Getting Started with MRI Simmons Insights

Welcome to this tutorial on MRI Simmons Insights!

This tutorial will show you:

• How to access MRI Simmons Insights
• What kind of information is available
• How to create a simple cross-tabulation table

To get started, from the Libraries A-Z List of Databases, select “MRI Simmons Insights.”

Note: If you experience issues with this guide closing when you click on the database, try opening the guide in a separate window.

What kind of information is available?

MRI Simmons Insights provides information on demographics, lifestyles, product and brand usage, and advertising media preferences reported by a sample of over 25,000 United States consumers.

Database Interface

On the left side of the screen you should see the tool palette where you can find options to open or import other projects, save, share, or export your file, and adjust view settings.

To the right of the tool palette, you’ll find the Smart Search window where you can select the study you want to search and the type of search you want to do at the top of the page.

Dictionary Search

For the purpose of this tutorial, we’ll do a dictionary search by clicking on the Dictionary button located under “Search” near the top of the page.

There are hundreds of questions available ranging from general demographic questions such as age, education, and marital status, to specific product brand and type questions, and psychographic questions such as attitudes and opinions towards certain brands or products.

Once you’ve found a question or answer you would like to include in your table, simply drag and drop it into the area you would like to appear in – a base, a column or a row.

In most cases, the base will be the population, demographics work well as columns, and questions/answers can be added as rows.

Building a Table: Bases & Columns

To keep this table simple, we’ll leave the bases section blank to look at the total population of people who took the survey.

For the column data:

• Click on the Lifestyle (Demographics) folder, then select Demographics (Personal Information).

• Drag and drop “Gender” to the Columns section on the right-hand side of the screen.

• Click on “Age” and select “25-34”, “35-44”, “45-54”, and “55+”.

You may have noticed that as each question or answer was added to our chart, we were able to see the sample size and weighted amount for each item.

The sample size tells us what number of those who answered the survey responded with this answer. The weighted number tells us what this would be if the number was extrapolated to the entire U.S. population.

Building a Table: Rows

Now that we’ve set up our base and our columns, let’s move on to the rows of our table.

• Click on the Travel folder, then select Transportation.

• Click on “Transportation-Mode Used Average Weekday.”

• Drag and drop “Subway/Metro/Train” into the Rows section on the right.

• Click on “Transportation-Mode Used Average Weekend.”

• Drag and drop “Subway/Metro/Train” into the Rows section on the right.

• Click “Transportation-Reason Use Average Weekdy.”

• Drag and drop “Commute to Work.”

• Click “Transportation-Reason Use Average Weeknd.”

• Drag and drop “Commute to Work.”

Note: If you change your mind about something you’ve added to your table and want to remove it, click on the item to select it, then right-click and choose “Delete.”

Run Cross-Tab

Click on the arrow icon in the upper right-hand corner to run the crosstab.

Cross-Tabulation Results View

To view the cross-tab results, click “Chart Type” from the tool palette on the left and select “Crosstab View.”

You should see the demographic questions you selected in columns across the top and the transportation questions as rows on the left.

You can add a name to your table by clicking in the upper left corner next to “Enter Crosstab Name.” And you can edit the column and row names using the expandable menu button next to each column or row name.

Under “View” in the tool palette, you can toggle the different view types on and off. You can also easily see what your bases, columns, and rows are set to under “Grid.”

Note: The data in cells that are marked with one or more asterisks may be unstable and should be used with caution.

What have you learned?

Now you know how to access MRI Simmons Insights, what kind of information is available, and how to create a simple cross-tabulation table.

Thank you for using this tutorial!

If you have any questions or feedback, please contact parrlib@purdue.edu.