Marketing Research Questionnaire Design
Dec 25, 2015
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Questionnaire
• A set of questions designed to generate the data necessary for accomplishing a research project's objectives
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Complexity of Questionnaire Design
• Consider the following question that appeared in a mail questionnaire from an presumably experienced researcher
• Do you consider the many marketing research texts adequate for most of your business majors at the undergraduate level ? _____ Yes ____ No If no; briefly,why not?
• What do you think? Easy or difficult to answer?
• What exactly do the words many, adequate, and most refer to in this question?
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Questionnaire's Impact on Data Accuracy
• It must communicate to the respondent what the researcher is asking
• It must communicate to the researcher what the respondent has said
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Sources of Distortion
• A sloppy questionnaire can lead to a great deal of distortion
• The entry of an intermediary, or the interviewer, into the communication channel can also distort the questionnaire
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Exhibit 10.1 Questionnaire: Link Between Researcher and Respondents
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Questionnaire Design Elements
• Does each question have the most appropriate form (e.g., structured versus nonstructured)?
• Is each question relevant and properly worded to obtain meaningful, valid responses?
• Is the sequencing of the questions likely to introduce any bias?
• Are the layout and appearance of the questionnaire conducive to accurate and easy data collection?
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Exhibit 10.2 The Questionnaire Design Process
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Question Form
• Nonstructured questions – Open-ended
• Structured questions– Fixed-response
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Nonstructured Questions
• Consider the following illustrative questionsHow old are you?___________________What do you like most about owning your own
home? _____________Will you please describe your thoughts about a
person who shoplifts items from a grocery store to keep from going hungry? ______________________________________________________________________________________
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Structured Questions
• In which of the following categories does your age fall?_______ Less than 18_______ 18 to 30_______ 31 to 45_______ 46 to 60_______ Over 60
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Structured Questions: Dichotomous Questions
• Do you smoke cigarettes?___Yes ___No
• Have you ever watched CNN News?___Yes ___No
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Multiple-Category Questions
• In your opinion, which product category is the most suited for making purchases on the Internet?____Automobiles
____Books
____Electronic Items (TVs, video cameras, VCR and
DVD players, etc)
____Videos, CDs
____Computer-related items
____Travel (airlines, car rental, hotel reservations, etc.)
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Multiple-Category Questions (Cont’d)
• What do you like about Bank of America’s online banking service?
____24 hour service
____Transaction privacy
____No need to travel – do it from home
____Paying bills online– no need to mail bills
____Other ____(please specify)
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Response Category Sequence
• Approximately how many long-distance telephone calls do you make per week?______ 0 to 1 call______ 2 to 3 calls______ 4 to 5 calls______ 6 to 7 calls______ More than 7 calls
• The response categories in this question follow a natural sequence
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Response Category Content
• Response choices should be– Collectively exhaustive
• taken together
– Mutually exclusive • not overlap
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Response Category
• The response choices are collectively exhaustive but not mutually exclusive
• On the average, how many cans of cola do you drink per week
____0 to 3 cans
____3 to 6 cans
____More than 6 cans• Changing the 3 in the second category to a 4 will
make the response choices mutually exclusive
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Response Category (Cont’d)
• What do you like about Bank of America’s online banking service?
____24 hour service
____Transaction privacy
____No need to travel – do it from home
____Paying bills online – no need to mail bills
____Other ____(please specify)
• What is wrong with this question ?
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Response Category (Cont’d)
• Modify the question to read, "Which of the following do you like most about Bank of America’s Online Banking Service?"
• With this revision each respondent would, or should, check only one response category
• What do you like about Bank of America’s Online Banking Service? (Please check as many categories as apply.)
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Number of Response Categories
• Multiple-category questions fall between dichotomous questions & open-ended questions
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Question Relevance and Wording
Can the research objective(s) be
fulfilled without asking this question?
The question may still be a candidate for revision or
deletion and must be further examined
question should be deleted
Yes No
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Can the Respondent Answer the Question?
• In your opinion, how many students in your marketing courses will become potentially successful marketing managers?Ten percent ______
Twenty percent ______
Thirty percent ______
______percent ______
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Can the Respondent Answer the Question? (Cont’d)
• Consider the following question taken from a questionnaire used by a marketing research firm in conducting a face-to-face survey of female household heads– How much has your family spent in the last 12
months on cookware? $ _______
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Writing a Questionnaire for International Markets
• Caution – Use of the same word can have different
meanings in different cultures
• Word Equivalence – In Japan, China and non-English speaking
European countries• “Very Satisfied” means “Somewhat Satisfied”• “Very Satisfied” should be replaced by “Totally
Satisfied”
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Will the Respondent Answer the Question?
