Qks MR Glossary_A-E Flashcards
24-Hour Recall
24-Hour Recall: Also referred to as Day-After Recall. An advertising-testing technique that measures the percentage of people watching a given TV program who recall seeing or hearing a TV commercial 24 hours after its airing. Same definition applies to radio commercials.
3D Animation
3D Animation: A three-dimensional representation of images. Decision Analyst uses 3D animation in virtual shopping exercises and in product evaluations. Shelf Set Testing Services
80-Column Dump (Marginal Report)
80-Column Dump: A computer-generated frequency count of the number of people giving each answer to the questions in a questionnaire. Used primarily to double-check the results in cross-tabulations or to generate a topline report. Also called a Marginal or a Flash Report.
A Posteriori
The opposite of A Priori. A posteriori knowledge is established from the research after it has been conducted.
A Priori Segmentation
Market segmentation which is not empirically based. It involves segmenting markets on the basis of assumptions, custom or hunches.
[Per DA]
A Priori Segmentation: Market segmentation based on someone’s judgment, experience, or intuition.
A.C. Nielsen Retail Index
Audit of household items, food, personal products etc., at the retail level.
[Per DA]
A. C. Nielsen Retail Index: Historically, an in-store audit-based service to measure retail sales of food, household supplies, beauty aids, and related products sold through supermarkets and major retailers. Store audits were replaced over time by Scanner data and Panel data.
AAPOR
American Association of Public Opinion Research
[Per DA]
AAPOR: A professional organization of more than 2,000 public-opinion and survey-research professionals in the United States and from around the world, with members from academia, media, government, the non-profit sector, and private industry. AAPOR publishes three academic journals: Public Opinion Quarterly, Survey Practice, and the Journal for Survey Statistics and Methodology.
A&U, AAU (Attitude, Awareness and Usage) Study
A type of tracking study that monitors changes in consumer attitudes, awareness and usage levels for a product category or specific brand.
[Per DA: https://www.decisionanalyst.com/library/aglossary/]
A&U (Attitudes & Usage): Another name for AAU (Awareness, Attitude, & Usage) or ATU (Awareness, Trial, & Usage) studies. A quantitative survey to measure consumer awareness, trial, and usage for a product category and/or brand. These same measurements are often incorporated into tracking studies.
ACASI (Audio Computer Aided Self-Administered Interviewing)
Self-administered surveying in which the respondent listens to the questions over headphones. Responses are usually registered using a computer-based questionnaire. If responses are recorded on paper it is known as audio SAQ.
ACASI (Audio Computer-Aided Self-Administered Interviewing): Self-administered survey in which the respondent listens to the questions over headphones. Responses are usually registered using a computer-based questionnaire.
Acceptance
Acceptance: A decision by individuals to participate in a survey or study.
Acceptance Rate
Acceptance Rate: The percentage of the population that agrees to participate in a survey or study.
Access Panel
Access Panel: Also referred to as a Consumer Panel. A database of consumers who have agreed to take part in surveys. Typically, these consumers register and share information about their households; this information is then used in sample selection. American Consumer Opinion® Online is Decision Analyst’s worldwide consumer panel with several million members.
ACORN
A classification of residential neighborhoods; a marketing segmentation system that enables consumers to be classified according to the type of area they live.
ACORN (A Classification of Residential Neighborhoods): A classification system that groups U.S. households into many different lifestyle segments, broken down by small geographic areas.
ADI (Area of Dominant Influence)
A television market, as defined by Arbitron, a firm that measures TV audiences. Each ADI is assigned Arbitron’s three-digit numeric code.
ADI (Area of Dominant Influence): The geographic area dominated by the television or radio stations in a given market. The boundaries of these areas are defined by the points where 50% of television households are watching TV stations from the central market. Every county is assigned to an ADI.
AID (Automatic Interaction Detector)
A method of multivariate analysis often used in market segmentation studies.
ASCII (American Standard Code Of Information Interchange)
Widely used code for transmission of data from one database to another.
American Standard Code of Information Interchange (ASCII): Character encoding for the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers and databases.
Accompanied Shopping
An interviewer accompanies a consenting respondent as they go shopping in order to observe shopping behavior.
[Per DA]
Accompanied Shopping: A shopping trip during which an interviewer accompanies a respondent (with his or her agreement) as that person goes shopping. Sometimes called a Shop-along.
Accuracy
The degree of conformity of a sample statistic to the population.
[Per DA]
Accuracy: The degree to which a sample statistic estimates or predicts a population parameter.
Achieved Communality
Total amount of variance an original variable shares with all other variables included in the analysis. A variable’s communality must be estimated prior to performing a factor analysis.
[https://www.decisionanalyst.com/library/aglossary/]
Achieved Communality: A term used in factor analysis that represents the proportion of variance in an original variable accounted for by all the extracted factors. Each original variable will have an achieved communality value in the factor analysis output.
Acquiescence Bias
The tendency of respondents to agree with whatever is presented to them. Sometimes called ‘yea saying’ or ‘friendliness effect’.
Acquiescence Bias: A systematic bias caused by a tendency of some respondents to agree with whatever is presented to them. Such a bias is more likely to occur during telephone or in-person interviews.
Acquisition Studies
Research to determine if a business should expand its product offering by means other than internal development.
Action Devices
Items and techniques used to encourage positive response, e.g. tokens, stickers.
Active Buyer
A customer whose latest purchase was made within the last 12 months.
Active Buyer: A customer whose latest purchase was made recently (purchase cycle determines the definition of “recently”).
Active Panel Members
Active Panel Members: Panel members who have registered to join American Consumer Opinion® (Decision Analyst’s worldwide online panel), participate in surveys on a regular basis, and maintain their memberships in the panel. Online Research Capabilities
Active Server Pages (ASP)
Active Server Pages (ASP): A web technology used to create web pages on demand from data usually held in a database.
Ad Agency Marketing Research Departments
Ad Agency Marketing Research Departments: Groups within advertising agencies that conduct or subcontract marketing and advertising research for the ad agency’s clients (sometimes referred to as Planning Departments, Strategy and Insights Departments, or Consumer Insights Departments).
Ad Concept Testing
A qualitative or quantitative examination of the target audience’s reaction to alternative advertising approaches or preliminary ad concepts. Also simply called concept testing.
Ad Concept Testing: Survey research to measure reactions of target audience consumers to early-stage versions of proposed ads. Advertising Research Services
Ad Hoc Surveys
Questionnaires administered to the target audience with no prior contact by the researcher.
Ad Hoc Research: Also referred to as Custom Marketing Research. Research designed to address the specific needs or problems of a given client (i.e., research custom-designed to solve a specific problem).
Ad Hoc Study: A study designed to address a specific problem or issue.
Ad Recognition
Ad Recognition: An aided measure. An ad or commercial is shown to respondents, and they are asked if they have seen or heard that advertising in the past.
Ad Positioning Statement tests
Testing to determine reactions of the target audience to positioning statements that are being considered for use in advertisements.
Ad Positioning Test: Research to identify the best positioning for a brand to use in its advertising.
Ad Statements Test: Survey research to screen and evaluate many different advertising themes or messages. Advertising Research Services
Ad Tracking Research
Periodic measurements of the impact of advertisements over time.
Ad Tracking Research: Also called Advertising Tracking Research. Survey research to measure brand and advertising awareness, advertising message recall, and other variables relating to advertising over time. These surveys are conducted at points in time (“waves” or “dips”) or conducted continuously.
Additive Causal Relationship
A cause and effect relationship in which the effect of one variable does not counteract the effect of the a second variable on a third variable.
Address Coding Guide (CG)
List of beginning and ending house numbers, ZIP codes and other geographic codes for all city delivery service and streets served by 31,540 post offices located in 6,601 ZIP codes.
Address Coding Guide (ACG): A list of beginning and ending house numbers, ZIP codes, and other geographic codes for all addresses within a geographic area served by the USPS.
Advanced Analytics
Advanced Analytics: The application of advanced mathematical models to determine the solution of business and marketing problems. Marketing Science and Data Science are similar terms. Advanced Analytic Services
Advertising Awareness
Advertising Awareness, Aided (or Total): The percentage of respondents aware of a brand’s advertising on a prompted basis, which is typically measured by asking, “Which of the following brands, if any, have you seen or heard advertised in the past 30 days?” A traditional convention is to include Unaided Awareness in the Aided Awareness numbers. If these two types of awareness are combined, the Aided Awareness is the same as Total Awareness. Advertising Research Services
Advertising Awareness, Unaided: The percentage of respondents who spontaneously recall a specific brand when asked, “Have you seen or heard any advertising for [product category] in the past 30 days, or not?” (IF “YES”) “Which brands did you see or hear advertised?”
Advertising Claim Substantiation
Tests to reasonably prove product performance claims made in advertising communication
Advertising Effectiveness Research
Studies to determine the extent to which a specific advertisement or advertising campaign meets the goals and objectives of the campaign.
Advertising Impression Studies
Count of the people exposed to the media vehicle who are also exposed to its advertising.
Advertising Research
The category of research involving advertising and including research on ad concepts, design, exposure, recall, communication, persuasion, response and sales response.
Advertising Research: Also called Advertising Testing or Copy Testing. Qualitative or survey research designed to measure consumer reactions to advertising. Can be performed at every stage, from early-stage concept boards to the final commercials. Advertising Research Services
Advertising Research Foundation (ARF)
American based association. The principal mission of The ARF is to improve the practice of advertising, marketing and media research in pursuit of more effective marketing and advertising communications.
Advertising Response Model
Advertising Response Model: A mathematical model that predicts the effects of changes in media advertising spending, or changes in media mix and weights, on sales of a service or product. Decision Analyst evolves such models over time based on consistent copy testing, media measurement and tracking, sales tracking, and other modeling inputs.
Advertising Testing
Advertising Testing: Also called Advertising Research or Copy Testing. Survey research designed to measure consumer reactions to advertising. Early-stage concept boards to final finished commercials can be tested.
Advertising Tracking Research
Periodic measurements of the impact of advertisements over time.
