Seven Steps of Marketing Research

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Surveys
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What is a Survey?
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Why Survey?

• Get lots of structured information from lots of
  people.
• Simplify and standardize data collection.
• Use statistics to make predictions.
• Find out about things that can not be observed.
  Such as Thoughts, Emotions, Opinions, Intentions,
  Attitudes

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• The Need to Know Why

• why people do or do not do something.
• Likes, dislikes, attitudes, behaviors, influences

• The Need to Know How

• the process consumers go through before taking
  some action.
• Decision making process

• The Need to Know Who

• Information on age, income, occupation, marital
  status, stage in the family life cycle,
  education, and other lifestyle factors is
  necessary to the identification and definition of
  market segments.

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Survey Methods

• Personal Interview
• Door-to-Door (in-home), Mall-Intercept,
  Purchase-Intercept, Executive (office)
• Telephone-Interview
• People Computer assisted (CATI)
• Self-Administered
• Mail Survey
• Fax
• One-time vs. Panels
• Computer
• Direct Computer Interviewing
• Interactive voice response technology-Automated
  Telephone
• Surveys
• Internet

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A Classification of Survey Methods
TRADITIONAL TELEPHONE
CATI
POSTAL SURVEY
POSTAL PANEL
FAX
E-MAIL
INTERNET
IN HOME
MALL INTERCEPT
CAPI
DIRECT COMPUTER INTERVIEW
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Personal Interviews
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Personal Interviews
Advantages

• Can arouse and keep interest
• Can build rapport and enlist cooperation
• Ask complex questions
• Immediate feedback
• Can use visual and other aids
• Clarify misunderstandings
• High degree of flexibility
• Probe for more complete answers
• Do not need an explicit or current list of
  households or individuals

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Personal Interviews
Disadvantages

• Bias of Interviewer
• Response Bias
• Embarrassing/personal questions
• Time Requirements
• Cost Per Completed Interview Is High.
• High refusal rate
• A trained staff of interviewers that is
  geographically near the sample is needed.
• The total data collection period is likely to be
  longer than for most procedures.
• High selection error non-representative sample

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Telephone Interviewing
What are the Important Aspects of Telephone
Interviewing?

• Selecting telephone numbers
• Pre specified list
• A directory
• Random dialing procedure
• Random digit dialing
• Systematic random digit dialing (SRDD)
• The introduction
• When to call
• Call reports

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(No Transcript)
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Telephone Interviewing
Advantages

• Central location, under supervision, at own hours
• More interviews can be conducted in a given time
  
• Travelling time is saved
• More hours of the day are productive
• Repeated call backs at lower cost
• Lower administrative costs/ Lower cost per
  completed interview
• Less sample bias
• Better access to certain populations
• Shorter data collection periods.

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Telephone Interviewing
Limitations and Disadvantages

• Inability to employ visual aids or complex tasks
• Can't be longer than 5-10 min. or they get boring
• Amount of data that can be collected is
  relatively less
• A capable interviewer essential
• Sample bias -- Not all people have phones, or are
  not listed
• Nonresponse associated with RDD sampling is
  higher than with interviews
• Possibly less appropriate for personal or
  sensitive questions if no prior contact
• National Do Not Call List 1-866-580-DNCL
  (866-580-3625)
• http//www.LNNTE-DNCL.gc.ca

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Increasing Phone Survey Response

• Call at a convenient time (Weekdays 7-9 PM,
  Sunday afternoon)
• Have a nice Pleasant introduction
• Emphasize you are not selling anything.
• State how long it will take.
• Keep the survey short

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Self-Administered Types of Survey Research
Direct Mail Survey Questionnaire is distributed
to and returned from respondents via the postal
service.
Respondent Reads Survey Questions and Records
Answers Without Assistance
Mail Panel Survey Selected group of individuals
that have made an advance agreement to
participate in a series of direct mail surveys.
Drop Off Survey Questionnaires are left with
respondent to be completed at a later time and
returned to the researcher.
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• Mail Surveys
• Requires a broad identification of the
  individuals to be sampled before data collection
  begins
• Ad Hoc Mail Surveys (cold)
• Questionnaires for a particular project sent to
  selected names and addresses with no prior
  contact by the researcher.
• Mail Panels (warm)
• Pre-contacted and screened participants who are
  periodically sent questionnaires.
• A mail panel is a type of longitudinal study. A
  longitudinal study in one in which the same
  respondents are re-sampled over time.

