CAGAYAN STATE UNIVERSITY

ENTREPRENEURSHIP
 UNIT 3:
Market Research and Customer Development

INTRODUCTION
Entrepreneurs are creatively interested in new opportunities. They are constantly seeking for
novel or unusual ideas to test if they can succeed in the marketplace. This distinguishes entrepreneurs
from regular businessmen whose main goal is to profit from the creation, acquisition, and sale of
things.
Entrepreneurs provide value by launching brand-new goods or services or developing more
efficient manufacturing processes. These could be new product features added to current ones or
product design innovation. They may also experiment with enhancing their operational capability by
utilizing new technology that will increase their productivity, improve their economies, and perhaps
give them the opportunity to achieve unmatched superiority. They might also think about extending
their reach by developing new markets or enhancing the size of already-existing markets.
Entrepreneurs have the potential to completely transform the current business paradigm by
making it obsolete by introducing innovative technology, processes, and systems.

MARKET RESEARCH
The procedure of determining whether a new product or service is feasible, through research
done in-person with potential clients.
It is also regarded as the process of evaluating a new service or product's viability through
research with potential customers. It enables a business to research the target market and receive
consumer feedback regarding interest in the good or service.
The process of market research can be carried out through surveys, customer interaction,
interviews, product testing, and focus groups.
The goals of market research are to comprehend the market for a specific good or service,
observe audience reaction, and meet customers' specific needs with a good or service. The information
gathered from conducting market research can be used to tailor advertising and other marketing efforts.
WHY DOES EVERY BUSINESS NEED MARKET RESEARCH?
Marketing research is the most efficient way to get insight into consumer behavior,
competitors, and overall market condition. The main goal of marketing research is to collect
information that helps your business take essential decisions.
The 4 most crucial importance of marketing research are given below:
1. Competition: Market research helps a company to gain information about its
competitor’s behavior. It will give you full insights into the strengths and weaknesses of your
competitors and give an idea of what price point you will choose for your products and services.
 2. Customers: By conducting marketing research, you can create profiles of your
customers and build up an understanding of their buying habits and how much they’re willing to
spend. Most importantly, you can learn what will make someone use your product or service over a
good competitor.
3. Opportunities: Marketing research gives you insights into your consumer’s buying
habits and spending patterns. So, by conducting marketing research, you can collect information on
complementary products and services.
4. Forecast: Local and national economy influences every small and large business.
Performing marketing research with consumers gives the business an overview of whether they are
optimistic or scared about the direction of the economy. It also helps businesses to make adjustments
according to economic conditions.

CUSTOMER SEGMENTATION
The practice of dividing a company's customers into groups that reflect similarity among
customers in each group. The goal of segmenting customers is to decide how to relate to customers in
each segment in order to maximize the value of each customer to the business.
This segment is also called “clustering”, or grouping the customers according to what they
have in common.

