Essay Questions

Question 1

List at least 5 advantages and 5 disadvantages of focus groups

Answer 1

Advantages:

• Fast & relatively cheap
• Allows for probing of unanticipated issues
• Easily understood & believable
• Interaction within group and with moderator can build ideas and improve results
• Nonverbal behaviors can be observed
• Flexible and expandable (to boost sample size)

Disadvantages:

• Groups are difficult to control
• Groups vary depending on participants and geography
• Data is difficult to summarize, analyze, and generalize
• Observers and moderator reports may exclude important comments
• Groups may be hard to assemble
• Participants may give bias responses

p. 131

Question 2

List at least 5 advantages and 5 disadvantages of telephone surveys

Answer 2

Advantages:

• Can randomly sample population (RDD)
• Covers a wide geography
• Generates high response rates
• Compared to face-to-face, may need less training, may be safer for interviews, may cost less
• Response rates are typically 10% higher than comparable face-to-face surveys
• Can conduct survey quickly and directly code responses to speed analysis

Disadvantages:

• May have nonresponse bias
• Must consider unlisted numbers and multiple numbers per household
• Cannot show visuals
• May have difficulty with sensitive topics
• Difficult to provide incentives
• Difficult to include cell-only households

p. 176-177

Question 3

List at least 5 advantages and disadvantages of internet surveys

Answer 3

Advantages:

• Rapid development & deployment
• Fast tabulation (w/ less human error)
• Low costs
• High participation
• No need to occupy companions
• Personalized questions
• No training or travel needed

Disadvantages:

• Internet accesses & browser variations (design issues/appearance)
• Respondent computer expertise differences (response time, computer anxiety)
• Multiple responses per person (multiple email addresses)
• Verification of respondent identities (limits responses)
• Data security, confidentiality, privacy, and anonymity
• Difficult to offer incentives

p.181

Question 4

Good moderators are hard to find for focus groups. What traits would you look for when trying to find a good moderator

Answer 4

• Strong background knowledge in subject area (politics, medicine, consumer products, etc.)
• Good sense of humor
• Makes eye contact and remember/use names
• Genuinely enjoys listening to others thoughts and feelings
• Good auditory memory – expressive & insightful about people
• Quick learner, flexible, well-organized, with good recall
• Friendly, empathetic, smart with high energy
• Animated, spontaneous, facilitates, without performing
• Admits own bias
• Focuses on big picture
• Avoids comments such as “excellent,” “great,” and “wonderful”
• etc…

p. 139

Question 5

If you were put in charge of managing a focus group, describe five principles you would follow (besides choosing a good moderator)

Answer 5

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Question 6

Suppose your boss wanted to learn about different options for estimating buyer willingness-to-pay. Describe how five different methods could be used.

Answer 6

-Manager judgement
…Sales manager or marketing managers

-Expert interviews
…Delphi surveys

-Internal engineering assessments
…Expected cost savings

-Customer input
...Focus groups of customers
...Benchmarks (value vs. similar product)
...Importance ratings of features
...Field value-in-use assessment 

• Customer value analysis
• Case studies of similar products
• War games and simulations
• etc.???
  p. 111

Question 7

Briefly describe five examples of research where color was shown to be an important variable for explaining or influencing buyer behavior

Answer 7

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Question 8

If you were put in charge of managing a sensory test, describe five principles you would follow to make the results as useful as possible

Answer 8

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Question 9

Willingness-to-pay estimation can be difficult. Describe five issues that a researcher would face when trying to estimate buyers willingness-to-pay

Answer 9

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