• Questions about personal financial matters or sexual behavior are examples of sensitive questions
• Words used in the questions should not be ambiguous to the respondents
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Double-Barreled Questions
• Suppose the following question is to be used in conducting a survey of the general public– Do you feel firms today are concerned about their
employees and customers?
_____ Yes _____ No _____ No opinion• A “no” response can be interpreted three different ways
– The respondent feels firms are concerned about neither employees nor customers
– The respondent feels firms are concerned about employees but not customers
– The respondent feels firms are not concerned about employees although they are concerned about customers
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Avoiding Double-Barreled Questions
• This revision is usually accomplished by breaking one question into several questions
• Thus our illustrative question can be reworded as two separate questions– Do you feel firms today are concerned about their
employees?
___ Yes ___ No ___ No opinion
– Do you feel firms today are concerned about their customers?
___ Yes ___ No ___ No opinion
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Leading Questions
• Don't you think offshore drilling for oil is environmentally unsound?___Yes ___ No ___ No opinion
• Do you think the quality of products on the market today is as high as it used to be ten years ago?___ Yes ___ No ___ No opinion
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Avoiding Leading Questions
• The two leading questions we saw earlier can be modified for neutrality as follows– What is your feeling about the environmental
impact of offshore drilling for oil?
___ Offshore drilling is environmentally sound
___ Offshore drilling is environmentally unsound
___ No opinion
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Avoiding Leading Questions (Cont’d)
• How do you feel about the quality of products on the market today compared with the quality of products on the market ten years ago?___Product quality is better now than ten years ago.
___Product quality is worse now than ten years ago.
___Product quality is the same now as ten years ago.
___ No opinion.
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One-Sided Questions
• Do you feel firms today are concerned about their employees? ___Yes ___ No ___ No opinion
• Would you agree or disagree that the deregulation of the airline industry has benefited customers? ___Yes ___ No ___ No opinion
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Avoiding One-sided Questions
• Do you feel firms today are concerned about their employees?___Concerned ___ Unconcerned ___ No opinion
• Do you feel the deregulation of the airline industry has benefited consumers, has had no impact on consumers, or has hurt consumers?___Has benefited customers___Has had no impact on customers___Has hurt customers___No opinion
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Unbalanced Questions
• How important is price to you in buying a new car?___More important than any other factor
___Extremely important
___Important
___Somewhat important
___Unimportant
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Balanced Questions
• How important is price to you in buying a new car?___Very important
___Relatively important
___Neither important nor unimportant
___Relatively unimportant
___Very unimportant
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Avoiding Questions with Implicit Assumptions
• Are you favorable, indifferent, or unfavorable toward a 10% increase in city taxes?
___Favorable ___Indifferent ___ Unfavorable• The above question can be improved as
– Are you favorable, indifferent, or unfavorable toward a 10% increase in city taxes to repair potholes in the city's streets?
___Favorable ___Indifferent ___Unfavorable
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Avoiding Questions with Implicit Assumptions (Cont’d)
• Do you drink coffee while watching football, baseball, and so on?____ Yes ____ No
• The above question can be reworded as– During which of the following activities do you drink
coffee?(Check as many as apply.)
___ Attending ballgames
___Attending sporting events other than ballgames
___Watching ballgames on TV
___Watching sporting events other than ballgames on TV
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Guarding Against Errors
• How often do you eat eggs for breakfast?_____ Frequently
_____ Occasionally
_____ Rarely
_____ Never
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Guarding Against Errors (Cont’d)
• To guard errors due to misinterpretations, the previous question can be revised as – On average, how many days per week do you
eat eggs for breakfast?___ Every day___ 5 or 6 days___ 3 or 4 days___ 1or 2 days___ Less than 1 day per week___ Never eat eggs for breakfast
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Complex Questions
• In which of the following do you typically invest your liquid assets?___Insured accounts
___Stock market
___Insured accounts and stock market
___Other accounts
• Of the total number of miles you drove during the past month, approximately what percentage was traveled in driving to and from work?___Percent
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Sequencing of Questions
• Position of Demographic and Sensitive Questions
• Arrangement of Related Questions• Funnel and Inverted-Funnel Sequences• Skip Patterns
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Arrangement of Related Questions
• Cluster questions that focus on the same topic– In a survey of business executives
• Views on the economy • Competition• Employee turnover
• Grouping questions into meaningful clusters can increase respondents' ease in answering the questions and reduce the chance of response errors
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Funnel Sequences
• Which of the following types of TV shows do you watch? (Check all categories that apply.)
____ News shows ____ Quiz shows____ Game shows
• Which of the following types of TV shows do you like the most? (Check as many categories as apply.)
____ News shows ____ Quiz shows____ Game shows
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Funnel Sequences (Cont’d)
• Which of the following specific shows did you watch during the past seven days? (Check "yes" or "no" for each show listed.)
