About Us
Elaine Zanutto, Ph.D. Vice President of Methods and Analytics
As Vice President of our Methods & Analytics function, Elaine Zanutto leads a talented department of statistical programmers and statisticians who advise project teams throughout the firm on modeling, advanced statistical analysis and sampling methodology. The Methods & Analytics group at National Analysts Worldwide has a well-deserved reputation as one of the most inventive and experienced teams of methodologists in the industry, noted for their authoritative understanding of theory and their skilled, pragmatic application. Elaine oversees the training and operation of the methods function in the firm while also providing counsel to project management staff on challenging design questions. She is particularly adept at crafting and implementing complex sample designs, and skilled at developing choice models that accommodate new marketing paradigms and complicated decision processes.
Elaine's areas of specialized expertise include Hierarchical Bayesian (HB) modeling for estimating individual-level preferences in complex choice situations, segmentation analysis for a broad range of audiences and industry sectors, and the design of highly customized forecasting models that rely on a variety of choice modeling platforms, including dynamic models that account for market evolution in the post-launch environment. She is an expert on structural equation modeling and other tools for driver analysis in challenging markets where it is difficult to disentangle the impact of specific sources of influence.
Among Elaine's most important responsibilities in the firm are the ongoing evaluation of new contributions to the field and the development of novel analytic methods or adaptations needed to solve the unusually challenging problems often presented to us by our clients. She is currently exploring the potential benefits of non-compensatory choice models that use more "realistic" decision-making heuristics to calculate the effect of adding new features when at least one unacceptable feature is present. She is also at work on cutting-edge methods to enhance diagnostic acuity of brand analyses by extracting the halo component from specific attribute ratings, and evaluating new clustering methods that attempt to wed the virtues of intra-regional segmentation with the strategic value of comprehensive solutions spanning multiple geographies. Along with several colleagues at the firm, she is also at work on new approaches to the modeling of group decisions, with implications for sectors as diverse as healthcare, media/entertainment, and travel and leisure.
Elaine has published many articles in peer-reviewed academic journals in the fields of market research methods, statistics, and survey research methods. She is also an Editor for Statistics, Politics, and Policy and an Associate Editor for the Journal of Official Statistics.
Before joining the firm, Elaine was an Assistant Professor of Statistics at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. While at Wharton, she was awarded several research grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health to study the representation of women in IT careers, the success of youth anti-drug media campaigns, and the effect of public information on cancer. As a Senior Fellow of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics during her tenure at the University, she provided statistical direction to various researchers affiliated with the Institute, especially on optimal sample designs. Additionally she provided consulting leadership to the U.S. Bureau of the Census on issues of imputation for nonresponse.
Elaine received a Ph.D. in Statistics from Harvard University, and a M. Sc. in Statistics and a B.A. in Mathematics and Statistics from Carleton University (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada).