I was recruited to the research business from the client side. I understand that research dollars are hard fought for and need to deliver clear value. The best research, and most of our research, is focused on informing key decisions at critical moments. I stayed on the vendor side because I discovered that our understanding of how opinion forms and changes has taken a huge leap forward since the early 90s and that every year social scientists are making new advances in this understanding. Since research is where the big breakthroughs in communications are happening, I stuck with it.Now, through INNOVATIVE, I work with a bright young team that creates proprietary tools and approaches that apply academic breakthroughs to real world problems.Specialties: INNOVATIVE's primary research focus is on Corporate Affairs (corporate reputation, communications testing, siting infrastructure, issue and crisis management); Brands and Marketing (building deeper relationships with customers and winning new ones); Stakeholder and Public Engagements (seeking audience input into decisions that impact them); Public Affairs (policy and politics); and Philanthropy (donor attitudes, financial benchmarks, geo-demographic targeting).Our tools include all forms of qualitative including dial groups and survey research that goes beyond basic top line analysis and asks who and why using advanced multivariate techniques.