Deal or No Deal ___ Yes ___ No
Wheel of Fortune ___ Yes ___ No
CBS Evening News ___ Yes ___ No
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Inverted-Funnel Sequences
• A survey of consumers to measure the image they have of Netgrocer.com
• What do you think of the specific attributes of Netgrocer.com?___ Website
___ Products
___ Customer Service
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Skip Patterns
• Proper sequencing of questionnaire items is essential to avoid complicated skip patterns that may confuse interviewers and respondents
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Question Sequence Needing Improvement
• 11. Do you own or rent your current place of residence?
Own Rent
• 12. How long have you lived in this state?Less than one year
One year to less than 5 years
5 years or more
• 13. If you have lived outside this state, in which state did you live immediately before moving here?
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Question Sequence Needing Improvement (Cont’d)
• 14. If you have lived in this state 5 years or more and if you currently rent your residence, do you intend to buy a home within the next two years?
Yes No Don’t know
• 15. How long have you lived in your current place of residence?
Less than one year
One year to less than 5 years
5 years or more
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Improved Question Sequence
• 11. Have you always lived in this state?Yes (Go to Question 12) No (Go to Question 11a)
• 11a. In which state did you live immediately before moving into this state?
• 12. How long have you lived in this state?Less than one yearOne year to less than 5 years5 years or more
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Improved Question Sequence (Cont’d)
• 13. Do you own or rent the place where you live?Own (Go to Question 15) Rent (Go to Question 14)
• 14. Do you intend to buy a home within the next two years?
Yes No Don’t know• 15. How long have you lived in your current place of
residence?Less than one yearOne year to less than 5 years5 years or more
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Questionnaire Appearance And Layout
• Version 1– How old are you?
___Less than 18 ___18 to 25 ___26 to 40 ___Over 40
• Version 2– How old are you?
___Less than 18
___18 to 25
___26 to 40
___Over 40
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International Marketing Research
• First Step– A professional who is fluent in both the languages
should translate the original questionnaire
• Second Step– A different translator must translate the local language
questionnaire back to the original version
• Third Step– Researchers should compare the original version and
the translated original version to ensure that they are identical in meaning
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International Marketing Research (Cont’d)
• Fourth Step– The local language version should also be
checked by the marketing research professionals in the country of interest
• Fifth Step– The local language version should be
pretested to make sure that the questionnaire serves the intended purpose
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Pretesting
• Pretesting is administering a questionnaire to a limited number of potential respondents and other individuals capable of pointing out design flaws
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Questionnaires for Computerized and Online Interviewing
– Randomizing response choices
– Checking for response consistency
– Incorporating complex skip patterns
– Personalization
– Ability to draw questions from computer libraries
– Adding “new” response categories
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Randomizing Response Choices
• The computer can be programmed to randomize the order of presentation of the categories separately for each respondent for multiple-category questions in which category sequence may influence response choice
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Checking for Response Category
• The computer can be programmed to check for consistency between the response given to a question at hand and responses given to certain key questions asked earlier
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Incorporating Complex Skip Patterns
• Computerized online interviewing can handle very complex skip patterns
• The computer can check as many “if then” statements and previous responses as necessary,decide which question should be asked next and pose that question on the computer screen instantaneously
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Personalization
• When a respondent’s name is entered into the computer keyboard at the start of an interview, that name can be automatically inserted into key questions and instructions throughout the questionnaire to provide a degree of personalization that would be very time consuming to achieve in non-computerized interviewing
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Ability to Draw Questions from Computer Libraries
• A questionnaire writer simply clicks and drags a standard questionnaire from an online library and modifies it as necessary to create a desired questionnaire
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Adding New Response Categories
• In a multiple-category question with an “other” category, when a prespecified number of respondents provide the same open-ended response to the “other” category, that response can be automatically converted into an explicit check off category by adding it to the set of prespecified categories
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Designing Cover Letters For Mail Questionnaires
• Primary purpose– To win the cooperation of respondents
• A good cover letter should be– Concise
– Objective
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Exhibit 10.5 Illustrative Cover Letter and Key
Features
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Openers for Personal and Telephone Interviews
• Features– An appropriate salutation, such as "Good
morning! I am Ralph Johnston with Marketing Research Associates Company.”
– A brief statement about the project and its purpose, such as "We are conducting a survey of heads of household regarding their feelings about modern home appliances.”
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Openers for Personal and Telephone Interviews (Cont’d)
• Features (Cont’d)
– An indication of how long the interview might last, such as "This survey should take no more than ten minutes.”
– A polite request for permission to conduct the interview, such as "May I please talk to the male or female head of your household for a few minutes?"
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Designing Observation Forms
• Guidelines– Wording
– Sequencing
– Layout