NextFluentThe overnight brief
ChatGPT writes it well, and it puts a percentage in it. That percentage may come from the question next to the one you meant, and you cannot tell from the brief. Your file is now in the chat.
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They will still give you a number.
Ask ChatGPT, a statistics package, or a survey warehouse the Harborline question about next season. That question was never asked in the next-season wave. All three tools answer anyway, from the nearest column they can find. Fieldlock leaves the card blank, shows you the 25% it refused to count, and tells you which question that 25% belongs to.
What you probably already use
The tables and the deck
A statistics package is the right tool for building the weights and the slides. It counts whichever question you point at, which is fine when you point at the right one and silent when you do not.
Every study on one screen
A warehouse lines up many surveys and can turn them into one blended percentage. That works on a dashboard. It gets awkward when a client asks which question the number came from.
Harborline, both seasons.
Last season is 20% of 100, unweighted, from retailers who delisted because of the hygiene score. Next season is blank, with the look-alike question and its 25% shown as not counted. Run it again a year later and the receipt matches. Your client can ask the same study from their own page. Keep ChatGPT for the brief and the statistics package for the slides. Fieldlock is where the number comes from.
What actually goes wrong
| In the meeting | A chat on the file | Fieldlock |
|---|---|---|
| Wrong question | Counts a nearby question that happens to be in the file. | Counts the question you asked. If it is not there, there is no percentage. |
| Wrong number | Can invent a percentage, or mix two answer lists together. | Counts that question only. Run it twice and the receipt matches. |
| Next season | Answers from whatever is in the new file. | Will not copy last season’s 20% onto a question that was not asked. |
| Several studies | One prompt becomes one blended percentage. | Each study answers on its own. Nothing is averaged together. |
| The weight | Ignores the weight column, or applies it without saying so. | Applies the file’s own weight and names it. The unweighted figure sits beside the weighted one. |
| A 1–5 question | Picks a reading for you and calls it “satisfaction”. | Names the box it counted: top 2, bottom 2, or the mean on 1–5. Don’t-know codes stay out. |
| “Average spend” | Averages the column, 999 for “refused” included. | A mean on the people who gave a number. The refused and don’t-know codes are named and left out. |
| “Up from last wave” | Says so if the number went up. | Tests the change on the two bases at the 95% level and says whether it is real or within what chance would give. With a weight, the test uses the effective bases. |
| “Why only 484?” | Shows the base and leaves you to find the questionnaire. | Works the routing out from the blanks in the file and says who was asked: “Asked only of the 484 who ticked the brand on the awareness question.” |
| A look-alike question | Picks one and tells you the number. | Counts the one you asked. Then it counts the look-alike as well, and tells you if the figure depends on which one you meant. |
| “By region” | Writes a table, fills a group of three people with a percentage, and leaves the reading to you. | Cuts the count by that question. Each column gets a letter, and the card marks which columns it is higher than at the 95% level. A group under five people is held back and says so. |
| Your client | Gets a deck, and emails you when they want one more number. | Gets a page where they ask for themselves. You see every question they asked. The file stays with you. |
| The file | The chat keeps the upload. | The percentage is not written by a language model. Invite only. Stored in the EU. |
Get Fieldlock
€2,400 a year for the desk. €3,600 with a page for one client. Or count your own file in the browser first, free.