Consumer Research Flashcards
Consumer Research Objectives
- A clearly written statement of research objectives ensures that the information needed is collected
Exploratory Research - help researchers define the objectives of larger and more expensive studies
- reviewing secondary data
Secondary Data
Existing information that was originally gathered for a research purpose
Types of Secondary Data:
- Data collected by governments and agencies
- Business-relevant secondary data (journal articles, newspapers, books)
- Commercially available consumer information collected by research services.
- Consumer panels (media viewing habits)
Pros & Cons Of Secondary Data
Advantages
- May provide a solution
- Helps clarify objectives of the primary study
- Cheaper and quicker
Limitations
- May not match what researcher seeks
- May not be accurate
- Errors may have been made in data collection/analysis
- Out of date
Qualitative Research
Focus Groups
- 8-10 participants explore a particular product category
Depth Interviews (one-on-one)
- uncover a consumer’s underlying attitudes/motivations
- Participants might not be honest or unwilling to share personal views (social desirability bias)
- Sample sizes are often small
- Findings cannot be generalized to larger populations
Observation
- directly observing consumers in their natural setting without any direct intervention from the researcher
- Capture consumers’ behaviors, interactions, and decision-making process as they naturally occur
- Can be conducted in physical settings or online platforms (social media)
Ethnographic
- immersing the researcher in the consumers’ environment to gain an in-depth understating of their culture, behaviors, and experiences
- Often spend extended periods living or interacting with the community
Case Study
- in-depth investigation of a single individual, group, organization, or event
Quantitative Research
To identify:
- the impact of promotional messages on consumers
- level of satisfaction with a product, service, or retailer
- Includes experimentation and survey techniques
- Findings are descriptive and empirical
If collected using appropriate sampling, findings can be generalized to larger populations
Validity & Reliablity
The data gathered must enable the researchers to confirm or reject their hypotheses.
A measure has validity if it collects the appropriate data needed to answer research questions.
- survey designed to examine depression but which actually measures anxiety would not be considered valid.
A measure has reliability if the same questions, asked of a similar sample, produce the same findings.
- accuracy of an instrument.
Observational Research
Watching consumers’ actions in realistic surroundings, such as stores and home environments
Mechanical Observation eliminates the need for a trained observer
- a customer’s usage of frequent shopper cards provides data to the retailers
Physiological Observation devices can be used to monitor the eye movements of subjects looking at advertisements.
Causal Research
Experiments identify cause-and-effect relationships among factors.
- the effect of therapy type (independent variable) on level of depression (dependent variable).
The essential feature of experiments: random assignment
A major application of causal research is test marketing.
- introducing a product to geographic market in order to examine consumers’ responses to the offering under actual marketing conditions.
Surveys
Personal Interview Surveys (face-to-face) often take place in a public space or a retail shopping area.
Mail Surveys involve sending questionnaires directly to individuals at their homes.
- Usually have a low response rate.
- Email and Internet surveys are an increasingly popular alternative.
Telephone Interview Surveys have become more difficult to conduct with the rise of voicemail and caller ID
Developing Questionaires
Open-Ended Questions:
- long form responses
Closed-Ended Questions:
- multiple-choice
- Likert scale
Considerations
- Avoid leading and double barreled questions (two questions in one)
- Use common words
- Ensure respondents are willing to answer the question
- Questions’ sequence
Sample
A subset of the population that is used to estimate the characteristics of the entire population
Sampling plan includes:
- whom to survey (the sampling unit)
- how many to survey (the sample size)
- how to select them (the sampling procedure)
Sampling Procedure
Probability Sample
- Every member of the population under study has an equal chance of being selected
- simple random sample
Non-Probability Sample
- The population under study has been predetermined in a nonrandom fashion
- convenience samples take the most accessible population members
