copyright ©2010 pearson education, inc. publishing as prentice hall 7- 1 basic marketing research:...

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 7- 1

Basic Marketing Research: Using Microsoft Excel Data Analysis, 3rd edition

Alvin C. Burns Louisiana State UniversityRonald F. Bush University of West Florida

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Question-Response Format Options

• There are six response format options commonly found in questionnaires that fall in these three categories:• Open-ended response format questions• Categorical response format questions• Metric response format questions

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Question-Response Format Options

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Open-Ended Response Questions

• An open-ended response question is one in which the respondent is instructed to respond in his or her own words

• Useful when the researcher doesn’t know how the respondent will describe something; doesn’t know the concepts or terms the consumers will use

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Open-Ended Response Questions

• Most useful in exploratory research situations• May be unaided open-ended format: no prompt

or probe• May be aided: there is a response such as “Can

you think of anything else?”

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Categorical Response Format Questions

• The categorical response format question provides response options on the questionnaire

• Used when the researcher knows the possible responses to a question

• Allows the respondent to answer quickly and easily because response categories are predetermined and standardized• May be dual choice (2 options)• May be multiple choice (having several options)

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“Check All That Apply” Questions

• A “check all that apply” question is really a dual choice question

When you purchased your most recent automobile, what features did you take into consideration? (Check all that apply.)

_____ Style _____ Price _____ Quiet Ride

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Metric Response Format Questions

• A metric response format question calls for a number to be provided by the respondent or utilizes a scale developed by the researcher

• “Metric” means that the answer is a number that expresses a quantity of the property being measured

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Two Types of Metric Questions

• Natural metric response format: a number that is appropriate for the property being measured, such as age, number of visits, dollars, etc.• Synthetic metric format: an artificial

number to measure the property, such as a measure of satisfaction using a scale of 1 to 10

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Basic Measurement Concepts

• Measurement: determining the description or amount of some element of interest to the researcher

• We measure properties (sometimes called attributes or qualities) of objects

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Basic Measurement Concepts

• Objects include consumers, brands, stores, advertisements, or other constructs of interest to the researcher working with a particular manager• Properties are the specific features or

characteristics of an object that can be used to distinguish it from another object

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An Example of Basic Measurement

• Object:Adult heads of household• Properties: a. Awareness of our new product b. Intention to buy our new product c. Age d. Gender e. Media Habits

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Measurement: Operational Definition

• Operational definition: when a researcher specifies a procedure to measure properties of objects such as “level of satisfaction” is measured on a scale ranging from 1 to 10

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Level of Measurement

• When a researcher specifies an operational definition for the measurement of a property of a construct, he or she explicitly identifies the response scale’s level of measurement, meaning that the researcher has decided whether the scale is to be:• Open-ended• Categorical• or Metric

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Level of Measurement:Open-Ended Measurement

• Open-ended measures are not standardized, each respondent’s response is unique

• It is difficult to interpret open-ended responses

• Researchers use infrequently unless conducting exploratory research

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Level of Measurement:Categorical Measurement

• A categorical measure is one where the possible responses are categories, meaning that the possible alternatives are labels that represent concrete and very different types of answers

• A respondent selects a category (or group) to which he or she belongs• Examples: “yes” vs. “no”, “male” vs. “female”

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Level of Measurement:Metric Measurement

• A metric measure requires the respondent to think in terms of amounts or levels of some property being measured

• Metric measures have:• Order: meaning that responses can be arranged

from greater to lesser• Distance: responses can be compared to see how

many units separate them

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Natural Metric Scales

• Respondents provide a number that is appropriate or natural to the property being measured

• Examples:• The number of times you have purchased Brand

A• The number of dollars you spend in restaurants

per month• Your age in years

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Synthetic Metric Measure

• Utilizes artificial descriptors or numbers to indicate the amount of a property possessed by an object• Synthetic number scales: use of number range,

numbers only have meaning in context of the scale from which it originates such as 1-5

• Synthetic label metric scale: uses words to indicate different gradations or levels or respondent’s opinion such as “poor”, “good”, or “excellent”

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Examples of Questions with Categorical Scales and Metric Scales

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Examples of Questions with Categorical Scales and Metric Scales

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Why the Level of Scale Is Important

• The choice of the level of measurement for a scale affects which analyses should or should not be performed

• The analysis, in turn, greatly affects what may or may not be said about the property being measured

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Why the Level of Scale Is Important, Continued...