Advertising Tracking Research: Online or telephone surveys to measure brand and advertising awareness, advertising message recall, and other variables relating to advertising over time. These surveys are conducted at points in time (“waves” or “dips”) or conducted continuously. Advertising Services
Affective Component Of Attitudes
An individual’s emotional reactions about an object.
Affective Component Of Attitudes: An individual’s emotions and feelings that relate to or underlie an attitude.
After-Only With Control Group
True experimental design involving the random assignment of subjects to experimental and control groups but no pre-measurement of the dependent variable.
After-Only With Control Group: A true experimental design that involves random assignment of people to an experimental or test group versus a control group. This is an after-the-event measurement only (i.e., no premeasurement of the test and control groups).
Aggregate
A total of all the parts; the whole or complete amount.
Aggregate: A summary measure made by compounding two or more separate economic measures (e.g., national income and price index numbers).
Aggregate Model
Aggregate Model: A multivariate model whose coefficients are produced at an aggregate, market, or segment level rather than at an individual respondent level.
Aided Awareness
Aided Awareness: The proportion of people who are aware of (i.e., have seen or heard of) a product, brand name, company, or trademark on a prompted basis.
Airport Interviews
An interview intercept at an airport.
Algorithm
A sequence of steps or procedures for solving a logical or mathematical problem.
Algorithm: A set of instructions for solving complex mathematical problems, typically used in computer programming and/or statistical modeling.
Alliance of International Market Research Institutes (AIMRI)
A UK based association that represents the corporate and business interests of International market research agencies.
Allocation
Allocation: A method of distributing sample sizes to the strata in a stratified sample. Two commonly used methods of allocation are:
Proportional Allocation, where the sample size of a stratum is proportional to the population size of the stratum;
and Optimum Allocation, in which the sample sizes are allocated to the strata in such a manner as to minimize the standard error for overall survey results.
Allowable Sampling Error
The amount of sampling error the researcher is willing to accept.
Allowable Sampling Error: The maximum amount of sampling error a researcher is willing to accept.
Alternative Hypothesis
What is believed to be true if the null hypothesis is false. Also known as the research hypothesis.
American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR)
AAPOR is a US based association of individuals who share an interest in public opinion and survey research. Members work in a wide variety of settings, including academic institutions, commercial firms, government agencies and non-profit groups, as both producers and users of survey data.
American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR): A professional organization of public opinion and survey research professionals in the United States and from around the world, with members from academia, media, government, the non-profit sector and private industry. AAPOR publishes three academic journals: Public Opinion Quarterly, Survey Practice, and the Journal for Survey Statistics and Methodology.
American Consumer Opinion® Panel
American Consumer Opinion® Panel: A worldwide online panel of several million consumers who agree to participate in online surveys. American Consumer Opinion® Panel is owned by Decision Analyst. Online Research Services
American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA)
The national trade association representing the advertising agency business in the United States. Its membership produces approximately 80 percent of the total advertising volume placed by agencies nationwide.
American Economic Association (AEA)
An Association that that encourages economic research, especially the historical and statistical study of the actual conditions of industrial life.
American Marketing Association (AMA)
An international professional organization for people involved in the practice, study and teaching of marketing.
American Society for Quality (ASQ)
A professional association that advances learning, quality improvement, and knowledge exchange to improve business results.
American Statistical Association (ASA)
Professional association promoting statistical practice, applications, and research; publishing statistical journals; improving statistical education; and advancing the statistics profession.
Analysis
The process of systematically applying statistical and/or logical techniques to describe and illustrate, condense and recap, and evaluate data so that decisions about a given subject can be made.
Analysis Of Covariance (ANCOVA)
A statistical procedure used with one dependent variable and multiple independent variables of both categorical (ordinal, dichotomous, or nominal) and continuous types; it is a variation of analysis of variance that adjusts for confounding by continuous variables.
Analysis Of Covariance (ANCOVA): An analysis-of-variance procedure in which the effects of one or more metric-scaled extraneous variables (covariates) are removed from the dependent-variable data before one conducts an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).
Analysis Of Variance (ANOVA)
A method of analysis for determining the level of statistical significance of differences among the means of two or more variables.
Analysis Of Variance (ANOVA): A test for the difference among the means of two or more variables.
Analyst
The person responsible for interpreting, presenting and disseminating results of research projects. They must have a clear understanding of research methodologies and good communication skills.
Anchor Label
Anchor Label: A label used to define the endpoint of an attitudinal scale.
Anchored-Grid Question Type (AG)
Anchored-Grid Question Type (AG): A question type that accepts one answer per row wherein each row is anchored on both ends. See example below:
What images or impressions of this new product did you get from the product description? For each row shown below, you may choose any number from “1” to “5” to express your opinion. Did the product description give you the impression this new product would be…? {Choose One Answer on Each Row Below?
High In Quality 1 2 3 4 5 Low In Quality
Strong 1 2 3 4 5 Weak
Easy 1 2 3 4 5 Difficult
Anchored Scales
Anchored Scales: Any type of scale used in questionnaires where some points on the scale are “anchored” or communicated by words, pictures, colors, etc.
Anonymity
Participants are not identifiable to the people who use the research results and, if possible, to the interviewers and/or researchers.
Anonymity: Concealing respondents’ identities from researchers, clients, and third parties.
Answer Card
Answer Card: Cards containing rating scales or preset answers that are shown to respondents during in-person research surveys. Also called Show Cards, Exhibits, or Prompts.
Answer Code
Answer Code: A unique number associated with an answer in a survey. Each answer has an answer code. As a verb, “code” means to define and categorize answers to Open-Ended Questions. Code is also used as a reference to computer code (lines of software statements).
Answer Stub
Answer Stub: Also called Stub. The label for a row of data on a cross-tabulation table or other data presented in tabular form.
Anthropomorphic
A research technique in which participants describe a product, service or brand in terms of a human being with personality traits so that the participants’ feelings about the object/brand can be determined.
Anthropomorphization: A research technique in which participants are asked to describe a product, service, or brand in terms of human personality traits. See also Personalization Technique.
API
API (Application Programming Interface): A set of definitions and protocols that allow one computer system to interact with a second computer system.
Applet
Applet: A small Java program that can be embedded in an HTML page. An applet provides functionality or performance beyond the capabilities of the browser. Applets can be used to display videos, for example.
Application Service Provider (ASP)
Application Service Provider (ASP): A company that provides computer-based services over a network using standard protocols.
Applied Creativity Process
Applied Creativity Process®: A creativity system developed by Decision Analyst’s Innovation team to facilitate internal ideation sessions for clients; it’s Decision Analyst’s unique approach to creative problem-solving. Imaginators® Services
Apparency
Clear, understandable representation of the data
Applied Research
Any research which is used to answer a specific question, determine why something failed or succeeded, solve a specific, pragmatic problem, or to gain better understanding.
Applied Research: Research aimed at solving specific, real-world problems, as opposed to theoretical research.
Appropriate Time Order Of Occurrence
Appropriate Time Order Of Occurrence: A change in an independent variable occurring before an observed change in the dependent variable.
Area Samples
Samples which include geographic areas as part of the sample design.
Area Samples: Samples that are defined by geographic areas.
Area Probability Samples: Samples in which every member of a geographic area has a known nonzero probability of being selected for a sample.
Arithmetic Mean
The sum of the values for all observations of a variable divided by the number of observations.
Arithmetic Mean: Same as the Average. A measure of central tendency, like the Median and the Mode. It is calculated by summing a series of values and dividing the sum by the number of values.
Artifact
An unforeseen and unaccounted-for variable error or misrepresentation introduced by a technique and/or technology that jeopardizes reliability and validity of an experiment’s outcome because it decreases the ability to isolate cause and effect. Also known as a confounding variable or external variable.
Artificiality
The degree to which experimental conditions do not reflect what would occur naturally in a real-life setting. With a high degree of artificiality it becomes difficult to project the experimental results to the population.
Artificiality: The degrees to which experimental conditions do not reflect real-life, real-world conditions. A high degree of artificiality might reduce external validity (i.e., be difficult to project the experimental results to the population as a whole).
Assessment Sheet (Data Entry)
Assessment Sheet (Data Entry): A study control log where data-entry personnel sign out batches of paper questionnaires, enter them, and then sign in the completed batch.
Asset Optimization
Asset Optimization: Also known as Strategic Market Plan. Asset optimization determines the optimum locations for productive and profitable stores in a selected market or geographic area.
Asociación Española de Estudios de Mercado, Marketing y Opinión (AEDEMCO)
A Spanish marketing and market research association.
Association For Qualitative Research (AQR)
UK based association with the goal of promoting qualitative research within the market research arena and the broader business community and enhancing its perceived value in the process.
Association For Survey Computing
A UK based organization with the mission improving knowledge of good practice in survey computing and to disseminating information on techniques and survey software.
Association Technique
Technique in which participants are asked to respond with the first thing that comes to their minds when presented with some form of stimuli.
Association Technique: A projective technique used primarily in qualitative research. Respondents are presented with some stimuli (words, pictures, sounds, colors, etc.) and asked to describe what comes to mind.
Association of Market Research Organizations (AMRO)
AMRO is an industry body representing the major research organizations which operate within New Zealand. Closely affiliated with the Market Research Society of New Zealand (MRSNZ) which is the professional body for market researchers.
Asterisk Bills
State laws which require telephone companies to advise subscribers that they can have an asterisk placed in front of their names if they do not want to receive telemarketing or telephone interviewing calls.
At-Home Testing
A product sample is provided for participants to use at home. The reaction to the product is determined in a follow-up telephone survey, written survey or in a group session.
At-Home Testing: A research method in which a test product is provided for participants to use at home. Reactions to the product are measured in a follow-up online survey, telephone survey, mail survey, personal interview, or in a focus group session. Also referred to as Home Usage Test (HUT) or In-Home Usage Test (iHUT). Product Testing Services
Attempt
When someone tries to contact a potential research participant, whether or not anyone is actually reached and whether or not the contact results in the potential respondent participating in research.
Attempt: When someone tries to contact a potential research participant, whether or not anyone is actually reached. This term is used primarily in door-to-door or in-person research, including mall-intercept research and telephone surveys.
Attitude Studies
Research projects that are designed to capture and quantify the incidence of specific consumer (or non-consumer) attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs. They also help you understand actual product usage. Also called usage studies.
Attitude: An individual’s learned predisposition to think or behave in a somewhat consistent manner. There are two main components of attitude: a Cognitive Component (knowledge and assumptions) and an Affective Component (feelings and emotions).
Attitude Research: Survey research to measure how people feel about certain products, services, brands, ideas, or companies.
Attitudinal Scaling
A moderation technique in which participants are instructed to conceptualize the product or service on a two-dimensional scale, such as price and quality. The goal is to better understand the participants’ feelings about the product or service.
Attitude Scaling: The development of words, terms, statements, or visuals to measure individuals’ attitudes.
Attitudinal Scale or Scaling: Survey questions in which respondents rate a brand, product, or service on a predetermined scale, such as “very happy,” “somewhat happy,” or “not happy.”
Attitudinal Statements: Statements used in surveys. Respondents are asked to rate how they feel about given statements or whether than agree or disagree with given statements.
Attribute
A characteristic or qualitative property which describes an object. For example color is an attribute but weight is a variable.
Attribute: A word or phrase that describes a product, service, brand, or person. For example, “durability,” “speed,” and “beauty” might be attributes in a sports car study.
Attribute Analysis
A technique that is designed to develop lists of characteristics, uses or benefits relevant to a particular product category.
Attrition Rate
The drop-out rate; the loss of subjects during the course of a study. Sometimes called the mortaility rate.
Atomistic Test
Atomistic Test: A test that focuses participants’ attention on individual elements of a product or concept (in contrast to a Holistic Test that looks at a product or concept as a whole).
ATU (Awareness, Trial, and Usage) Study
ATU (Awareness, Trial, and Usage) Study: A quantitative survey to measure consumer awareness, trial, and usage for a product category and/or brand. These same measurements are often incorporated into tracking studies.
Audience Research
Research procedure where participants view movies, television shows or advertisements in a theater setting. Also known as theater tests.
Audience Response Systems
An electronic system in which audience members use a hand-held device to provide feedback.
Audimeter
Nielsen’s device for electronically recording TV viewing in sample households. Has been replaced nationally by the People Meter, but still being used in selected markets.
Audio SAQ
Self-administered surveying in which the respondent listens to the questions over headphones. Responses are usually recorded on a paper questionnaire. When the respondent uses a computer-based questionnaire to record answers it is known as ACASI (audio computer-aided self-administered interviewing).
Audit
The examination and verification of the sale of a product. A method for measuring sales in a store by counting beginning inventory, adding new shipments, and subtracting ending inventory. Also used to determine inventory lost to theft. Sometimes called a wholesale audit, store audit or retail audit.
Audit: Also called Store Audit or Retail Audit. The measurement of a product’s sales in a store for a time period by counting beginning inventory, adding new shipments, and subtracting ending inventory.
Auditorium Focus Group Room
Refers to a focus group hall or seating area where the audience views a stage.
Augment
Augment: Also called a Sample Augment or Boost. A quota added to increase the number of interviews needed for a particular segment or subgroup—to have more respondents than a random sample of the total population would yield.
Boost/Booster: To increase the number of surveys needed for a particular segment or subgroup. For example, if a random sample would yield too few women 18-24 years of age to analyze properly, then that part of the sample might be augmented or boosted. Also called a sample Augment or Sample Supplement.
Autocorrelation
The problem of interdependence among successive values of the disturbance term. The problem with autocorrelation concerns the variance of our estimator.
Autocorrelation: The interdependence among the pairs of observations, usually in a time series, which are separated by a constant interval. Excessive autocorrelation can cause problems when estimating time-series models.
Automatic Interaction Detection
Automatic Interaction Detection: An algorithm that identifies interactions among several predictor or independent variables.
Average
A vague term which usually refers to the (arithmetic) mean, but it can also signify the median, the mode, the geometric mean, and weighted means, among other things.
Average: Same meaning as Arithmetic Mean or Mean. A measure of central tendency, like the median and the mode. It is calculated by summing a series of values and dividing the sum by the number of values.
Average Issue Readership
The average number of people who read a single issue of a newspaper or magazine.
Awareness
The measure of the proportion of people who are familiar with a product, brand name or trademark. There are two main measures of awareness: spontaneous (or unaided) and prompted (or aided) awareness.
Awareness: The proportion of people who are aware of (i.e., have seen or heard of) a product, brand name, company, ad, or trademark. Generally subdivided into Unaided Awareness and Total Awareness (including Aided Awareness).
B2B, B2C
B2B: Business-to-business marketing or marketing research.
B2C: Business-to-consumer marketing or marketing research.
Baby Boom
The large generation of Americans born after World War II. Usually defined as those born between 1946 and 1964.
Baby Boomlet
A period of increase in the birthrate, smaller than a baby boom. In the USA the baby boomlet often refers to the children of baby boomers that were born in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
Baby Boomlet: : A time period when the birthrates remain high, such as 1977 to 1990 when the children of U.S. Baby Boomers were born.
Baby Bust
Generation between 1965 and 1976, when birth rates dropped rapidly and remained low. Often called Generation X.
Baby Bust: A time period (such as between 1965 and 1976) when birth rates drop rapidly and remain low.
Back Checking
The process of ascertaining and recontacting respondents to confirm that interviews were conducted correctly. More commonly known as validation.
Back Office
Back Office: A reference to operation functions in marketing research companies, such as sampling, field services, mail processing, survey programming, and tabulation.
Back Room
The room from which client personnel observe and listen to focus group proceedings through a one-way mirror. Also called the observation room or viewing room.
Back Room: A room with a one-way mirror from which clients observe and listen to focus group respondents. Also called the Observation Room or Viewing Room. Term is sometimes used to mean “back office” functions.
Back Translation
Process in which a questionnaire is translated into another language and then translated back into the original language by a different person. The objective is to ensure that the original translation is accurate.
Back Translation: Typically used for international surveys. Questionnaire is first translated into another language and then translated back into the original language by a different translator. The objective is to ensure that the original translation is accurate. Decision Analyst believes that having two independent translators work on the same questionnaire yields the most accurate final questionnaire.
Backup Sample
Backup Sample: Also called Emergency Sample. The backup sample is pulled at the same time as the original sample and to the same specifications. If the study cannot be completed with the original sample, then the backup sample is released.
Balanced Clicks
Balanced Clicks: Also called Click Balancing. Balanced nationally represented sample; that is, the number of clicks (i.e., the number of people entering a survey) is balanced to match the general demographic profiles of various target audiences.
Balanced Incomplete Block (BIB)
An experimental design procedure for rotating a large number of products or items in a test.
Balanced Incomplete Block Design (BIBD): An experimental design in which respondents see only subsets of the experimental variables. The design is considered balanced when the number of times each variable appears and the number of times each pair of variables appears are constant.
Balanced Scales
Scales with the same number of positive and negative categories.
Bandwidth
Bandwidth: The volume of data transmitted over networks within a given period of time. Typically measured by bits per second (bps) or bytes per second. Decision Analyst’s data-collection web servers and internet networks, for example, have sufficient bandwidth to handle more than 250,000 surveys per day.
Banner
The column headings, or cross-tab breaks, that run horizontally across the top of a computer table.
Banner: The overall heading for a page of cross-tabulations.
Banner Ad
Banner Ad: An ad placed on a website, usually at the top, sides, or bottom of the computer screen.
Bannerpoint
Bannerpoint: The heading for one column of data on a page of cross-tabulations.
Bar Chart
A visual display of the size of the different categories of a variable. Each category or value of the variable is represented by a bar.
Base
The number on which the percentages in a table are calculated.
Base: The sample size or number of respondents on which the percentages in a table are based (i.e., the divisor).
Base Line
A control source against which you compare the area you’re studying. For example, you may compare the results of a study in one state to the results of the nation as a whole. Commonly called a benchmark.
Baseline Market Segmentation Study
The first market segmentation study conducted by an organization.
Baseline Market Segmentation Study: The first market-segmentation study conducted; the benchmark for the future.
Basic Research
Research aimed at expanding knowledge rather than solving a specific, pragmatic problem.
Basic Research: Research aimed at expanding knowledge rather than solving a specific problem. This term is most often used in reference to scientific research, and it is often contrasted with Applied Research.
Batch (Data Entry)
Batch (Data Entry): A group of paper questionnaires to be entered, usually between 10 and 50 (depending on the number of pages and/or complexity). Questionnaires are signed out to data-entry personnel in batches, and they are signed back in when completed (as tracking and quality-assurance procedures).
Batch Number (Data Entry): A unique number assigned to each batch of paper questionnaires for data entry.
Batch Ticket (Data Entry): The cover sheet for each batch of paper questionnaires that contains the study number, batch number, and identification numbers of the questionnaires in the batch, as well as the initials of the data-entry person and the data-check person.
Bayesian Probability
The mathematical theory that probability is a measure of subjective belief and is applicable to the degree to which a person believes a proposition (as opposed to frequency or proportion or propensity interpretations or probability). In other words, bayesian probability interprets the concept of probability as ‘a measure of a state of knowledge’ and not as the relative frequency of occurrences in an infinite sequence of trials.
Bayesian Statistics
Statistics which incorporate prior knowledge and accumulated experience into probability calculations.
Bayesian Statistics: Statistics that incorporate prior knowledge and accumulated experience into probability calculations. Decision Analyst uses Bayesian statistics extensively in modeling and simulation work.
Before And After With A Control Group
Random assignment of subjects to experimental and control groups with pre-measurement of both groups.
Before-And-After Control Group: A true experimental design that includes random assignment of people to an experimental (or test) group and to a control group, with identical premeasurements and postmeasurements of both groups.
Behavioral Component Of Attitude
An individual’s intentions to act based on attitudes about an object.
