Chapter Six
Descriptive Research Designs:
Survey Methods and Errors
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
6-1
Learning Objectives
 Explain the advantages and
disadvantages of using quantitative,
descriptive survey research designs to
collect primary data
 Discuss the many types of survey
methods available to researchers.
Identify and discuss the factors that
drive the choice of survey methods
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
6-2
Learning Objectives
 Explain how the electronic revolution is
affecting the administration of survey
research designs
 Identify and describe the strengths and
weaknesses of each type of survey
method
 Identify and explain the types of errors
that occur in survey research
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
6-3
Introduction
PHASE II:
Design the research
Marketing Research
Step 3:
Select the research design
 If the researcher requires primary data from
members of the defined target population, and
management’s initial decision problems are
linked to specified questions concerning:
 Who, what, when, where and how about known
members (or elements) of the target population
 Identifying meaningful relationships, establishing the
existence of true differences and/or verifying the
validity of relationships between the marketing
phenomena
 Then the researcher should consider using a
descriptive research design to collect the
needed primary data
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
6-4
Phase II: Select the Research
Design—Descriptive Research
PHASE II:
Design the research
Marketing Research
Step 3:
Select the research design
 The need for descriptive research
 The desire for substantial amounts of information
from enough members of the target population so
that inductive logic and probabilistic inferences can
be drawn
 Descriptive research designs include a range
of survey methods:
 These include person-administered surveys,
telephone-administered surveys, self-administered
surveys and online-administered surveys
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
6-5
Survey Research Methods
 These methods are the mainstay of
marketing research:
 Generally associated with descriptive and
causal research
 Distinguished by the need to collect data
from large groups of people
 Administered to selected individuals with
responses recorded in a structured and
precise manner
 Provide specific facts and estimates so that
accurate predictions can be made
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
6-6
Advantages and Disadvantages of
Quantitative Survey Research Designs
Advantages of Survey Methods
Disadvantages of Survey Methods
 Ability to accommodate
large sample sizes;
increases generalisability
of results
 Ability to distinguish small
differences
 Ease of administering and
recording questions and
answers
 Capabilities of using
advanced statistical
analysis
 Abilities of tapping into
factors and relationships
not directly measurable
 Difficulty of developing
accurate survey instruments
(questionnaire designs)
 Limits to the in-depth detail of
data structures
 Lack of control over timeliness
and, potentially, low response
rates
 Difficulties in determining
whether respondents are
responding truthfully
 Misinterpretations of data
results and inappropriate use
of data analysis procedures
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
6-7
Types of Survey Methods—
Person-administered
In-home interview
Executive
interview
Mall-intercept
interview
Purchase-intercept
interview
An interview takes place in the
respondent's home or, in special
situations, within the respondent’s work
environment (in-office)
An interview takes place with the
business executive in person
The interviewer stops shopping patrons
and asks for feedback during their visit to
a shopping mall
The interviewer stops the respondent and
asks for feedback at the point of purchase
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
6-8
Types of Survey Methods—
Telephone-administered
Telephone
interview
Question and answer exchanges that are
conducted via telephone technology
Computer-assisted
telephone
interview (CATI)
An integrated telephone and computer
system in which the interviewer reads the
questions from a computer screen and
enters respondents’ answers directly into
the computer program
Completely
automated
telephone surveys
(CATS)
A telephone interviewing system in which
a computer dials a phone number and a
recording introduces and administers the
survey, leaving the subject to interact with
the computer directly
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
6-9
Types of Survey Methods—
Self-administered
Direct mail survey
A self-administered questionnaire that is
delivered to selected respondents and
returned to the researcher by mail
Mail panel survey
A questionnaire sent to a group of
individuals who have agreed in advance to
participate
Drop-off surveys
A self-administered questionnaire that a
representative of the researcher handdelivers to selected respondents; the
completed surveys are returned by mail or
picked up by the representative
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
6-10
Types of Survey Methods—
Online
Fax survey
A self-administered questionnaire that is
sent to the selected subject by fax
Email survey
A self-administered data collection
technique in which the survey is delivered
to and returned from the respondent by
email
Internet survey
A self-administered questionnaire that is
placed on a World Wide web site for
prospective subjects to read and complete
See Exhibit 6.3, page 172
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
6-11
Factors for Selecting the
Appropriate Survey Method
Situational Characteristics
Budget of available
resources
Completion time
frame
Quality
requirement of the
data
What degree of appropriate resources can be
committed to the project?
Consider:
•Total dollars and worker hours available
•Cost of collecting the required data
How much time is needed for completing the
research project?
Consider:
•Data-gathering
•Analysis
•Information-generation activities
How accurate and representative is the derived
information to the research problem?
Consider:
•Completeness
•Generalisability
•Precision
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
6-12
Factors for Selecting the
Appropriate Survey Method
Data quality determination
definitions
Completeness
How much information and what degree of detail
are needed for the defined research problem?
Generalisability
At what level of confidence does the researcher
want to make inferences about the defined target
population form the data results?
Precision
What is the acceptable level of error that the
data results may have in representing true
population parameters?
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
6-13
Factors for Selecting the
Appropriate Survey Method
Task Characteristics
Difficulty of the
task
How much effort is required by the
respondent to answer the questions?
How hard does the subject have to work to
answer the questions?
How much preparation is required to
create a desired environment for the
respondents?
Stimuli needed to
elicit the response
How much physical stimulus does a
respondent need? Do specific stimuli have
to be used to elicit a response? How
complex do the stimuli have to be?
