Marketing Research Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Week Three Review

Marketing Research Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme SURVEY RESEARCH

Marketing Research Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Based on simple idea: “”… the best way to find out what consumers think is to ask them.” Zikmund

Marketing Research Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Survey Research A method of collecting primary data by communicating with a representative sample of people

Marketing Research Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Properly conducted Surveys can be: Quick Inexpensive Efficient Accurate Flexible

Marketing Research Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Problems with Surveys come from: Nonresponse error Response bias Administrative error

Marketing Research Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Types of Sampling: Personal Interviews Intercepts Telephone interviews Self administered questions Mail questionnaires

Marketing Research Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme SAMPLING (Zikmund, Chapter 12)

Marketing Research Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Examine a Part of the Whole In most surveys access to the entire population is near impossible, The results from a survey with a carefully selected sample will reflect extremely closely those that would have been obtained had the population provided the data.

Marketing Research Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme There are essentiality two types of sampling: probability non-probability sampling.

Marketing Research Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Randomisation - Individuals are randomly selected. - No one group should be over-represented. - Sampling randomly gets rid of bias. Random samples rely on the absolute objectivity of random numbers.

Marketing Research Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Four basic types of random sampling techniques: Simple Random Sampling Systematic Sampling Stratified Sampling Cluster or Multi-stage Sampling

Marketing Research Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Simple Random Sampling This is the ideal choice as it is a ‘perfect’ random method. Using this method, individuals are randomly selected from a list of the population and every single individual has an equal chance of selection.

Marketing Research Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Cluster or Multi-stage Sampling I s particularly useful in situations for which no list of the elements within a population is available and therefore cannot be selected directly. As this form of sampling is conducted by randomly selecting subgroups of the population, possibly in several stages, it should produce results equivalent to a simple random sample

Marketing Research Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Cluster samples are generally used if: - No list of the population exists. - Well-defined clusters, which will often be geographic areas,exist. - A reasonable estimate of the number of elements in each level of clustering can be made. - Often the total sample size must be fairly large to enable cluster sampling to be used effectively.

Marketing Research Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Non-probability Sampling Methods Non-probability sampling procedures are much less desirable, as they will almost certainly contain sampling biases. Unfortunately, in some circumstances such methods are unavoidable. In Marketing Research the most frequently-adopted form of non-probability sampling is known as quota sampling.

Marketing Research Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Calculating a Sample Size: Calculation of an appropriate sample size depends upon a number of factors unique to each survey and it is down to the researcher to make decisions regarding these factors. The three most important are: - How accurate you wish to be - How confident you are in the results - What budget you have available

Marketing Research Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme The required formula is: s = (z / e)2 Where: s = the sample size z = a number relating to the degree of confidence you wish to have in the result. 95% confidence* is most frequently used and accepted. The value of ‘z’ should be 2.58 for 99% confidence, 1.96 for 95% confidence, 1.64 for 90% confidence and 1.28 for 80% confidence. e = the error you are prepared to accept, measured as a proportion of the standard deviation (accuracy)

Marketing Research Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme