Marketing
Survey Research
Survey research in marketing involves collecting data from a sample of individuals to gain insights into their preferences, behaviors, and opinions. This method uses structured questionnaires or interviews to gather quantitative and qualitative data, which can be analyzed to inform marketing strategies, product development, and customer satisfaction initiatives.
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9 Key excerpts on "Survey Research"
- Bonita Kolb, Bonita M. Kolb(Authors)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
Create visuals: Many people find it easier to understand numbers when they are in charts or graphs. They also provide a more dramatic effect if data is widely skewed in one direction.Determine action: If all that is done with survey results is to analyze and report the findings, the survey has been a waste of time and money. Instead action based on the findings should be recommended.Stillwagon 2017QUESTION TO CONSIDER: What preconceived ideas might I bring when analyzing the data from a survey on why consumers purchase our product?A survey is frequently used to answer factual questions. Because the questions will focus on a description of consumers and quantify their behavior it is often referred to as descriptive research. A survey asks factual questions that provide answers on who, what, where, and how. For example, a research question on who buys the product can be answered by writing survey questions that ask about age, gender, and income level. A research question on what they prefer to buy can be answered by writing survey questions that ask customers to rank different products that are available. In addition, where they buy can be answered with a question that distinguishes between website purchases, craft fairs, or different store locations.Survey method—the method everybody knows
When many people think of research, it is probably a survey that first comes to mind. A survey is a research method where all participants are asked the same questions with predetermined answers. While most survey questions will ask research subjects to choose from a list of possible answers, they can also include open-ended questions that allow respondents to answer in their own words.While a survey can be conducted using paper forms distributed at retail stores or at an event, the increasing popularity of customer surveys is because they can be simple to administer online. All that is necessary are customer email addresses, which can be collected during purchase transactions. The research subjects then can be emailed a link that will take them directly to an online survey site.
eBook - PDF- Wolfgang Donsbach, Michael W Traugott, Wolfgang Donsbach, Michael W Traugott(Authors)
- 2007(Publication Date)
- SAGE Publications Ltd(Publisher)
50 Marketing Research H u m p h r e y T a y l o r What exactly is marketing (or market) research? In what ways is it the same as or different than opinion polling? Chuck Chakrapani (2000, pp. 4ff.) wrote that: ‘Traditionally, marketing research has been considered a discipline that primarily uses scientific methods to collect, analyze, and interpret data relevant to marketing of goods and services.’ But he went on to say that: The acceptance of this definition has prevented marketing researchers from being meaningful part-ners in the decision-making process. The practice and goal of marketing research should not be just to provide ‘input’ to decision makers but to gather data and interpret them in light of what is already known and to be a part of the decision-making process. To have continued relevance to management and marketing, we should develop a core body of knowledge. Such knowledge should be supported by extensive empirical evidence. There is no substitute for empirical evidence. Statistical analysis on limited data cannot take the place of empirical evidence. This is an excellent description of marketing research at its best. However, marketing research certainly includes both quantitative and qualitative research, and qualitative research, by definition, does not provide data for ‘extensive empirical evidence.’ Marketing research draws on many different sources for its data, including primary (i.e. ‘new’) research and secondary research (the analysis of data and other information already available). It does not necessarily involve the use of new data collection, although it usually does. It includes both consumer (actual or potential retail customers) research and business-to-business (‘B2B’) research where corporate or institutional customers or prospects are interviewed. Like opinion polling, marketing research may be conducted locally, regionally, nationally or internationally.
eBook - PDF- William Pride, O. C. Ferrell(Authors)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Cengage Learning EMEA(Publisher)
Survey Methods Marketing researchers often employ sampling to collect primary data through mail, telephone, personal interview, online, or with social networking surveys. The results of such surveys are used to describe and analyze buying behavior. The survey method chosen depends on the nature of the problem or issue; the data needed to test the hypothesis; and the resources, such as funding and personnel, available to the researcher. Marketers may employ more than one survey method depending on the goals of the research. Surveys can be quite expensive, although online survey services have made the method much more affordable even for small firms. There are many companies that offer free or low-cost survey services, such as SurveyMonkey or Qualtrics. 20 Table 5.3 summarizes and compares the advantages of the various survey methods. Gathering information through surveys is becoming increasingly difficult because fewer people are willing to participate. Many people believe responding to surveys requires too much scarce personal time, especially as surveys become longer and more detailed. Others have concerns about how much information marketers are gathering and whether their privacy is being invaded. The unethical use of selling techniques disguised as marketing surveys has also led to decreased cooperation. These factors cause an increase in the nonresponse rates for any type of survey. In a mail survey, questionnaires are sent to respondents, who are encouraged to complete and return them. Mail surveys are used most often when the individuals in the sample are spread over a wide area and funds for the survey are limited. A mail survey is less expensive than a telephone or personal interview survey as long as the response rate is high enough to produce reliable results. The main disadvantages of this method are the possibility of a low response rate and of misleading results if respondents differ significantly from the population being sampled.
