How relationships drive research quality at Canadian Viewpoint
Here’s a small detail that tells a big story: a client recently reviewed a bilingual survey programmed by Canadian Viewpoint’s team and noticed something unexpected. The programming team had changed “No Name” to “Sans Nom” in the French version of the questionnaire, a nuance the client’s own team hadn’t caught. The client’s response? “I see the team changed no name to sans nom, thanks for catching that!”
It’s a tiny fix. It would have been easy to miss. But that’s exactly the point. At Canadian Viewpoint (CVI), project management isn’t about processing jobs and moving them through a queue. It’s about paying attention: to the details, to the context, and to what the client actually needs – even, and maybe especially – when they haven’t explicitly asked for it.
In an industry where speed often comes at the cost of quality, CVI has built something different: a project management culture where asking questions isn’t a sign of inefficiency. It’s the basis of their customer relationship strategy.
The “Right-Shoring” Problem Nobody Talks About
If you’ve worked with multiple research suppliers, you’ve probably experienced the great 24-hour turnaround. You send over a questionnaire, maybe even just upload it to a website, and you get a test link within 24 hours. Great, right?
It’s awesome until you open the test link and find a dozen errors. Logic that doesn’t flow. Skip patterns that skip to the wrong place. Translations that are technically accurate but miss the intent (Apple brand being translated to “Pomme” is a classic example). So, you send back a round of edits. They’re processed. You test again, only to find another set of problems you didn’t see the first time. Test. Edit. Update. Rounds continue until, finally, the survey link is ready. By the time the survey is actually ready to launch, that “rapid turnaround” has been for naught, your patience is worn, and your survey may have even ended up delayed by the number of editing rounds you had to go through.
CVI took a different approach. They decided that the fastest way to finish a project isn’t to rush the beginning; it’s to get it right the first time.
Too Many Questions? Try “Exactly Enough”
Walk into a kickoff call with CVI’s project management teams and you’ll notice something immediately: they ask a lot of questions. They start with your vision for the project – your objectives, your communication style, and your expectations during the project. They listen to the context behind the methodology you’ve selected, and they’ll draw on their experience if they anticipate problems achieving the desired outcomes using the methodology you’re selecting. They work to gain the context that will help their programmers understand not just what you want, but why you want it.
Crystal Tran, who manages CVI’s online project management team, puts it simply: “Communication is the glue that holds a project together from end to end. It is essential to schedule a kickoff call to understand the project objectives, the client’s vision, and expectations for the deliverables.”
But this goes deeper than a standard onboarding call. CVI’s project managers approach each project as problem solvers and consultants, not just order-takers. Senior online team Project Manager Shannon Friday describes it as “orchestrating the show so that the client never sees the behind-the-scenes complexity, only the seamless results.” That means asking the kind of probing, detailed questions upfront that Hemasheenee Sookdeo, Senior offline team Project Manager notes eliminates confusion and makes for great communication.
The result? Clients regularly tell CVI’s team that their surveys come back clean on the first review. One client summed it up: “I am super impressed by the quickness of programming. The quality and look and feel. The communication has been awesome.”
“I am super impressed by the quickness of programming…The communication has been awesome.” – CVI client
Marissa Serrattan, who leads CVI’s offline team, states, “Having that first kickoff call with the client to understand their objectives allows us to see what the best set-ups are to accommodate.” They rely on their experience and expertise to know what tools to bring in, where, and what their facilities and capabilities can support. Then, they’re able to meet timelines, including recruiting respondents to participate, by providing support, materials, and feedback on a regular basis throughout the study, as Tara Chmielak, Project and Phoneroom Manager observes.
The communication for project success extends beyond the customer to the participants themselves. Nick Soomarooash, offline team Project Manager reaches out to respondents for reminders and asks if they need any help to setup for the online interview. If they are worried or anxious about the incentives, he calls them to reassure them about the experience. “I let them know they can call me at any moment, and I will help where I can.”
