Transcript Marketing Research

Chapter Ten
Designing the Questionnaire
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Designing the Questionnaire
Logical Steps to Develop a Good
Questionnaire
• Plan what to measure
• Formulate questions
• Order and wording of questions and the
layout of the questionnaire
• Test for omissions and ambiguity
• Correct the problems (pretest again, if
necessary)
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Planning what to measure
• What was the objective of the research
study again?
• Exploratory research will suggest more
variables
• Pre-testing with a small sample
• Ask yourself the question: “How will this
information be used”
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Designing the Questionnaire
Formulating the Question
• Degree of freedom of response to be given to respondents
Alternatives
– Open ended with no classification
• E.g. Tell us what you know about mutual funds?
– Open ended with pre-coded classifications used to record the
response
• E.g. Do you think mutual funds are a worthwhile investment?
– Close ended or structured format with responses to be
considered
• E.g. I think mutual funds are worthwhile investments
• Strongly Agree…1…2…3…4…5…Strongly Disagree
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Questions must meet 4
requirements
 You must ask the right questions
 Respondents must understand the questions
 Respondents must know the answers
 Respondents must be willing to tell you those
answers.
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Types of Questions
1. Open-response question:
People look for different things in a job.
What would you prefer most in a job?
2. Closed-response question:
People look for different things in a job.
What would you prefer most in a job?
–
–
–
–
Work that pays well
Work that gives a sense of accomplishment
Work where you make most decisions by yourself
Work that is steady with little chance of being laid off.
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Open Ended Questions
• Advantages
– Gain insight into the problem
– Too many options to list
– When verbatim responses are desired to give the flavor of the problem
– When behavior to be measured is sensitive or disapproved
– Interviewer / questionnaire structure influence can be minimal
• Diasdvantages
– Inarticulate respondents
– Interviewer’s skill in recording quickly and summarizing accurately
– Time consuming, subjective judgments while tabulating, adds to cost
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Closed-response Questions
Two Basic Formats for Closed Ended or
Structured Questions
• Choice from a list of responses
• Appropriate single-choice rating on a scale
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Closed-response Questions
What type of fast-food restaurant do you visit most
often?
Burger
Chicken
Seafood
Don’t know
Mexican
Pizza
Chinese
Other (please specify)
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Closed-response Questions
What is your overall satisfaction with McDonalds
Hamburgers?
Very satisfied
Quite Satisfied

