Abstract
As market researchers, we have spent the past 30-plus years addressing the questions that impact the success of organizations in the service and non-profit sectors. It should come as no surprise, then, that when we bring our business lens and thought processes to the field of Jewish community studies, we also bring methods, approaches, and outcomes that differ markedly from traditional studies. Even more important than our methods, however, is the marketing framework in which we position our Jewish community studies. As a result of our marketing mindset, we look at the issues Jewish communities wish to address, analyze the data, and then draw conclusions and recommendations based on our deep experience understanding buyer behavior, purchase decision-making, and the customer experience. With this article, we hope to shed light on a different way of thinking about Jewish community studies, stimulate healthy discussion about the relative merits of all approaches to the subject, and contribute to the strengthening of Jewish communities everywhere.
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Notes
Snowball sampling is a technique for finding research participants in which one participant recommends other participants who recommend other participants. This method seeks to take advantage of the social networks of identified respondents to provide a researcher with an ever-expanding set of potential contacts.
A commercial list broker sells categorized lists of people in a specified geographical area for use in marketing campaigns. These list brokers use dozens of sources along with their own proprietary software to create lists of individuals for purchase based on the demographic characteristics specified by the list purchaser.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of Jason Shames, CEO and executive vice president of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, to the conceptualization of The Melior Group’s Jewish Community Model.
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Levine, S.J., Dranoff, S. Jewish Community Studies as Seen Through a Business Lens. Cont Jewry 36, 381–393 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12397-016-9185-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12397-016-9185-2