Established more than 30 years ago as the internal Coding Department of Decision Analyst, Nuance grew into a world-renowned leader in high-quality marketing research project coding. Nuance is a specialty company that converts unstructured data like open-ended survey answers, social media posts, customer complaints, and voice surveys into valuable, actionable data through accurate numeric coding. With Lisa Hazen as President of Nuance, the organization has worked to uphold rigorous quality standards along with the utmost levels of security for customer data.

Lisa's deep background in market research, coupled with operations and coding experience, has played a key role in determining the operational efficiency and excellence of Nuance. Her leadership guides the company to continually improve productivity, quality management, and client satisfaction. Working from secure facilities in Arlington, Texas, and Virginia, Nuance continues to be the trusted partner for companies that want to make data-driven decisions based on their unstructured data.

Coding Services offered by Nuance

Verbatim Coding

At Nuance, verbatim coding is an important function in converting unstructured data into actionable information. From social media text, phone survey text, customer feedback systems, and even text from surveys, Nuance’s master coders assign numeric codes to words, phrases, concepts, and even images, so companies can analyze and measure consumer thoughts and opinions. This process makes it possible for companies to make decisions based on actual, actionable data.

The coding procedure at Nuance starts with the construction of a comprehensive codebook or codeframe representing the actual meaning of the responses. A carefully trained professional reviews and codes each answer with meticulous attention, with quality checks being incorporated at various phases to maintain consistency and accuracy. Nuance processes all forms of data, such as text, voice recordings, and images, from various sources such as CRM systems, IVR responses, and social media. With a team of highly skilled coders, Nuance adheres to strict quality standards and delivers timely, cost-effective coding solutions that meet client specifications.

Text Analytics

Nuance provides end-to-end text analytics services that help businesses extract actionable insights from large volumes of unstructured text data. Whether it's survey responses, social media posts, customer comments, or CRM data, Nuance uses sophisticated software tools to automatically analyze meaning and sentiment. As digital content continues to surge, many companies struggle to process and derive value from the overwhelming amounts of textual data they generate. Nuance's solutions, utilizing natural language processing (NLP) and sentiment analysis, reveal key themes and emotions within the data.

While Nuance's software systems provide fast, automated analysis, the company emphasizes that results are estimates and should be validated using other methods. For example, sentiment analysis assigns a sentiment score, ranging from -2 (negative) to +2 (positive), to provide businesses with a clear understanding of consumer sentiment. This combination of automated technology and human expertise allows Nuance to deliver actionable, data-driven results, empowering companies to make more informed decisions.

Digital Media Coding

As digital media has gained prominence, the volume of images, videos, and audio files shared has increased. However, interpreting and analyzing these files requires the expertise and skill of professional coders, as no automated method exists to truly summarize this complex data. At Nuance, the team excels at coding and interpreting media files from surveys, ethnographic research, and social media. Whether it’s understanding emotions captured in videos or audio, analyzing facial expressions, or categorizing objects in images, Nuance’s experts carefully review each file to develop a detailed codeframe that aligns with your research objectives.

Digital media coding is not a one-size-fits-all process. Nuance brings sharp focus to the most critical issues of your research, whether it's comparing before-and-after images or analyzing specific actions captured in video or audio. With over 30 years of experience in automated recognition and characterization technology, Nuance has the personnel, software, and infrastructure needed to accurately and effectively analyze complex media types, delivering valuable insights that support sound, data-driven decision-making.

Lisa Hazen | Short Bio

Lisa Hazen, President of Nuance, has more than 35 years' experience in market research, mostly at Decision Analyst, the parent company of Nuance, headquartered in Arlington, Texas. Throughout her career, she has worked her way up from Operations positions to Chief Operations Officer and ultimately President at Nuance. With tabulation, survey programming, and coding expertise, Lisa has been instrumental in defining the strategic direction of the company. Her consulting across study design, software development, and process implementation has optimized performance, lowered cost, and improved quality control. Lisa's vision for Nuance is to provide high-quality, low-cost coding solutions that satisfy customers' requirements.

“The whole focus has always been on providing extremely high-quality coding services to support Decision Analyst's advanced, sophisticated marketing research projects worldwide.”