chapter 8 Flashcards
Surveys are used as a means of collecting primary data for some good reasons
The need to know why
In marketing research, there is a critical need to have some idea about why people do or do not do something
The need to know how
At the same time, the marketing researcher often finds it necessary to understand the process consumers go through before taking some action
The need to know who
The marketing researcher also needs to know who the person is, from a demographic or lifestyle perspective. Information on age, income, occupa-tion, marital status, stage in the family life cycle, education, and other factors is necessary for the identification and definition of market segments
Door to door interviews (surveys)
Interviews conducted face to face with consumers in their homes
Best survey method because: its a personal, face to face interaction with all the attendant avdnatages of immediate feedback, can explain complicated tasks the participant is at ease in a comfortable and familiar environment
They faced a decline in the 1970s because of the cost of paying an intervuewers travel time, mileage and survey time
Still used in developing countries
Executive interviews (surveys)
are used by marketing researchers as the industrial equivalent of door-to-door interviews.
This type of survey involves interviewing business people at their offices about industrial products or services
Its expensive → First, individuals involved in the purchas- ing decision for the product in question must be identified and located. Sometimes lists can be obtained from various sources, but more frequently screening must be con- ducted over the telephone. A particular company may indeed have individuals of the type being sought, but locating them within a large organization can be expensive and time- consuming. Once a qualified person is located, the next step is to get that person to agree to be interviewed and to set a time for the interview. This is not usually as hard as it might seem because most professionals seem to enjoy talking about topics related to their work.
They are usually long wait times
Requires highly skilled intervuewers because they are frequently interviewing on topics they know little about
Mall intercept interviews
Interviews conducted by intercepting mall shoppers (or shoppers in other high-traffic locations) and interviewing them face to face.
Its a simple approach
Shoppers are intercepted in public areas of shopping malls and either interviewed on the spot or asked to come to a permanent interviewing facility in the mall.
Many malls do not permit marketing research interviewing
Less expensive than door to door interviews because respondents come to the interviewer rather than the other way around
Dont have to have long travel times
Disvandtages: it is virtually impossible to get a sample representative of a large metropolitan area from shoppers at a particular mall. Even though malls may be large, most of them draw shoppers from a relatively small local area, malls tend to attractive certain types of people based on their stores, many people refuse mal interviews
mall-intercept interviewing cannot produce a good or representative sample except in the rare case in which the population of interest is coincident with or is a subset of the population that shops at a particular mall.
Mall environment is not always comfortable to do the interview as people might be in a hurry or distracted leading to less quality data
Could conduct surveys in stores
Telephone interviews
Until 1990, telephone interviewing was the most popular form of survey research.
Advantages: not expensive, can produce high quality sample
Can do random digit sampling or random digital dialing
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Some households can only be reached on a cellphone or smartp[hone
Are some disvandtages: First, respon- dents cannot be shown anything in a typical telephone interview. This shortcom- ing ordinarily eliminates the telephone survey as an alternative in situations that require respondents to comment on visual product concepts, advertisements, and the like
Second, some critics have suggested that telephone interviewers are unable to make the various judgements and evaluations that in-home interviewers can make (for exam- ple, evaluations concerning income, based on what the respondent’s home looks like and other outward signs of economic status).
A third disadvantage of the telephone interview is that it limits the quantity and types of information that can be obtained. A respondent’s patience wears thin more easily over the phone, and it is easy to hang up the phone
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A fourth disadvantage of telephone interviewing is associated with the increased use of screening devices. These include answering machines, do-not-call lists, call block- ing, caller ID, and distinctive ringing.
A fifth disadvantage is that research has shown the potential for personality bias in phone surveys. That is, people who agree to participate in a telephone interview may be more outgoing, confident, conscientious, and agreeable than those who don’t
Central location telephone interviews
Central-location telephone interviews are conducted from a facility set up for that purpose. The reason for the popularity of central-location telephone interviews is fairly straightforward—in a single word, control.
First, the interviewing process can be monitored; most central-location telephone interviewing facilities have unob- trusive monitoring equipment that permits supervisors to listen in on interviews as they are being conducted.
Most research firms have computerized the central-location telephone interview- ing process. In computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI), each interviewer is seated in front of a computer terminal or a personal computer.
the computer can help customize questionnaires.
Another advantage of CATI is that computer tabulations can be run at any point in the study.
