Quantitative Research Techniques

Survey Research ...

is a method of descriptive research used for
collecting primary data based on verbal or written
communication with a representative sample of
individuals or respondents from the target
population.
It requires asking the respondents for
information either face-to-face or using the
telephone interview, or through mail, fax or
Internet.
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Survey Research
Objectives:
Most survey research studies attempt to identify and
explain a particular marketing activity. Marketing
surveys typically have multiple objectives.
Although surveys are generally conducted to quantify
certain factual information, certain aspects of surveys
may also be qualitative.
For example, testing and refining new product concepts is often a
qualitative objective in a new product development.

Has non-business application as well. [e.g. donor research].

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Example
What survey research objectives might Daewoo
[motor car] develop to learn about car buyers?
Consumer preference in design and features and
how best to satisfy these preferences;
shopping mall intercepts; mail interview etc.

Demographic details, customer satisfaction;

Testing certain aspects of advertising;
Study product image.
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Person administered surveys I

1. Direct, face-to-face Interview:
Interviewer and interviewee see and talk to each other
face-to-face. Includes
In-home/In-office Interview
Appointment first,
Face to face Interview
Needs Skill

Mall Intercept Interview

Interview outside home, in supermarkets, departmental
stores, other public places

Face to face interview

Advantages
Direct interaction
Clarity and display of
exhibits
Better quality and
quantity of data
Higher response rate
No sequence bias
Identifying respondents
Unstructured

Disadvantages

High cost
Longer time
Interviewer bias
Anonymity not
maintained
Interviewer cheating
Time bias exists
Field control needed
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Person Administered Surveys II

2. Indirect, non- face-to-face Interview:
The interviewer and the interviewee do not see
but talk direct to each other.
Telephone Interview

Telephone Interview
Advantages
Faster Results
Inexpensive
Better geographical
coverage
Irresistibility
Reaching hard-to-reach
people
Timing: early or late OK
Privacy and better control
Coincidental data:
immediate feedback.

Disadvantages
No exhibits
Long interview not
possible
Inability to make
judgment
Answering machines and
caller identification device
Sampling problem
Obsolete directory: poor
sampling frame

Self-administered surveys
Mail Survey
Advantages
Wide geographical coverage
Providing thoughtful answers
Ability to ask sensitive
questions
No interviewer bias
Inexpensive
Better control
Anonymity
Clarity

Disadvantages

Mailing list problem

Unidentifiable respondent
Questionnaire exposure
Data limitation
No interviewer assistance
no exhibits

Assumed literacy
Poor response rate
Longer time

Survey through Internet has similar advantages and

problems

A questionnaire
[also called research instrument]
Data collection
instrument used
for gathering
data;
A formalized
schedule of an
assembly of a
carefully
formulated
questions;

Six important functions

Converts research objectives
into specific questions
Standardizes the questions
Keeps respondents motivated to
complete the research
Serve as a permanent record
Speed-up the process of data
analysis
Reliability and validity
purposes

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Questionnaire Development Process

Steps in a Questionnaire Development Process

Determine
Survey
Objectives

Decide Data
Collection
Methods

Pre-design activities

Post-design activities
Tabulate and
Analyze Data
and Finalize
Report

Gather Data
Using the
Questionnaire

Question
Development

Question
Evaluation
by Researcher
and by Client

Pretest the
Questionna
ire

Design
activities

Revise,
Finalize,
and
Duplicate

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Basic Question Formats

Various Question Formats
Basic
Question Formats

Open-ended
Questions

Closed-ended
Questions

Scaled
Questions

Basic
Open-ended
Questions

Dichotomous
Questions

Labeled
Questions

Probing
Questions

Multiple-Choice
Responses

Unlabeled
Questions

Clarifying
Questions

Single-coded
Multiple-coded

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OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS: Questions to which respondents

give their responses freely, according to their own will.
Basic Open Ended Questions.
Q. What do you particularly like about Lipton Tea?
______________________________________________________________________________
Q. Why are you unwilling to buy a cellular phone when it is available in the market?

