On Wed, Sep 1, 2010 at 9:55 AM, Jesse Wilkins <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
>
>
> As many of you know, a presentation on the ROI of (RM, imaging, Twitter for
> that matter) just never seems to be complete without the statistics from
> the
> oft-cited, yet never seen, PriceWaterhouseCoopers study. I've seen
> citations
> of it claiming to be from 1996, when it was performed by Coopers Lybrand.
> So
> two questions for this august body:
>

actually citations go back to the 1980s when I remember seeing it first



>
> 1.       Anyone with academic database access wanna look for these? I have
> tried Google and Microsoft's academic search engines with the same result:
> many cites, no listing for the original. But maybe it's in a better one out
> there somewhere?
>
>
seriously doubt that it would show up in an academic database. The 'study'
was in all likelihood done for a client or on commission and as such
probably won't show up in such databases.

the first thing to do if someone really really really wanted to track down
this 'study' would be to do a literature check from the 1980s. that check
would include the various trade magazines that existed back then. We don't
even know what CoopersLybrand office conducted the study. That would be the
first piece in the puzzle. Back then the offices of companies like
CoopersLybrand operated like semi-autonomous fiefdoms able to do what they
wanted. Other pieces are when was it produced, what is its official title,
was it commissioned by a customer or was it done on CL's nickel? I suspect
it was a commissioned work

but the numbers really won't tell us much without knowing the methodology
used.
One-off studies like this one are a snapshot in time and serve no real
purpose. The real value would have been if the firm had conducted the same
study year after year after year to confirm the initial findings or show
changes over time.

It is incumbent upon us that when we see such citations used is to ask the
individual touting the study to ask if they have seen the study and if so
can they provide a copy. If they say no then ask the how they can tout the
study or accept its veracity without having read it.

i'm half-way tempted to ask snopes.com to investigate this urban legend

-- 
Peter Kurilecz CRM CA
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Richmond, Va
http://twitter.com/RAINbyte
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/RAINbyte/
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