SURVEY RESEARCH
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ACTIVITY
• Small Mom & pop Gas Station
• Large “volume” discounters move in
• What QUESTIONS can you ask of
customers that would help your
strategy?
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SURVEY RESEARCH
Nature of survey research
– People naturally do what they do;
– you measure this through self-reports
– most typically in the form of
interviews or questionnaires
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Types of questions
Timing
– Past (“Retrospective”)
– Future (“Prospective”)
Agent
– Yourself (“Self Report”)
– Others (“Informant”)
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Typical questions
1. Measuring rates of occurrence
Interest in a product, Product purchase, Media use
2. Examining relationships
Between the cause (Independent Variable)
and the outcome (Dependent Variable)
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Strengths
1. You measure a natural phenomenon
– people behave naturally, you merely measure that.
2. You can gather a good deal of data in
a short time, on practically anything
– not limited to existing data (secondary research)
3. You can gather qualitative or
quantitative information
– numbers or words
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Weaknesses
1. Some people may not tell the truth
– they may be unable or unwilling to provide the
answers you want
2. Results are altered by the sample
– sampling error makes it hard to "generalize"
3. Some people may not participate
– nonresponses may also color results
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Ways of collecting data
1. Personal interviews (face-to-face)
door-to-door, mall intercepts
• advantages:
– good response rates,
– ability to probe more deeply
• disadvantages:
– more expensive,
– geographic constraints or travel costs,
– limited access to more affluent respondents
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Ways of collecting data
2. Telephone interviews
• phone banks, interviewers enter data
• advantages:
– no geographic constraints
– better access to more affluent people,
• disadvantages:
– usual time limit is 10 minutes
– difficult to use many response alternatives,
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Ways of collecting data
3. Self-administered
–
–
–
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Mail surveys
Drop-off questionnaire
Fax surveys
Internet surveys
• advantages:
– complex questions are possible
• disadvantages:
– low response rates,
– more skipped questions
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The End
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