I. SOME OF YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED (MARKET RESEARCH)
1. "WHAT IS MARKET RESEARCH?"
In simple terms, market research or marketing research is investigation and interpretation of facts in connection with marketing problems.
A formal definition is: "the gathering, recording, and analyzing of all facts about problems relating to the transfer and sale of goods and services from manufacturer to consumer".
2. "WHAT IS THE BENEFIT OF MARKET RESEARCH?"
Market research aims at finding out what the consumer thinks or will think about the product, what are his likes, dislikes, tastes, preferences, discrimination's and above all what are his motivations.
The following questions and answers would be helpful in removing some vague ideas and misconceptions about market research that may exist not only in the minds of the people you would interview, but also in your own mind.
3. "IS MARKET RESEARCH NECESSARY? IF SO, WHY?”
Market research is very necessary to know the reactions of consumers or users to new/existing products and services, and also to know the reasons for such reactions.
4. "IS MARKET RESEARCH USEFUL?"
Market research is very useful. Because, unless the consumer reactions and their underlying reasons are known, the product or services in question cannot be modified, if required, to suit the tastes and needs of the consumer.
5. "WHO IS BENEFITED BY MARKET RESEARCH?"
Both the manufacturer and the consumer are benefited by market research. The manufacturer can know, through market research, the characteristics of consumer behaviour and the reasons for the behaviour. Armed with this knowledge the manufacturer can sell more and produce more. With more production the consumer price is likely to come down. The consumer, on the other hand, gets what he wants. Larger production and more satisfied consumers fulfill a social need, and in this context, market research can be said to be a social service.
6. "WHY WOULD THE OPINION OF ONLY A FEW, SAY 100 OR 200 PEOPLE, REPRESENT THE OPINION OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE? AGAIN, WHY SHOULD A PARTICULAR PERSON'S OPINION AMONG THE 100 OR 200 PEOPLE INTERVIEWED BE SO IMPORTANT?"
Normally in any market research project the opinions are elicited not from the whole population but from a sample of the population. By adopting statistical methods called "sampling methods" it can be reasonably ensured that the opinions of this sample of a small number of people can reflect the opinions of the millions.
The group of persons statistically selected for questioning, is therefore very important. If any person in the selected group is replaced by another person, not chosen statistically, there may be an error in the method, and the opinion of the group may not reflect the opinion of the whole population in question.
II SOME DEFINITIONS AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.
To understand the various methods and techniques involved in market research fieldwork, and in order not to feel puzzled or guessing the meanings of words or instructions that you may come across in the briefing room or in the field, it is very necessary to understand beforehand what is exactly meant by the terms frequently used in market research.
Some of these terms and their meanings are given below.
1. SAMPLE
Group of people who are statistically selected to be interviewed for a market research project.
2. SAMPLING
Statistical method of selecting the group or people referred to above.
3. SAMPLE SIZE
Total number of people to be interviewed for a project.
4. QUOTA
Sometimes the group of people to be interviewed is divided into small sub-groups, each sub-group fulfilling some conditions or characteristics, These sub-groups are called quotas. Such sub-divisions of the sample may by age-groups, income-groups, etc. Quotas may be parallel or inter-locking.
Examples and explanations are as follows-
PARALLEL QUOTA
Age Income
Up to Rs 500 Rs 501 - 750 Rs 751 & Over Total
Up to 30 75
31-45 100
46-55 50
Over 55 25
Total 50 100 100 250
In the above example, as long as the total figures in the last column and the last row are satisfied, the purpose of the survey would be fulfilled.
For instance, it does not matter whether the 75 persons in the “Up to 30” age group are equally distributed or not in the three income groups;
similarly, it does not matter whether the 100 people in the “Rs 501-750” income group are equally distributed or not among the four age-group.
INTERLOCKING QUOTA
The same sample, but with interlocking quotas are given below:
Age Income
Up to Rs 500 Rs 501 - 750 Rs 751 & Over Total
Up to 30 15 30 30 75
31-45 20 40 40 100
46-55 10 20 20 50
Over 55 5 10 10 25
Total 50 100 100 250
In the above example, the quotas in each column and each row must be fulfilled.
