ABOUT US
Abacus Data Inc. is a full-service strategic research firm located in Ottawa that specializes in millennial and young Canadian market research, public affairs research, and building affordable online community panels.
Abacus Data was founded because there is a need in the strategic research sector for more research professionals who are highly trained but aren’t stuck in the same old way of doing things. We are committed to providing insightful findings that drive strategic decision making by linking our commitment to research fundamentals with an in-depth knowledge of our clients and our unconventional analysis of data.
Our work is guided by our commitment to our clients, the research process, and looking at things differently. These values mean that all reports, recommendations, and analyses produced by Abacus Data are supported by rigourously tested data, collected following the highest standards in research methodology.
Often communication breaks down between organizations, the public, and other stakeholders because neither speaks the other’s language. At Abacus Data, we translate the attitudes and opinions of the public and other stakeholder for clients. This helps them make better decisions.
Abacus Data has conducted public opinion research studies for some of North America’s leading public and private sector corporations in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Our team of research professionals can manage all your research needs, both quantitative and qualitative. What’s different is how we interpret the data. We go deeper, use more advanced methods, and never make a recommendation we cannot back up with rigourous analysis.
No two research questions are the same. Neither is the method for answering them. What makes us different is our approach.
The Abacus Data approach to research has three parts:
Research Fundamentals
We believe that there is a right way and a wrong way to conduct research. A commitment to detail and research fundamentals means that in all our work, we uphold the traditions of the research process. We start every project by working with clients to identify a core set of research questions. From there we develop a set of hypotheses and design a research program to collect data that allows us to test those hypotheses. This targeted research approach ensures that the data collection and analysis is focused on what is most important to the client and is more likely to produce results that will add value and confidence to decision making.
Clients trust us as their research partners to look after all the details in designing a research project. Sampling techniques, questionnaire design, significance testing and many other considerations enter into designing research projects. Abacus Data’s team is highly trained in research methodologies and its CEO has taught research methods to many university students. Maintaining the integrity of the research tradition is Abacus Data’s top priority.
Knowing Our Clients
Knowing our client and their business objectives and problems is critical a successful research partnership. Part of our job as researchers is to ask questions of our clients and help them identify their core research questions. To do that, we have to know and understand the business environment and the particular challenges facing the organization.
An advantage to working with Abacus Data is our flexibility in the initial background stage. Our team can visit our client’s office, get to know some of its staff, and see first-hand the products, services, or ideas it is trying to sell. We become as familiar with our clients as they require before moving on to the research stage. We do our own research before recommending research solutions to our clients.
A Fresh Perspective
Partnering with Abacus Data also means your organization is working with a team who values unconventional and organic thinking. No idea is too crazy. No interpretation too radical. The key is whether the data can back it up.
It’s not uncommon for the Abacus Data team to assemble in the same room and work through a research design or debate the assumptions and findings of a particular study. The best analysis can’t be done by a single person locked up in a cubicle. Ideas need room to breath and grow – it is this organic, team approach to data analysis that we are most proud of because it gives our clients rigourously tested analyses that can be supported by the data we collected.
“When you look for a research partner – you want just that – a partner. It’s a question of commitment and focus and getting to know our client’s business. That’s the Abacus Data difference.”
- Dr. David Coletto, Abacus Data CEO