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Mail Surveys
Some Decisions That Need to Be Taken

• Type of Return Envelope
• Postage
• Method of Addressing
• Cover Letter
• The Questionnaire Length, Layout, Color, Format
  Etc
• Method of Notification
• Incentive to Be Given

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Mail Surveys
Advantages

• Relatively low cost
• Reliable answers as no inhibiting intermediary
• Survey answered at respondents discretion
• Can be accomplished with minimal staff and
  facilities.
• Provides access to widely dispersed samples.
• Respondents have time to give thoughtful answers,
  look up records, or consult others.

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Mail Surveys
Disadvantages

• No control over whom the respondent consults
  before answering the questions
• The identity of the respondent is inadequately
  controlled
• The speed of the response can't be monitored
• No control on the order in which the questions
  are exposed or answered
• Open questions usually are not useful.
• Good reading and writing skills are needed by
  respondents.
• The interviewer is not present to exercise
  quality control with respect to answering all
  questions, meeting questions objectives, or the
  quality of answers provided.
• High non-response rate

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Mail Surveys
Disadvantages (Contd.)

• The respondent may not clearly understand the
  question and no opportunity to clarify
• No long questionnaires
• Need for good up-to date mailing list
• Response rate is generally poor
• Number of problems such as obsolescence,
  omissions, duplications, etc
• Ineffective as a way of enlisting cooperation.

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Factors Affecting the Response Rate

• Perceived amount of work required, and the length
  of the questionnaire
• Intrinsic interest in the topic
• Characteristics of the sample
• Credibility of the sponsoring organization
• Level of induced motivation

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Tactics Employed to Increase Mail Survey Response
Rate

• Advance postcard or telephone call alerting
  respondent of survey.
• Follow-up postcard or phone call.
• Monetary incentives (how much?).
• Premiums (pencil, pen, keychain, coupons, etc.).
• Postage stamps rather than metered envelopes.
• Self-addressed, stamped return envelope.
• Personalized address and well-written cover
  letter.
• Personally signed cover letter.

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Tactics Employed to Increase Mail Survey Response
Rate

• Entry into drawing for prize.
• Emotional appeals.
• Affiliation with institutions or reputed
  organizations.
• Multiple mailings of the questionnaire.
• Bids for sympathy.
• Offer to share information from the survey.
• Promise of contributions to favorite charity.

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Drop-off questionnaires

• The interviewer can explain the study, answer
  questions, and designate a respondent.
• Response rates tend to be like those of personal
  interview studies.
• There is more opportunity to give thoughtful
  answers and consult records.
• Costs about as much as personal interviews.
• A field staff is required.

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Fax Surveys
Advantages

• Relatively low cost
• Can be accomplished with minimal staff and
  facilities
• Provides access to widely dispersed samples.
• Respondents have time to give thoughtful answers.
• Local faxes are free.
• Administrative costs are fixed.
• It is fast.
• List management is easy.
• Can send and receive by computer.

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Fax Surveys
Disadvantages

• Higher fixed costs for computer/fax equipment,
  multiple phone lines.
• Cost varies by time on line, time of day,
  distance, and telephone carrier.
• Generally limited to organizational populations.
• Loss of anonymity.

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Internet Surveys
To realize the importance of the marketing
research interviewer.

• Internet Samples
• Unrestricted
• Open to any Internet user.
• Screened
• adjust for unrepresentitiveness of the
  self-selected respondents by imposing quotas
  based on some desired sample characteristics

• Recruited
• to target populations in surveys that require
  more control of the sample

• Greenfield

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Internet Surveys
Advantages

• The advantages of interviewer administration (In
  contrast to mail surveys).
• smaller staff needed,
• High-speed,
• Instantaneous data access real time reporting
• Cost efficient
• Automatic data entry
• Multimedia stimuli
• Easy to update
• Ability to reach a lot of people, and often those
  hard to reach