5. STARTING ADDRESS
Interviewers may be given the addresses of each respondent, or may be given a starting address. A starting address usually has both a name (of the respondent or of the head of the household) and an address. Sometimes instead of an address we may give you a locality in which you are to do a specified number of interviews
6. RIGHT HAND RULE (RHR)
It is the rule under which
(a) You always contact the households falling on your right hand side and
(b) You always move towards right whenever you come to an intersection of two or more roads/lanes. It is important that you must understand this rule thoroughly.
This rule varies from country to country / project to project basis whether this rule will be a RHR (Right Hand Rule) / LHR (Left hand rule). But once you follow RHR / LHR then it has to be consistently followed across till your sample size is achieved in that particular project.
7. BOOSTER
If at a certain stage of the field work if the required quota of sample is not achieved then some interviews can be done without following the RHR / LHR. These interviews are termed as Booster.
8. QUESTIONNAIRE
It is a paper which contains the questions to be asked and the space for recording the answers against the questions.
9. HOUSE HOLD (HH)
A group of people staying together and sharing food from a common kitchen is called a house hold. Usually a house hold means a family having a common kitchen. There are exceptions to this general rule. Persons living in hostels or messes, although staying together and taking food from a common kitchen do not constitute a house hold. Each of such persons constitutes a single member house hold. You should consult research to ascertain whether such hostels and messes are to be included in the market survey project in question. Families of hostel staff members staying within a hostel are, however, to be treated as households.
10. RESPONDENT
The person who responds, that is replies to the questions put to him/her by the interviewer in the course of market survey project is known as the respondent.
11. HOUSE WIFE (HW)
The person in the household who decides what is to be cooked and what items of daily necessity are to be bought is called the house wife. This is usually a woman, but could be a man. In a joint family, the house wife could be the mother-in-law or the daughter-in-law depending upon who is generally running the household and taking buying decisions for household goods of daily necessity.
12. MAIN EARNER OR CHIEF WAGE EARNER (CWE)
The Main Earner or Chief Wage Earner is the working member of the house hold whose contribution to the total house hold expenses is the highest. The main earner may or may not be the head of the household. For instance, a retired father in a family may be the head of the house hold, but his working son may be the main earner of the family.
13. MONTHLY HOUSE HOLD INCOME (MHI)
It is the total of monthly incomes of all earning member of the household (whether full time or part time workers) from all sources. It also includes incomes like rent received from tenants, interest from Bank deposits or shares, etc.
14. HOUSE HOLD SIZE
The total number of members in the household staying together and sharing food from a common kitchen is known as the household size.
15. AGE
Age always means completed years. Hence if somebody’s age is 24 years 11 months treat it as 24 years. It is good practice to write down the actual age and then later circle the appropriate age group code in the questionnaire.
16. OCCUPATION
MANUAL WORKER
Unskilled: e.g. Coolie, peon, Office Boy etc wherein no training is required to perform a particular task.
MANUAL WORKER
Skilled: e.g. fitter, turner, carpenter, mason, auto rickshaw driver, etc. wherein training is required to perform a particular task
SMALL TRADER
E.g. peddler, small shop owner, etc.
CLERICAL WORKER
E. g. Office assistant, shop assistant, typist, salesman, etc.
OFFICER
E. g. commercial executive, gazetted officer, salaried engineer, salaried doctor, etc.
PROFESSIONAL
E.g. engineer, doctor, lawyer, architect, etc. Having their own business / private practice.
BUSINESSMAN
E.g. industrialist, big merchant, proprietor etc.
LANDLORD/RENTER
STUDENT
HOUSEWIFE
UNEMPLOYED
Etc. Etc.
17. CLASSIFICATION DATA OR DEMOGRAPHICS
Information by which we can “classify” a person or a house hold, like the age, education, occupation, personal income of the respondent, or like the household size, monthly household income in respect of the house hold in which the interview is conducted are called classification date or demographic data.
18. PER-CODED QUESTIONS OR STRUCTURED QUESTIONS
When the different possible answers to a question are listed in the space provided for recording the answer, and each possible answer has a code number, the question is called a pre-coded or a structured question.
19. CODING
Circling the code number.
