1. Surveys

2. Objectives To understand why surveys are popular
To describe the types of surveys
To discover the advantages and disadvantages of the various types of survey research
To gain insight into the factors that determine the choice of particular survey methods
To learn the types of error in survey research.

3. What is a Survey?

4. Why Survey? Get lots of structured information from lots of people.
Simplify and standardize data collection.
Use statistics to make predictions.
Find out about things that can not be observed. Such as?
Thoughts, Emotions, Intentions, Attitudes

5. The Need to Know Why The Need to Know How The Need to Know Who
There generally is a critical need to have some idea about why people do or do not do something.
Likes, dislikes, attitudes, behaviors, influences
The Need to Know How
Also it is often necessary to understand the process consumers go through before taking some action.
The Need to Know Who
Information on age, income, occupation, marital status, stage in the family life cycle, education, and other lifestyle factors is necessary to the identification and definition of market segments.

6. Advantages of Survey Methods
Ability to Accommodate Large Sample Sizes
Ability to Distinguish Small Differences
Ease of Administering and Recording
Questions and Answers
Abilities of Tapping Into Factors and
Relationships Not Directly Measurable
Capabilities of Using Advanced
Statistical Analysis

7. Disadvantages of Survey Methods
Development of Accurate Survey
Instruments
Inaccuracies Created in Construct and
Scale Measurements of Factors
Limits to the In-Depth Detail of
Data Structures
Difficulties in Determining if Respondents
Are Responding Truthfully
Misrepresentations of Data Results and
Inappropriate Use of Data Analysis Procedures
Lack of Control Over Long Time Frames &
Potentially Low Response Rates

8. Survey Methods Personal Interview Telephone-Interview
Door-to-Door (in-home), Mall-Intercept, Purchase-Intercept Technique (PIT), Executive
Telephone-Interview
People vs. Machines
Computer assisted (CATI)
Self-Administered
Mail Survey
Fax
One-time vs. Panels
Computer
Direct Computer Interviewing
Interactive voice response technology-Automated Telephone
Surveys

9. Personal Interviews PIT: for low involvement products (supermarket)
Omnibus: same people, different surveys, one time
Panel: same people, same one survey, over time
Omnibus panel: same people, several different surveys, over time

10. Personal Interviews Advantages Can arouse and keep interest
Can build rapport and enlist cooperation
Ask complex questions
Can use visual and other aids
Clarify misunderstandings
High degree of flexibility
Probe for more complete answers
Do not need an explicit or current list of households or individuals

11. Personal Interviews Disadvantages: Bias of Interviewer Response Bias
Embarrassing/personal questions
Time Requirements
Cost Per Completed Interview Is High.
A trained staff of interviewers that is geographically near the sample is needed.
The total data collection period is likely to be longer than for most procedures.

12. Telephone Interviewing
What are the Important Aspects of Telephone Interviewing?
Selecting telephone numbers
Pre specified list
A directory
Random dialing procedure
Random digit dialing
Systematic random digit dialing (SRDD)
The introduction
When to call
Call reports

13. Telephone Interviewing
Advantages:
Central location, under supervision, at own hours
More interviews can be conducted in a given time
Travelling time is saved
More hours of the day are productive
Repeated call backs at lower cost
Lower administrative costs/ Lower cost per completed interview
Less sample bias
Better access to certain populations
Shorter data collection periods.

14. Telephone Interviewing
Limitations and Disadvantages:
Inability to employ visual aids or complex tasks
Can't be longer than 5-10 min. or they get boring
Amount of data that can be collected is relatively less
A capable interviewer essential
Sample bias -- Not all people have phones, or are not listed
Nonresponse associated with RDD sampling is higher than with interviews
Possibly less appropriate for personal or sensitive questions if no prior contact

15. Increasing Phone Survey Response
Call at a convenient time (Weekdays 7-9 PM, Sunday afternoon)
Have a nice Pleasant introduction
Emphasize you are not selling anything.
State how long it will take.
Keep the survey short

16. Self-Administered Types of Survey Research
Direct Mail Survey
Questionnaire is distributed to and returned from respondents via the postal service.
Respondent Reads Survey Questions and Records Answers Without Assistance
Mail Panel Survey
Selected group of individuals that have made an advance agreement to participate in a series of direct mail surveys.
Drop Off Survey
Questionnaires are left with respondent to be completed at a later time and returned to the researcher.

17. Mail Surveys
Requires a broad identification of the individuals to be sampled before data collection begins
Ad Hoc Mail Surveys (cold):
Questionnaires for a particular project sent to selected names and addresses with no prior contact by the researcher.
Mail Panels (warm):
Pre-contacted and screened participants who are periodically sent questionnaires.
A mail panel is a type of longitudinal study. A longitudinal study in one in which the same respondents are re-sampled over time.

18. Mail Surveys Some Decisions That Need to Be Taken
Type of Return Envelope
Postage
Method of Addressing
Cover Letter
The Questionnaire Length, Layout, Color, Format Etc
Method of Notification
Incentive to Be Given

19. Mail Surveys Advantages Relatively low cost
Reliable answers as no inhibiting intermediary
Survey answered at respondents discretion
Can be accomplished with minimal staff and facilities.
Provides access to widely dispersed samples.
Respondents have time to give thoughtful answers, look up records, or consult others.

20. Mail Surveys Disadvantages
No control over whom the respondent consults before answering the questions
The identity of the respondent is inadequately controlled
The speed of the response can't be monitored
No control on the order in which the questions are exposed or answered
Especially careful questionnaire design is needed.
Open questions usually are not useful.
Good reading and writing skills are needed by respondents.
The interviewer is not present to exercise quality control with respect to answering all questions, meeting questions objectives, or the quality of answers provided.

21. Mail Surveys Disadvantages (Contd.):
The respondent may not clearly understand the question and no opportunity to clarify
No long questionnaires
Subject to availability of a mailing list
Response rate is generally poor
Number of problems such as obsolescence, omissions, duplications, etc
Ineffective as a way of enlisting cooperation.
Need for good mailing addresses for sample.

22. Factors Affecting the Response Rate
Perceived amount of work required, and the length of the questionnaire
Intrinsic interest in the topic
Characteristics of the sample
Credibility of the sponsoring organization
Level of induced motivation

23. Tactics Employed to Increase Mail Survey Response Rate
Advance postcard or telephone call alerting respondent of survey.
Follow-up postcard or phone call.
Monetary incentives (nickel, dime, quarter, half-dollar).
Premiums (pencil, pen, keychain, coupons, etc.).
Postage stamps rather than metered envelopes.
Self-addressed, stamped return envelope.
Personalized address and well-written cover letter.
Promise of contributions to favorite charity.

24. Tactics Employed to Increase Mail Survey Response Rate
• Entry into drawing for prize.
• Emotional appeals.
• Affiliation with institutions or reputed organizations.
• Personally signed cover letter.
• Multiple mailings of the questionnaire.
• Bids for sympathy.
• Offer to share information from the survey.
• Reminder that respondent participated in previous study.

25. Drop-off questionnaires
The interviewer can explain the study, answer questions, and designate a respondent.
Response rates tend to be like those of personal interview studies.
There is more opportunity to give thoughtful answers and consult records.
Costs about as much as personal interviews.
A field staff is required.

26. Fax Surveys Advantages Relatively low cost
Can be accomplished with minimal staff and facilities
Provides access to widely dispersed samples.
Respondents have time to give thoughtful answers.
Local faxes are free.
Administrative costs are fixed.
It is fast.
List management is easy.
Can send and receive by computer.

27. Fax Surveys Disadvantages
Higher fixed costs for computer/fax equipment, multiple phone lines.
Cost varies by time on line, time of day, distance, and telephone carrier.
Currently limited to organizational populations.
Loss of anonymity.

28. Internet Surveys Internet Samples Unrestricted Screened Recruited
To realize the importance of the marketing research interviewer.
Internet Samples
Unrestricted
Open to any Internet user.
Screened
adjust for unrepresentitiveness of the self-selected respondents by imposing quotas based on some desired sample characteristics
Recruited
to target populations in surveys that require more control of the sample

29. Internet Surveys Advantages:
The advantages of interviewer administration (In contrast to mail surveys).
smaller staff needed,
High-speed,
Instantaneous data access
Cost efficient,
Automatic data entry
Multimedia stimuli
Easy to update
Ability to reach a lot of people

30. Internet Surveys Advantages: Potential for longitudinal studies
Surveys can be unobtrusively included with a general site
pre-screening of respondents possible
tracking
No geographic boundaries
supervision and quality control potentially better.
Likely better response rate from a list sample than from mail
use a branching or skip pattern

31. Internet Surveys Disadvantages:
Internet users are not representative of the population as a whole (strong sample bias)
Strong selection bias for respondents who are not pre-screened
security/privacy issues
unrestricted: anyone can complete the questionnaire
fully self-selecting

32. E-mail Questionnaires
The questionnaire is prepared like a simple message, and is sent to a list of known addresses. The respondent fills in the answers, and s the form plus replies back to the research organization

33. Increasing Response: Internet/E-mail Survey
Almost all the actions listed for mail survey should hold for /Internet survey with some modifications.
The questionnaire should be fairly short.
No need for advance notification
Have short, pleasant introduction
Monetary incentives not given. But sharing information would be nice.
Reminder would be useful.