BehaviorScan
BehaviorScan: A research service that reports market share and other variables for consumer packaged goods based on a large household panel for data collection.
Bell Curve
A statistical distribution based on a random process where observations are evenly distributed around the mean (shaped like a bell on a graph). Also called a normal distribution.
Benchmark
A control source against which you compare the area you’re studying. For example, you may compare the results of a study in one state to the results of the nation as a whole. Sometimes called a base line.
Benchmark: A control to compare study results against. For example, you might compare the results of a study in one country (the benchmark) to the results of a study in another country, or you might compare the first wave of a tracking study (the benchmark) to the second wave of that study, or you might test your advertising against your competitor’s advertising (the benchmark). Decision Analyst always recommends that some type of control or benchmark be incorporated into every research project.
Benefit Segmentation
The process of dividing a total market into sub-groups of consumers according the benefits sought.
Bernoulli Response Variables
Also known as dichotomous or binary variables. Each element is one of two possibilities such as yes/no or on/off.
Bernoulli Response Variables: Also known as dichotomous or binary variables. The value of each element is one of two possibilities such as yes/no or on/off or true/false.
Best Light Phenomenon
When respondents bias their answers in a market research project so that they can then appear in the best possible way to those who are looking at the responses.
Beta Distribution
Beta Distribution: A family of continuous probability distributions defined on the interval [0, 1]. Because the beta distribution is bounded on both sides, it is often used to model the distribution of order statistics or ranks, or for representing processes with natural lower and upper limits.
Bias
A systematic tendency of a sample to misrepresent the population. Biases may be caused by improper representation of the population in the sample, interviewing techniques, wording of questions, data entry, etc.
Bias: The difference between truth and the estimates of truth based on a survey.
Biased Question
An interview question that is phrased or expressed in such a way that it influences the respondent’s opinion and answer.
Biased Sample
A sample that misrepresents the population of interest.
Biased Sample: A sample that does not accurately represent the target population. Decision Analyst begins every study by screening a nationally representative probability sample of the U.S. population (or other country) to identify the users of a product or service category to be surveyed. This procedure always guarantees a truly representative sample of the survey population.
Bibliographic Database
Bibliographic Database: An index of published studies and reports with citations of author, publisher, dates, etc.
Bid
Bid: The estimated price to conduct a custom marketing research project, given a set of requirements and/or specifications.
Big data
Big data is collection of data sets (both structured and unstructured) that are so large and complex it becomes difficult to process using on-hand database management tools or traditional data processing applications. OFten the data is collected through normal business operations. The volume, variety, variability and velocity of the data is what makes it complex to process, share and analyze.
Big Data: While there are many definitions, big data refers to extremely large datasets. Think of Google’s databases or Facebook’s databases as examples of big data.
Big Data Analytics
Big Data Analytics: Refers to the use of advanced analytics and predictive modeling to cull and retrieve information out of large data sets.
Bimodal
A distribution in which the frequency curve has two peaks. A single peak is called a mode.
Bimodal: A distribution in which the frequency curve has two peaks. A single peak is called a Mode. Some people love the taste of hot peppers, while others hate the taste of hot peppers. This is an example of a “Bimodal” distribution.
Binomial Experiment
An experiment that consists of repeatedly drawing independently from Bernoulli population; the sequence of Bernoulli trials.
Binomial Distribution: Often referred to as the “Normal Curve” in statistics, based on the distribution of binomial (yes-no or heads-tails) types of data.
Binomial Experiment: An experiment that consists of repeatedly drawing independently from the Bernoulli population; the sequence of Bernoulli trials.
Biometric marketing research
In marketing research biometrics usually refers to the technologies of using human body characteristics such as eye retinas and irises, voice patterns, facial patterns etc. to determine how individuals actually respond to stimuli as oppossed to what they say about the stimuli.
Bipolar Scale
A scale with two negative, opposite end points and a midpoint representing the ideal situation. Examples: comfortable/uncomfortable, soft/hard, too spicy/too bland.
Bipolar Scale: A scale with opposite end points, such as “sour” versus “sweet” or “good” versus “bad.” Also called Anchored Scales.
Birth Rate
The number of births a year per 1,000 members of a population.
Bivariate Data Set
Data set in which two measurements (variables) have been made on each experimental unit or respondent.
Bivariate Data Set: A data set that consists of two measurements (variables) on each experimental unit or respondent.
Bivariate Regression Analysis
Analysis of the strength of the linear relationship between two variables, the independent variable and the dependent variable.
Bivariate Regression Analysis: Analysis of correlation between two variables where one is the independent variable, and the other is the dependent variable (the variable you are attempting to explain or predict).
Bivariate Techniques
Statistical methods of analyzing the relationship between two variables.
Blacklisting
Blacklisting: The process of ISPs blocking research companies from sending emails or contacting their panel members. Decision Analyst subscribes to Habeas, a service that guarantees that Decision Analyst’s emails reach its panelists. This prevents distortion of the sample related to ISP-blocking activities.
Blind Testing
The testing of products where brand names, packaging and other identifying features have been removed.
Blind tests: The testing of products or ads with all brand identity removed. Brand identity can introduce bias into a research project. (In fact, that is the whole purpose of brands—to create a positive bias toward a brand.)
Block Numbering Area (BNA)
Statistical subdivisions within non-metropolitan counties for grouping and numbering.
Block Numbering Area (BNA): Prior to Census 2000, statistical subdivisions within nonmetropolitan counties for grouping and numbering. BNAs were discontinued for Census 2000, when they were replaced by census tracts.
Blocked Calls
Calls that receive busy signals or calls where the receiver automatically rejects calls from unidentified phone numbers.
Blocking Factor
The relevant external variable that is used to group (or block) experimental units into groups so that the experimental group and the control group are matched.
Blocked Calls
Blocked Calls: Telephone-survey calls that receive busy signals.
Blocks
Census areas usually equivalent in size to a typical city block.
Block Group: Also referred to as a Census Block Group. Clusters of blocks grouped by the Census Bureau. There are over 200,000 Census Block Groups in the U.S. Each Block Group contains roughly 500 to 1,000 households.
Blog Mining
Blog mining is the automated computer process of scanning through a large number of blogs and their comments, searching for keywords/phrases and retrieving the text for for future coding and analysis. Also known as scraping.
Blog: (Also called weblog) An online journal, diary, or short articles.
Blog Scraping
Blog scraping is the automated computer process of scanning through a large number of blogs and their comments, searching for keywords/phrases and retrieving the text for for future coding and analysis. Also known as blog mining.
Blue Book
A directory of research facilities and services published by the Marketing Research Association.
Bootstrapping Modeling Techniques
Bootstrapping Modeling Techniques: A general approach to statistical inference based on building a sampling distribution for a statistic by resampling from the data at hand. Bootstrapping techniques are often used in Predictive Analytics. Predictive Analytics Services
Bounce-Code Processing
Bounce-Code Processing: Decision Analyst processes and codes email “bounces” continuously during surveys, so that potential problems in email delivery (and, hence, potential problems in sampling) can be identified and corrected.
Bounce Codes: Codes assigned to undelivered emails returned from ISPs or other servers. Decision Analyst tracks every “bounced” email to identify potential problems during the execution of a survey.
Boundary
The border around a market area that is being studied.
Boundary: The border around a market area that is being studied, or the border of a sampling area.
Boundary Files
Geographic features such as streets, railroads, blocks, described in a manner that is understandable to a computer.
Box Plot
A graphical tool used to picture the data and possible outliers in the data.
Box Plot: A graphical tool used to picture the distribution of data.
Bradley Effect
A form of social desirability bias in which American voters tell pollsters that they are undecided or likely to vote for a black candidate but on election day vote for his/her white opponent instead. Also known as the Wilder effect.
Brainstorming (Idea Generation)
A technique teams use to generate ideas on a particular subject. Each person in the team is asked to think creatively and write down as many ideas as possible subjecting the ideas or the person who suggested them to critical evaluation until after the brainstorming session.
Brainstorming: A creative method of coming up with new ideas or solutions by generating many ideas, without subjecting the ideas (or the person who suggested the ideas) to critical evaluation. A similar and related term is Ideation. Decision Analyst owns and operates Imaginators®, one of the largest creativity communities in world.
Brand
A name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers including sum of all the characteristics, tangible and intangible, that make the good/service unique.
Brand: The name of a product or service that identifies that product or service and, hopefully, distinguishes that product or service from competitive products or services. Over time, a brand can become a reservoir (or symbol) of values and psychological benefits above and beyond the product/service itself.
Brand Architecture
Brand Architecture: The foundational components of a brand’s “go-to-market” strategy, including positioning, messaging, tone, personality, etc.
Brand Associations
Components of brand image, usually (but not always) assessed by qualitative research method.
Brand Associations: Images, emotions, colors, values, and other meanings that consumers attach to, or associate with, a brand.
Brand Awareness
The proportion of target customers that recall a brand in the product category in which the brand operates.
Brand Awareness: The degree to which consumers are aware of (i.e., have seen or heard of) a brand. It is typically expressed as the percentage of the target population that is aware of the brand.
Brand Awareness, Aided: The percentage of respondents aware of a specific brand when presented with a list and asked, “Which of the following brands have you ever seen or heard of?”
Brand Awareness, Unaided: The percentage of respondents aware of a specific brand when asked, “When you think of peanut butter (i.e., category), what brands come to mind?” without being shown a list. In telephone or in-person interviews, this is often followed by a probe: “What other brands of peanut butter can you think of?”
Brand Awareness, Total: Aided plus Unaided Brand Awareness, with all duplication eliminated (i.e., a net result).
Brand Development Index (BDI)
A measure of the relationship of a specific brand’s sales relative to the population in a specific geographic area. The BDI can be derived by dividing an area’s percent total US sales by that area’s percent US population.
Brand Equity
The financial value associated with the level of awareness and consumer goodwill generated by a company’s brands and/or products.
Brand Equity: The awareness and consumer goodwill associated with a company’s brands and/or products.