OBJECTIVES OR BENEFITS OF MARKETING RESEARCH

1. Know the Consumers:
Marketing is associated with people, products, and the process of transfer. Every
business should know about all the consumers’ opinions who are willing to pay for the product or
service of your firm. Useful information may emerge if the basic data such as frequency of buying,
social category, number of buyers, etc. are made available. With the help of that information, you
can get insights about areas of sales, sales rates, the behavior of consumers, retaining rate, etc. If
such useful data are made available, the market potential is made known easily.
2. To Measure the Impact of Promotional Efforts:
In modern days companies implement different marketing strategies to promote their products
or services. Some promotional strategies are appealing and some are the flop. In marketing research,
market analysis gives the best understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of a strategy so that it
can be suitably changed to get better results.
3. To Know Consumer Response:
Every consumer-oriented company is keener on knowing consumer response to its
efforts of delivering the products. A study of consumer response is a part of marketing research and
product testing.
In other words, the company is eager to know whether the customer is either satisfied or
dissatisfied with the products or services they have generated. These clues are the way to
product improvement in the future in terms of materials, packaging, color, size, design,
quality, and so on. In this way, consumer response helps to improve the overall quality
of the product to meet consumer needs.
4. To Master the External Forces:
Some external factors like Government Policies, spending patterns, competitors’ moves,
the company’s market share, developments in foreign markets, technological changes,
ecological variations, the purchasing power of consumers, and substitutes available will
impact marketing plans and programs.
The impact of external factors should be regularly examined with the help of the data
collected in marketing research because research makes firms adaptive as it gets
innovative.
5. To Know Market Costs and Profits:
In recent times, marketing has escalated to such an extent that the optimization of
profiles become a big problem. Marketing cost is basically an input that a company
employed to execute its marketing program that is used as a standard measure of
performance.
Research related to marketing cost helps to evaluate and indicate these marketing
policies and procedures whose cost is not proportional to the results. Cost analysis also
helps to analyze the profit that gives data on profit performance by regions, consumers,
and products. These findings drive certain changes or adjustments in pricing,
promotion, and distribution
In other words, the company is eager to know whether the customer is either satisfied or
dissatisfied with the products or services they have generated. These clues are the way to product
improvement in the future in terms of materials, packaging, color, size, design, quality, and so on. In
this way, consumer response helps to improve the overall quality of the product to meet consumer
needs
4. To Master the External Forces:
Some external factors like Government Policies, spending patterns, competitors’ moves, the
company’s market share, developments in foreign markets, technological changes, ecological
variations, the purchasing power of consumers, and substitutes available will impact marketing plans
and programs. The impact of external factors should be regularly examined with the help of the data
collected in marketing research because research makes firms adaptive as it gets
innovativ
5. To Know Market Costs and Profits:
In recent times, marketing has escalated to such an extent that the optimization of profiles
become a big problem. Marketing cost is basically an input that a company employed to execute its
marketing program that is used as a standard measure of performance. Research related to
marketing cost helps to evaluate and indicate these marketing policies and procedures whose
cost is not proportional to the results. Cost analysis also helps to analyze the profit that gives data on
profit performance by regions, consumers, and products. These findings drive certain changes
or adjustments in pricing, promotion, and distribution.
(Show your solution)
B. the sample size with a confidence level of 99% and the distribution of sample size
for each college;
Activity 3. Consider yourself an entrepreneur who is engage in the market for a long
time. Create a questionnaire to measure the customers satisfaction of your product.
Consider the factors and tips tackled above.
Basic Questions in Market Research
Why Purpose and objective for conducting the market research.
What Determines the scope and the limitation of the market research to be
conducted.

Which Determines which segment of the market must be studied; this must
the market segment that the entrepreneur is eyeing.

Who Identifies who among the members of the selected market

segment will participate in the market research.

When Determines the time and timing of the research. This critical for
entrepreneurs whose product or service will be offered to a time
constrained market such as office workers.
Where Pinpoint the relevant location of the market.

How Determines the methodology to be used for the market research

(e.g. survey, focus group discussion, observation, etc.)
Types of Marketing Research

1. Primary Research:
Primary research is a process where a business interacts with its consumers or employs a
third party to do relevant studies and collect data

In the previous period, marketing research has been a daunting concept for brands because
they don’t quite know where to start or how to deal with vast amounts of data. In the modern
era, the evolution of technology has meant that brands have access to basic, and easy-to-use
tools to solve the exact problem. As a result, businesses are more positive about their own
projects and data, with the extra benefit of observing the insights that appear from this research
in real-time.

Primary research can be done in a range of different ways.

FOCUS GROUPS

Focus group is basically a small group

of people responding to the online
surveys sent to them. These groups
are consisting of 6- 10 people and the
best part about this research is the
information can be collected remotely,
which means it doesn’t require
interacting with group members
personally. This is a qualitative
research method.

Steps in conducting a focus group discussion

Step 1: Choose your topic of interest

Focus groups are primarily considered a confirmatory research technique. In other
words, their discussion-heavy setting is most useful for confirming or refuting preexisting beliefs.
For this reason, they are great for conducting explanatory research, where you explore why
something occurs when limited information is available.
A focus group may be a good choice for you if:

• You’re interested in real-time, unfiltered responses on a given topic or in the

dynamics of a discussion between participants
• Your questions are rooted in feelings or perceptions, and cannot easily be
answered with “yes” or “no”
• You’re confident that a relatively small number of responses will answer your
question
• You’re seeking directional information that will help you uncover new questions or
future research ideas

Note: There are a few other types of interviews you can consider as well. The three most
common options are:

• Structured interviews: The questions are predetermined in both topic and order.
• Semi-structured interviews: A few questions are predetermined, but other questions
aren’t planned.
• Unstructured interviews: None of the questions are predetermined.

