just did a project with an Austrian television network to provide on-air Perception Analyzer results for a televised presidential debate. We have also been named the exclusive scoring technology partner for a new skateboarding league launching this year and we'll be working on a new project with TED Conferences in 2011. In addition, we have clients in more than 35 countries doing exciting Perception Analyzer work both in the public eye and behind closed doors.

GB: The Commission of Presidential Debates seems to have a firm control on the structure of Presidential debating, including excluding alternate parties from participating. Would you want to see your Perception Analyzer used directly in a Presidential debate and gauge publicized audience opinion on alternate parties?

DP: Whether or not to allow alternate parties to participate is a decision for The Commission of Presidential Debates. The Perception Analyzer has been used during every U.S. election cycle for 25 years-behind the scenes either for candidates, political consultants, or for the media. But for whatever parties do participate, the Perception Analyzer is an ideal way to determine what people really think about what the candidates are saying.

GB: I see a lot of possibilities for the Perception Analyzer on an even wider scale in politics or beyond. Would you want to see it used in every household to gain real-time information for our country's census or to get a bigger picture of America's true political leanings?

DP: That's an interesting point. The truth is there are many good methods for collecting purely quantitative feedback from people in their homes or in other non-group settings. The real power of the Perception Analyzer lies in its ability to collect data on what people really think, then allowing researchers or presenters to conduct a discussion with people, in a group setting, to dig deeper on why they responded the way they did. Quantitative data collection alone does not allow for follow-up qualitative discussion and that combination is what makes the Perception Analyzer such a unique and sought-after tool.

GB: While reading through your blog and the company site, I noticed you also co-created something called ISX, or Instant Scoring eXperience. Do you have any long-term goals for its use in shaping the world of sports and entertainment?

DP: ISX - Instant Scoring eXperience™ is a scoring system built on our Perception Analyzer data collection platform and is co-developed by Dialsmith, action sports production company Media X International, and skaterboarder, TV star and entrepreneur Rob Dyrdek. The goal of ISX is to bring instant scoring to sports and reality programming that has previously been judged. That is to say, we want to help engage fans in every trick and every run of sports such as skateboarding and freestyle motocross, so they don't have to wait until well after a run has ended to know how they're favorite athlete performed. In 2010 ISX will launch as the scoring platform for Rob Dyrdek's Street League Skateboarding™ and we are also in talks with a number of other sports properties.

Learn more about the Perception Analyzer by visiting Dialsmith's official site and internal blog:

http://perceptionanalyzer.com/

http://perceptionanalyzer.com/blog