20. PROMPT CARDS
When asking questions which are precoded, interviewers are sometimes instructed to show a card containing a list of alternative answers; or to read out from the card to an illiterate respondent. Such cards are known as prompt cards. While presenting the card you should always say, “Please have a look at this card” and then ask the question.
21. PROMPTED AND UNPROMPTED QUESTIONS
If a prompt card is shown before a question is asked, the question becomes a prompted question. If no card is shown, the question is unprompted question, never give any examples or suggestions of a possible answer. If you do so, it becomes a prompted question.
Prompted and unprompted questions are also known as aided and unaided questions.
22. PRODUCT BRAND USER CATEGORY
CURRENT USER
Using it regularly now days
LAPSED USER
Used it in the past regularly but not now.
EVER TRIED
Used or tried it in the past
AWARE
Has heard of the brand
NON AWARE
Has not heard of the brand.
23. 5 POINT SCALE
For various reasons it is sometimes necessary to ask the respondent to choose his answer from a set of statements in a scale- from extreme positive to extreme negative or vice versa. Such a scale is called a 5-point scale.
Example;
I like it very much
I like it a little
I neither like it, nor dislike it
I dislike it a little
I dislike it very much
24. MEDIA AND MEDIA HABITS QUESTIONS
Media is the plural of medium. Advertisements are communicated through the media of newspapers, magazines, radio, cinema, TV etc.
Questions through which we want to know the respondent’s habits of reading newspapers, watching TV, etc are known as “Media habits” questions.
25. AD RECALL
It means remembering an advertisement. In market research it is sometimes important to know whether or how much of an advertisement is recalled by the respondent.
26. VISUAL AND COPY
An advertisement in newspapers, magazines, hoardings, etc. has two components
a picture or a drawing,
And
Written matter.
The former is called the visual of the advertisement, and the written matter is known as the copy / CONCEPT of the advertisement.
27. CASUALTY
Sometimes a respondent cannot be interviewed for various reasons, e.g. the house is locked, refuses to be interviewed, he is not available even after several attempts, etc. In such cases the interview is said to have become a casualty.
28. D.K.
It stands for `Don‘t know’
29. C.S.
It stands for `can’t say’
1. "WHAT IS MARKET RESEARCH?"
In simple terms, market research or marketing research is investigation and interpretation of facts in connection with marketing problems.
A formal definition is: "the gathering, recording, and analyzing of all facts about problems relating to the transfer and sale of goods and services from manufacturer to consumer".
2. "WHAT IS THE BENEFIT OF MARKET RESEARCH?"
Market research aims at finding out what the consumer thinks or will think about the product, what are his likes, dislikes, tastes, preferences, discrimination's and above all what are his motivations.
The following questions and answers would be helpful in removing some vague ideas and misconceptions about market research that may exist not only in the minds of the people you would interview, but also in your own mind.
3. "IS MARKET RESEARCH NECESSARY? IF SO, WHY?”
Market research is very necessary to know the reactions of consumers or users to new/existing products and services, and also to know the reasons for such reactions.
4. "IS MARKET RESEARCH USEFUL?"
Market research is very useful. Because, unless the consumer reactions and their underlying reasons are known, the product or services in question cannot be modified, if required, to suit the tastes and needs of the consumer.
5. "WHO IS BENEFITED BY MARKET RESEARCH?"
Both the manufacturer and the consumer are benefited by market research. The manufacturer can know, through market research, the characteristics of consumer behaviour and the reasons for the behaviour. Armed with this knowledge the manufacturer can sell more and produce more. With more production the consumer price is likely to come down. The consumer, on the other hand, gets what he wants. Larger production and more satisfied consumers fulfill a social need, and in this context, market research can be said to be a social service.
6. "WHY WOULD THE OPINION OF ONLY A FEW, SAY 100 OR 200 PEOPLE, REPRESENT THE OPINION OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE? AGAIN, WHY SHOULD A PARTICULAR PERSON'S OPINION AMONG THE 100 OR 200 PEOPLE INTERVIEWED BE SO IMPORTANT?"
Normally in any market research project the opinions are elicited not from the whole population but from a sample of the population. By adopting statistical methods called "sampling methods" it can be reasonably ensured that the opinions of this sample of a small number of people can reflect the opinions of the millions.