Differences between types of interviews

Make sure to choose the type of interview that suits your research best. This table shows the
most important differences between the four types.

Topics favorable to focus groups

As a rule of thumb, research topics related to thoughts, beliefs, and feelings work well in focus
groups. If you are seeking direction, explanation, or in-depth dialogue, a focus group could be a
good fit.
However, if your questions are dichotomous or if you need to reach a large audience quickly, a
survey may be a better option. If your question hinges upon behavior but you are worried about
influencing responses, consider an observational study.
Step 2: Define your research scope and hypotheses
Once you have determined that a focus group is the right
choice for your topic, you can start thinking about what you
expect the group discussion to yield.
Perhaps literature already exists on your subject or a
sufficiently similar topic that you can use as a starting point. If
the topic isn’t well studied, use your instincts to determine
what you think is most worthy of study.
Setting your scope will help you formulate intriguing
hypotheses, set clear questions, and recruit the right
participants.
Example: Setting your scope
•

A benefit of focus groups is that your hypotheses can be open-ended. You can be open to a wide
variety of opinions, which can lead to unexpected conclusions.
Step 3: Determine your focus group questions
The questions that you ask your focus group are crucially important to your analysis.
Take your time formulating them, paying special attention to phrasing. Be careful to avoid
leading questions, which can affect your responses.
Overall, your focus group questions should be:

• Open-ended and flexible

• Impossible to answer with “yes” or “no” (questions that start with “why” or “how” are
often best)
• Unambiguous, getting straight to the point while still stimulating discussion
• Unbiased and neutral

If you are discussing a controversial topic, be careful that your questions do not cause
social desirability bias. Here, your respondents may lie about their true beliefs to mask any
socially unacceptable or unpopular opinions. This and other demand characteristics can hurt your
analysis and bias your results.
Examples: Focus group questions

There are a few types of questions you can use:

• Engagement questions make your participants feel comfortable and at ease

• Exploration questions drill down to the focus of your analysis:
• Exit questions pick up on anything you may have previously missed in your
discussion:

Step 4: Select a moderator or co-moderator

It is important to have more than one moderator in the room. If you would like to take the lead
asking questions, select a co-moderator who can coordinate the technology, take notes, and
observe the behavior of the participants.

If your hypotheses have behavioral aspects, consider asking someone else to be lead moderator
so that you are free to take a more observational role.

Depending on your topic, there are a few types of moderator roles that you can choose from.

• The most common is the dual-moderator, introduced above.

• Another common option is the dueling-moderator style. Here, you and your co-
moderator take opposing sides on an issue to allow participants to see different
perspectives and respond accordingly.
Note: In certain types of focus groups (such as the dueling-moderator style), you will need to
have two moderators actively participating. In this case, it may be wise to have a third person in
the room ensuring everything runs smoothly.

Step 5: Recruit your

participants
Depending on your research topic,
there are a few sampling methods
you can choose from to help you
recruit and select participants.

• Voluntary response
sampling, such as posting
a flyer on
campus and finding
participants based on
responses
• Convenience sampling of those who are most readily accessible to you, such as fellow
students at your university
• Stratified sampling of a particular age, race, ethnicity, gender identity, or other
characteristic of interest to you
• Judgment sampling of a specific set of participants that you already know you want to
include

Beware of sampling bias, which can occur when some members of the population are more
likely to be included than others.

Number of participants
In most cases, one focus group will not be sufficient to answer your research question. It is likely
that you will need to schedule three to four groups. A good rule of thumb is to stop when you’ve
reached a saturation point (i.e., when you aren’t receiving new responses to your questions).
Most focus groups have 6–10 participants. It’s a good idea to over-recruit just in case someone
doesn’t show up. As a rule of thumb, you shouldn’t have fewer than 6 or more than 12
participants, in order to get the most reliable results.
Lastly, it’s preferable for your participants not to know you or each other, as this can bias your
results.

Step 6: Set up your focus group

A focus group is not just a group of people coming together to discuss their opinions. While
well-run focus groups have an enjoyable and relaxed atmosphere, they are backed up by rigorous
methods to provide robust observations.
Confirm a time and date
Be sure to confirm a time and date with your participants well in advance. Focus groups usually
meet for 45–90 minutes, but some can last longer. However, beware of the possibility of
wandering attention spans. If you really think your session needs to last longer than 90 minutes,
schedule a few breaks.