________________________________________________________________________

Probing Questions
Q. What do you particularly like about Johnson & Johnson baby oil?
__________________________________________________________________________
PROBE: Anything else?

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Advantages and disadvantages of

Open-ended Questions

Advantages
Since they do not restrict the
respondents response, the widest
scope of response can be
attained.
Most appropriate where the
range of possible responses is
broad, or cannot be
predetermined.
Less subject to interviewer bias.
Responses may often be used as
direct quotes to bring realism
and life to the written report.

Disadvantages

Inappropriate for self-administered

questionnaire since people tend to
write more briefly than they speak.
The interviewer may only record a
summary of the responses given by
an interview and fail to capture the
the interviewers own ideas.
It is difficult to categorize and
summarize the diverse responses of
different respondents.
May annoy a respondent and prompt
him/her to terminate the interview,
or ignore the mail questionnaire.

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CLOSED-ENDED QUESTIONS: Questions to which respondents

are required to answer from set of alternative responses provided by
the researcher. Could be dichotomous or multiple choice.
Dichotomous Questions With No Neutral Response
_________________________________________________
Q.Do you have a cellular phone?
Yes ...................................... 1 without neutral
No ...................................... 2 response
Dichotomous Questions With Neutral Response
Q.Is it likely that you will purchase a cellular phone in the next
six months?
Yes ...................................... 1 with neutral
No ...................................... 2 response
Not Sure .............................. 3

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Single- and multi-coded multiple choice questions

_____________________________________________________________________
Q. On an average, how much do you spend on newspapers, books and magazines in a
month? (Please check one from the following responses.)
Less than $15 ...................................
Between $16 & $30 .......................
Between $31 & $45 .......................
Between $46 & $60 .......................
$60 or more ...................................

1
2
3
4
5

Single-coded
question

Q. Which of the following household appliances does your household have?

(Please check as many responses that are applicable to you.)
TV
LCD
PC
Fax

1
.2
3
4

VCR
5
Microwave
. 6
Cellular phone .7
Others
.8
Specify ____________

Multi-coded
question

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__

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Advantages and Disadvantages of

Closed-ended Questions
ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES

All respondents reply on a

standard response set. This
ensures comparability of
responses, facilitates coding,
tabulating and interpreting the
data.
Easier to administer and most
suited for self-administered
questionnaire.
If used in interviews, less
skilled interviewer may be
engaged to do the job.

Preparing the list of

responses is timeconsuming.
If the list of responses is
long, the respondents may
be confused.
If the list of responses is
not comprehensive,
responses may often fail to
represent the respondents
point of views.

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Scaling questions
Scaling questions are special types of closed-ended questions.
They include, among others, the following categories of questions.

Behavioral/Attitudinal questions
Buying-intent questions
Agree-Disagree questions
Preference questions
Ranking questions
Semantic differential questions
Constant-sum questions

The questions can be labeled or unlabeled

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Labeled and Unlabeled Scaling Questions

Type of
Scaled
Questions
Unlabeled
scaledresponse
question

Labeled
scaledresponse
question

Examples

On a scale of 1 to 7,
how would you rate
the IBM Thinkpad on
ease of operation?

Advantages

1. Allows a respondent to
express the degree of
his/her intensity of
feelings.
2. Easy to administer and
code.
Do you disagree
1. Allows a respondent to
strongly, disagree,
express the degree of
agree, or agree strongly his/her intensity of
with the statement,
feelings.
IBM laptops are a
2. Easy to administer and
better value than
code.
Compaq laptops?
3. Respondents can relate
to the scale.

Disadvantages

Respondents
may not relate to
the scale well.

Scale may be
forced or
overly detailed.

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Considerations in choosing a question format

Nature of the property being measured
Subjective Vs objective

Previous research studies

Need for comparison with past studies

Data Collection Mode

Telephone/face-to-face-interview/mail

Scale level desired

Statistical analysis

Ability of the respondents

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Phrasing and Sequencing of Questions

PHRASING
Focus on a single issue or
topic
Ask precise questions
using respondents core
vocabulary
Avoid
use of vague words
asking leading or loaded
questions
estimation questions
double barreled questions
presumptuous questions

SEQUENCING
Start with simple opening
questions
Place
broad-based questions first;
more specific and narrow
questions and difficult,
sensitive, embarrassing
questions should come
later(Funnel approach)
Classification questions last.