eBook - PDF- Gün R Semin, Klaus Fiedler, Gün R Semin, Klaus Fiedler(Authors)
- 1996(Publication Date)
- SAGE Publications Ltd(Publisher)
This section concludes with a discussion of the differences between surveys, experiments and quasi-experiments, comparing what we can learn from these dif ferent research designs. The second, and larger, section focuses on how to ask and reviews the cognit ive and communicative processes involved in answering questions about one's attitudes or behaviours. The material covered in this section applies to surveys as well as to any other form of self-report, whether collected in the field or in the psychological laboratory. 66 General Frameworks in Applied Social Psychology Elements of survey design What is a survey? In its most general meaning, the term survey refers to systematic data collec-tion about a sample drawn from a specif ied larger population. If data are obtained from every member of the population, the study is called a census. The best-known form of a survey is the opinion poll, in whic h information is gathered from a sample of individuals by asking questions. However, surveys may also be conducted of organizations or events (e.g. court sentences) and they do not necessarily imply question asking. The present chapter, however, deals exclusively with surveys of individuals. Like any other research study, a survey must begin with a statement of its objectives. What does one want to study? The objectives determine the population of interest, from which the sample is to be drawn; the design of the survey (e.g. are respondents to be interviewed repeatedly or only once?); and the questions to be asked. The questions may be asked in face-to -face or telephone interviews, or by means of a self-administered questionnaire, which may be mailed to respondents. Following data collection, the answers must be coded for data analysis. Data analysis, interpretation of the results, and dissemination of the find ings complete the research process.
eBook - ePub- Neil Wearne, Alison Morrison(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
- Interpret the information and recommend a course of action. What does the information mean? Information for its own sake has no purpose. It can be misleading too, and be used to draw wrong conclusions, or ones which suit the ‘tunnel vision’ of some operators. The critical phase of research is the final one, the field survey.
Field surveys
The field survey — interviewing and asking questions of a number of people who are representative of the market — is one of the most common means of marketing research. Others are observation, experimentation and group discussion. Each has a reason for its use. The main use for a field survey is to interview a broad sample of the whole market. It seeks information from potential customers, customers of other establishments and the general public, not just guests of the establishment. Field surveys using a carefully planned questionnaire can be conducted by mail, media, telephone or face-to-face.The mailed survey is the least effective because, even with a reply-paid envelope and a very easy questionnaire, most people do not have the time to answer or cannot be bothered. Those who do answer are usually a particular type of person, unrepresentative of the whole sample, placing a bias on the results. A survey questionnaire placed in a magazine has a similar result to the mailed questionnaire for the same reason.A telephone survey is relatively inexpensive, and more people can be interviewed in a given period of time. It is best used when the questionnaire is short and the questions require a minimum of explanation. There is some sample bias because not everyone is home to answer the phone at the same time and some have unlisted numbers. Telephone surveys are useful for testing public perceptions of a property and its products, for following up guests and getting a reaction to their experience at an establishment in hindsight, to check on the appeals of promotions and advertising.Best of all is the personal interview, mainly because reactions can be gauged by the interviewer, with shrugs or facial expressions being indicative of the need to probe further in some instances. Longer questionnaires are also possible with a personal interview, although much depends on where the interview is conducted, with home interviews being ideal and interviews on street corners being less than ideal.
eBook - PDF- Daniel Padgett, Andrew Loos(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
90 CHAPTER 5 The Role of Research in Marketing Qualitative Research Qualitative research is used by marketers to gain a more in- depth (quality) understanding of a marketing problem or opportunity. It is particularly suitable for investigating underlying reasons customers do or don’t do something. For example, why is craft beer becoming so popular in recent years relative to beer from the larger breweries? Using qual- itative research, the researcher could ask customers why they like certain beers, what they look for when trying new beers, and why they are willing to spend more on craft beer than other beer. For qualitative research, the researcher has a specific question or set of questions to be answered, but often does not have a good idea about what type or in some cases even what for- mat the answers might take. For example, when Goat Island asks customers if they like craft beer and why, the company might get a variety of different types of answers. A customer might reply, “Yes, but it is usually more expensive so I don’t drink it all the time.” Or perhaps, “No, most of it tastes too strange.” There are a number of other responses, as some customers might have really lengthy and complex responses, while other customers might have shorter, simpler responses. The ability of qualitative research to capture open-ended responses and make sense of them is one of the strengths of qualitative research. In fact, one of the points of using qualitative research is to get quality responses that offer deeper insights. Qualitative research can uncover why someone does something and offers the flexibility to explore additional issues that are uncovered during the research. However, qualitative research is difficult and it is usually time- consuming to collect and analyze data from qualitative research.