Confirm whether it will take place in person or online

You will also need to decide whether the group will meet in person or online. If you are hosting
it in person, be sure to pick an appropriate location.

• An uncomfortable or awkward location may affect the mood or level of

participation of your group members.
• Online sessions are convenient, as participants can join from home, but they can also
lessen the connection between participants.

As a general rule, make sure you are in a noise-free environment that minimizes distractions and
interruptions to your participants.

Consent and ethical considerations

It’s important to take into account ethical considerations and informed consent when conducting
your research. Informed consent means that participants possess all the information they need to
decide whether they want to participate in the research before it starts. This includes information
about benefits, risks, funding, and institutional approval. “
Participants should also sign a release form that states that they are comfortable with being
audio- or video-recorded. While verbal consent may be sufficient, it is best to ask participants to
sign a form.
A disadvantage of focus groups is that they are too small to provide true anonymity to
participants. Make sure that your participants know this prior to participating.
There are a few things you can do to commit to keeping information private. You can secure
confidentiality by removing all identifying information from your report or offer to
pseudonymize the data later. Data pseudonymization entails replacing any identifying
information about participants with pseudonymous or false identifiers.

Preparation prior to participation

If there is something you would like participants to read, study, or prepare beforehand, be sure to
let them know well in advance. It’s also a good idea to call them the day before to ensure they
will still be participating.

Step 7: Host your focus group

Consider conducting a tech check prior to the arrival of your participants, and note any
environmental or external factors that could affect the mood of the group that day. Be
sure that you are organized and ready, as a stressful atmosphere can be distracting and
counterproductive.

Starting the focus group

Welcome individuals to the focus group by introducing the topic, yourself, and your co-
moderator, and go over any ground rules or suggestions for a successful discussion. It’s
important to make your participants feel at ease and forthcoming with their responses.
Consider starting out with an icebreaker, which will allow participants to relax and settle into the
space a bit. Your icebreaker can be related to your study topic or not; it’s just an exercise to get
participants talking.

Leading the discussion

Once you start asking your questions, try to keep response times equal between participants.
Take note of the most and least talkative members of the group, as well as any participants with
particularly strong or dominant personalities.
You can ask less talkative members questions directly to encourage them to participate or ask
participants questions by name to even the playing field. Feel free to ask participants to elaborate
on their answers or to give an example.
As a moderator, strive to remain neutral. Refrain from reacting to responses, and be aware of
your body language (e.g., nodding, raising eyebrows). Active listening skills, such as parroting
back answers or asking for clarification, are good methods to encourage participation and signal
that you’re listening.
Many focus groups offer a monetary incentive for participants. Depending on your research
budget, this is a nice way to show appreciation for their time and commitment. To keep everyone
feeling fresh, consider offering snacks or drinks as well.

Step 8: Analyze your data and report your results

After concluding your focus group, you and your co-moderator should debrief, recording initial
impressions of the discussion as well as any highlights, issues, or immediate conclusions you’ve
drawn.
The next step is to transcribe and clean your data. Assign each participant a number or
pseudonym for organizational purposes. Transcribe the recordings and conduct content analysis
to look for themes or categories of responses. The categories you choose can then form the basis
for reporting your results.

Advantages of Focus Group

• They are fairly straightforward to organize and results

have strong face validity.
• They are usually inexpensive, even if you compensate
participant.
• A focus group is much less time-consuming than a
survey or experiment, and you get immediate results.
14
 • Focus group results are often more comprehensible and intuitive than raw data.

Disadvantages of Focus Group

• It can be difficult to assemble a truly representative sample.

Focus groups are generally not considered externally
valid due to their small sample
sizes.
• Due to the small sample size, you cannot ensure the
anonymity of respondents, which may influence their desire
to speak freely.
• Depth of analysis can be a concern, as it can be challenging
topics. to get honest opinions on controversial
• There is a lot of room for error in the data analysis and high potential for observer
dependency in drawing conclusions. You have to be careful not to
cherry-pick responses to fit a prior conclusion.