Brand Equity Monitor
Brand Equity Monitor™: Decision Analyst’s proprietary model that measures relative brand preference based on all aspects of the brand, including both rational and emotional perceptions of the brand’s products/services. Brand Equity Services
Brand Essence
The distillation of a brand’s intrinsic characteristics into a succinct core concept.
Brand Footprint
Brand Footprint: A European term for Brand Image.
Brand Identity Studies
Research into the outward manifestation (visual and verbal) of the essence of a corporate brand, product brand, service brand.
Brand Image
How a brand is actually perceived by its customers and constituencies.
Brand Image: The total impression created in the mind of a potential consumer by a brand and all its functional, perceptual, and psychological associations. Brand personality, brand character, and brand expression are terms with similar meanings.
Brand Loyalty
The degree of consumer preference for one brand compared to close substitutes
Brand Loyalty: The preference by a consumer of one brand over other brands and a repeat purchase pattern favoring the preferred brand.
Brand Personality
What people think and feel consciously and subconsciously about a company identity or product described and experienced as human personality traits.
Brand Positioning
The distinctive position that a brand adopts in its competitive environment to ensure that individuals in its target market can tell the brand apart from others.
Brand Positioning Studies
Study to determine the location of a brand or product in consumers’ minds relative to competitive products.
Brand Proposition
The central promise a brand makes to its consumers.
Brand Share
Market share of a brand or product relative to competitive products in the same product category. Brand shares can be expressed in terms of the sales value or the volume of units sold.
Brand Tracking
Studies repeated over time to monitor changes in a brand in consumers’ minds. Also known as Image tracking.
Branding
The use of a name, sign or symbol used to identify, assign value and differentiate items or services from those of competitors.
Break Off
Break Off: The act of a respondent aborting a survey during its execution. Sometimes called a Dropout.
Briefing
A meeting in which a client and researcher discuss the client’s information needs so that the most appropriate research methodology can be recommended.
Briefing: A training session, prior to starting work on a study/survey, in which all of the survey specifications, sampling guidelines, survey questions, and details of study execution are reviewed, explained, and clarified for all interviewers assigned to the project. This is generally followed by practice interviews administered by one interviewer to another.
British Healthcare Business Intelligence Association (BHBIA)
A UK based organization promoting promote and professionalism and value of business intelligence within the Health care industry.
British Market Research Association (BMRA)
A UK association promoting professionalism within the market research industry and confidence in market research.
Bulletin Board
Bulletin Board: A software system that enables people to have discussions with moderators and other respondents online—read postings, add comments, upload and download files, etc. Decision Analyst conducts Time-Extended™ Online Discussion Forums using bulletin board software. Online Qualitative Research Services
Bulletin Board Focus Groups: Focus groups conducted via online discussion forums. See Time-Extended™ Online Discussion Forums. Online Qualitative Research Services
Business Plan Development
The process of creating a document that describes an organization’s current status and plans for several years into the future. It generally projects future opportunities for the organization and maps the financial, operations, marketing and organizational strategies that will enable the organization to achieve its goals.
Business Reply Card (BRC)
A pre-addressed, postage paid card that allows a respondent to conveniently respond to a survey.
Business Reply Envelope (BRE)
A pre-addressed, postpaid envelope that allows a respondent to conveniently return a survey.
Business-To-Business Research
Research directed specifically towards companies whose customers are primarily other businesses.
Buying Intent
A scale used to measure the likelihood that the respondent will purchase a product.
Buying Intent: A measure of the likelihood that a respondent will purchase a product or service. Also called Purchase Intent or Purchase Propensity.
Buying Rate
The average volume purchased per buyer over the period of an study.
By The Numbers
A column in Quirk’s Marketing Research Review magazine that acts as a forum for researchers to explore and discuss issues related to quantitative research.
CAPI (Computer Aided Personal Interviewing)
Interviewer-administered surveying using a computer-based questionnaire.
CAPI Software
Computer software designed for interviewer-administered survey using a computer-based questionnaire
CASI (Computer Aided Self-Administered Interviewing)
Self-administered surveying using a computer-based questionnaire.
CASI Software
Computer software designed for self-administered interviewing using a computer-based questionnaire
CATI (computer aided telephone interviewing)
Interviewer-administered telephone surveying using a computer-based questionnaire
CATI Software
Software designed for interviewer-administered telephone surveying using a computer-based questionnaire
CAWI (Computer Aided Web Interviewing)
A questionnaire that is based on a web site. The survey is completed online. Also called online interviewing, Web interviewing or Internet Interviewing.
CAWI Software
Computer software used to construct and gather survey information via the Web. Also called Web interviewing software.
CCENSPAC
Computer program developed by the Census Bureau for the 1980 census.
CMSA (Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area)
A cluster of primary metropolitan statistical areas (PMSA), such as Minneapolis-St. Paul. CMSA markets are subdivided into MSAs.
Call Record Sheet
Interviewer log which lists the number and results of a contact.
Callback
An attempt to reach a person who could not be reached by telephone on the first try or a follow-up or after-use interview.
Canadian Advertising Research Foundation (CARF)
A non-profit organization whose prime focus is advertising, communications and media research.
Canadian Association of Marketing Research Organizations (CAMRO)
Dissolved in 2004 and now part of the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA).
Canadian Survey Research Council (CSRC)
Dissolved in 2004. Now part of the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA).
Cannibalization
A reduction in the sales volume, sales revenue, or market share of one product as a result of the introduction of a new product by the same producer.
Car Clinic
A car clinic generally involves recruiting people to a central location to view, touch and feel either a specific vehicle, or class of vehicles, and to provide detailed and specific feedback on such things as features and benefits, value, price, product positioning, product utility, specific functionality, or styling.
Car Clinics
Respondents are invited to centralized locations to evaluate the latest automotive designs.
Card Sort
A technique to understand how respondents group information by having users group various pieces of information into categories (originally done using index cards). This technique is often used in usability studies (for example Web design) to help designers understand how users intuitively categorize information.
Cartoon Tests
Tests in which the respondent fills in the dialogue for a character in a cartoon.
Case
A data entry record or a record of an interview with a respondent.
Case Histories
An article in Quirk’s Marketing Research Review magazine that takes an in-depth look at a successful research project from start to finish through interviews with marketing researchers and the research vendors they worked with on the project. The project participants explain why they chose certain methodologies, what information they wanted to obtain, and how the research results were used.
Case Study
The collection and presentation of detailed information about a particular participant or small group, frequently including the accounts of subjects themselves.
Casewise Deletion
When an entire questionnaire from a respondent is removed from the analysis because some of the questions have not been completed.
Categorical Scale
A scale that divides responses into categories that are not numerically related.
Categorical Variable
A variable whose values are classifications or categories and are not subject to quantitative interpretation. Examples include gender, occupation, marital status, etc. Also called a qualitative variable.
Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT)
A computer terminal with a keyboard and monitor. Used in research to display questions and enter responses directly into the computer for tabulating.
Causal Model
A model which represents causal relationships between concepts or variables.
Causal Relationship
The relationship between two variables in which changes in the value of one cause the value of the other to change.
Causal Research
Study examining whether one variable causes or determines the value of another.
Causal Variable
A variable that is controlled or manipulated by the researcher or one that exerts influence on another variable.
Causality
The relation between cause and effect.
Causation
The inference that a change in one variable is responsible for an observed change in another variable.
Cell Size
Smallest unit or segment quantity of an individual variant within a test program.
Census
A sample consisting of the entire population.
Census Areas
Areas defined by the U.S. Census Bureau including four census regions and nine census divisions.
Census Data
The data collected from a sample consisting of the entire population
Census Divisions
The nine census divisions (grouping of states) are: 1. Pacific: Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington 2. Mountain: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming 3. West North Central: Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota 4. East North Central: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin 5. West South Central: Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas 6. East South Central: Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee 7. South Atlantic: West Virginia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington, DC 8. Middle Atlantic: New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island 9. New England: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont.
Census Regions
The four census regions (groupings of states) are: 1. West: Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada 2. Midwest: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan 3. South: Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington, DC, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Delaware, and Tennessee 4. Northeast: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.
Census Tract
Area within a ZIP code group denoting households with uniform social and economic characteristics. Tracts generally have between 2,500 and 8,000 residents.
Census Undercount
The percent of Americans who did not answer the census.
Central Limit Theorem
A distribution of a large number of sample means or sample proportions will approximate a normal distribution regardless of the actual distribution of the population from which they were drawn.
Central Location Interviews
A survey conducted at a conveniently located site to which respondents come to be interviewed
Central Location Testing
Research conducted at a conveniently located location to which respondents come to participate in the study or survey
Central Tendency
The tendency of scores in a frequency distribution to cluster around a central value.
Centralized Research Department
A department composed of all the marketing researchers in an organization.
Centroid
Geographic points marking the approximate centers of populations of the block groups and enumeration districts in the U.S.
Chi-Square
A test of statistical significance which tests one measure of how well your model of expected distribution fits the observed distribution.
Choice modelling (Choice Modeling)
Choice models are able to predict with great accuracy how individuals would react in a particular situation by attempting to model the decision process of an individual or segment in a particular context. Predictions are able to be made over large numbers of scenarios within a context, to the order of many trillions of possible scenarios.
Choropleth Maps
Computer generated maps that represent values with shading.
Clarifying
A follow-up technique for getting complete responses to open-ended questions by asking respondents to explain general terms in their answers. Also see probing.
Classification Information
Demographic and socio-economic information on participants in a market research study.
Classification Questions
Questions that aim to collect demographic and socio-economic information on participants in a market research study.
Classification Tree Analysis
Used to predict membership of cases or objects in the classes of a categorical dependent variable from their measurements on one or more predictor variables. Classification tree analysis is one of the main techniques used in data mining.
Client Lounge
A separate room in a focus group facility, away from the focus group room where the clients of the facility can conduct business, eat, socialize etc.
Clinical Focus Groups
Focus groups that explore subconscious motivation.
Closed-End Question
Questions that ask the respondent to choose from a limited number of pre-listed answers.