• The scale affects what may or may not be said about the property being measured

• Examples• If you wish to calculate an average, you must use

a metric scale• If you use a categorical scale, you must

summarize the results with a percent or frequency distribution

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Commonly Used Synthetic Metric Scales

• We measure• Objective properties, which are physically

verifiable characteristics such as age, gender, number of bottles purchased, or last store visited

• Subjective properties, which cannot be directly observed because they are mental constructs such as a person’s attitudes, opinions, or intentions• The marketing researcher must ask a respondent to

translate his or her mental constructs onto an intensity continuum

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Scale Development

• Scale development requires the marketing researcher to develop response formats that are very clear and that are used identically by the various respondents so that the respondents translate their mental constructs onto an intensity continuum

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Goals of Scale Development

• There are two goals of scale development: reliability and validity

• A reliable scale is one in which a respondent responds in the same or in a very similar manner to an identical or nearly identical question

• A valid scale is one that truly measures the construct under study

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Ethics and Scale Development

• Researchers face an ethical dilemma in scale development• Most marketing researcher practitioners do not

have the time and their clients are unwilling to supply the monetary resources necessary to thoroughly develop scales

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Ethics and Scale Development, Continued…

• Consequently, the vast majority of marketing researchers are forced to design their measures by relying on face validity alone, meaning that the researcher simply judges that the question developed to measure the marketing construct at hand “looks like” an adequate measure

• A conscientious market researcher will devote as much time and energy as possible to ensure the reliability and validity of the research throughout the entire process

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There are handbooks which publish scales for marketing which are known to be reliable and valid

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Symmetric Synthetic Scales

• Many scales are designed to measure psychological properties that exist on a continuum ranging from one extreme to another in the mind of the respondents• The neutral point is not considered zero or an

origin; instead, it is considered a midpoint along the continuum

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Intensity Continuum Underlying Symmetric Synthetic Scales

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Likert Scales

• The Likert scale format is commonly used by marketing researchers• With the Likert scale, respondents are asked to

indicate their degree or agreement or disagreement on a symmetric agree-disagree scale for each of a series of statements

• A statement is made and the respondent is asked to what degree they agree or disagree with the statement

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Semantic Differential Scales

• The semantic differential scale is a symmetric scale• The semantic differential scale contains a series

of bipolar adjectives for the various properties of the object under study, and respondents indicate their impressions of each property by indicating locations along its continuum

• When using the semantic differential, be sure to control for the “halo effect”

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Stapel Scales

• The basis of the Stapel scale format is numerical rather than verbal or visual• It has numbers that range from a minus end to a

corresponding plus end, and typically include “0” as the midpoint.

• The respondent circles the number that best corresponds to his or her feelings on the topic

• Using a Stapel scale, a respondent would be asked to rate his or her feelings toward Best Buy on “competitive prices” on the following scale: • +3 +2 +1 0 -1 -2 -3

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Nonsymmetric Synthetic Scales

• A symmetric scale is sometimes called “balanced,” as it has equal amounts of positive and negative positions

• Not all constructs that researchers deal with have counter-opposing ends• The one-way labeled scale is one where the

researcher is measuring some construct attribute with the use of labels that restrict the measure to the “positive” side

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N-point Scale

• The n-point scale, meaning a 5-point, 7-point, or 10-point scale format, is a popular choice for researchers measuring constructs on nonsymmetric attributes• Remember that synthetic numbers have meaning

only in the context of the scale in which they are used

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Example of a 5-Point Anchored Scale

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Unanchored N-point Scales

• Occasionally, a researcher will opt to not provide the anchors, in which case it will be an unanchored n-point scale• An example is, “On a scale of 1 – 5, how do you

rate the friendliness of Olive Garden’s wait staff?”

• As a general rule, anchors are desirable as they stipulate concrete ends of the scale to respondents, but anchors are not mandatory

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Whether to Use a Symmetric or a Nonsymmetric Scale

• Ideally, when a synthetic scale is used in a survey, the researcher wants respondents to use all of the scale positions

• If the researcher believes there will be very few respondents who will make use of the negative side of a symmetric scale, the researcher should opt for a nonsymmetric scale• When in doubt, a researcher can pretest both the

two-sided and one-sided versions to see whether the negative side will be used by respondents

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Choosing Which Scale To Use

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Choosing Which Scale To Use, Continued...

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Choosing Which Scale To Use, Continued...

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response options

response categories

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