Public Research
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Paid Research Opportunity
Competitive Edge conducts in-person paid research. San Diego County residents only, please complete our Potential Respondent form if you would like to be contacted.
John Nienstedt, Sr.
President
- Questionnaire design and script writing
- Project development
- Analysis
- Sampling
- Pricing and invoicing
- Project scheduling
Early in his career John Nienstedt (pronounced Neen-Sted) worked in local political campaigns, was an aide to a San Diego County Supervisor and managed a mammoth political phonecenter. He and a partner founded Competitive Edge Research & Communication, Inc. in 1987. John acquired sole ownership of the firm in 1991 and computerized the operation with predictive dialers in 1992. In 1994 Nienstedt earned his master’s degree in Political Science with an emphasis in social science research. His thesis dealt with the challenges of predicting voter turnout and is entitled “A Practical Strategy for Predicting Voter Turnout in Pre-Election Polling.” Nienstedt expanded calling capacity in 1995 and again in 1998 when he purchased CERC’s current headquarters. John and his wife married in 2000 and have a son. Nienstedt is also an avid baseball fan and racquetball player.
The 41 year-old native San Diegan is a featured speaker at campaign seminars and is frequently called upon by the media and other organizations to shed light on political and polling issues. Nienstedt has written articles for the San Diego Union-Tribune and Campaigns & Elections magazine. He is a member of the International Visitors Council of San Diego, Envision San Diego, the American Association of Political Consultants and the American Association for Public Opinion Research, attending all but one of the organization’s annual conferences since 1996. He received the SBA’s Entrepreneurial Success Award for 2000. In 2003 Nienstedt launched the KPBS/Competitive Edge Research San Diego County Opinion Assessment which takes the monthly pulse of local residents.
Chad Harris
Director of Operations
- Employee management
- CATI programming and sample management
- Project direction
- Client liaison
- Project scheduling
As the Director of Operations, Chad is responsible for employee development and supervision, questionnaire programming, sample management, and project direction. Chad works directly with clients to ensure accurate and timely fielding of projects.
Chad started his phone center career in 1993, working as a low-level floor supervisor in his hometown of Louisville, KY. Since then he has acquired a wealth of experience at various research firms (including GfK-NOP and Total Research Corp.) as programmer, project manager, applications developer, assistant call center manager and call center manager.
Chad received his Bachelor of Science degree in Police Administration from the University of Louisville. Golfing and reading are some of his favorite interests. In 2009 Chad completed the Principles of Market Research Course through the University of Georgia.
Elizabeth Sheld
Research Analyst
- Questionnaire Design
- Analysis
- Project Development
- Campaign Strategy
- Sampling
As the Research Analyst at Competitive Edge, Liz’s job is to turn numbers into actionable insight that our clients can win with. She works with the client to develop the appropriate survey instrument for each project. Liz uses a range of analytic tools to parse the data. Using multiple regression, Liz is able to tease out the important relationships between, say the electorate’s position on a ballot measure and attitudes, behaviors and demographic traits. In this way she is not only able to tell the client why things are the way they are, but how critical each of the drivers are to developing a complete campaign strategy. Other forms of regression analysis – binary logistic, multi-nomial logistic and ordinal – are approaches she takes in order to discern the true drivers of variables that are binary, nominal or ordered. When segmenting the market or electorate, Liz’ tool of choice is exhaustive CHAID – chi-square automatic interaction detection. Liz is also an expert at employing factor analysis to uncover underlying correlations within a battery of questions. When her statistical analysis is complete, Liz prepares a final report and designs a client presentation to tell the data’s story.
Liz has an extensive background in politics and has worked at Rightalk Radio Network, Parents Television Council, the Free Republic Network in addition to other conservative causes and campaigns.
She earned her Ph.D from Boston University.
Shari Ciancio
Office Manager
Qualitative and Field Project Manager
- Administrative management
- Maintains supplies and vendor relations
- Manages personnel and employment issues
- Qualitative project management
- Field Intercept project management
Shari Ciancio (pronounced CHON-cho) is CERC’s front office voice and face. She is responsible for managing all office operations, supporting the staff, handling special projects and managing Focus Groups as CERC’s Qualitative Project Manager. Shari has 15 years of experience in the research industry as an Office Manager and Project Manager.
Ciancio studied business at Miramar College and accounting at Palomar College. She and her husband have a daughter who received her BA in English from CSU Fullerton. She and her husband are avid readers, and are especially fond of science fiction/fantasy and historical mystery novels. They are both involved in volunteer committee work and singing for their congregation, and when time allows Shari creates jewelry.
Ronald Zavala
Call Center Manager
- Interviewer scheduling
- Project management
- Quota control
- Supervision of support staff
- Personnel evaluation
- Focus group recruitment
Ronald Zavala is CERC’s newest talent. He began his phone center career as an interviewer at Directions in Research in 1996. Since then he has acquired a wealth of interviewing, supervisorial and management skills, having worked for Trotta Associates (qualitative research) in Orange County, SK&A (medical database) in Irvine, and Field Research (qualitative research) in San Diego. In his most recent position, Ronald was Flagship Research’s (qualitative, quantitative and field research) Executive Director.
Ronald received his BA in Classics from San Diego State University in 1993 with an emphasis in Greek and Latin. He was honored as the Outstanding Graduate in his class, Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa. Ronald also earned a Teaching Credential in the same subject from SDSU in 1994. He was raised in Central America, is fluent in Spanish, and served honorably for two enlistments in the U.S. Navy as a Quartermaster (navigator’s assistant). His interests include Mexican History and music, being an avid collector of live bootleg recordings and Bob Dylan’s music, in particular.
Sasha Tobin
Interim Research Manager
- Data quality management
- Data weighting
- Data preparation and coding
- Report production
- Internet survey programing and administration
- Internet panel administration
Sasha is CERC’s Interim Research Manager. She previously held the title of Research Associate at CERC for over a year. Sasha is responsible for the data collected by the firm, as well as the production of fast, flawless and beautiful reports and charting. She handles web survey programming and panel management, a new and expanding area for the company.
Sasha holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of William and Mary with a major in government and a minor in history. While in school, she worked on a variety of academic research projects, including web surveys and archival research and spent a summer interning for a government contractor in Washington, DC. Sasha was raised in northern Virginia and is fluent in Spanish which came in handy when she spent a semester studying abroad in Spain. She enjoys traveling, reading, cooking and going to the convenient southern California beaches.
