Sigma Validation (1978-2018)
After 40 years of providing validation and auditing services to the market research industry, Sigma Validation closed its doors effective June 30th, 2018. CASE4Quality was created by Sigma to continue the advocacy for transparency and accountability across the research supply chain.
BACKGROUND
Sigma was created in collaboration with General Foods (now Mondelez International/Kraft Heinz), and revolutionized the integrity of the research industry by creating the first computerized validation technique in 1978. Throughout four decades, this technique helped corporate buyers and research agencies ensure compliance to their sampling specifications and research requirements.
Sigma Validation was implemented as a research standard by such companies as Mondelez International, Kraft Heinz, Unilever, Hershey, Johnson & Johnson and Estee Lauder. However, due to the major streamlining of costs at many CPG companies, most corporate research buyers have been left to rely solely on their partners to validate their own research and sampling efforts. At Sigma, we believe that this has led to the degradation of the sampling industry and the inability of research agencies to ensure valid and reliable research findings.
In an attempt to ensure valid and reliable research findings, Sigma Validation collaborated with Efrain Ribiero (former CRO at Kantar), Robin Pearl (former head of insights for The Estee Lauder Companies) and corporate research buyers at such companies as Kraft Heinz, Hershey, GE Appliance, P&G, Walmart, Disney, Amazon, and Pepsi to create the Coalition for Advancing Sampling Excellence (CASE4Quality.com). Through this initiative, corporate research buyers are collaborating with agencies and providers to establish a mandate for transparency and accountability across the research supply chain. Such a mandate is fundamental to ensuring valid and reliable research findings.
Sigma's Sanitation Officers
John F. Elrod
Miki Kuwahara-Elrod
Miki Kuwahara-Elrod
Founder / Visionary
The late John F. Elrod founded Sigma Validation in 1978, after spending decades as a market research director at Mars, Inc. and United Airlines.
John first created a full-service market research firm to better serve the research industry with integrity and transparency. In this role, he and the research team at Genera
Founder / Visionary
The late John F. Elrod founded Sigma Validation in 1978, after spending decades as a market research director at Mars, Inc. and United Airlines.
John first created a full-service market research firm to better serve the research industry with integrity and transparency. In this role, he and the research team at General Foods (now Kraft Heinz / Mondelez International) discovered that there were data-corrupting respondent-level issues that were not being uncovered by traditional validation methods. These research professionals then collaborated and created Sigma Validation’s foundational program, The Duplicate Number® Search.
Through this first computerized validation and auditing technique, Sigma was able to uncover many data-corrupting issues, including respondents, interviewers and field service facilities collaborating to fabricate research surveys; and focus group participants attending the same study in multiple facilities.
Miki Kuwahara-Elrod
Miki Kuwahara-Elrod
Miki Kuwahara-Elrod
Owner / President Emeritas
Michiko "Miki" Kuwahara-Elrod spent more than three decades as designer in the grueling fashion industry. She knows first-hand that it’s all about the consumer … If her designs weren’t selling, she wouldn’t be employed.
While the late John Elrod, Founder, was working with General Foods (now KraftHeinz / Mondelez
Owner / President Emeritas
Michiko "Miki" Kuwahara-Elrod spent more than three decades as designer in the grueling fashion industry. She knows first-hand that it’s all about the consumer … If her designs weren’t selling, she wouldn’t be employed.
While the late John Elrod, Founder, was working with General Foods (now KraftHeinz / Mondelez International) to develop Sigma, and then during his years as founder and president, Miki was John’s partner and confidant. When John passed away in May of 2000, Miki was determined to continue the mission of Sigma: To elevate and ensure transparency and integrity in market research.
During her tenure, Miki helped to spearhead and facilitate a consortium of 35 top decision-makers from the world’s leading market research firms including research directors from Kraft, Unilever, Estee Lauder and Revlon. The consortium was used to begin setting industry-wide standards for ensuring quality in online research.
Mary Beth Weber
Miki Kuwahara-Elrod
Mary Beth Weber
Executive Vice President
When Mary Beth Weber worked with John Elrod, founder of Sigma Validation, she raised an important question: Why should end clients use Sigma when their preferred research suppliers and sample providers have their own data quality procedures in place?
Mary Beth left Sigma and spent the next decade in a marketing
Executive Vice President
When Mary Beth Weber worked with John Elrod, founder of Sigma Validation, she raised an important question: Why should end clients use Sigma when their preferred research suppliers and sample providers have their own data quality procedures in place?
Mary Beth left Sigma and spent the next decade in a marketing role at four different b2b and consumer intelligence companies, and found the answer on her own …
Consumers of data and analytics have no idea of the problems encountered and “fixed” during the data collection process. These problems, if not disclosed and addressed, may corrupt the integrity of findings on which multi-million/billion dollar decisions are based.
Transparency and accountability is needed during the data collection and sampling process.
Mary Beth returned to Sigma after Miki became president in 2000. Together, they worked to elevate the importance of research and respondent data quality. The Consortium on the Duplicate Email Search in 2007, along with the findings after its first beta test, spurred the industry into creating new initiatives, tools and technologies to ensure transparency and integrity in market research.
Brands Unite
Unite with other brand leaders and research buyers to ensure transparency and accountability across the online ecosystem.