Hey everyone, have you ever felt frustrated with the word cloud tools available for your market research? I certainly have. As a seasoned market researcher, I rely on word clouds to visualize data in reports. However, the word cloud tools my colleagues and I used often had significant problems, such as inconsistent word counts, duplicated terms, and missing words, turning valuable data visualizations into misleading representations.
Determined to find a better solution, I decided to build my own tool in R, leading to the creation of InsightCloud. This ShinyR application is designed to bring accuracy and ease of use to word cloud creation and open-ended survey analysis.
InsightCloud: Features and Benefits
InsightCloud is a versatile tool designed to streamline your market research and survey analysis. Here’s what it offers:
- Upload and Analyze Excel Files: Easily upload your open-ended survey data along with any filter columns (e.g., age, segment, likelihood).
- Dynamic Filtering and Visualization: Apply filters to analyze specific groups within both a table and a word cloud that dynamically reacts to your selections.
- Custom Groupings: Work with numeric data to create custom groupings for attributes like age and ratings.
- Keyword Search and Quote Extraction: Use the word cloud to find keywords and search the table for detailed responses, making it easy to extract and use the best quotes in your market research reports.
Try It Yourself!
The Problem with Word Cloud Tools
Let me take you through my journey of developing this tool and how it can transform your survey analysis.
Many word cloud tools rely on behind-the-scenes ‘magic’ that distorts data accuracy. As a market researcher, I wanted a tool that provides exact word frequencies without manual tweaks or guesswork. My initial introduction to R scripting was motivated by this need for precision in text analytics, aiming to create accurate word clouds for market research.
The Birth of My R Script
I started by reading books on text analytics in R, experimenting with the Gutenberg project packages, and reading through countless Stack Overflow threads. After much trial and error, I developed a script that generated word clouds with exact word frequencies. However, this script was too complex for many of those unfamiliar with R scripting, requiring manual data input and code adjustments for each iteration.
Discovering ShinyR: A Game Changer
The project took a significant leap forward when I discovered ShinyR, an R package that allows the creation of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for R applications. ShinyR enabled me to transform my script into an accessible and user-friendly application. Over a very long and tireless week, I built an interface that anyone could use. The tool now supported dynamic analysis of both single words (monograms) and two-word combinations (bigrams), far surpassing the capabilities of earlier versions and other word cloud generators for market research I had seen in the past.
Evolving into a Comprehensive Data Explorer
While my tool was now accurate and user-friendly, it still needed refinement. I use word clouds not just for report visuals but as an exploratory tool to quickly identify key information in datasets. This requires an efficient way to filter and visualize specific groups of responses and see the actual data behind the word clouds.
In 2022, I was commissioned by the Burning Man Census Team to create a data explorer for their short open-ended surveys, which had never been publicized. This project involved working with static tables where I knew the headers and types of data in each column. It allowed me to refine my tool further, ensuring it was robust and user-friendly.
Upon completing the project, I realized I needed a version of the tool that could handle dynamic datasets with unknown headers and columns. This led to the current version of InsightCloud, a comprehensive tool for market research.
InsightCloud is a game-changer for market researchers, offering precision, flexibility, and ease of use. Whether you’re looking to create accurate word clouds or explore in-depth open-ended survey analysis, this tool has you covered. Although will continue to evolve, InsightCloud has already become a comprehensive solution for analyzing survey open-ends. By transforming how we visualize and interact with data, it’s a must-have tool for any market researcher.
Give InsightCloud a try and experience the difference! I’d love to hear your feedback and see how it enhances your market research workflow. Oh ya, I also made this slick YouTube video to help if needed.
Hemispheres helps people understand their customers as well-rounded individuals. It’s an approach we call Research for Humans. Let’s continue the conversation…reach out at hello@hemispheresinsights.com
Matt Collins is a Senior Strategist at Hemispheres, where he leads diverse research projects by integrating his anthropology and psychology background and creative passions in video. Since joining in 2015, his innovative methods, including the development of R script tools for unstructured text data analysis and high production video deliverables, have revolutionized consumer insight capture. With a B.A. in Psychology and Anthropology from Washington State University, Matt expertly blends academic rigor with creative expression. In his spare time, he enjoys backpacking, film photography, and composing music.