Catching What Others Miss
The “no name” to “sans nom” fix is just one example of a pattern that shows up across CVI’s project work. Their programming team doesn’t just execute instructions; they think about what those instructions mean in context. When they spot wording differences from a previous wave of research, they flag it. When a French stimulus is missing from a bilingual study, they catch it before anyone else does.
This is what happens when teams actually understand the purpose of the questionnaire they’re building. CVI’s team doesn’t treat survey programming as a mechanical task where you plug in questions and push out a link. The time they invest in understanding the research objectives allows them to spot problems that a purely technical review would miss.
One client, after CVI’s team flagged a missing French stim, wrote: “Thank you again Shannon for flagging the missing French stim so we could test the most appropriate content with the full Canadian audience!” Client after client returns feedback that includes, “Good catch,” and “Thanks for checking,” showing that time after time, CVI’s team is reviewing the details.
This level of attention isn’t accidental. It’s what happens when you build a culture where people are encouraged to think beyond their job title and partner with customers.
Partners, Not Providers
Here’s where CVI’s approach really separates itself from the standard supplier model. Their project managers don’t just manage timelines and deliverables. They get plugged into the business, understanding the client’s pain points, their stresses, and the broader context that shapes what the research needs to accomplish.
Senior Project Manager Dominick Jia describes his approach: “I focus on asking thoughtful questions and understanding what the client is trying to achieve and working backwards to provide the most efficient way to get there.” This isn’t project management as traffic control. It’s project management as a strategic partnership. Maya Hemming, Project Manager, sees understanding and aligning on the client’s needs and goals as important. It’s then that they can recommend the approach that best supports the objective. And when a client’s original approach might not work? CVI’s team speaks up. Cindy Loac, a Project Manager at CVI for three years, says, “If a client comes in with an approach that may not be the best fit, I work with them to explore other options and find the best solution rather than just saying no.” As Shannon puts it, “…being a good partner means being honest about what will actually work in the real world.”
“…being a good partner means being honest about what will actually work in the real world.” – Shannon Friday, Senior Project Manager, CVI Online Team
That honesty extends to CVI’s offline team too, where in-facility qualitative work adds a whole different set of variables. Marissa describes the work as, “Everything goes, everything is new, and we are open to trying any approach to learn and make it work.” Liz DeSouza has only been with the company a little over a year, but already knows that, “Getting your hands into a bit of everything helps with a successful partnership as you become the expert and have the knowledge to guide your partner and customers through the project.” They manage recruited respondents, coordinate with field staff, handle facility logistics, and troubleshoot in real time, often adjusting schedules and coverage to meet field dates that don’t respect a 9-to-5 calendar. When they say they aim to respond to every client request within two hours, they mean it.
The trust this builds is tangible. One client, pressed for time, wrote to their CVI project manager: “I won’t have time to review the updated link today and don’t want to hold things up. I assume the change has been reviewed on your end. If you could kindly confirm we’re good, that’d be great and we can move ahead with full launch.” That’s a client who trusts their partner enough to say, “I don’t need to double-check your work. I know you’ve got it.”
You don’t earn that kind of trust by being fast. You earn it by being thorough, honest, and genuinely invested in the outcome.
Why It Matters
Would you trust a partner who never asked you any questions?
Probably not. And yet, in market research, the supplier who asks the fewest questions and turns things around the fastest often gets positioned as the most efficient option. CVI flips that logic. They’ve built their entire project management philosophy around the idea that asking more questions upfront – understanding the research deeply, catching the small details, and speaking up when something doesn’t look right – is what actually delivers results. Results of the kind where your project launches on time, your study supports your objectives, and the details have been thoroughly considered all the way through.
It’s a simple idea, really. Invest the time to understand the work, and you spend less time fixing it later. Treat clients like partners, and they’ll trust you like one.
After 45 years, CVI has proven that this approach works. Not because it’s flashy, but because it’s true.
