Skip to Main Content

Business Tutorial: MRI-Simmons Catalyst

About Quick Reports

Quick Report from MRI Simmons provides visual displays highlighting relevant consumers insights on a chosen "target". These insights include demographics, psychographics, social media usage, and geographic mapping.

This tutorial shows a demographic quick report. To learn more about the other report types, see this support document from MRI Simmons:

2.0 How to Create a Quick Report

Note: This tutorial is for the new 2.0 version of MRI Simmons

Step 1: From the "Profile" menu, select "Quick Reports".

Step 2: Click on the composer to start selecting your Quick Report elements.

Step 3: Select a study. The most recent study will be selected automatically but you can select other studies by clicking on the drop-down arrow.

Step 4: Search for your targets. Your target is the response to the study for which you would like to see the demographics. It can be a product, interest, or specific brand. You can either browse using the drop-down categories, or search for a term using the search bar.

Step 5: Narrow your target. Quick Reports will only display data for one target at a time. You may link multiple brands or interests together using the AND and OR indicators (i.e. demographics of users who indicated using both of the brands, or either of the brands selected respectively). Click EACH to add each item as a separate target, which will allow you to compare demographics for various responses later on.

 

Step 6: Add your target. Once you have selected your survey response or linked multiple responses together, click the add to Targets button, or click and drag your item to the targets box in the “Preview” window on the right side.

Step 7: Click on the Create button in the bottom right to run your Quick Report.

 

2.0 Reading a Quick Report

Step 8: Select your Quick Report type. BU offers several different types of report breakdown including demographics, psychographics, and a geographical heat map. This example shows the demographics report. For more information on each Quick Report type, see the MRI Simmons user guide.

Step 9: View and refine your report. You can change the parameters of the report by changing the study universe, the weight, or the base (such as isolating a certain age range). These parameters change depending on which report type you are viewing. You can also compare different quick reports by switching targets (see green box). This will only appear if you selected multiple targets, and can be helpful if you are comparing the demographics of different brands or interests, such as this example which looks at the demographics of Fruity Pebbles, Raisin Nut Bran, Trix, and consumers of any of the above (connected using the OR function)

Step 10: Export your report. Click the three dots in the top right corner of the report (not the dots next to the BU profile icon), and then select the format you prefer for your report.

1.0 How to Create a Quick Report

Note: This tutorial is for the old 1.0 version of MRI Simmons

Step 1: From the "Essentials" menu, select "Quick Reports".

Step 2: Select a study. The current study will be shown but you can select other studies by clicking on the drop-down arrow next to NHCS Adults

Step 3: Select your quick report type.

There are three types of quick reports available:

  1. Demographic Profile: Contains demographic variables such as age, gender and income.
  2. Segmentation: Contains segmentation breakdowns such as retail shopping, food lifestyle, technology adoption. etc.
  3. Maps: Contains a color coded map of various geographies (ex. census regions, states, etc.) of consumers who fit the targets you selected.

Step 4: Search for a product, brand or interest using the "Smart Search" box. Select a "Variable" from the list or use "Narrow Categories" to narrow down the results.
Make sure to take a close look at the list of variables due to the differences in categories. In the example below, you will see "BRANDS ALSO" which means that while consumers used this brand, it was not their most used brand, You will also see other categories such as "BRANDS MO" which means that consumers indicated that this is the brand that they used most often.

Step 5: Once you have a variable selected, choose "Target" to the right of the search box. Then click on the arrow to run the report.

 
View or Export the Demographic Data
The "Export" button is located on the left hand side of the page. The Excel spreadsheet will contain the same categories but with additional detail.

 

See the MRI Simmons support documents below for additional assistance:

1.0 Step-by Step Instructions - Trix Cereal Example

 Step 1: From the "Essentials" menu, select "Quick Reports".

Step 2: Select a study. The current study will be shown but you can select other studies by clicking on the drop-down arrow next to NHCS Adults

Step 3: Select your quick report type.

There are three types of quick reports available:

  1. Demographic Profile: Contains demographic variables such as age, gender and income.
  2. Segmentation: Contains segmentation breakdowns such as retail shopping, food lifestyle, technology adoption. etc.
  3. Maps: Contains a color coded map of various geographies (ex. census regions, states, etc.) of consumers who fit the targets you selected.

Step 4: Search for a product, brand or interest using the "Smart Search" box. Select a "Variable" from the list or use "Narrow Categories" to narrow down the results.
Make sure to take a close look at the list of variables due to the differences in categories. In the example below, you will see "BRANDS ALSO" which means that while consumers used this brand, it was not their most used brand, You will also see other categories such as "BRANDS MO" which means that consumers indicated that this is the brand that they used most often.

Step 5: Once you have a variable selected, choose "Target" to the right of the search box. Then click on the arrow to run the report.

 
View or Export the Demographic Data
The "Export" button is located on the left hand side of the page. The Excel spreadsheet will contain the same categories but with additional detail.

Look at the different tabs in the Excel spreadsheet for further demographic detail.

See the MRI Simmons support documents below for additional assistance:

Assistant Head, Information Services

Profile Photo
Kathleen Berger
Contact:
bergerkm@bu.edu
Room 318E
Pardee Library
617-353-4312