Self administered questionnaieres
Questionnaires filled out by respondents with no interviewer present.
The self-administered and mail survey methods explained in the following two sec- tions have one thing in common: They differ from the other survey methods discussed in that no interviewer—human or computer—is involved.
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The aidvanatgae is that nobody is there to explain things to the respondent and calirufy open ended questions
Some have argued that the absence of an interviewer is an advantage in that it eliminates one source of bias. There is no interviewer whose appearance, dress, man- ner of speaking, or failure to follow instructions may influence respondents’ answers to question
Self-administered interviews are often used in malls or other central locations where the researcher has access to a captive audience.
Hotels and airlines will give out questionnaires to get feedback about quality
A recent development in the area of self-administered questionnaires is direct computer interviewing via kiosk-based computer interviewing.
Kiosk- based interviewing has other definite advantages: It tends to be less expensive, people tend to give more honest answers than they would to a human inter- viewer, and internal control is higher because the survey is pre-programmed.
Mail surveys
Two general types of mail surveys are used in marketing research: ad hoc mail surveys and mail panels
In ad hoc mail surveys (sometimes called one-shot mail surveys), the researcher selects a sample of names and addresses from an appropriate source and mails questionnaires to the people selected. Ordinarily, there is no prior contact, and the sample is used only for a single project. However, the same questionnaire may be sent to non-respondents several times to increase the overall response rate.
Mail panels: a sample group is pre contacted by letter where the panel is explained. Then consumers are asked to foll out a backrhound questionnaire on the number of family members, ages, income level, education. Then panel participants are sent questionnaires
Mail panel is a type of longitudinal study→ A longitudinal study is one that questions the same respondents at different points in time.
Like self-administered questionnaires, mail surveys of both types encounter the problems associated with not having an interviewer present. In particular, no one is there to probe responses to open-ended questions, a real constraint on the types of information that can be sought. The number of questions—and, consequently, the quantity of obtainable information—is usually more limited in mail surveys than in surveys involving interviewers.
Ad hoc mail surveys suffer from a high rate of non-response and attendant system- atic error.
factors that determine the survey method
sampling preicison
budhet
quality of data required
length of questionnaire
incidence rate
structure of questionnaire
Sampling precision
Some projects require a high level of sampling accuracy, this may not be as important in other projects
If sampling accuracy were the only criteria they should use central-location telephone interviewing, an online survey of a sample drawn from a huge internet panel, or osme other form of polling
If they dont need high level of accuracy they can use a mail approach or osme type of mall survey
The trade off between central location telephone survey, internet panel and the mail survey methods with regard to sampling precision is accuracy vs cost
A central location telephone survey will produce a better samplebut a mail survey would be cheaper
Budget
Often occurs the survey method used is based on the marketing researchers budget available
Requirements for respondent reactions
In some studies the researchers need to get respondent reactions to various stimuli ex: taste test → in these cases the interviewer needs to make personal contact with the respondent
For taste tests the food needs to be prepared under controlled conditions so the researcher can ensure that each person is responding to the same stimuli
A mall intercept is the only viable survey alternative for this type of test
Some surveys require face-to-face interviewing because of the need to sue special measurement techniques or obtain specialized forms of info
Quality of data
The quality of data required is an important determinant of the survey method
Data quality is measured in terms of validity and reliability
Validity: refers to the degree to which a measure reflects the characteristic of interest → this proves there is accuracy
Reliability: refers to the consistency with which a measure produces the same results with the same or comparable populations
Things that affect data quality: sampling methods, questionnaire design, specific scaling methods, and interviewer training are a few of the,
The issue of data quality may override factors such as cost
If you do a mall-intercept interview with super ling questionnaire respondents may be fatigued or distracted or carless
Length of questionnaire
The amount of time it takes the average respondent to complete the survey is important to know
If the questionnaire takes an hour, this limits the survey methods available : mall intercept, telephone etc wont work but a personal interview would
The longer the questionnaire (more than hour) response rates plummet
Incidence rate
This refers to the percentage of people, households, or businesses in the general population that would qualify as interviewees
Search costs (costs of trying to find qualified respondents) may be larger than the costs of interviewing
Doing a low-incidence rate study in a mall would be very expensive
This approach should only be taken if for example it is for a long in depth interview
The lowest cost survey alternative for the low-incidence study is probably the internet panel
One advantage of the internet panel is that people can be asked questions prior (pre screened)