Cluster
A category assigned to a neighborhood based on the assumption that the households share certain demographic, social, and economic characteristics.
Cluster Analysis
A multivariate statistical classification technique for discovering whether the individuals of a population fall into different groups by making quantitative comparisons of multiple characteristics. The differences within any group should be less than the differences between groups. Often used for consumer segmentation and brand positioning.
Cluster Sampling
Consists of selecting clusters of units in a population and then performing a census on each cluster. The selection of clusters could be based on some desired feature of the population or could be a random sample of clusters in the population.
Clustering
Identifying similar characteristics and grouping cases with similar characteristics together. Associated with lifestyle research and psychographic research.
Co-Op Payment
The payment provided to participants as an incentive to come to the focus groups or answer surveys. The amount varies dramatically, based on the difficulty of recruiting the participants. Also called the honorarium, incentive or respondent fee.
Coding
The process of translating responses to questions into numerical form for data processing.
Coefficient Of Determination
The percent of the variability in the dependent variable explained by the independent variable.
Coefficient Of Variation
The ratio of the population (or sample) standard deviation to the population (or sample) mean.
Cognitive Component Of Attitudes
An individual’s knowledge and beliefs about an object.
Cognitive Dissonance
Dissonance arises after a major purchase (e.g., a car) when alternatives are recommended and/or dislikes emerge with the choice. To eliminate the discomfort of dissonance, the consumer will seek to rationalize the original choice, in other words, find positive advantages and ignore the negative.
Cognitive Mapping Software
Computer software used with qualitative data which helps illustrate and elucidate relationships between ideas and perspectives.
Cohort
A group of individuals having a statistical factor (age, race etc.) in common in a demographic study.
Cohort Measures
Analysis of the activity of a cohort over an extended time period.
Collectively exhaustive
A set of alternatives given to a respondent which includes all possibilities.
Collinearity
The correlation of independent variables with each other. Can bias estimates of regression coefficients.
Commercials Testing
Testing used to measure the impact of television and radio advertising.
Communication Strategy Research
A study to cohesively answer communication questions such as; What, When and How Much are we going to communicate? Where and How will we communicate? What media will we use? And, Who will we be communicating to?
Comparability
The extent to which research results can be meaningfully compared.
Comparative Scales
A judgment comparing one object, concept or person against another on a scale.
Competitive Intelligence (CI)
A systematic program for gathering, analyzing, and managing external information that can affect your company’s plans, decisions, and operations.
Competitor Analysis Evaluation
An assessment of the product, price, technical capabilities, quality, customer service, delivery, sales, profit and strengths and weaknesses of current and potential competitors.
Competitor Customer Research
Research designed to understand the customers of your competitors.
Complement Of Event “A”
The collection of all simple events not in Event A.
Completion Rate
The percent of qualified respondents completing an interview or study.
Comprehensive Statistical Software
Computer software package which contains all the features needed to thoroughly explore, analyze and display many different types of data.
Concentric Circle
The shape of a geometric study area, sometimes referred to as a ring.
Concept Description
A brief description of a new product or service. Also known as the concept statement.
Concept Development
The process in which a concept statement is presented to potential consumers, for their reactions in an effort to determine the most appealing product or effective advertising approach.
Concept Optimization
A research approach that evaluates how specific product benefits or features contribute to a concept’s overall appeal to consumers. Results are used to select from the options investigated to construct the most appealing concept from the consumer’s perspective.
Concept Testing
The process of testing approaches, positioning statements or creative presentations with the target audience before a new product or ad is developed further.
Conceptual Mapping
A moderation technique in which participants are asked to place the names of products or services on a grid. How they group the items on the diagram is used to stimulate discussion.
Conclusions
The outcome or result; the section of the final report that contains the interpretation of the data in light of the research objectives. See also executive summary.
Concomitant Variation
The degree to which a cause and effect occur or vary together.
Concurrent Validity
The degree to which a variable, measured at the same point in time as the variable of interest, can be predicted by the measurement instrument.
Conditional Probability
The probability of a given event when additional information about that event is known. For example, the probability of rolling a one on the toss of a die when we are given the additional information that the roll landed on an odd number.
Conference Style Focus Group Room
Refers to a focus group room which contains a large table that is surrounded by chairs.
Confidence Interval
The range around a survey result for which there is a high statistical probability that it contains the true population parameter.
Confidence Level
The probability that a particular confidence interval will include the true population value.
Confidence Limits
The two values on each end of a confidence interval.
Confirmability
Objectivity; the findings of the study could be confirmed by another person conducting the same study
Confounded
An independent variable and an extraneous variable are confounded when their effects on the dependent variable cannot be distinguished from each other. Often a comparative study using a control group is used to avoid confounding variables.
Confounding Variable
An unforeseen, and unaccounted-for variable that jeopardizes reliability and validity of an experiment’s outcome because it decreases the ability to isolate cause and effect. Also known as an external variable.
Conjoint Analysis
A multivariate technique used to quantify the value that people associate with different levels of product/service attributes. Respondents trade product attributes against each other to establish product (brand) preference and the relative importance of attributes. Based on utility theory and consumer rationality. Better for functional than fashionable brands.
Conjoint Analysis Software
Computer software designed to quantify the value that people associate with different levels of product/service attributes.
Conjoint Association
A moderation technique in which participants are asked to choose between two hypothetical products or services, each of which has different attributes. The objective is to stimulate discussion about the various attributes in order to gain insight into the relative value of each.
Consideration Set
The set of alternatives that potential consumers would consider when buying a product or service.
Constant Sum Scales
Scales that ask the respondent to divide a given number of points, typically 100, among two or more attributes based on their importance to the individual
Constitutive Definition
Defines a concept with other concepts and constructs, establishing boundaries for the construct under study and stating the central idea or concept under study.
Construct
The working hypothesis or concept.
Construct Validity
The degree to which a measurement instrument represents, via the underlying theory, the observed phenomenon to the construct.
Constructive Replication
A study in which the hypothesis of an existing study is analyzed using techniques and methods that deliberately avoid duplicating the procedures used in the existing study.
Consumer
A person or organization that purchases or uses a product or service.
Consumer Drawings
Respondents draw what they are feeling or how they perceive an object.
Consumer Expenditure
The amount consumers spend on goods and services.
Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX)
Data gathered in an ongoing survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on the expenditures of consumers.
Consumer Orientation
Identification of and focus on the individuals or firms most likely to buy a product or service.
Consumer Price Index (CPI)
Compares the current cost of purchasing a fixed set of goods and services with the cost of the same set at a specific base year. The resulting measures can be compared over time.
Consumer Promotion Research
An analysis of the targeted marketing communication events that are designed to drive sales. This may include analysis of coupons, premiums, rebates, etc.
Consumer Research
Study that yields information about the motives and needs of different classes of product users, buyers or decision makers.
Consumer Unit
All related members of a particular household; a person living alone or sharing a household with others, who is financially independent; two or more persons living together who pool their incomes to make joint purchases.
Consumer panel
A survey in which the same respondents are interviewed several times over an extended period. The information may be on purchasing, consumption or life-style activities.
Contamination
The inclusion of an individual or group of respondents in a test group who do not represent the population.
Content Analysis
A technique used to study written material (usually advertising copy) by breaking it into meaningful units, using carefully applied rules.
Context Sensitivity
The awareness researcher of factors such as values and beliefs that influence cultural behaviors
Contingency
The difference between an actual frequency and an expected frequency in a table.
Contingency Table
A cross-tabulation table that contains a cell for every combination of categories of the two variables.
Continuous Research
Any research that involves the regular, on-going collection of data and analysis of either the same sample (called a panel study) or new samples chosen at regular intervals. Also known as a longitudinal study.
Continuous Variable
A quantitative variable that can assume an infinite number of values associated with the numbers on a line interval. Normally continuous variables are the result of some measurement process. Grade point average is a continuous variable because it can assume any value between 0.0 and 4.0.
Control Group
The group in an study that receives no treatment in order to compare the treated group against a norm.
Controlled Substitutions
Substituting a unit of sample or respondent with another (drawn in accordance with the selection parameters of the individual being replaced).
Convenience Sample
A sampling procedure that leaves the selection of respondents totally to the interviewers, with no quotas or qualifications imposed. It consists of those units of the population that are easily accessible.
Convention Interviews
A survey conducted at a trade-show or convention.
Convergent Validity
The degree of association among different measurement instruments that purport to measure the same concept.
Cool hunting market research
Research of the youth demographic with the an emphasis on emerging and declining trends in youth culture as well as predictions for future trends. The focus is often to discover the “next big thing”.
Cooperation Rate
The number of completed interviews as a proportion of the number of contacted eligible respondents
Copy Development Research
Testing used to determine the target audience reaction to alternative advertising text or preliminary ad concepts while the advertising is being developed. Also called pre-testing.
Copy Testing
Testing used to determine the target audience reaction to alternative advertising text or preliminary ad concepts.
Copy Testing-Online
Testing conducted via the internet used to determine the target audience reaction to alternative advertising text or preliminary ad concepts.
Corporate Image Studies
A study of the perception that people have of a company or the position it holds within the wider community. The corporate image is what people believe about a brand-their thoughts, feelings, expectations.
Corporate Marketing Research Department
Oversees and/or conducts research to support the firm’s present or future marketing efforts.
Correlation Analysis
Analysis of the degree to which changes in one variable are associated with changes in another.
Correlation Coefficient
A statistical measure which when squared gives the degree of association between the values of two random variables. Most correlation coefficients are normalized so that they have values between +1 (which indicates perfect correlation) and -1 (which indicates perfect inverse correlation); a value of 0 indicates no correlation. As the absolute value of the correlation coefficient increases, so does the strength of correlation.
Correspondence Analysis
A method of factoring categorical variables and displaying them in a property space which maps their association in two or more dimensions. It is often used where a tabular approach is less effective due to large tables with many rows and/or columns.
Council for Marketing and Opinion Research (CMOR)
US based association with the mission of improving respondent cooperation in research, promoting positive legislation and preventing restrictive legislation which could impact the survey research industry.
Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO)
A trade association of survey research organizations, representing over 250 companies and research operations in the United States and abroad.
Couponing Research
Evaluation of the reach, brand awareness or advertising value of promotional offers (generally in the form of certificates) used by consumers to redeem a cash value or a free item at the point of sale in retail outlets.
Covariance
A measure of the degree to which two variables move together over time relative to their individual mean returns.
Covariate
A variable that might be predictive of the outcome under study. A covariate may be of direct interest or be a confounding variable or effect modifier. Gender is a covariate of the life expectancy outcome, for example.
Coverage
The proportion of a population of interest that has been exposed to a particular advertisement.
Creative Development Research
A type of qualitative research that is used to formulate advertising.
Credibility
The accuracy, reliability and believability of an information source or object of study. Also the measure of the statistical significance of estimates produced from various data sets. An estimate produced from a larger data set will generally be a more reliable predictor than an estimate from a smaller data set.
Criterion Variables
The variables being predicted or explained in a study. Also known as the dependent variable.
Criterion-Related Validity
The degree to which a measurement instrument can predict a variable that is designated a criterion.
Cross-Cultural Analysis
The collection and analysis of data from different countries (or groups) for the purpose of comparing two or more cultures.
Cross-Elasticity
The extent to which products are substitutes for one another. Marketers use differentiation and quality to seek to minimize cross-elasticity and thus it could be seen as part of brand equity or marketing effectiveness. See also elasticity.
Cross-Validity
A method of comparing predicted and observed values that involves using comparable data (resampling) to check the validity of an original estimation.
Crosstabulation
Examination of the responses to one question relative to responses to one or more other questions.
Crowdsourcing research
Tapping into the collective intelligence of a broad audience and collecting insights and information.
Current Population Survey (CPS)
The survey conducted by the Census Bureau which monitors changes between the decennial censuses. Conducted monthly to 60,000 households.
Custom Marketing Research
Customized marketing research to address specific projects for corporate clients.
Customer Loyalty
The behavior customers exhibit when they make frequent repeat purchases of a brand.
Customer Recovery Studies
Study to Identify which lapsed customers represent the most long-term value once the customer is regained. May include a study of the best process for recovering lost customers.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
A philosophy which places the needs of the customer at the heart of the decision making process of a business. Often includes tracking customer behavior for the purpose of developing marketing and relationship-building processes that bond the consumer to the brand in order to achieve maximum customer lifetime value and return to the enterprise.
Customer Satisfaction Research
Research conducted to measure overall attitude or satisfaction with a product or service and satisfaction with specific elements of the product or service.
Customer Satisfaction Research Companies
Firms that specialize in researching overall attitude or satisfaction with a product or service and satisfaction with specific elements of the product or service.
DMA (Designated Marketing Area)
A television market, as defined by NPD/Nielsen, a firm which measures TV audiences.
Data
The collection of observations.
Data Analysis
The sorting of observations in order to identify patterns and establish relationships.
Data Analysis Software
Computer software designed to sort and analyze data.
Data Archive
a repository where questionnaire data or other market data is stored so that it can be used for secondly analysis.
Data Cleaning
The process of improving the quality of data by modifying its form or content including the removal and/or correction of erroneous data introduced by data entry errors, expired validity of data, improper sequence of questions.
Data Collection
The gathering of information for the purpose of drawing some conclusions.
Data Collection Field Services
A research service responsible for conducting a client’s Interviewing project. The service provider hires and trains interviewers, conducts the interviews and edits and validates the interviewers data for a client’s survey project. Also known as interviewing service.
Data Conversion
Altering or changing data. This can include translating it into a different format, taking out extraneous data, and restructuring data.
Data Crosstabulation
Examination of the responses to one question relative to responses to one or more other questions.
Data Deck
The complete set of responses in a survey.
Data Delivery Tools
Software designed to visualize, graph, and distribute data. May be PC based or Web based.
Data Entry
The process of classifying, sorting and ultimately inputting, collected data into a computer database. Also called transcribing.
Data Mining
The process of searching large volumes of data looking for patterns and other useful information. Sometimes referred to as text analytics.
Data Processing
The organization of data for the purpose of producing desired information; involves recording, classifying, sorting, summarizing, calculating, disseminating and storing data.
Data Processing Services
The agency that counts, classifies, sorts, summarizes, calculates, raw information into a form suitable for future dissemination.
Data Tabulation Software
Computer software designed for counting and analyzing responses to each question asked in a survey.
Data Use
A regular feature in Quirk’s Marketing Research Review magazine, Data Use focuses on the statistical side of marketing research. Researchers with a background in statistics explain a specific technique or discuss ways to tackle data analysis tasks.
Data User News
A monthly newsletter issued by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Database Management Software
Computer programs in which data are captured on the computer, updated, maintained and organized for effective use and manipulation of data.
Database Manager
The person with primary responsibility for the design, construction, and maintenance of a database. Responsibilities may include programming and managing a database, generating reports and conducting service inquiries and drawing data.
Day-After Recall
An advertising testing technique that measures the proportion of people recalling seeing a TV commercial within 24 hours of its airing.
Daytime Population
The population of an area during the daytime, which is usually far different from the residential population measured by the census.
Decennial Census
The census that is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau every 10 years in the first year of the decade.
Decentralized Research Function
An organizational structure which spreads marketing researchers throughout an organization instead of locating them together in a single department.
Decision Support Software
A set of computer software applications intended to allow users to search vast stores of information for specific reports which are critical for making management decisions.
Decision markets
Decision markets are speculative markets in which participants buy and sell prediction shares of whatever is trying to be predicted. The current market prices can then be interpreted as predictions of the probability of the event or the expected value of the parameter. Also known as predictive markets, information markets, prediction markets, idea futures or virtual markets.
Deductive
A form of reasoning in which conclusions are formulated about particulars from general or universal premises.
Degrees Of freedom
The number of values in the calculation of a statistic that are free to vary—the total number of observations in the sample minus the number of samples.
Delphi Technique
Method of expert judgment without adequate hard data, e.g., long-term forecasting. Stage I is to poll experts, anonymously and separately. In Stage 2 the results are consolidated and fed back to the experts as a group. Stage 3 polls them individually again, in the light of peer group opinion. In theory, the process continues until consensus arrives.
Demand Characteristics
A threat to the external validity of a research study that occurs when research subjects temporary change behavior or performance as a result of their assumption about the purpose of the study or as a result of their awareness of being studied. Also known as the Hawthorne effect.
Demographic Analysis
The systematic study of human population characteristics including size, growth rates, density, distribution, migration, birth rates and mortality rates so that its meaning, structure, relationships, origins, etc. are understood.
Demographic Database
A database which contains the vital statistics or objective and quantifiable characteristics of an audience or population. Demographic designators include age, marital status, income, family size, occupation, and personal or household characteristics such as age, sex, income, or educational level.
Demographic Profiles
The grouping of a market segment which typically involves age, gender, income, occupation etc.
Demographics
Description of the vital statistics or objective and quantifiable characteristics of an audience or population. Demographic designators include age, marital status, income, family size, occupation, and personal or household characteristics such as age, sex, income, or educational level.
Demography
A social science concerned with the size, distribution, structure, and change of populations.
Dendogram
A diagram that shows a hierarchy and the relation of subsets in a structure. It branches like a tree and is usually read downwards from the main trunk.
Density
A measure that is computed by dividing the total population of a geographic unit by its land area measured in square miles or square kilometers.
Dependability
A facet of reliability that relates to the degree of certainty given changes in the design of the study and the changing conditions surrounding the object of study.
Dependency
When one variable is influenced to an extent by another variable.
Dependent Variable
A symbol or concept expected to be explained or caused by the independent variable. It is the variable measured on each subject to determine whether its value is affected by the independent variable. Also known as criterion variable.”
Depth Interview
One-on-one interviews that probe and elicit detailed answers to questions, often using nondirective techniques to uncover hidden motivations.
Descriptive Function
The gathering and presentation of statements of facts.
Descriptive Studies
These studies answer the questions who, what, when, where, how.
Design Control
Use of the experimental design to control extraneous causal factors.
Design Flexibility
A quality of an observational study that allows researchers to pursue inquiries on new topics or questions that emerge from initial research.
Desk-Top Research
The systematic examination of all available secondary data in the context of a particular marketing research problem.
Deviation
The Departure of an observation from its expected value or mean.
Diad
An in-depth interview involving two people – an interviewer and a participant. Also called an in-depth interview (IDI) or one-on-one.
Diagnostic Function
The explanation of data or actions.
Diary
A log where facts are recorded relating to a respondent’s experiences or habits with a subject or product.
Diary panel
A sample of respondents who are measured repeatedly over time and asked to keep a written record of experiences and observations. Generally used as an instrument for measuring viewing, listening or reading of media.
Dichotomous Questions
Questions that ask the respondents to choose between two answers.
Digitizing
The process of assigning latitude and longitude coordinates for each twist and turn of a market area that is to be studied.
Direct Computer Interviewing
Consumers are intercepted in a mall or other central location and interviewed by a computer that asks questions and accepts responses.
Direct Digital Marketing
Electronic marketing addressed directly to the customer or prospect. Addressability may be an e-mail address, a Web browser cookie or a mobile phone number.
Direct Paired Comparison
A question that directs the respondent to make a comparison between two objects.
Directory Database
Data available through directories or indexes of directory-type data.
Disappointment Score
The proportion of respondents in a product test who indicate, after trying the product, that they would not buy it.
Discrete Choice Modeling
A research technique that reveals the relationship between the probability of choosing an alternative and the attributes or benefits that characterize that alternative. It provides estimates of the utility or value that customers place on different features or benefits of a product.
Discrete Variable
A quantitative variable that can assume a finite or at most a countable number of values such as the number of children in a family.
Discretionary Income
The amount of money people have for spending after taxes and necessities are paid for. Also known as disposable income.
Discriminant Analysis
A multivariate technique for analyzing the predictive value of a set of independent variables.
Discriminant Coefficient
Estimate of the discriminatory power of a particular independent variable.