Very satisfied
Somewhat satisfied

7
6

5
4
3
Not at all satisfied

2
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
1
Not at all satisfied
Closed-response Questions
• Advantages
– Easy to understand, quick responses possible
– Micro-differences in responses can be captured
– Easier tabulation and analysis
– Answers are directly comparable from respondent to respondent
• Disadvantages
– Neutral category may attract more responses than warranted
– Information between categories may be lost (extreme case –
dichotomous categories)
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Issues in Questionnaire Design
• Mutually exclusive choices
How many long-distance calls do you make in a
week?
 less than 5
 5-10
 More than 10.
• Number of response categories – 5 to 7 is
ideal
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Issues in Questionnaire Design
• Order of response categories
What factor influences your fast-food restaurant choice
most ?
 Convenient location
 Quality of food
 Menu selection
 Fast service
 Reasonable prices
 Brand name
 Cleanliness
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Issues in Questionnaire Design
• Range of response categories
How many long-distance calls do you make in a
week?
 less than 5
 less than 10
 5-10
or
 10-20
 More than 10.
 More than 20.
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Issues in Questionnaire Design
• Respondent uncertainty
– Should respondents be provided with a
Don’t know or No opinion option?
– When it is important to differentiate between
ambivalence and ignorance, both options
should be provided
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Issues in Questionnaire Design
• Question Wording - Vocabulary
– Simple, easy to understand, commonly
used language
– Avoid technical words and jargon
(unless sample is technically qualified)
– Words meaning something else in
different languages and cultures (e.g.
Nova meaning “no go” in Spanish; “mist
stick’ meaning manure in German, etc.)
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Question Wording
• Ambiguity
How many times per month do you visit a
fast-food restaurant?
 Never
 Occasionally
 Sometimes
 Often
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Question Wording
• Are any questions "double-barreled”?
Are you satisfied with the price and the service of
Taco Bell?
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Question Wording
• Are any questions loaded or leading?
1) Don’t you think, because its so greasy, fast-food
is one of the worst types of food? …leading
question
2) Do you prefer a hamburger that is grilled on a
hot stainless-steel grill or cooked by passing the
raw meat through an open gas flame?...loaded
question
• Both skew responses in the desired direction
• Questions which threaten respondent selfesteem e.g. occupation question produces more
“executives”
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Issues in Questionnaire Design
• Question Wording
– vocabulary
– “double-barreled” questions
– leading or loaded questions
– Instructions
• Complicated or lengthy instructions confuse
and bias respondents
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Question Wording
• Is the question applicable to all
respondents?
Why do you like fast-food?
Assumes respondents like fast foods
Better strategy would be to ask a filter question
first.
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Question Wording
• Question length
– Should be short
– Longer questions confuse and fatigue respondents
• Sensitive questions
– Questions on information perceived to be
embarrassing, like personal income, criminal
activities, alcoholism, smoking, drugs habits, social
desirability issues, etc.
– Creativity rules (assurances of confidentiality,
anonymity, slipping it in sideways, open-ended
questions, asking in third person, etc.)
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Sequence And Layout
Decisions
• Opening questions – easy and non-threatening
• Flow – smooth and logical – avoid jumps
• Broad to specific
• Critical questions – placed in the middle
• Appealing and interesting
• Order bias – the possibility that subsequent responses
are influenced by preceding responses e.g. fewer people
will say that their taxes are too high after being asked
whether govt. spending should be increased in certain
areas.
• Quality of paper
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Organization of a Typical Questionnaire
Location
Type
Function
Example
Starting questions
Broad, general
questions
Do you own a
personal computer?
Next few questions
Simple and direct
questions
Questions up to a
third of the
questionnaire
Focused questions
Major portion of the
questionnaire
Focused questions;
some may be difficult
and complicated
To break the ice and
establish a report with
the respondent
To reassure the
respondent that the
survey is simple and
easy to answer
Relate more to the
research objectives
and convey to the
respondent the area of
research
To obtain most of the
information required
for the research
Last few questions
Personal questions
that may be perceived
by the respondent as
sensitive
To get classification
and demographic
information about the
respondent
What brands of
personal computers
did you consider when
you bought it?
What attributes did
you consider when
you purchased you
personal computer?
Rank the following
attributes of a
personal computer
based on their
importance to you
What is the highest
level of education you
have attained?
Pretesting and Correcting
Problems
• Pretesting Specific Questions For
• Meaning
• Task difficulty
• Respondent interest and attention
• Pretesting the overall Questionnaire
• Flow of the questionnaire
• Skip patterns
• Length
• Put yourself in the respondent’s shoes and answer
the questionnaire.
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Examples – spot the problems in
the questions
Why did you purchase a Sony Walkman?
 Great self-expressive benefits
 High quality
 Good service
 Great bass to treble ratio
 Better warranty
 Looks good
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Examples – spot the problems in
the questions
Don’t you think Budweiser makes the best
commercials
Yes
No
Which of the following restaurants do you visit
frequently?
 Burger King
 Pizza Hut
 Subway
 KFC
 McDonalds
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Examples
Do you agree that, since fast-food restaurants
produce a disproportionate amount of waste,
they should be subject to an additional
environmental tax?
 Yes
No
What is your annual income
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day
Examples
How often do you eat fast food?
 Daily
 Every second day
 Once a week
 Every two weeks
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker, Day