ONE-TO-ONE INTERVIEWS

This involves personal interaction in

the form of an interview, where the
researcher asks several questions to
gather data from the respondent. This
practice heavily depends on the
experience of the interviewer to ask
questions that evoke responses.
 ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH

This is an in-depth research method that is conducted in the natural settings of the
respondents. This method required observing consumers from their homes. This is where
they can be more comfortable and honest and researchers can directly observe people
using products. It takes a lot of time and is a qualitative research method.

CUSTOMER SURVEYS

Surveys in person, via smartphones, online forms, polls, and using survey software are
hugely informative. It is a list of questions that gives you the best insight into how a
consumer feels using the product or services you provide. This is basically a quantitative
research method.

QUESTIONNAIRES

A questionnaire is a research process that comprises a set of questions that designs to

gather information from a respondent. A marketing research questionnaire is typically a
mix of close-ended and open-ended product or service-based questions. This marketing
research process can be both qualitative and quantitative method.

When designing or constructing the questionnaire, remember the following guidelines (Edralin,
2016)
1. Keep it as simple as possible
2. Make sure it is clearly appealing and easy to read
3. Cluster or block related questions
4. Move from complex to more specific questions
5. Make sure questions are concise and easily nderstood
6. Avoid questions that are difficult to answer
Steps in Developing a Questionnaire for Research

Step 1: Determine the Survey Objectives, Resources, and Time Constraints

Once the decision has been made to conduct a survey, the marketer and marketing researchers
must agree on the survey objectives, or what information the survey is to collect. In addition to
establishing the goals of the survey, a budget and timetable must be established. Sa social
research, you use you Statement of the Problem.

Step 2: Determine How the Questionnaire Will Be Administered

As previously stated, marketing researchers can administer surveys in a variety of ways.

Researchers administer surveys online, through the mail, on the telephone, or by face- to-face
interviews. Each method has its strengths and weaknesses:
FACE TO FACE INTERVIEW. Face-to-face interviews were once the most commonly used
method of administering surveys. Seventy years ago, it was not uncommon for interviewers to
visit neighborhoods and knock on potential respondents doors. When researchers administer a
questionnaire with a face-to-face interview, they now use mall-intercept interviews. Mall-
intercept interviews are conducted at shopping malls. The interviewer approaches a shopper who
appears to meet the definition of the desired respondent. After the interviewer determines that the
potential respondent is an appropriate respondent, the interview can be given on the spot or the
person is invited to a facility located in the mall to complete the questionnaire.

Mall-intercept interviews are very

popular. It is estimated that nearly
two-thirds of marketing
research
questionnaires are completed at
shopping malls. Mall intercept
interviews are especially
appropriate when the research
needs to show stimuli or
demonstrate things. They allow
researchers to conduct taste tests
and use visual stimuli.
The
disadvantages are than mall-
intercept interviews are
expensive, they are limited to
metropolitan areas, and they may
not be demographically
representative of the population of interest. Mall-intercept interviews may over- represent young
women, people who live in the suburbs, people with middle incomes, and frequent shoppers.
Another problem with mall-intercept surveys is that malls may not be the most comfortable
location for people to answer questions and this may limit the ability to capture the respondents
attitudes.

Telephone Surveys

A telephone survey is another method of survey administration. With this method, potential
respondents are contacted by telephone. The phone numbers are selected using a random dialing
system or other computer techniques designed to ensure the random selection of the respondents
and the most likely time to reach them at home. This method is commonly used in public opinion
surveys. Telephone interviews have a high response rate and the researchers can ask follow-up
questions. They are, however, expensive to conduct. A disadvantage of telephone surveys is that
the research cannot use visual stimuli. Interviewees can be uncomfortable in picking up calls
from new numbers.

Mail Surveys
For mail surveys, the questionnaires are delivered through the mail. Market researchers use two
types of mail surveys: Ad Hoc Mail Surveys and Mail Panels. These questionnaires are self-
administered by the respondent; which is to say, there is no interviewer.

With ad hoc mail surveys, questionnaires are mailed to random people with whom the
researchers have no relationship. These names may have been acquired through purchased
mailing lists. The marketing researchers contact these potential respondents once. Mail panel
surveys are composed of respondents who have been pre-screened. Members of the mail panel
have agreed to participate in regularly administered surveys.

