Market Research: Survey Skills

Market Research Survey Skills

Surveys    

Can be conducted face to face Over the telephone By postal return Can contain, classification, qualitative and quantitative questions.

Classification      

These questions tend to deal with demographic issues Age Occupation Marital Status Income They are useful for identifying the types of people using a product or service.

Example of classification question on online survey 

The remaining portion of the survey requires that you complete your visit to ibm.com before continuing the survey.

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Have you completed your visit to ibm.com?

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Yes No

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Back

Closed questions  

These elicit a simple yes or no response. E.g. Have you been on a cruise before?

Quantitative questions 

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These are questions that can be measured statistically (e.g. on a scale of 1 to 5, satisfied, very satisfied) The advantage of this kind of questioning is that is gives very precise answers (20%) of respondents were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied) The disadvantage is that quantative research cannot explain why people were dissatisfied.

Use of scales 

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Responses can be graded by measuring them on a scale. This can be 1-5, 1-10. The opposite ends of the scale measure the extremes of satisfaction and dissatisfaction ‘On a scale of 1-5 where 1 is extremely satisfied and 5 is extremely dissatisfied how would you rate your satisfaction with P and O cruises?’ This method is often used for telephone polls

Satisfaction surveys 

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Again uses a scale but based on level of satisfaction/dissatisfaction. Very satisfied, satisfied, Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, dissatisfied, very dissatisfied. Frequently used on customer satisfaction surveys.

Qualitative questions 

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These look in depth at customers opinions and feelings. Can often be a question such as ‘why do like cruise holidays?’ followed by a box to fill in. What are problems with this?-suggest solutions

Combine question types 

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An ideal survey will have a combination of classification, qualitative and quantitative questions. E.g. ‘on a scale of 1-5 where 1 is extremely satisfied and 5 is extremely dissatisfied how would you rate your satisfaction with your cabin? What did you particularly like or dislike about your cabin?

Asking the right questions! Questions should …   

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Be unambiguous- the meaning should be clear Be jargon/slang free Only contain one element (avoid asking multiple questions) Be relevant Be as few in number as possible (BT!) Remember there is information we need to know and information it would be nice to know.

Pilot 

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One way to spot errors in your questionnaire/survey and to identify misunderstanding is to do a pilot. In this you ask a small (e.g. 5) sample of people to complete the questionnaire and then analyse the answers.

Contact methods (problems) 

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By mail- The problem with this is the response rate (be honest would you fill in a survey and post it!). One way to improve response is to offer a prize and include a stamp. By telephone- Effective if expensive. Also many people are now ex- directory. Face to Face- The staff must be trained to avoid body language etc. influencing answers. Where and when survey is carried out are also issues.

Other Methods  

Focus Groups Observation.