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
6-14
Factors for Selecting the
Appropriate Survey Method
Task Characteristics
Amount of
information
needed from the
respondent
How detailed do the respondent’s answers
have to be? Will probing activities be
needed? How many questions should
there be? How long should the respondent
expect to take?
Sensitivity of the
research topic
To what degree are the survey’s questions
socially, politically and/or personally
sensitive?
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
6-15
Factors for Selecting the
Appropriate Survey Method
Respondent Characteristics
Diversity
What is the degree to which respondents share
characteristics?
Consider:
•Personal or behavioural characteristics
•Divergence of views or opinions
Incidence rate
What is the percentage of the general population
that is the subject of the marketing research?
Consider:
•Incidence rate—the relationship of the size of
defined target population to general population
•Impact of incidence rate on data collection costs
•Accuracy of contact details
Degree of survey
participation
How do these factors affect participation rates?
Consider:
•Ability to participate
•Willingness to participate
•Knowledge level
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
6-16
Types of Errors in Survey
Research Methods
Random sampling errors versus
Non-sampling errors
Sampling error
Error associated with the sampled data
results due to some form of natural
random chance or random fluctuations in
the data estimates.
The statistically measured difference
between the actual sampled results and
the estimated true population results.
Non-sampling or
systematic error
All errors that enter survey research
design that are not related to the sampling
method or sample size.
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
6-17
Types of Errors in Survey
Research Methods
Respondent error sources
Refusal: A prospective respondent is unwilling
to participate
Non-response
error
•Occurs when a sufficient
number of the initial prospective
respondents are not included in
the final sample of a study
•A portion of the population is
not represented or is
underrepresented
Not at home: A prospective respondent is not
reasonably able to be reached
Wrong mailing address: A prospective
respondent’s address is outdated or inactive
Wrong telephone number: A prospective
respondent’s telephone number is no longer in
service or is incorrect
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
6-18
Types of Errors in Survey
Research Methods
Respondent error sources
Hostility: A response that arises from feelings
of anger or resentment due to the response
task
Response error
Social desirability: A response based on what
is perceived to be socially acceptable or
respectable
Occurs when a significant
number of respondents either
unconsciously or deliberately
falsify their responses
Prestige: A response intended to enhance the
image of the respondent
Auspices error: A response dictated by the
image or opinion of the sponsor rather than the
actual question
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
6-19
Types of Errors in Survey
Research Methods
Respondent error sources
Yea- and nay-saying: A response influenced
by the tendency towards positive or negative
answers
Mental set error: A response based on
perceptions influenced by previous responses
over later ones
Response error
Occurs when a significant
number of respondents either
unconsciously or deliberately
falsify their responses
Extremity error: A response influenced by
clarity or extreme scale points and ambiguity of
midrange options
Acquiescence error: A response based on
the respondent’s perception of what would be
desirable to the sponsor
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
6-20
Types of Errors in Survey
Research Methods
Measurement and design error sources
Construct
development
error
Incomplete constructs: Only partial data
requirements are met. This creates
inappropriate guidelines for scale
measurement and questionnaire design
activities.
•Occurs when the researcher
does not accurately or
completely identify the
important sub-dimensions of the
constructs to be measured.
•The data is misidentified
because the composite does
not represent the intended
object to be measured.
Low reliability or validity: Construct validity is
not maintained, which increases the likelihood
of collecting irrelevant or low-quality data.
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
6-21
Types of Errors in Survey
Research Methods
Measurement and design error sources
Scaling
measurement
error
•Occurs when the researcher
designs inaccuracies into the
various scales used to collect
the primary data.
•Errors could come from
inappropriate questions or setups, scale attributes or actual
scale points used to represent
respondents’ answers.
Lack of precision: Decreases reliability of
data quality
Lack of discriminatory power: Respondents
encounter difficulties in accurate expression or
sensitivity between possible answers. Data
cannot be used to detect small differences
Ambiguity of questions or set-ups: Misleads
or confuses the respondent
Inappropriate scale descriptors: Survey
collects wrong or incomplete data which
severely reduces the researcher’s ability to
create meaningful information
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
6-22
Types of Errors in Survey
Research Methods
Measurement and design error sources
Data analysis
error
Represents a group of errors
that relate to subjecting the raw
data to inappropriate analysis
procedures
Inappropriate analysis
Predictive analysis
Misinterpretation
error
Interpretative bias
Inaccurate transformations of
data structures and analysis
results into usable bits of
information for the decision
maker
Selective perception
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
6-23
Types of Errors in Survey
Research Methods
Administrative error sources
Data processing
error
Occurs when researchers are
not accurate or complete in
transferring the data from
respondents to computer data
files
Interviewer error
Data coding errors
Data entry errors
Data editing errors
Unconscious misrepresentation
Occurs when interviewers
distort information, in a
systematic way, from
respondents during or after the
interviewer/respondent
encounter
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
Recording errors
Cheating
6-24
Types of Errors in Survey
Research Methods
Administrative error sources
Sample design
error
•Represents systematic
inaccuracies created by using a
faulty sampling design to
identify and reach the selected
‘right’ respondents
•This will limit the
generalisability, reliability and
validity of the collected data
Population specification error
Sample selection error
Sampling frame error
Copyright  2004 McGraw-Hill Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Marketing Research by Lukas, Hair, Bush and Ortinau
Slides prepared by Tony Peloso
6-25