Transition from one topic to

another should be smooth

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Questionnaire Layout

Provide sufficient spaces

Use prominent print for instructions
Use filtered questions
Do not slit the same question over two
pages
Number the questions
Layout should facilitate editing and
coding
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Comparative Evaluation of Various survey Methods.

________________________________________________________________________
Face-to-face Interview
Criteria
In-home/
MallTelephone
Mail
In-office
intercept
Interview
Survey
Flexibility of data collection
Diversity of questions
Sample control

High
High
Potentially
high
Control of data collection
Moderate to
environment
high
Response rate
High
Show of exhibits
Yes
Quantity of data
High
Anonymity of the respondents Absent
Access to sensitive information Low
Speed
Moderate
Cost
High
Potential interviewer bias
High

High
High
Moderate

Low
Moderate
Low

High

Moderate
Low
Moderate to
high
Moderate

High
Yes
Moderate
Absent
Low
Fast
Moderate
Moderate to

Moderate
No
Low
Moderate
High
Fast
Moderate
Moderate

Low
No
High
High
High
Slow
Low
Low

Low

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Causal Research/Experiments
In causal research, the emphasis is on specific hypotheses
about the effects of changes of one variable on another
variable.
Deals with cause-effect relationship.
Involves experiment where an independent variable is
changed or manipulated to see how it affects a dependent
variable by controlling the effects of extraneous variables.
Extraneous variables:
Different from dependent or independent variables
Variables that may have some affects upon a dependent variable
but yet are not independent variables.

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Experimental design
A set of procedures for devising an experiment such that a
change in a dependent variable may be attributed solely to
the change in an independent variables.
Various notations used:
O = The measurement or the process of observation of a
dependent variable on the subjects or
groups of subjects to be tested.
O1 and O2 refer to different
measurements made of the dependent variable.
X = The manipulation, or change, of an independent variable.
R = Random assignment of subjects (consumers, stores, and so on) to
experimental and control groups.
E = Experimental effect; that is, the change in the dependent variable due
to the independent variable.

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Types of Experimental Designs

Many Designs
Quasi- and true experimental designs
Quasi designs: designs which do not properly control for the
effects of extraneous variables.
True designs: designs which properly control for the effects of
extraneous variables and isolate the effects of independent
variables on the dependent variables.

Three examples:
After only design
One Group, Before-After Design
Before-After with control group

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Three Examples
After only

Involves one group, shown as

O1

X represents the change in the independent variable

One group, Before-After Design

Involves one group, shown as O1 X O2

Both are examples of quasi experimental design

Before-after with control group
Experimental group: Group subjected to experimental treatment: O1
X O2
Control group: Group not subjected to experimental treatment: O3
O4
Change = (O2 -- O1) -- (O4 -- O3 )

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Illustrated Example
A supermarket intended to determine the affect of change in
packaging style (independent variable) on sales of mangoes
(dependent variable) through experimentation. At the time
of the decision, the store sold the produce in pre-weighted
packs containing two mangoes. After recording the sales of
mangoes in this manner management changed (manipulates
the independent variable) the packaging system and started
selling the mangoes from open produce bins. The change
yielded better sales figures. Now the question was Did the
change in the system from the packs of two to free selection
from produce bins caused this sales increase?
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Question: Did the change from selling in packs of two to

free selection from produce bins caused this sales increase?
In answering this question, the following questions need to be
answered:
Could there be other variables that could have effected mango sales?
What would happen to the sales if the weather changed from rainy to fair?
Did the change take place during a festive season?

In this example, weather and the onset of the festive season etc.
may be viewed as extraneous variables, having an effect on the
dependent variable. However, these are not independent variables.
This example clearly shows that isolating the effects of independent
variables on dependent variables without controlling for the effects
of the extraneous variables is very difficult.
Experimental designs help to accomplish this task.

