Part 2

Professor Conrad

The Basics of Marketing Research

1

Establish the need for the

research

Define the problem

Establish Research Objectives

Determine Research Design

Info Types and

Sources

2

Methods of Access

Design Data

Collection

Sample Size

Collect and

Analyze Data

Present Results

3

Focus Groups Guide and Survey Designs 4

• Review research problem and objectives

• Quantitative Research and Survey Design Defined

• Response Rate Calculations

• Survey Data Collection Methods

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Focus groups are small groups of people brought together and guided by a moderator through an unstructured, spontaneous discussion for the purpose of gaining information relevant to the research problem.

Traditional focus group: Select 6 to 12 persons and meet in a dedicated room with one-way mirror for client viewing.

Online focus group: the respondents and/or clients communicate and/or observe by use of the Internet

Moderator: responsible for creating the correct atmosphere in the group and guiding discussion

Question Type: Main Questions – Open-ended

Follow-up Questions

Probing Questions

Prompted Questions

Focus group report: summarizes the information provided by the focus group participants relative to the research questions

Advantages

Can generate fresh ideas

Allow clients to observe their participants

May be directed at understanding a wide variety of issues

Allow fairly easy access to special respondent groups

Disadvantages

Representativeness of participants

Dependence on the moderator

Interpretation sometimes difficult

Focus groups should be used when the research objective is to describe rather than predict.

How do consumers describe a better package?

How would they describe their satisfaction with our service?

How could they describe their ideas for an ad campaign?

Focus groups should not be used when the research questions require a prediction or when a major decision affecting the company’s livelihood rests on the research results.

To generate ideas

To understand consumer vocabulary

To reveal consumer goods, motives, perceptions, and attitudes about products or services

To understand findings from quantitative studies

How many focus groups should be conducted?

How many people should be in a focus group?

Who should be in the focus group?

How should focus group participants be recruited and selected?

Where should a focus group meet?

When should the moderator become involved in the research project?

How are focus group results reported and used?

What other benefits do focus groups offer?

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• Review research problem and objectives

• Quantitative Research and Survey Design Defined

• Response Rate Calculations

• Survey Data Collection Methods

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Difference from Qualitative Research Questions and answers are predesigned

Large number of respondents

Evolution

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PanelsInternet-based

Surveys

Computer-assisted

Telephone Interviews

Telephone-based Data Collection

Printed Questionnaires

Cost for Survey Research

Sample Size Free if you use your own list

Panels can cost a few $1,000

Phone survey can cost >$100,000

Access to Sample General consumer population is less

Specialized populations can be expensive

Survey Length Longer surveys affects response rate

Analysis Sophisticated analysis can be expensive

Modest compared to other costs

Reasons for Survey Research

Customer Satisfaction

Segmentation Studies

Product Usage and Ownership

Purchase Intentions

Brand Image and Perceptions

Tracking Studies

Media Usage

Readership Studies

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Tells ‘what’ but not ‘why’

Inability to probe for more

Similar to interviews, may be limited and biased

Response rates are increasingly declining (Why?)

ADVANTAGES

Provides large sample precision

Standardization

Easy and cost-efficient

Analysis is easy with technology

Reveal complex, multi-level distinctions among groups

Can compare segments/subgroups

DISADVANTAGES

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The higher the response rate, the more accurate the results

SurveyGizmo.com (2017) Internal surveys (to employees/staff) typically receive 30-40% on

average

External surveys (to customers) will average a 10-15% response rate

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Survey Design Keep your survey short (10

minutes max)

Keep your language simple

Let respondents skip open-ended questions

Test before full deployment

Focus on the Audience Use a qualifying question to

eliminate the wrong people

20Source: SurveyMonkey.com and SurveyGizmo.com

Encourage Responses Offer survey results

Offer incentive (e.g. drawing for gift card)

