This document provides an overview of quantitative research methods, with a focus on surveys. It discusses different types of surveys, including personal interviews, telephone interviews, self-administered questionnaires, and internet surveys. It highlights advantages and disadvantages of different survey methods. The document also discusses issues with cross-cultural research and conducting surveys across cultures. Key challenges include differences in language, response styles, and cultural appropriateness of survey questions.

1. Topic 7.
Quantitative research: Surveys
Lecturer: E. Tauris, 2011
Course Title: Marketing Research

2. Topic 7 notes were written using the
following sources:
• Boyce, J. (2007), Marketing Research, 2nd
ed., McGraw Hill, Australia.
• Fletcher, R., & Crawford, H. (2011), International Marketing: an Asia-Pacific
Perspective, 5th
ed., Pearson Australia., Chapter 6.
• Malhotra, N., Hall J., Shaw, M., & Oppelheim, P. (2007), Essentials of Marketing
Research: An Applied Orientation, 2nd
ed., Pearson Education, Australia;
• Olatundun, I.O. (2009). What is Cross-Cultural Research, International Journal
of Psychological Studies, Vol. 1 (2)., pp. 82-95
• Salciuviene, L., Auruskeviciene, V., & Lydeka, Z. (2005). As Assessment of Various
Approaches for Cross-Cultural Consumer Research. Problems & Perspectives in
Management, Vol. 3, pp. 147-159.
• Watkins, L (2010) The Cross-cultural appropriateness of survey-based value(s)
research, International Marketing Review, Vol. 27 (6).

3. Survey method
• Quantitative method
– Produces a large number of responses suitable for
statistical analysis
• Survey
– A structured questionnaire given to a sample of a
population to elicit specific information from
respondents.
• Structured data collection
– Formal questionnaire;
– Questions in a prearranged order.
• Precoded (fixed alternative) questions
– Respondents choose from a set of predetermined
answers.

4. Surveys
Personal interviewing
using a structured
questionnaire:
•Face-to-face
– Door-to-door
– Streets
– Shopping malls
•Telephone
•Door-to-door
Self-completion
questionnaires:
•Mail
•(online) Internet
•E-mail

5. Surveys
Advantages
• Simple to administer
(coded, fixed alternative)
• Straightforward analysis
• Large sample
• Low cost
• Suitable for statistical
analysis
• Geographic flexibility
Disadvantages
• Inability to probe
• Lack of flexibility due to
structured responses
• Difficulty in designing a
good questionnaire

6. Classification by nature of interaction
• Person-to-person
• Self-completion
• Computer assisted
Source of this and next ppt: Essentials of
Marketing Research, 2e; Malhotra, Hall,
Shaw, Oppenheim © 2007 Pearson
Education Australia, Figure 5.1 & 5.2,
Chapter 5

7. Classification by mode of administration

8. Personal interviewing: Face-to-face
Advantages
•Interviewer-respondent
rapport
•Reassuring the respondent
•Long interviews
•Visuals
•Overcoming language barriers
•Higher completion rate
required
Disadvantages
•The cost
•Interviewers must be
well trained
•Interviewer bias
•Not anonymous

9. Personal: location interception
Advantages
• Travel costs are
eliminated
• Interviewer can interact
with respondents
• Ability to show, taste or
handle a product
Disadvantages
• Non-representative
sample
• Uncomfortable
environment (shopping
centre, street, etc.)

10. Telephone interviewing (CATI)
• The fastest way to interview
• CATI – computer assisted telephone
interviewing (ACNielsen)
• Programming to minimise errors:
• Computer dials phone number
• Computer skips questions
• Can customise questions
• No editing required
• Interviewers can be easily supervised

11. Telephone Interviewing
Advantages:
•Quick
•Lower cost per interview
•People are used to
telephone calls from
strangers
•Response rate
•No security problems
Disadvantages:
•Silent numbers
•No visuals
•Harder to establish
rapport
•Falling achievement rates
•% of refusals are rising
•Voice-mails
•Mobile phones cause
sampling problems
•Mobile phones:
–Inconvenience (timing &
location)

12. CATS
• Computer automated telephone systems (CATS)
– Computer-synthesised voices are used to ask
questions over the phone
• Advantages
• Respondents select numbers on the telephone keypad to
answer questions
• Voice recognition is likely to be used in the future to record
and count responses
• Disadvantages
• Not appealing to respondents
• High refusal

13. Self-completion questionnaires
Advantages
•Usually low total cost of
survey
•Can cover people over a
wide area
•Respond at their own
time
Disadvantages
•Little control of time
frame and respondent
identity
•Low & slow response
•More response errors are
likely answers may be
influenced by the content
of all questionnaire

