Chapter Ten

1. Chapter Ten Designing the Questionnaire Essentials of Marketing Research Kumar, Aaker, Day

2. Designing the Questionnaire Logical Steps to Develop a Good Questionnaire • Recall the research objective, the research questions and hypotheses • Identify the variables to be measured • Formulate questions (items in the questionnaire) • 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

3. Exercise – Identify the variables Essentials of Marketing Research Kumar, Aaker, Day

4. 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

5. From Variables to Survey questions Essentials of Marketing Research Kumar, Aaker, Day

6. 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

7. 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 • Disadvantages • 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

8. 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

9. Closed-response Questions What type of fast-food restaurant do you visit most often? Burger Mexican Chicken Pizza Seafood Chinese Don’t know Other (please specify) Essentials of Marketing Research Kumar, Aaker, Day

10. Closed-response Questions What is your overall satisfaction with McDonalds Hamburgers? Very satisfied Quite Satisfied Somewhat satisfied Not at all satisfied     Very satisfied 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Not at all satisfied Essentials of Marketing Research Kumar, Aaker, Day

11. 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

12. Issues in Questionnaire Design • Mutually exclusive choices Essentials of Marketing Research Kumar, Aaker, Day

13. Issues in Questionnaire Design • Order of response categories Essentials of Marketing Research Kumar, Aaker, Day

14. Issues in Questionnaire Design • Meanings of response labels Essentials of Marketing Research Kumar, Aaker, Day

15. Issues in Questionnaire Design • Range of response categories Essentials of Marketing Research Kumar, Aaker, Day

16. Issues in Questionnaire Design • Respondent uncertainty • Should respondents be provided with aDon’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

17. 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

18. Question Wording • Ambiguity Essentials of Marketing Research Kumar, Aaker, Day

19. Question Wording • Are any questions "double-barreled”? Essentials of Marketing Research Kumar, Aaker, Day

20. Question Wording • Are any questions loaded or leading? • Both skew responses in the desired direction • Questions which threaten respondent self-esteem e.g. occupation question produces more “executives” Essentials of Marketing Research Kumar, Aaker, Day

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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. • Demographic questions - last Essentials of Marketing Research Kumar, Aaker, Day

25. 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

26. Examples – spot the problems in the questions Essentials of Marketing Research Kumar, Aaker, Day

27. Examples – spot the problems in the questions Essentials of Marketing Research Kumar, Aaker, Day

28. Examples Essentials of Marketing Research Kumar, Aaker, Day

29. Examples Essentials of Marketing Research Kumar, Aaker, Day

30. Examples Essentials of Marketing Research Kumar, Aaker, Day