Despite having to pay for postage to and from respondents and the cost of printing of the
questionnaires, mail surveys are relatively inexpensive to conduct. But, mail surveys take a long
time for responses to come back to the researchers and the response rates can be low. Non-
responders are typically not evenly distributed among the sample. Respondents with high income
and high education levels tend not to complete mailed surveys. This unequal distribution of non-
responders can bias the results.
Online Surveys

surveys
delivered through the Internet are
rapidly growing. They offer
advantages, which many
researchers think outweigh some
serious disadvantages.

Among the advantages of online

surveys are:
1. Rapid analysis of the
results: Respondents perform the data entry for the researcher. This saves time and
money. Online surveys often use software that can summarize the results. And, data from
online surveys can be automatically imported into statistical programs like SPSS and
database programs like Microsoft Access.
2. Reduced cost: With no printing and postage, Internet sur veys are far less expensive than
mail surveys. And, tabulating the results of an online survey is much faster and less
expensive than telephone surveys.
3. Higher response rates than mail or telephone surveys: Online surveys are faster to
complete than telephone or mail surveys, which lead to higher response rates.

The disadvantages of online surveys include:

 1. Sample Bias: Internet access is still not universal. This raises the issue of whether online
surveys represent the population of interest. This is a problem because the researchers
cannot be certain of the demographics, psychographics, and usage patterns of the person
completing the survey.
2. Measurement Error: Research suggests that online surveys may have low reliability
and validity. These concerns stem from studies that administered the same questionnaire
online and offline with significantly different results.
3. Non-Response Bias: Respondents who answer online questionnaires have very different
demographics and attitudes than those who do not respond.
4. Response rates: Response rates for online fall sharply when questionnaires exceed 15
questions. At present, expert opinion suggests that online surveys should take no longer
than 7 minutes to complete. A 5 to 7 minute survey typically has between 11 to 15
questions.

Step 3: Determine the Question Format Open

Ended Questions

Open-ended questions are like the questions used with Exploratory Research. Respondents
answer the question using their own words. Open-ended questions to not contain a set list of
answers.

Many questionnaires end with an open-ended question. Here is an example of such a question:
Is there anything else that you would like to tell us about the latest Lenovo thinkpad?

Open-ended questions are much more difficult to edit and code than closed-end questions.
Editors must carefully review and categorize the answers for each open- ended question. (But it
is helpful for gathering insights from consumers. And, just like the open-ended questions asked
in focus groups, the interviewer probes—requests more information from the respondent—to
derive full meaning from a response. Probing means asking follow-up questions like, "What did
you mean by that?" and "Could you tell me more about that?" Probing can be done with
questionnaires administered using face-to-face interviews. But, this takes more time for the
interviewer to complete the interview. Probing open-ended questions are thought to have higher
interviewer bias than closed-ended questions. Interviewer bias occurs when
a respondent consciously or unconsciously modifies his or her answers due to the social style
and personality of the interviewer.

Closed-Ended Questions

Most questions posed in questionnaires are closed-ended questions. Closed-ended questions

provide the respondent with a fixed list of answers. Closed-ended are easier and faster to code.
Interviewers with less skill can easily handle closed-ended questions. And, interviewer bias is
less likely with closed-ended questions. On the other hand, these questions may lack an adequate
range of responses. And, if poorly phrased, they could introduce bias.

There are three basic categories of closed-ended questions:

1. Dichotomous Questions. The simplest form of closed-ended questions is the

dichotomous question. Dichotomous questions ask the respondent to select from
two possible answers. Here are some examples:

These questions are considered categorical questions. They generate nominal level data as the
answers are not numerical and no order is implied. Nominal data merely places the respondents'
answers in one of the listed categories. These categories are mutually exclusive and exhaustive.
The term mutually exclusive means that any possible answer fits in only one category. No one,
for example, can answer that they have a pet dog and they do not have a pet dog. Exhaustive
means that the provided list of responses covers all possible answers. Please Note: the question
on gender is how such questions have been posed historically. With the heightened awareness of
the fluidity of gender, many researchers no longer ask questions about gender using dichotomous
questions.