Survey Deployment Keep contact info up-to-date

E-mail + Social Media + Print

Customize the invite

Send out reminders

Person-administered and computer-assisted

• In-home survey

• Mall-intercept survey

• In-office survey

• Telephone survey

Computer-administered

• Fully automated survey

• Online survey

Self-administered

• Group self-administered survey

• Drop-off survey

• Mail survey

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Nominal

• Categorizes respondents into subgroups

• Descriptive characteristic

• Demographics: Age, income, occupation, education

• Answers are standard

Ordinal

• Profiles the respondents

• Relative size difference: Greater than/less than

• Natural order of object: 1st, 2nd or 3rd

• Exact differences are unknown

Scale

• Measures the level of something: satisfaction

• Ratio scale: has a true zero origin (dollars, miles, years)

• Interval scale: subjective (More likely, likely, less likely) 22

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Likert Scale Measures the intensity of the respondent’s feelings

Lifestyle inventory uses Likert scales

Purchase behaviors such as usage of a product, visits to a store or other customer types

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Statement Strongly

Agree

Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Disagree

Vans shoes are good lookingO O O O O

Vans shoes are reasonably pricedO O O O O

You next pair of shoes will be VansO O O O O

Vans make you look coolO O O O O

Using each of the following student activities, write the statement that would appear on a college student lifestyle inventory questionnaire.

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Statement Strongly

Disagree

Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly

Agree

Studying1 2 3 4 5

Going Out1 2 3 4 5

Working1 2 3 4 5

Exercising1 2 3 4 5

Shopping1 2 3 4 5

Dating1 2 3 4 5

Spending Money1 2 3 4 5

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Semantic Differential Scale Properties of an object are measured

by indicating locations along its continuum

Measures the implied meanings of an object, person or experience to understand the attitude toward the object

After selecting a concept or object, choose bipolar pairs of words/phrases used to describer the object’s noticeable properties. Hot – Cold

High quality – Low quality

Convenient – Inconvenient

Determine what and how

to measure

•Identify construct’s properties and type of measure for each

Decide on wording

•Word each question using dos and avoiding don’ts

Organize questionnaire

•Write introduction, put questions in order, use skip logic as needed

Finalize and launch

•Get client approval, pretest, code and launch

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1. Questions should be clear, simple, specific and relevant to the study

2. Focus on current attitudes and very recent behavior

3. Start with general questions and move into more specific questions

4. Avoid vague words (pretest)

5. Use 5 – 8 response options for Likert-type response scales

6. Include neutral/no opinion option on scale questions if possible

7. Numeric labels should be shown to respondents

8. Numeric/verbal scale endpoints should be explicit

9. Use lower numbers to represent “Disagree,” higher for “Agree”

10. Off a “Don’t Know” response

11. Place demographic questions at the end of the questionnaire30

Develop research questions

that measure…

Attitudes

Beliefs

Behaviors

Demographics

Your research questions

should measure

• Attitudes

• Beliefs

• Behaviors

• Demographics

That are relevant to the

research being conducted

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Stay focused on a single topic

Keep it brief

Keep it grammatically simple

Keep it crystal clear

X “Lead” the respondent

X Use “loaded” questions

X Use ‘double-barreled” questions

X Use words that overstate the case

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Introduction Who is doing the survey?

What is the survey about?

How did you select the participants?

Motivate them to respond.

Use incentives (Intrinsic and extrinsic)

Ensure anonymity

Ensure confidentiality

Qualify the participant with screening questions

Take great care writing the introduction – first impression of the research project for the participant. The intro could be what persuades them to respond to or ignore your questionnaire.

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Screening ??

Have you shopped at JCPenneys before?

Is this your first visit to the store?

Used to select the right respondent for the survey.

Warm-up ??

How often do you shop at JCPenneys?

On what days of the week do you usually shop for

dress clothes?

Easy to answer, generates interest

Transition Statements

For the next few questions, we will provide

several statements for which you will rate your

level of satisfaction.

Notifies respondent that format or subject of questions is going to

change.

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Complicated ??

Rate each department on a friendliness of salespersons on

a scale of 1 to 10.

Respondent is committed by now. They need to be told or see that they’re nearing the

end.

Classification ??

What is your gender?

What is your annual income?

Personal (and possibly offensive) are placed at the

end.35

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