The group of persons statistically selected for questioning, is therefore very important. If any person in the selected group is replaced by another person, not chosen statistically, there may be an error in the method, and the opinion of the group may not reflect the opinion of the whole population in question.
II SOME DEFINITIONS AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.
To understand the various methods and techniques involved in market research fieldwork, and in order not to feel puzzled or guessing the meanings of words or instructions that you may come across in the briefing room or in the field, it is very necessary to understand beforehand what is exactly meant by the terms frequently used in market research.
Some of these terms and their meanings are given below.
1. SAMPLE
Group of people who are statistically selected to be interviewed for a market research project.
2. SAMPLING
Statistical method of selecting the group or people referred to above.
3. SAMPLE SIZE
Total number of people to be interviewed for a project.
4. QUOTA
Sometimes the group of people to be interviewed is divided into small sub-groups, each sub-group fulfilling some conditions or characteristics, These sub-groups are called quotas. Such sub-divisions of the sample may by age-groups, income-groups, etc. Quotas may be parallel or inter-locking.
Examples and explanations are as follows-
PARALLEL QUOTA
Age Income
Up to Rs 500 Rs 501 - 750 Rs 751 & Over Total
Up to 30 75
31-45 100
46-55 50
Over 55 25
Total 50 100 100 250
In the above example, as long as the total figures in the last column and the last row are satisfied, the purpose of the survey would be fulfilled.
For instance, it does not matter whether the 75 persons in the “Up to 30” age group are equally distributed or not in the three income groups;
similarly, it does not matter whether the 100 people in the “Rs 501-750” income group are equally distributed or not among the four age-group.
INTERLOCKING QUOTA
The same sample, but with interlocking quotas are given below:
Age Income
Up to Rs 500 Rs 501 - 750 Rs 751 & Over Total
Up to 30 15 30 30 75
31-45 20 40 40 100
46-55 10 20 20 50
Over 55 5 10 10 25
Total 50 100 100 250
In the above example, the quotas in each column and each row must be fulfilled.
5. STARTING ADDRESS
Interviewers may be given the addresses of each respondent, or may be given a starting address. A starting address usually has both a name (of the respondent or of the head of the household) and an address. Sometimes instead of an address we may give you a locality in which you are to do a specified number of interviews
6. RIGHT HAND RULE (RHR)
It is the rule under which
(a) You always contact the households falling on your right hand side and
(b) You always move towards right whenever you come to an intersection of two or more roads/lanes. It is important that you must understand this rule thoroughly.
This rule varies from country to country / project to project basis whether this rule will be a RHR (Right Hand Rule) / LHR (Left hand rule). But once you follow RHR / LHR then it has to be consistently followed across till your sample size is achieved in that particular project.
7. BOOSTER
If at a certain stage of the field work if the required quota of sample is not achieved then some interviews can be done without following the RHR / LHR. These interviews are termed as Booster.
8. QUESTIONNAIRE
It is a paper which contains the questions to be asked and the space for recording the answers against the questions.
9. HOUSE HOLD (HH)
A group of people staying together and sharing food from a common kitchen is called a house hold. Usually a house hold means a family having a common kitchen. There are exceptions to this general rule. Persons living in hostels or messes, although staying together and taking food from a common kitchen do not constitute a house hold. Each of such persons constitutes a single member house hold. You should consult research to ascertain whether such hostels and messes are to be included in the market survey project in question. Families of hostel staff members staying within a hostel are, however, to be treated as households.
10. RESPONDENT
The person who responds, that is replies to the questions put to him/her by the interviewer in the course of market survey project is known as the respondent.
11. HOUSE WIFE (HW)
The person in the household who decides what is to be cooked and what items of daily necessity are to be bought is called the house wife. This is usually a woman, but could be a man. In a joint family, the house wife could be the mother-in-law or the daughter-in-law depending upon who is generally running the household and taking buying decisions for household goods of daily necessity.
12. MAIN EARNER OR CHIEF WAGE EARNER (CWE)
The Main Earner or Chief Wage Earner is the working member of the house hold whose contribution to the total house hold expenses is the highest. The main earner may or may not be the head of the household. For instance, a retired father in a family may be the head of the house hold, but his working son may be the main earner of the family.