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Internet Surveys
Advantages

• Potential for longitudinal studies
• Surveys can be unobtrusively included with a
  general site
• pre-screening of respondents possible
• tracking
• Easy to personalize
• No geographic boundaries
• supervision and quality control potentially
  better.
• better response rate from a list sample than
  from mail
• use a branching or skip pattern

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Internet Surveys
Disadvantages

• Internet users are not representative of the
  population as a whole (strong sample bias)
• Strong selection bias for respondents who are not
  pre-screened
• security/privacy issues
• unrestricted anyone can complete the
  questionnaire
• fully self-selecting

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• Free Trial Survey Software

• Free Online Surveys
• eSurveypro
• Question Pro
• Keysurvey
• Checkbox survey

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E-mail Questionnaires

• The questionnaire is prepared like a simple
  E-mail message, and is sent to a list of known
  E-mail addresses. The respondent fills in the
  answers, and E-mails the form plus replies back
  to the research organization

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Increasing Response Internet/E-mail Survey

• Almost all the actions listed for mail survey
  should hold for E-Mail/Internet survey with some
  modifications.
• The questionnaire should be fairly short.
• No need for advance notification
• Have short, pleasant introduction
• Monetary incentives not given. But sharing
  information would be nice.
• Reminder e-mail would be useful.

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Criteria for Determining Choice Of Particular
Survey Methods

• Sample Criteria Ability to reach and get
  responses from the desired sample (sample
  control)
• right type of people
• adequate sample size.
• Information Criteria Ability to get the desired
  information from respondents.
• Need to Expose Respondents to Various Stimuli or
  Perform Certain Specialized Tasks e.g. Taste
  tests, product concept and prototype tests, etc.
• Length of Questionnaire
• Degree of Structure of the Questionnaire
• Control social desirability
• Administrative Criteria
• time for data collection and analysis
• Interviewer control
• Error control
• Budget

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Factors Determining the Choice of Survey Method.

• Personal
• Mail
• Phone
• E-Mail/Internet.

Use for long, complex questionnaires where
respondent is important and budgets are
high. Use when you have a mailing list, somewhat
long / complex questionnaire, and budgets are
low. Use to reach a large number of people
quickly and you have a short questionnaire that
can be easily understood. Use when target
audience is educated, topic interesting, short
questionnaire, have e-mail list,
representativeness not a major issue
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Comparative Evaluation

• Personal Phone Mail Internet
• Sample control ? ? ? ?
• Use of physical stimuli ? ? ? ?
• Diversity of questions ? ? ? ?
• Length ?
  ? ? ?
• Perceived anonymity ? ? ? ?
• Potential for interviewer bias ? ? ? ?
• Field force control ? ? ? ?
• Speed ? ? ?
  ?
• Cost ? ? ? ?

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Advantages Disadvantages of Survey Methods
Personal Mail/Self Report Telephone Internet
Speed of data collection Moderate to fast No control over return of questionnaire Very fast Fastest
Geographic flexibility Limited to moderate High Good Best
Respondent cooperation Excellent except in shopping malls Moderate poorly designed questionnaires have poor response rates Good Best
Versatility of questioning Very versatile Highly standardized format Moderate Good
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Advantages Disadvantages of Survey Methods
Personal Mail/Self Report Telephone Internet
Questionnaire length Long Varies depending on incentive Moderate/ Short Moderate
Respondent misunderstanding Lowest Highest Moderate Moderate
Interviewer influence High None Moderate None
Supervision of interviewers Moderate Not applicable High None
Anonymity of respondent Low in face-to-face situations High Moderate Low
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Advantages Disadvantages of Survey Methods
Personal Mail/Self Report Telephone Internet
Ease of callback or follow-up Difficult Easy, but takes time Easy Easy
Cost Highest Low Low to moderate Lowest
Special features Visual materials may be shown or demonstrated extended probing possible Respondents may answer questions at own convenience has time to reflect on answers Field and supervision of data collection are simplified quite adaptable to computer technology Data collection automatic Skip patterns automatic
Note These reflect typical situations. For
example, an elaborate mail survey may be far
more expensive than a short interview, but this
is generally not the case.
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Potential Problems with Surveys
How accurate are the results?