2. Multiple-Choice Questions
There are two forms of multiple-choice questions: Multiple-Choice and Multiple- Answer.

Multiple-Choice Questions: With multiple-choice questions, respondents select one answer

from a list of three or more options. Here are some examples of multiple-choice questions:

Which of the following age groups are you in? Check the appropriate box:

Multiple-Answer Questions: Multiple-answer questions are a type of multiple- choice question

that allows respondents to provide more than one answer. These questions are sometimes called
checklist questions as the respondent can check off multiple answers from a list of options. Here
is an example of a multiple-answer question:

Which of the following newspapers to you read regularly?

Check all that apply.

Which phone brands have you used?

3. Scaled Response Questions

Scaled response questions are designed to capture the intensity of a respondent's feelings
and attitudes. Scaled response questions include:
 • Graphic Ratings Scales
• Itemized Ratings Scales
• Semantic Differential Scales
• Stapel Scales
• Likert Scales

Step 4: Writing Clear Questions

1. Questions must be clearly written, easily understood, and unambiguous.

Good questions are written using proper grammar. They are simply worded. Avoid jargon.
Precision is important. Take a close look at the following question.

This is a bad question because the context for "rely on most" is undefined. What are we talking
about? Sports? Entertainment? Restaurant Reviews? News? This question needs to be rewritten
so that the context is clear.

What is wrong with this question?

The problem with this question is that the responses are not mutually exclusive. Suppose a
respondent weighs 150 pounds. He could select 125 to 150 pound and 150 to 175 pounds. The
answers overlap. They must be mutually exclusive.

What is wrong with the following question?

This is what we call a double-barreled question. The problem with double-barreled questions is
that they are really asking two questions. They confuse respondents and it is impossible for the
researcher to know if the respondent's state of pleasure refers to the ISP's rates or customer
service or both. Never use a double-barreled question. A good researcher would pose two
questions: one on rates and another on customer service.

2. Questions must not introduce bias.

Researchers can introduce bias by asking leading questions, loaded questions, or imposing
opinions on the respondent.

Leading questions introduce bias because they implicitly suggest a particular answer. Here is

an example of a leading question.

(The students love the entrepreneurship subject. How happy are you while having lectures on
entrepreneurship?)
The problem with this question stems from the words People love working at Google. "
Leading questions often being with a statement like this one. This preface tends to bias the
question because it implies the respondents share an attitude.

Here is a better way to phrase this question:

3. Loaded Questions:

Loaded questions ask emotionally charged questions or offer a socially desirable answer. They
contain unnecessary assumptions that can distort a respondents answer because they make
presumptions about the respondents attitudes, beliefs, or behavior.
Here is an example of a loaded question:

This question should be rewritten to remove the emotional charge.

4. Imposing Assumptions:

Good questions do not impose value judgments on the respondent. The following question
makes an assumption that could distort responses.

Should Josh Mojica continue his excellent new kangkong chips flavor?

The problem with this question is the inclusion of the word "excellent." That word imposes a
value judgment that respondents might not share. Good researchers never impose value
judgments on respondents as they introduce bias.

1.Respondents' Ability to Answer

Problems can occur when researchers ask questions that the respondents are not qualified to
answer. Here is an example of a question that smart phone users are most likely not qualified to
answer and probably have no strong opinions.

Good researchers always consider the respondent's qualifications for answering a question.

Questions should avoid taxing a respondent's memory. People forget.

Advertising recall tests are designed to see if television viewers remember commercial.
Typically these tests are conducted 24-hours after a commercial airs. A 24-hour delay does not
tax respondents' memories. The research company calls potential respondents, and the
interviewer takes two measurements: unaided recall and aided recall. Here is how the researcher
might ask the questions if the client were Pancit Canton and the commercial ran on Batang
Quiapo.
 If the respondent answers "yes," ask the following question: Do you

recall any of the brands advertised on this program?

The researcher records the names of the brands. If a respondent can identify a brand, this is
called unaided recall.

If the respondent does not have unaided recall of the Diet Coke commercial, ask: Do you
recall seeing any commercials for a carbonated soft drink? If the respondent can recall the
Diet Coke commercial, this is aided recall.

With events that are in the more distant past, people may have a poor recollection of when the
event actually occurred or other details of the event. Two different phenomena threaten the
validity of the response. Telescoping is when a respondent thinks an event happened more
recently than it actually occurred. Squishing occurs when a respondent thinks that an event
happened longer ago that it actually did.

