Market Research Sampling Methods

Choosing a % of your target market to carry out research on. What is Sampling? Choosing a % of your target market to carry out research on. Target market = a group of customers that that business is aiming its product/service at. is the method of choosing a smaller, representative group of respondents with which to conduct research instead of the whole population.

Why Do Firms Sample? Cost – Market Research can be expensive Time – Businesses often need information gathered from market research quickly

Population A population may not be everyone in a particular country or even everyone on the planet. Population – the total number of people who could be included in a particular survey e.g. sample of workforce-- the population is people who are in employment

Sampling Methods

Market Research Random Sampling- where everyone in the population has an equal chance of being included in the survey May select those not in the target group – indiscriminate Sample sizes may need to be large to be representative Can be very expensive Ensures that every member of the population has an equal chance of selection the lottery method, e.g. picking numbers out of a hat or bag the use of a table of random numbers Disadvantage: Need a complete and accurate population listing; may not be practical if the sample requires lots of small visits all over the country

Market Research Stratified sampling where the population is divided into smaller groups, which are the ones most likely to be interested in the product being researched Within the selected group a random or quota sample maybe used to determine the actual respondents The selection of the sample is made by the interviewer, who has been given quotas to fill from specified sub-groups of the population. the population is divided ("stratified") by the most important variables (e.g. income,. age, location) and a required quota sample is drawn from each stratum Disadvantage: Not random, so still some risk of bias; need to understand the population to be able to identify the basis of stratification—may not be accurate of the target market Interviewers are required to find cases with particular characteristics. They are given quota of particular types of people to interview and the quota are organized so that the final sample should be representative of population.

Continued… Cluster Sampling – used when it is difficult to gather information on the entire population and where it is known that the required information could be gathered from one selection or group in the hope that this smaller group is representative of the whole population Division of entire population into georgraphical clusters, followed by simple random sample. Quick & easy; does not require complete population information; good for face-to-face surveys; greater risk of sampling error

Systematic Sampling where a set formula is used (e.g. every tenth person) to select the people in the research

Which Method Should Be Chosen? Each method has advantages and disadvantages Choice depends on: The need for accuracy Time available Research Budget

Sample Size The larger the sample size, the more reliable it is likely to be. However, larger samples incur greater costs: Expense Time Sample size should relate closely to the size of the specific population.

Reliability of sampling A 95% confidence level is usually expected when conducting research. This means that findings are likely to be correct 19 times out of 20. RELIABILITY is the degree to which an assessment tool produces stable and consistent results. 12

Validity Validity of an assessment is the degree to which it measures what it is supposed to measure. This is not the same as reliability, which is the extent to which a measurement gives results that are consistent.