The Survey

Sometime around May we

start getting calls from anxious vendors and their PR agencies… How will you decide

the winners? Is there a change in the survey? Are there any new categories? Any old ones

dropped? Some of the more adventurous even want to know a way to ensure an award.

Our answer to the last question has been consistent over

the last eleven years: build a product that the user will covet more than any other, and

they’ll anoint you the winner.

The answers to the remaining questions vary from year to

year. We answer some of them before the survey starts, while some become apparent only

after the results are in.

How are the winners decided? COLOR="#000000">

The size="2">PC Quest User’s Choice award winners are decided by a survey of users

and purchase decision-makers of IT products.

face="Arial" size="2">How do you decide whom to survey? COLOR="#000000">

The survey is carried out amongst face="Arial" size="2">PC Quest’s core audience–computer users in a

connected workplace.

This year, the survey was carried out in two parallel

phases. In the first phase, we drew a sample of ten thousand respondents from the

subscriber database of PC Quest, Dataquest, Voice& Data, and Computers@Home.

The criterion for selection was demographic information: In a connected workplace, the

person should be a computer user or a decision-maker of IT products purchase. We got a

thousand valid responses by the cut-off date.

In parallel, we did a field survey in seven

cities–Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Calcutta, Hyderabad, and

Bangalore–covering approximately 500 respondents. These were IT purchase-decision

makers from corporates, who didn’t subscribe to any of these magazines.

Thus, the winners were decided from 1,500 users and

decision-makers.

face="Arial" size="2">How do you decide the categories? COLOR="#000000">

We cover product areas that are relevant to a large

cross-section of users. Every year, the survey covers more product categories than are

finally reported. We decide the categories on the basis of



the number of purchase-preference


of the respondents. Some old categories


are thus dropped and new ones


added.

Sometimes, we drop categories for other reasons too. For

instance, last year we dropped Office Suites because it was a one horse race. This year,

we’ve dropped CVTs and Servos–with the steep fall in UPS prices, there’s no

reason why even individual computer users should opt for a CVT or a Servo. COLOR="#ff0000">

face="Arial" size="2">Do you give away participating products as a gift to the

respondents?

Giving away any product that’s

a potential winner as a complementary gift to the respondents could influence the voting. face="Arial" size="2">PC Quest will never do this.

However, we do give out a PC Quest mouse-pad for

every valid form before the last date. Plus, a PC Quest T-shirt for 100 valid

entries, based on a draw. Neither item is sponsored by any vendor. COLOR="#ff0000">

What do you ask in the survey? COLOR="#000000">

alt="https://img-cdn.thepublive.com/filters:format(webp)/pcq/media/post_attachments/03cbbd30251d5107deb64824203b0c2bec04bc48fce0b74b25346be78b9b96f0.JPG (17870 bytes)" align="left"> COLOR="#000000">For each category, we ask the respondents to name the brand they are

currently using, and the brand they would buy in the next six months. And also, the top

two (of the five listed) reasons for the choice. Demographic information like designation,

organization’s turnover, etc, is also collected.

What exactly does the User’s Choice award mean? COLOR="#000000">

The size="2">PC Quest User’s Choice award is not a measure of current market

share. It’s about mindshare. These awards reflect the users’ perception of

different brands and vendors, and act as barometers to aspiration levels for various

brands.

Increased mindshare does lead to increased market share,

later if not sooner.