34. Criteria for Determining Choice Of Particular Survey Methods
Sample Criteria: Ability to reach and get responses from the desired sample (right type of people and “adequate” sample size).
Information Criteria: Ability to get the desired information from respondents.
Need to Expose Respondents to Various Stimuli or Perform Certain Specialized Tasks e.g. Taste tests, product concept and prototype tests, ad tests, card sorts, etc.
Length of Questionnaire
Degree of Structure of the Questionnaire
Administrative Criteria:
time for data collection and analysis
Interviewer control
Budget
The question for you as a researcher is which method should I use? Book gives advantges/disdvnatges and some compilation (p. 241). I take a more decision-otiented perspective. Set criteria, fin out which one is important for may project, fin out which survey method does the best job.
Criteria divided into
Sample..AS IS

35. Factors Determining the Choice of Survey Method.
Personal:
Mail:
Phone:
/Internet:.
Use for long, complex questionnaires where respondent is important and budgets are high.
Use when you have a mailing list, somewhat long / complex questionnaire, and budgets are low.
Use to reach a large number of people quickly and you have a short questionnaire that can be easily understood.
Use when target audience is educated, topic interesting, short questionnaire, have list, representativeness not a major issue

36. Comparative Evaluation
Personal Phone Mail
Sample control   
Use of physical stimuli   
Diversity of questions   
Length   
Perceived anonymity   
Potential for interviewer bias   
Field force control   
Speed   
Cost   
Door-to door Mall Phone Mail
Diversity of questions + + ± -
Use of physical stimuli
Sample control ±
Field force control
Quantity of data per interview + ± - ±
Perceived anonymity - - ± +
Potential for interviewer bias
Speed ±
Cost ±
+ = well suited
- = not well suited
± = middle of the road
Which survey method to use?
Beach vacations (Incidence rate 45%) telephone, mail, personal
Collecting Art (Incidence rate 1.5%) mail
Long-distance service satisfaction (Incidence rate ~100 %) telephone

37. Advantages & Disadvantages of Survey Methods
Personal
Mail/Self Report
Telephone
Speed of data collection
Moderate to fast
No control over return of questionnaire
Very fast
Geographic flexibility
Limited to moderate
High
Good
Respondent cooperation
Excellent except in shopping malls
Moderate –poorly designed questionnaires have poor response rates
Versatility of questioning
Very versatile
Highly standardized format
Moderate

38. Advantages & Disadvantages of Survey Methods
Personal
Mail/Self Report
Telephone
Questionnaire length
Long
Varies depending on incentive
Moderate/Short
Respondent misunderstanding
Lowest
Highest
Moderate
Interviewer influence
High
None
Supervision of interviewers
Not applicable
Anonymity of respondent
Low in face-to-face situations

39. Advantages & Disadvantages of Survey Methods
Personal
Mail/Self Report
Telephone
Ease of callback or follow-up
Difficult
Easy, but takes time
Easy
Cost
Highest
Lowest
Low to moderate
Special features
Visual materials may be shown or demonstrated; extended probing possible
Respondents may answer questions at own convenience; has time to reflect on answers
Field and supervision of data collection are simplified; quite adaptable to computer technology
Note: These reflect typical situations. For example, an elaborate mail survey may be
far more expensive than a short interview, but this is generally not the case.

40. Potential Problems with Surveys How accurate are the results?
Did you ask the right questions in the right way?
Did you ask the right people?
Did they tell you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Will they?
Can they? Do they have the knowledge, opinions, attitudes, or facts required. Do they understand the questions?
Structure causes a loss of data richness.
Have the Respondents/Interviewers understood and correctly recorded the responses
Lack of control causes time and response problems.

41. Overview of the Types of Errors in Survey Research Methods
Survey research errors can be classified as either:
Random Sampling Error
statistically measured difference between the actual sampled results and the estimated true population results.
error because of chance variation
Nonsampling Error (Systematic Error)
results from mistakes or problems in the research design or from flaws in the execution of the sample design
Causes your data to be misleading or incomplete in some systematic way
If you are aware of the problem you may be able to deal with it.

42. Systematic Sample Design Error
Frame Error: The list from which you draw your sample is not what you think it is—some on it don’t belong and/or some who belong are not on it.
Population Specification Error: incorrect definition of the universe or population from which the sample is to be selected.You left people out of the study.
Selection Error: You include or exclude people in the sample so that it is not random. Use of incomplete or improper sampling procedures or when appropriate selection procedures are not properly followed.

43. Systematic Measurement Error
Surrogate Information Error
Acquisition of the wrong data because wrong question was asked.
Interviewer Error
interviewer may, consciously or unconsciously, influence respondents to give untrue or inaccurate answers.
Instrument Bias
misunderstood or leading ?s.
Processing Error
sloppy data input
Non-response Bias
differences between the “did” vs. “did not” answer question
Response Bias
a failure to tell the truth., consciously or unconsciously

44. RESEARCH QUESTIONS