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Experimental Design: the mango example

Divide the 16 supermarkets in two equivalent groups of 8 - one control
group, the other experimental group.
In the shops in control group, DO NOT CHANGE the packaging style, in
the experimental group, make the change.
Measure the sales for both groups before the experiment date and after
the experiment date.
Assume that the difference in the two groups are as below:

After
Control group
30,720units [O4]
Experimental group
31,688 [O2]
Sales increase due to new system

Before
27,980 [O3]
27,816 [O1]

Difference
2,740 [O4 - O3]
3,872 [O2 - O1]
1,132

Change = (O2 -- O1) -- (O4 -- O3 )

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Basic Research Designs Compared

EXPLORATORY

DESCRIPTIVE

Objectives

Gather background
information, define terms,
clarify problems and
hypotheses, establish
research priorities.

Describe and measure Establish causality, develop

marketing phenomena, if-then statements
characteristics, or
functions of interest.

Characteristics

Relatively simple,
versatile and flexible;
Often the first phase of a
multiple research design,
unstructured.

Prior formulation of
specific hypotheses;
Pre-planned and
structured design.

Manipulation of one or more

independent variables;
Pre-planned and structured
design;
Control of other mediating
variables

Methods

Secondary data analysis

Qualitative research
Expert surveys
Pilot surveys

Secondary data
analysis
Surveys
Panels
Observational and
.
other data

Experiments:
Laboratory
Field
Test marketing

Conclusive

Conclusive

Results/Findings Tentative

CAUSAL

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Other points related to experiments

Validity
An experiment is valid if:
the observed change in the dependent variable is, in fact,
due to the independent variable >> internal validity
if the results of the experiment apply to the real world
outside the experimental setting >> external validity .

Test marketing
A special type of field experiment used to test
sales potential for a new product or service,
variations in the marketing mix for a product or service.

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Strengths and Weaknesses of

Laboratory Experiment and Field Experiment
Laboratory (Studio) Experiment

STRENGTHS

WEAKNESSES

Field Experiment

Better control of the environments

and the experimental variables
Lower cost
Faster data collection
Competitors less likely to be aware
More adaptable to the use of
mechanical/electrical equipment

Sometimes difficult to project test

results
Less representative sample of
respondents

More representative
sample of respondents
Better generalization of
test results

More difficult to control

the environment and the
experimental variables
Competitors more likely
to be aware
Higher cost
Slower data collection

TEST MARKETING

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Difference between Surveys and

Experimental Designs
The fundamental difference concerns the
manipulation of independent variables.
In surveys, an effect is observed and a search
for a cause follows.
In experimental research, on the other hand,
independent variables are manipulated to
establish a cause-effect relationship.
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Alternative Research Strategies for collecting consumer

information about a product.
Elements of
Strategy

Strategy 1

Strategy 2

Strategy 3

Strategy 4

Survey
Method

Telephone
interview

Mail
survey

Personal
interview

Personal
interview

Research
instrument

Few factual
A 2-page
Many
questionsquestionnaire
questionstests

Projective

Sampling
plan

A small
sample of
households
chosen by
random digit
dialing in the

A dozen
people
found
using the
product

All subscribers
to a consumer
magazine

A large sample
of subjects
chosen on a
national
probability
sampling

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Quantitative Research in Asia-Pacific Region

Unavailable/inaccurate secondary data:
Much data on Asian markets are either non-existent, difficult to
obtain or unreliable. For example, in many Asian countries
consumers income estimates are inaccurate since they omit the
unreported or underreported income.

Problem with primary data

Survey research suffers from lack of sampling frame; shortage of
qualified researchers/interviewers; respondents unfamiliarity with
research and lack of trust on researchers; less than truthful
responses; and other cultural idiosyncrasies.
Poor postal and telephone system; poor rate of literacy of
respondents; high rate of change and political instability etc.

The nature and magnitude of problems vary from country to

country.

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