13. MONTHLY HOUSE HOLD INCOME (MHI)
It is the total of monthly incomes of all earning member of the household (whether full time or part time workers) from all sources. It also includes incomes like rent received from tenants, interest from Bank deposits or shares, etc.
14. HOUSE HOLD SIZE
The total number of members in the household staying together and sharing food from a common kitchen is known as the household size.
15. AGE
Age always means completed years. Hence if somebody’s age is 24 years 11 months treat it as 24 years. It is good practice to write down the actual age and then later circle the appropriate age group code in the questionnaire.
16. OCCUPATION
MANUAL WORKER
Unskilled: e.g. Coolie, peon, Office Boy etc wherein no training is required to perform a particular task.
MANUAL WORKER
Skilled: e.g. fitter, turner, carpenter, mason, auto rickshaw driver, etc. wherein training is required to perform a particular task
SMALL TRADER
E.g. peddler, small shop owner, etc.
CLERICAL WORKER
E. g. Office assistant, shop assistant, typist, salesman, etc.
OFFICER
E. g. commercial executive, gazetted officer, salaried engineer, salaried doctor, etc.
PROFESSIONAL
E.g. engineer, doctor, lawyer, architect, etc. Having their own business / private practice.
BUSINESSMAN
E.g. industrialist, big merchant, proprietor etc.
LANDLORD/RENTER
STUDENT
HOUSEWIFE
UNEMPLOYED
Etc. Etc.
17. CLASSIFICATION DATA OR DEMOGRAPHICS
Information by which we can “classify” a person or a house hold, like the age, education, occupation, personal income of the respondent, or like the household size, monthly household income in respect of the house hold in which the interview is conducted are called classification date or demographic data.
18. PER-CODED QUESTIONS OR STRUCTURED QUESTIONS
When the different possible answers to a question are listed in the space provided for recording the answer, and each possible answer has a code number, the question is called a pre-coded or a structured question.
19. CODING
Circling the code number.
20. PROMPT CARDS
When asking questions which are precoded, interviewers are sometimes instructed to show a card containing a list of alternative answers; or to read out from the card to an illiterate respondent. Such cards are known as prompt cards. While presenting the card you should always say, “Please have a look at this card” and then ask the question.
21. PROMPTED AND UNPROMPTED QUESTIONS
If a prompt card is shown before a question is asked, the question becomes a prompted question. If no card is shown, the question is unprompted question, never give any examples or suggestions of a possible answer. If you do so, it becomes a prompted question.
Prompted and unprompted questions are also known as aided and unaided questions.
22. PRODUCT BRAND USER CATEGORY
CURRENT USER
Using it regularly now days
LAPSED USER
Used it in the past regularly but not now.
EVER TRIED
Used or tried it in the past
AWARE
Has heard of the brand
NON AWARE
Has not heard of the brand.
23. 5 POINT SCALE
For various reasons it is sometimes necessary to ask the respondent to choose his answer from a set of statements in a scale- from extreme positive to extreme negative or vice versa. Such a scale is called a 5-point scale.
Example;
I like it very much
I like it a little
I neither like it, nor dislike it
I dislike it a little
I dislike it very much
24. MEDIA AND MEDIA HABITS QUESTIONS
Media is the plural of medium. Advertisements are communicated through the media of newspapers, magazines, radio, cinema, TV etc.
Questions through which we want to know the respondent’s habits of reading newspapers, watching TV, etc are known as “Media habits” questions.
25. AD RECALL
It means remembering an advertisement. In market research it is sometimes important to know whether or how much of an advertisement is recalled by the respondent.
26. VISUAL AND COPY
An advertisement in newspapers, magazines, hoardings, etc. has two components
a picture or a drawing,
And
Written matter.
The former is called the visual of the advertisement, and the written matter is known as the copy / CONCEPT of the advertisement.
27. CASUALTY
Sometimes a respondent cannot be interviewed for various reasons, e.g. the house is locked, refuses to be interviewed, he is not available even after several attempts, etc. In such cases the interview is said to have become a casualty.
28. D.K.
It stands for `Don‘t know’
29. C.S.
It stands for `can’t say’