2. Respondents' Willingness to Answer – we need to be sensitive

Sometimes a respondent's memory is very clear, yet they do not want to answer a question if
brings up potentially painful or embarrassing memories. Questions about bankruptcy, divorce,
sexual activity, sexual harassment, criminal activity, and health issues fall into this category.

To relieve the respondent of their embarrassment, researchers often preface a potentially

embarrassing question with a counter biasing statement.

Consider the following question: "Where your parents married to each other when you were
born?" Being a child born out of wedlock is a source of embarrassment for some people. Many
researchers would add a counter biasing statement to this question: Here is how they might
rephrase this question: "Many people are born to parents who were not married to one another at
the time of their birth. Were your parents married to each other when you were born?"

What do you think about the new nike shoes? – walang paa

Step 5: Designing the Question Flow

Not only do researchers spend a lot of time writing and rewriting each question, they also must
devote considerable thought to the logical flow of the questions. When considering the flow of
the questions, researchers want to make certain that they:
 1. Avoid responses from unqualified respondents
2. Make respondents feel confortable so they answer the questions honestly
3. Ask questions that provide all the information they need

Many researchers organize their questionnaires into six parts:

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Initial Screening of respondents

Part 3: Warm-up questions

Part 4: Transition into more detailed and more difficult questions

Part 6: Farewell

Part 1: Introduction

All questionnaires need an introduction. This is especially true if an interviewer

administers the questionnaire.

The introduction is designed to gain the trust of the potential respondent. Good
introductions:

• Provides the interviewer's name and the name of his or her employer
• Tells the respondents the subject of the interview
• Assures the respondent that he or she will not be sold anything and that their privacy
will be protected
• Tells the respondent how long the survey will take to complete
• If applicable, have the respondent sign a consent form
• Invites the respondent to complete the survey

Part 2: initial Screening of Respondents

Not everyone who is approached to complete a questionnaire is qualified. To avoid surveying
unqualified respondents, researchers begin their questionnaire with a screener or filter
question. Screener questions are designed to filter out unqualified respondents. A questionnaire
can use just one screener question or many. The more screener questions, the longer it will take
to complete the survey and the more expensive it will become.

Here is an example of a screener question for a questionnaire for a marketer of gourmet dog
treats.

1. Do you consume kangkong chips?

Part 3: Warm-Up Questions

After the screener questions, the respondent moves to Part 2 of the questionnaire. In this section,
researchers focus on general questions. Asking general questions before specific questions is
sometimes called the funnel technique. The goal of the research

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in part to is to "warm up" the respondent. Tough questions and questions that can cause
embarrassment are saved until the end of the questionnaire. Asking questions about sensitive
subjects like age, income, and sexual orientation, are typically avoided in the early phases of the
questionnaire. Our reverse mortgage, however, does ask sensitive questions about age and
finances. To soften these screener questions, we gave respondents a review of what a reverse
mortgage is. This review implies that the screener questions are necessary.

Part 4: Transition Into More Detailed Questions

With part 4, the questionnaire makes the transition into questions that relate to the research
objectives. These questions are more detailed and often use a ratings scale.

In the case of our questionnaire on the treats dog owners give their dogs, we might focus on the
following questions:

Part 5: Demographics, Psychographics, Usage Behavior And Questions That Might Cause
Embarrassment

Researchers generally place questions at the end of the questionnaire that might cause a
respondent to stop an interview because the it is seen as too intrusive or embarrassing.
Researchers do this to collect usable data before a respondent might halt the interview. The other
reason to place such questions at the end of the survey is that respondents may have developed a
rapport with the interviewer and they may have become accustomed to answer the questions.

Many researchers argue that the end of the questionnaire is an ideal place for collecting the
respondent's demographics, psychographics and usage behavior. But not every researcher agrees.
As we saw with our examples of screener questions, we might need to
 collect some demographic, psychographic, and usage behavior information to filter out
unqualified respondents.

Part 6: Farewell

At the end of an interview, the interviewer or the questionnaire itself )if the research is using a
self-administered questionnaire), bids farewell to the respondent. The farewell statement thanks
the respondent for their time, tell the respondent that his or her opinions count, and express the
hope that the interview was a good experience. Here is a standard farewell statement.

"The survey is now complete. I hope you found this experience pleasurable. Thank you for
sharing your opinions. It is only by listening to people like you that our clients can bring
better products to market."