Chapter 7

• Survey


  Represents a way of describing public opinion by collecting primary data through communicating directly with individual sampling units
• Respondent is: "People who verbally answer an interviewer’s questions or provide answers to written questions." - Babin & Zikmund, Page 146
• Surveys are a respondent tool for information gathering using verbal or written questions
• Sample Survey


  A more formal term for a survey
• After studying this chapter, you should be able to
• Respondents are people who verbally answer an interviewer’s questions or provide answers to written questions. A survey is a method of collecting primary data based on communication (questions and answers) with a representative sample of respondents
• Respondents


  Are the people who answer questions during a survey
• Learning Outcomes


  • Know what a survey is and how it can provide insight into explaining human behavior
  • Identify sources of error in survey research
  • Summarize the ways researchers gather information through personal interviews
  • Know the advantages and disadvantages of conducting surveys using self-administered questionnaires
  • Appreciate the importance of pretesting questionnaires
  • Appreciate the importance of pretesting questionnaires
  • Describe ethical issues that arise in survey research
• Sample Survey


  Is a more formal term for a survey emphasizing that respondents’ opinions presumably represent a sample of the larger target population’s opinion
• Survey is: "A method of collecting primary data based on communication (questions and answers) with a representative sample of respondents." - Babin & Zikmund, Page 146
• Think clearly about questions (need to constrain answers as much as possible). Make sure results will answer your research question. You can use the Internet for conducting surveys if need to cover a wide geographic area
• Survey Methods

  • Telephone interviews
  • Personal interviews (Door-to-door, Shopping mall intercepts)
  • Self-administered questionnaires (Mail, Electronic)
• Types of information gathered using Surveys

  • Questions about product use, desirable features, and Web habits help with product development and advertising messages
  • Surveys gather information to assess consumer knowledge and awareness of products, brands, or issues and to measure consumer attitudes, feelings, and behaviors
  • The term survey is most often associated with quantitative research
• Advantages of Surveys

  • Quick
  • Inexpensive
  • Efficient
  • Accurate
  • Statistical tools easily used
  • Flexible
• Sources of errors in Surveys

  • Random versus systematic sampling error: Sampling refers to inadequacies of the actual respondents to represent the population of interest, Systematic Error results from some imperfect aspect of the research design, Population Parameter refers to some true value of a phenomenon within a population, Sample Bias is a persistent tendency for the results of a sample to deviate in one direction from the true value of the population parameter
• Disadvantages of Surveys

  • Dependent on the quality of the sample
  • Dependent on the answers obtained
  • Can have errors, which cause misleading results
  • Potential Problems: Poor design, Improper execution
• Survey Objectives: Type of Information Gathered

  1. Surveys attempt to describe what is happening, what people believe, what they are like, or to learn the reasons for a particular marketing activity

  2. Survey research is descriptive research: Identifying characteristics of target markets, Measuring consumer attitudes, Describing consumer purchasing patterns

  3. Surveys can be both quantitative and qualitative

  4. Surveys can be designed to provide insights about causal explanations or to explore ideas
• Systematic Error is: "Error resulting from some imperfect aspect of the research design that causes respondent error or from a mistake in the execution of the research." - Babin & Zikmund, Page 149
• Respondent Error is: "A category of sample bias resulting from some respondent action or inaction such as non-response or response bias." - Babin & Zikmund, Page 149
• Non-respondents are: "People who are not contacted or who refuse to cooperate in the research." - Babin & Zikmund, Page 150
• Refusals are: "People who are unwilling to participate in a research project." - Babin & Zikmund, Page 150
• Random Sampling Error is: "A statistical fluctuation that occurs because of chance variation in the elements selected for a sample." - Babin & Zikmund, Page 149
• Non-response Error is: "The statistical differences between a survey that includes only those who responded and a perfect survey that would also include those who failed to respond." - Babin & Zikmund, Page 150
• Sample Bias is: "A persistent tendency for the results of a sample to deviate in one direction from the true value of the population parameter." - Babin & Zikmund, Page 149
• No Contacts are: "People who are not at home or who are otherwise inaccessible on the first and second contact." - Babin & Zikmund, Page 150
• Self-selection Bias is: "A bias that occurs because people who feel strongly about a subject are more likely to respond"
• Self-selection Bias: '“A bias that occurs because people who feel strongly about a subject are more likely to respond to survey questions than people who feel indifferent about it.” - Babin & Zikmund, Page 150'
• Types of Response Bias

  • Acquiescence Bias
  • Extremity Bias
  • Interviewer Bias
  • Social Desirability Bias
• Acquiescence Bias is the tendency for a respondent to try to agree with the viewpoint of a survey
• Interviewer Bias is when the presence of the interviewer influences respondents’ answers
• Response Bias occurs when respondents either consciously or unconsciously tend to answer questions with a certain slant that misrepresents the truth
• Response Bias

  “A bias that occurs when respondents either consciously or unconsciously tend to answer questions with a certain slant that misrepresents the truth.” - Babin & Zikmund, Page 151
• Social Desirability Bias is a bias in responses caused by respondents’ desire, either conscious or unconscious, to gain prestige or appear in a different social role
• Extremity Bias is when some individuals tend to use extremes when responding to questions
• Types of Response Bias

  • Acquiescence Bias
  • Extremity Bias
  • Interviewer Bias
  • Social Desirability Bias
• Extremity Bias


  A category of response bias that results because some individuals tend to use extremes when responding to questions
• Social Desirability Bias

  Bias in responses caused by respondents’ desire, either conscious or unconscious, to gain prestige or appear in a different social role
• The Wealth of Nations was written

  1776
• Acquiescence Bias


  A tendency for respondents to agree with all or most questions asked of them in a survey
• Response Bias is caused by respondents’ desire, either conscious or unconscious, to gain prestige or appear in a different social role