Overview: Market Research for Highway Technologies Mia Zmud NuStats Austin, Texas July 22, 2010

Objectives Determining the need and target population Matching the method to the need Using research findings Guiding Principles

Determining the Research Need Situation analysis –Assesses the current situation/describe the problem –Defines research need and research objectives Tools –Program or product analyses –Primary data collected by others (traffic counts/VMT; NHTS; National surveys) –Literature search (TRIS online, NTIS, agency library)

Driving Design by the Research Need Who is the audience that can provide the information you need? How can you reach them? What data do you need? How will the research results be used ? Research Objective

Defining the Target Population Considerations: –Behavior (licensed drivers; highway usage patterns; attitudes) –Demography (age; ethnicity; vehicle ownership) –Geographic (regions; cities; suburban/rural)

What is the purpose of your research? Who will provide the most useful input? Which customers use these services? Defining Customer Segments

Selecting a Research Method QualitativeQuantitative ObjectiveGain directional understanding of underlying reasons/motivations Quantify information and generalize the results from the sample to the pop of interest SampleSmall number of cases; 6-10 per focus group; at least two groups on a topic. Large number of representative cases; Statistically valid sizes—industry standard is 400 provides a margin of error of +/-5%. Question typeUnstructured; Open-ended, open- response Structured; Closed-ended, response options; scales and ratings Interpretation of Data Directional and reflective of only the persons interviewed; Exploratory Can draw inferences to the population as a whole; Confirmative CostsIncentives Required; $65-$125 Low-end $3,000; Mod-end $5,000; high end $10-12,000 (hard to reach) Highly variable; example Mn/DOT Telephone, N=400, $35,000-45,000

Selecting a Research Method Qualitative—directional insights; exploratory –Test ideas, designs/prototypes, branding –Understand target population opinions/attitudes about programs/products –Pretest survey instruments –Explore survey findings Quantitative—confirmatory –Point-in-time measure of attitudes, behaviors, opinions –Establish baselines –Measure shifts over time (trending)

Focus Group—Trade offs Strengths –Produce deep insights and wide range of ideas –Group setting is comfortable and participants are likely to be highly engaged –Allows observation by viewers and sessions can be recorded –Can be conducted quickly Limitations –Results are exploratory, not conclusive –Cannot generalize to the population as a whole –Susceptible to client/researcher bias –Requires professional moderator –Unstructured nature of data makes analysis time consuming Source: NCHRP 08-36

Telephone—Trade offs Strengths –Reach majority of Households (cell phone) –Fast turnaround –Higher response rates –Less question nonresponse –Interviewers can ask for clarification Limitations –Generally, higher cost –Respondents may “screen” –Interrupts Respondents free time –Not including cell phone sample may cause sampling bias Source: NCHRP 08-36

Mail—Trade offs Strengths –Relatively inexpensive –Reach households with address-based sample Limitations –No probing/clarification –Lower response rates –Less control over respondents –Slower turnaround –Length can affect completion rates (lower) Source: NCHRP 08-36

Online—Trade offs Strengths –Very low cost –Can be very fast –Flexibility to respondent –Provide more detail on open-ended questions Limitations –May not reflect population as a whole (not statistically valid if conducted as a population survey) –Requires multiple reminder s –Unintended respondents may reply if passcodes not provided –Lower completion rates on longer surveys Source: NCHRP 08-36

Putting Data to Use Processing and weighting Coding (qualitative and quantitative) Basic analytics (frequencies, cross-tabulations, tests of significance) Higher level analytics (customer segmentation, stated preference, conjoint analysis, and models)

6 Guiding Principles Have Clear Research Objectives Partner with Research ExpertsFind a Research Champion Match Method to Need Consider Segmentation Apply Research Source: NCHRP 20-07

Relevant Resources NCHRP 20-07, Task 260, Putting Customer Research Into Action (2009) NCHRP 20-78, Communicating the Value of Research (2009) NCHRP 08-36, Task 74, Customer Research Practices & Applications: A Guidebook for Practitioners (2007) NCHRP Report 511, Guide for Customer Driven Benchmarking of Maintenance Activities (2004) NCHRP Report 487, Using Customer Needs to Drive Transportation Decisions (2003)

Relevant Resources