Discriminant Score
The basis for predicting to which group a particular object or individual belongs.
Discriminant Validity
The lack of association among constructs that are supposed to be different.
Discussion Guide
A written outline of topics to cover during a focus group discussion. See also moderator guide or topic guide.
Discussion Question
A question which has no pre-listed answers and thus allows the respondent to answer in his/her own words. Also known as open-ended question.
Discussion of Technique
An article in Quirk’s Marketing Research Review magazine in which research industry practitioners offer advice/insight on a wide range of research-related topics.
Disguised Observation
The process of monitoring people, objects, or occurrences that do not know they are being watched.
Disk-By-Mail (DBM)
Self-administered surveying using a computer-based questionnaire which is mailed to participants.
Disposable Income
The income available to persons for spending or saving after taxes have been deducted. Also known as discretionary income.
Disproportional Or Optimal Allocation
Sampling in which the number of elements taken from a given stratum is proportional to the relative size of the stratum and the standard deviation of the characteristic under consideration.
Disqualifier
An answer to a question that makes the respondent ineligible to participate in the research project.
Distribution
An arrangement (range) of values of a variable showing their observed or theoretical frequency of occurrence.
Distribution Check
A study measuring the number of stores carrying specified products, along with the number of facings, special displays, and prices of the products.
Divestiture Studies
Research to determine if it is a good business strategy for a company to sell off a business unit in order to focus resources on a more profitable or promising market.
Do It Yourself (DIY) Marketing Research
Do-it-yourself (or DIY) is a term used to describe creating, modifying or conducting a survey or focus group without the aid of experts or professionals.
Door-To-Door Interviewing
Consumers are interviewed face to face in their homes.
Double Blind Experiment
A study where both the researcher administering the experiment and the participants are unaware of the complete identity of the products being tested.
Double Blind Test
A product test where both the researcher administering the test and the participants are unaware of the complete identity of the products being tested.
Double Jeopardy
The marketing problem in which smaller brands are bought both less frequently and by fewer people.
Double Sampling
Data is collected through an inexpensive sampling technique for a sample larger than the final desired sample size. A sub sample of this group is then selected and sampled - usually with a more expensive technique.
Double-Barreled Questions
Survey questions which really ask two questions at the same time. They can confuse respondents and answers to such questions are uninterpretable, because it is not possible to determine to which question the answer refers.
Dummy Variable
A dichotomous variable which indicates the existence (and lack of existence) of a characteristic or group of characteristics in a case (e.g.. 0 or 1).
Duplicate Number Validation
A service in the focus group industry in which the names and telephone numbers of people recruited for groups are submitted to a central screening organization in advance of the groups for the purpose of screening out people who have recently participated in any session or are involved in focus groups more frequently than is desired.
Durable Goods
Tangible products that can be stored or inventoried, that have an average life of at least three years and are generally not destroyed by use. Also known as hard goods.
Dyad
A qualitative research methodology in which an interviewer works with two participants at once. This technique is particularly appropriate for products and services for which two persons are relatively equal partners in making a purchase decision.”
Dynamic Systems
In regards to marketing research refers to qualitative research which accepts that change in a study is common because the researcher is not concerned with having straight-forward, right or wrong answers.
E-Commerce (Electronic Commerce)
The exchange of goods, information products, or services via an electronic medium such as the Internet.
E-Mail Surveys
Surveys delivered via electronic mail (e-mail).
E-Spread
The distance between the first and seventh sample eighths.
ESOMAR (Formerly known as the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research)
A worldwide association, ESOMAR endeavors to facilitate the exchange of insights and experiences between providers and users of market research to optimize use of research data into the decision making process.
Echo Boomers
People born in the United States and Canada from the early 1980s to the mid-to-late 1990s. The demographic cohort is also known as Generation Y or Millennials.
Econometrics
The application of statistical and mathematical methods in the field of economics to test and quantify economic theories and the solutions to economic problems.
Editing
The process of ascertaining that questionnaires were filled out properly, completely and accurately.
Efficiency
The degree to which the sample represents the population. See also precision.
Elasticity
Measures the extent volume shifts in response to a shift in the variable under consideration.
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
A machine that measures the rhythmic fluctuations in electrical potential of the brain.
Electronic Data Processing (EDP) Systems
Information systems that manipulate raw data with little intrinsic meaning to reflect transactional relationships, such as declarative and summary reports.
Electronic Point Of Sale Systems (EPOS)
Used to streamline stock control and ordering systems through barcode scanning and designed for the automatic processing of credit card payments.
Electronic Text
Text that has been copied or digitized into an electronic medium.
Element Sampling
A procedure in which each unit of a population has an equal chance of being chosen.
Eligibility Criteria
Specified characteristics that potential participants must possess in order to be involved in a given research project.
Eligible Respondent
A person who meets the criteria set for a study and thus qualifies to be included in the study.
Empathetic neutrality
A quality of qualitative researchers which includes personal experience and insight as part of the relevant data, while still being neutral and non-judgmental when compiling findings.
Empirical Research
Research that uses data drawn from observation or experience that are formulated to support insights and generalizations.
Employee Opinion Studies
A type of study that collects views of employees on matters related their employment.
Empty Nesters
The phrase coined to describe a market segment consisting of households where the children have left home and the parents are still working.
Enumeration Districts (EDs)
Census enumeration areas, averaging around 500 inhabitants.
Epsem Sample
An Epsem (equal probability of selection method) sample is one in which the population elements have equal and non-zero probabilities of selection.
Equivalent Form Reliability
The ability to produce similar results using two instruments as similar as possible to measure the same object.
Error Checking Routines
Computer programs that accept instructions from the user to check for logical errors in the data.
Error Sum Of Squares
The variation not explained by the regression.
Estimate
A numerical value obtained from a statistical sample and assigned to the population parameter.
Ethnic Research
Research which is focused on a group set apart from others because of its race which includes common language, history, geography, kinship, national origin, skin color and/or distinctive cultural patterns. Also known as multicultural research.
Ethnic Research Providers
Firms that specialize in researching specific groups set apart from others because of race, language, national origin, geography or skin color. May also include firms that are owned by an ethnic minority.
Ethnographic research (Ethnography)
The observation of a small group of people in their own environment (consumers) and drawing conclusions based on the findings from these observations. The researcher attempts to get a detailed understanding of the circumstances of the people being studied. The result is a collection of extensive narrative data on many variables over an extended period of time which provides insights into the group.
Ethnomethodology
Research that involves the examination of the ways in which people produce orderly social interaction on a routine, everyday basis.
European Chemical Marketing and Strategy Association (ECMSA)
ECMSA is a Belgium based association of planners, marketers, researchers and business intelligence professionals in the chemicals and allied industries.
European Federation of Associations of Market Research Organizations (EFAMRO)
EFAMRO is an international federation of market research agency associations within the European Union.
European Pharmaceutical Marketing Research Organization (EphMRA)
A UK based association which brings together European, research-based pharmaceutical companies operating on a global perspective. EphMRA is the dedicated forum for strategic business intelligence and marketing research professionals.
Evaluate Research
Research to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of specific programs.
Evaluation Apprehension
A study participant’s fear of being judged by others which may result in providing invalid data.
Event (Simple)
Any subset of a sample is called an event. Those subsets containing a single outcome are called simple events. In rolling a die the event might be that an even number is rolled. There are six simple events 1,2,3,4,5,6.
Exchange
The first three digits of a phone number. Also known as a prefix. It used to represent the town, community or neighborhood in which a telephone number is located.
Executive Interviews
Interviews with business people or experts within a particular field. Executive interviews are often used where the majority of knowledge of a subject is held by a minority of people.
Executive Search Firms
Service firm generally retained by corporate clients to find the most suitable candidate to fill a particular employment opening on a fee basis. A search firm aims to find the best candidates for a position, whether or not they are looking to make a career move. Some firms also assist in finding job seekers employment.
Executive Summary
The portion of a research report that explains why the research was done, what was found and what those findings mean, and what action, if any, management should undertake. See also conclusion.
Exhibit
Anything shown to respondents during an interview. Examples: a print advertisement, a card listing income categories. Also known as external stimuli.
Exit Interviews
An interview given to a departing employee.
Expected Value
The mean of a probability distribution. It is the value of the probability distribution we would expect in the long run.
Experiencing Focus Groups
Focus groups that enable a client to observe and listen to how consumers think and feel about products and services.
Experiment
The process of making an observation or taking a measurement.
Experimental Design
A test in which the researcher has control over one or more independent variables and manipulates them.
Experimental Effect
The effect of the treatment variable on the dependent variable.
Experimental Error
An error caused by the conditions of the experiment itself which creates uncertainty that the observed effects are actually due to the manipulation of the independent variable.
Experimental Unit
The basic element on which the experiment is conducted. Also called a subject, unit, respondent, participant or unit of analysis.
Exploratory Focus Groups
Focus groups that aid in the precise definition of the problem, in pilot testing, or in generating hypotheses for testing or concepts for further research.
Exploratory Research
Preliminary research to clarify the exact nature of the problem to be solved.
Exponential Smoothing
Any set of data recorded in time intervals. Also called time series analysis.
Expressive drawing
A moderation technique in which participants are asked to express their reaction to a product or service by drawing a picture.
External stimuli
Objects that are introduced into a focus group to generate reactions from the participants. Examples include concept boards, product prototypes, and rough and finished advertising. Also known as an exhibit.
External validity
The extent to which causal relationships measured in an experiment can be generalized to outside persons, settings and times.
External variables
An unforeseen, and unaccounted-for variable that jeopardizes reliability and validity of an experiment’s outcome because it decreases the ability to isolate cause and effect. Also known as an confounding variable or extraneous variable.
Extraneous variable
An unforeseen, and unaccounted-for variable that jeopardizes reliability and validity of an experiment’s outcome because it decreases the ability to isolate cause and effect. Also known as an confounding variable or external variable.
Eye tracking
A system which records the movement of a reader’s eye as he or she views material in an effort to capture the strength of attention that an advertisement, display or Web page creates.