eBook - PDF- Daniel Padgett, Andrew Loos(Authors)
- 2023(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
For example, if a customer mentions he or she thinks craft beers are more authentic during an interview, the marketer can explore what the customer means by authentic and what it is about craft beers that influences this perception. However, the researcher has to take the time to interview customers and has to be trained to interpret what the customer says to pick out the useful information. Qualitative research involves collecting nonnumerical data from customers, often by either interacting with them directly or by collecting information customers have made available else- where on blogs, review websites, online response systems, or the like. The information is then analyzed by a trained researcher who looks for the important ideas contained in the information. Often the researcher is looking for key themes (main ideas) in what customers say. For example, if, on a beer website, customers constantly refer to craft beer using terms such as authentic, tradi- tional, and historic, the researcher might look more closely to see what customers look for either in the brand name, the packaging, the beer descriptions, and so on that is associated with these terms. This would give the marketer insight into why some customers buy craft beer. qualitative research Research that is used by marketers to gain a more in-depth (quality) understanding of a marketing problem or opportunity. Research Goal Research Type Data-Collection Methods Exploratory Descriptive Causal • Observation • Ethnography • Focus groups • Personal interviews • Surveys • Experiments • Field studies • Technological scanning Qualitative Quantitative FIGURE 5.4 Research Goals, Types, and Data Examples. 5.2 Research Design 99 Since qualitative research is used to explore marketing issues, it is often used as a precur- sor to additional descriptive or causal studies using quantitative research.
eBook - PDFInformation Needs Analysis
Principles and practice in information organizations
- Daniel G. Dorner, G E Gorman, Philip J. Calvert(Authors)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Facet Publishing(Publisher)
TEXT PROOF 04 02/12/2014 17:05 Page 139 What is a survey? Surveys as part of an INA project The methods used to collect data within an INA may be simple or multi-faceted. Sometimes in an INA a survey is the only method of data gathering employed, but often a survey is used in conjunction with other research methods in a mixed methods process (introduced in Chapter 5). Thus a survey of a particular client group may be used as part of a concurrent or sequential series of data-gathering exercises that might include examining existing data (see Chapter 6) and gathering qualitative information through interviews, focus groups and other methods (see Chapter 8). Survey results can suggest patterns in actions and behaviour (telling us what is happening), while the qualitative methods of data gathering are more appropriate for exploring why something is occurring based on the opinions and attitudes of the people involved. An investigator might conduct a survey of a representative sample of the population (defined in the section headed ‘Populations and sampling’), identify patterns in the resulting data and then use qualitative data gathering with a smaller group to explore in depth why these patterns are occurring. An example of a situation in which results of a survey led to the use of a qualitative data gathering technique for further exploration is provided in Scenario 7.1. Scenario 7.1 Researcher perceptions of the Institute for Yeti Research library facilities Paul Foot, Director of the Institute for Yeti Research (IYR), wanted to know his researchers’ perceptions about the quality of the library facilities as part of a budgeting exercise, so he asked the library staff to conduct a survey on the matter. One question in the survey was about noise in the building, and after the data were collected and put through a simple statistical analysis the mean showed that most researchers had no concerns about noise.
eBook - PDFIdentifying Hidden Needs
Creating Breakthrough Products
- K. Goffin, F. Lemke, U. Koners(Authors)
- 2010(Publication Date)
- Palgrave Macmillan(Publisher)
32 CHAPTER 2 is representative of the target population by asking qualifying questions such as: “Are you a member of a frequent flyer program?” Furthermore, open issues can be clarified immediately. When a questionnaire is personally administered, respondents get the impression they are being interviewed but the questions strictly follow the questionnaire, with the researcher recording the answers and ensuring the data are complete. (When multiple interviewers are used they must be trained to ensure consistency.) Figure 2.1 indicates the main factors to consider in choosing the data collec- tion method: administration of data collection is the horizontal axis (impersonal to personal) and the dominant nature of the data being collected is the vertical axis (qualitative to quantitative). The types of survey are illustrated by gray shad- ing, whereas the contexts are given in a small black font. Although every type of survey can be applied in almost every context, the figure indicates the survey types that work particularly well within a given setting. If, for example, only a few survey questions need to be asked to a geographically dispersed sample, tele- phone interviewing lends itself as a suitable approach. However, time, resources, and access permitting, face-to-face interviews may be more appropriate. Selecting the Categories of Questions There are three categories of survey questions as shown in Table 2.1: demographic, attitudinal, and behavioral. Some surveys collect only one category (for example, demographics when a supermarket cashier asks for the customer’s postcode), but most surveys include all three categories so that attitudinal and behavioral infor- mation can be analyzed in combination with demographics (see Box Case 2.1). Table 2.1 Categories of Survey Questions Categories Explanation Example Question Aim of Questions Demographics The personal background of respondents.
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