• Did you ask the right questions in the right way?
• Did you ask the right people?
• Did they tell you the truth, the whole truth, and
  nothing but the truth?
• Will they?
• Can they? Do they have the knowledge, opinions,
  attitudes, or facts required. Do they understand
  the questions?
• Structure causes a loss of data richness.
• Have the Respondents/Interviewers understood and
  correctly recorded the responses
• Lack of control causes time and response problems.

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Overview of the Types of Errors in Survey
Research Methods

• Survey research errors can be classified as
  either

• Random Sampling Error
• statistically measured difference between the
  actual sampled results and the estimated true
  population results.
• error because of chance variation
• Reduce by increasing sample size
• Range can be estimated with a certain level of
  confidence

• Nonsampling Error (Systematic Error)
• results from mistakes or problems in the research
  design or its execution
• Causes data to be misleading or incomplete in
  some systematic way from true population
  parameter
• If you are aware of the problem you may be able
  to deal with it.

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Systematic Sample Design Error

• Frame Error The list from which you draw your
  sample is not what you think it issome on it
  dont belong and/or some who belong are not on it
  sample is not representative of population
  (e.g. telephone directory)
• Population Specification Error incorrect
  definition of the universe or population from
  which the sample is to be selected. You left
  people out of the study.
• Selection Error You include or exclude people
  in the sample so that it is not random. Use of
  incomplete or improper sampling procedures or
  when appropriate selection procedures are not
  properly followed (e.g. non-probability samples
  such as intercept surveys)

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Systematic Measurement Error

• Difference between the information sought and
  that obtained

• Surrogate Information Error
• Acquisition of the wrong data because wrong
  question was asked. failure to define problem,
  e.g. New Coke
• Interviewer Error
• interviewer may, consciously or unconsciously,
  influence respondents to give untrue or
  inaccurate answers. training problem
• Instrument Bias
• misunderstood or leading questions
  questionnaire design
• Processing Error
• sloppy data input
• Non-response Bias
• differences between the did vs. did not
  answer question
• Response Bias
• a failure to tell the truth, consciously or
  unconsciously

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Your company has just launched a new brand of
pancake syrup. In order to improve sales the
marketing department would like to know why
consumers buy the brands and sizes they do. How
would you go about collecting this information?
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Calgary Transit would like to conduct a ridership
survey. Funds are limited but they need a
relatively large sample. How would you suggest
they gather the information?
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Your company makes the new flip and fold device.
You want to find out what consumers think about
it and how much they are willing to pay. What
sort of survey technique do you use and why. Who
do you target in your survey
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OBSERVATIONAL RESEARCH
Watching what people do

• The information must be observable
• Helpful if the behavior is repetitive and of
  short duration
• Approaches to observational research
• Natural Versus Contrived Situations
• Open Versus Disguised Observation
• Structured Versus Unstructured
• Human Versus Machine Observers

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What does gathering data through Observation
entail
What are the advantages of observational data
collection as opposed to surveys?
What are the relative disadvantages of
observational data collection as opposed to
surveys?
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• Main Observational Research Methods

• Direct Observation
• Shopper Patterns and Behavior
• Contrived Observation
• Mystery Shopper
• Content Analysis
• Analyzing written material into meaningful units,
  using carefully applied rules
• Physical Trace Measures
• Garbology
• Ethnographic Research
• The researcher becomes Immersed in or part of the
  group
• Behavior (Emotion) Recording Devices

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• Toothpaste manufactures have found consistently
  that if they ask for detailed information on the
  frequency with which people brush their teeth,
  and then make minimal assumptions as to the
  quantity of toothpaste used on each occasion, as
  well as spillage and failure to squeeze the tube
  empty, the result is a serious overstatement of
  toothpaste consumption.
• How would you explain this phenomenon?
• Would it be possible to design a study to
  overcome these problems and obtain more accurate
  estimates of consumption?

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Advantages

• We see what people actually do
• May avoid interviewer bias

Disadvantages

• No information on motives attitudes or intentions
• Time-consuming and expensive

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• Machine observation

• Traffic Counters
• Time and flow in retail stores
• Behavior Measurement
• People Reader reading habits
• Physiological Measurement
• EEG electroencephalogram
• GSR galvanic skin response
• Pupilometer pupil dilation
• Scanner Based
• Store scanners read the UPC codes on products and
  produce instantaneous information on sales