Research Methods

Consumer Research Methods
Methods of consumer
research
Primary research
methods
Advantages and
disadvantages of each
method
Two Research Methods
Secondary: use of existing

research already done
◦ Government
◦ Consulting firms
◦ Newspaper and magazine articles
Primary: creation of specific
studies to answer specific
questions
ABI Inform
Specializes in business related
publications
Search choices
◦ Subject terms
 “Snow-balling”  new subject terms
◦ Personal Name
◦ Product Name, Company Name
◦ Abstract
◦ “All basic search fields”
Snow-balling example
Subject=Asian +
Subject=Advertising
 Television stations,
Television markets,
Asian Americans,
Television
Advertising, Studies,
Minority & Ethnic
Groups
Lexis-Nexis (Academic)
From within Lexis-Nexis, select “Guided
Search”
◦ Several different options—e.g., “General
News” vs. “Business News”
Allows for search through full text
Business & Industry
Great coverage of trade journals
Excellent indexing of articles by
◦ Country/region
◦ Industry
◦ Business/marketing concept—e.g.
 “Consumer marketing”
 “Market Research”
 “Teen Market”
Other
Industry and Company Some print sources:

Info ◦ Best Customers
◦ Not as useful for this ◦ Statistical Abstracts
course but good for job Country information
hunting
 Hoover’s ◦ Stat-USA
 Identify competitors, ◦ Economist Intelligence
industry Unit
 Standard and Poor’s
Industry Surveys
Other Sources When You Do Not Have
Access to Lexis-Nexis/ABI
◦ Newspaper back indices—usually

have to pay for older articles
◦ Business Week online and other
business periodicals
◦ Google news: current articles only
 http://news.google.com/
Primary Research Methods
Surveys
Experimentation
Focus groups
In-depth interviews
Projective techniques
Physiological
Measures
Surveys
Planned questions Forms
◦ Open-ended ◦ Mail
◦ Closed-ended ◦ Telephone
Sample size and ◦ Mall Intercept
inferences ◦ Computer/Internet
Biases
◦ Wording
◦ Response
◦ Interviewer
Computer/Online surveys
Getting people to follow
instructions
Opportunities for branching
(contingent questions)
Sampling frame and response
Possible emerging
opportunities
◦ Correlating data on which not all
respondents have answered the
same questions
Experimentation
Real world relevance
vs. control (internal
vs. external validity)
“Treatments” and
factorial designs
Sample sizes and
inferences
Focus Groups
Groups of 8-12
consumers assembled
Start out talking
generally about
context of product
Gradually focus in on
actual product
In-depth interviews
Structured vs.
unstructured
interviews
Generalizing to other
consumers
Biases
Projective Techniques
Measurement of
attitudes consumers
are unwilling to
express
Consumer discusses
what other consumer
might think, feel, or
do
Observation
Consumer is observed--
preferably unobtrusively--
while:
◦ Examining products prior to
making a purchase
◦ Using a product
◦ Engaging in behavior where the
product may be useful
Physiological Measures
Devices attached to the consumer to
measure
◦ Arousal
◦ Eye movement
Consumer feedback
◦ Lever pulled to positive or negative positions
◦ Squeeze on ball
Scanner Data
Panel members in test communities agree to
◦ Swipe a card prior to each purchase
◦ Have purchases matched to
 demographic profiles
 media/coupon exposure
 promotional status of competing brands
 past purchases
Problems:
◦ Aggregation over household
◦ Aggregation bias--averages of disparate segments obscure!
Definition
Confound: The tendency of
some phenomenon to be
caused at least in part by
some variable other than the
one of interest.
E.g., are tall women more or
less likely to wear high
heels?
Confounds
 What is cause, what is effect, and what is
coincidence?
 Correlation is not necessarily cause
 “Lurking” factors may be real cause of 26
◦ Does having more toys cause children to be more

intelligent?
◦ Are tall women more or less likely to wear high heels?
◦ Do vaccinations cause autism?
◦ Does Prozac cause suicide?
◦ Do fish-heavy diets cause stomach cancer?
Issues in International Primary
Research
 Social desirability/  New technologies
willingness to “stand (e.g., scanner data)
out” ---> need to adjust --usually less well
data developed than in the
 Willingness to criticize U.S.
products  Reachability of
 Familiarity with being respondents
surveyed  Selection of
appropriate respondent
Why We Buy
Chapter 1: “A Science Is Born”
“Trackers”
High vs. low tech
tools
Massive database
Repetitive, non-
glorious work
Chapter 2:
“What Retailers Don’t Know”
Conversion rates
What do managers
actually know—or
think they know?
Knowing the
neighborhood
Waiting line
Chapter 3
“The Twilight Zone”
The Transition Zone

Effects of automatic doors
Productive uses of the
transition zone
Tradeoffs in real life
Why We Buy
Ch. 4—”You Need Hands”
Important to visualize the consumer in
actual shopping situation
Some purchases may not be important
enough to warrant logistics—must make
it easier to reach products
Where to place baskets in stores?
Disneyland’s experience—thinking like
a visitor
Ch. 5
“How to Read a Sign”
Objectives
◦ Get shoppers’ attention
◦ Induce to look and shop
◦ Deliver useful and understandable
info
McDonald’s menus—prime
exposure opportunities
CNN Airport television sets
Ch. 6“Shoppers Move Like People”
Why not be next to a

bank?
What do mirrors do to
walking traffic?
Chevroning—
advantages and
disadvantages

Research Methods

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Research Methods

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Consumer Research Methods

Secondary: use of existing

Industry and Company Some print sources:

◦ Newspaper back indices—usually

◦ Does having more toys cause children to be more

The Transition Zone

Why not be next to a

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