Company Description

D3: Designs, Data, Decisions gathers public opinion insights for clients around the world and is the go-to resource for social science and market research for a wide variety of institutions. These include the U.S. government, international development organizations, cross-sector think tanks, global media organizations, multinational corporations, and others.

D3’s Clients

D3’s government clients include the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, and USAID. Global partners include NATO, the World Bank, the United Nations, the World Justice Project, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the BBC. U.S.-based clients with global reach include META, Sesame Workshop, New York University, and University of California San Diego.

D3’s Range

D3 has worked in more than 150 countries, with services in the Americas, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania.

D3 specializes in the most challenging parts of the globe, including fragile states, remote regions, conflict areas and post-conflict environments. From conducting a survey during a military coup to accessing populations where there are no roads and few mobile phones, D3 finds or creates research solutions where none exist. 

The seasoned team has extracted high-value opinion data in Afghanistan, Brazil, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Haiti, India, Iraq, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Ukraine, and Venezuela, as well as more accessible or stable regions. D3 has also developed cost-effective approaches to conducting research in emerging markets, as well as in the world’s most expensive countries.

D3’s Services

D3 implements local, regional, and nationally representative surveys, rapid response polls, election polling, baseline studies, in-depth interviews, focus groups, panels, elite interviews, media and consumer research, performance assessments, and impact evaluations. D3 operates in any language using a variety of modes, including tablets, telephones, paper and pencil, and proprietary online platforms.

D3’s Technology

Inspired by clients seeking an affordable, flexible solution to collecting data in the most remote and challenging locations, D3 developed Research Control Solutions (RCS), our proprietary software program. It offers highly customizable electronic data capture in any research environment. Our software lowers costs, increases efficiency, and improves data quality.

D3’s software can collect data both via face-to-face interviews and on mobile devices. It can avoid the need for costly call centers by enabling interviewers to dial from any mobile device through a built-in dialing functionality. D3 continuously develops new features to meet the evolving technical needs of our clients, such as audio recording, silence monitoring, date-time flags, and GPS parameters.

D3’s Process

It Begins with Design

Our teams closely collaborate with clients to thoroughly understand the context and content of research objectives. We then develop sophisticated sample plans with detailed explanations of the sample frame, multi-stage probabilities of selection, weighting schemes, and more. We apply scientific methodologies for quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research.

Over three decades, D3 has built a robust international network of trusted and skilled field researchers. Where local capacity does not exist, we travel in-country and invest in building the local team’s skillset. Our research partners undergo multi-day, tailored training with our proprietary software.

D3’s statisticians work closely with our field partners to determine the accessibility of the target population and ensure that the sample frame accurately reflects any data-driven or real-world limitations for optimal sampling.

Each project is designed to be culturally and linguistically appropriate for its target population. When necessary, we conduct cognitive testing to validate that questions are perceived in the way they were intended. Nothing is lost in translation. 

Design Drives Data

Through advanced statistical testing and data analysis, our teams turn numbers into insights, making sense of the data to tell a story and inform client decisions. D3 presents salient findings that are clear and actionable.

The delivery of the final data can be customized in any format a client desires. Our team routinely uses innovative data visualization and contextual narratives that concisely share key takeaways. Additionally, we can generate heat maps, geospatial models, GPS coordinate graphs, choropleth diagrams, dot density charts, and more to meet client needs.

D3’s top priority is the privacy and security of client data. We adhere to highly stringent information security standards.

Data Directs Decisions

When desired, our expert analysts can study the client’s data and, based on these findings, share topline recommendations or detailed reports. In other cases, our clients apply our reliable data to support their own understanding and decision-making.

By turning public opinion numbers and text into insights, stories, and images, D3 bridges the gap between data science and actionable results that achieve each client’s goals.