14. Response rate problems
Methods used to increase response rate
• Preliminary notification
• Personalisation
• Anonymity
• Response deadline
• Incentives
• Questionnaire size, reproduction, and colour
• Type of postage (return envelopes)
• Follow-ups

15. Response errors
• Omitted questions
• Misunderstood questions
• Misread instructions
• Incomplete answers
• Insufficient reply to open-ended questions

16. Issues of cross-cultural research
• Difficulty to communicate an opinion if the
respondent is unfamiliar with the concept
• Willingness to respond
– A male interviewer is not allowed to interview a
female respondent in Muslim countries
• Language and comprehension
– idioms, literacy, dialects, no exact translation,
interpreting answers, and so on. .
• Respondent bias
– Social bias: telling what it is believed the interviewer
wants to hear; Taboo topics.

17. Cross-cultural survey methodology
• Survey methodology is particularly open to bias
and errors due to cultural differences in the
construction of meaning
• Values research:
– The relationship of values to other constructs are not
easily addressed using survey methodology
– The use of scales is problematic
– The problem with almost exclusively Western cultural
background of theories and instruments used:
• Western cultural values measures are themselves culture
bound. The most important values may not be even
captured.

18. Cross-cultural response issues
• Different response styles:
– For example, Asian respondents demonstrate
significantly different response patterns to Australian
respondents:
– Asian response style: mild leading to less extreme
points ticked
• Difference in response style may account for up
to 6% variance of the data
• Likert-scales tend to be most problematic

19. Response bias
• Non-response bias
– Respondents are reluctant to answer (may perceive
the questions as culturally sensitive)
• Extreme response bias
– The answers tend to cluster around some point in the
scale; over-reaction to questions.
It becomes difficult to determine whether the
answers reflect tendencies to answer in a certain
way, or true national differences.

20. The Internet & Intranet
• The Internet - An extensive international
connection between computer systems that
allows for the transmission of digital data
between household and business computers.
• Intranet - private computer connections and
networks, available internally to company or
organisational members only.
• WWW - A system of using computer language to
allow easy communication between remote
computers in business or the home.

21. Internet market research
• Any research activity that involves gaining
information for the purposes of marketing
research from respondents using the internet or
web technologies
– Focus groups
– Observation
– Internet surveys
– Email surveys
Qualitative
Quantitative

22. The Internet future trends
• Improved access to wireless technology
• Improved geographical access
• Mobile Internet : sport, music, video, films and
pictures on mobile internet technology

23. Internet market research
• When a respondent – either on a single
occasion or as part of a panel:
– completes a questionnaire online
– downloads a questionnaire from a server on the
Internet and returns it by e-mail
– receives the questionnaire incorporated into an e-mail
and returns it
– participates in an online qualitative interview or
discussion
– takes part in a measurement system which tracks
web usage on the user's p.c

24. Essentials of Marketing Research, 2e; Malhotra, Hall, Shaw, Oppenheim © 2007 Pearson Education
Australia, Chapter 6, figure 6.5
Classification of electronic sources

25. OIR- Online information resources
• On-line Information Resources (OIR) are
sources used for secondary data collection that
re accessed using the Internet or the WWW (
scholar.google.com/)
• Key Issues: Accuracy, Reliability and Legality
– Internet data needs to be checked carefully
– Your queries about information:
• Is information right? (accurate, reliable and valid)
• Is it right to use the information? (morally and ethically)
• Do I have the right to use the information? (legally)

26. Online qualitative research
1.Moderated online Focus Groups:
• OLCD (online chat discussion) – text-based
exchange of comments and opinions
• OLVD (online video discussion) – video streaming
to provide visual contact between participants
2.Unmoderated online Focus Group
• Newsgroups
• Chat rooms
• Weblogs
• Consumer response sites

27. Online qualitative research
Advantanges
• Lower geographical
constraints
• Client can observe from
office or home
• Reach hard-to-get-to
segments – doctors,
professionals, etc
• Moderator can carry on
person to person side-
conversations to probe
deeper
Disadvantages
• Can you verify who is
participating?
• Lack of control over
participant’s environment –
distractions
• Only audio and visual stimuli
can be used
• New moderating skills
required – some resistance to
change

28. Types of Quantitative online research
1. Observation
– Trace measures : Cookies, Page hits, Log files
2. Intranet surveys
– Distributed by company internal networks to
employees and customers
3. Email surveys
– Uses system of personal addresses

29. Email surveys
• Uses system of personal addresses with the
questions sent to potential respondents
– Direct email survey: Survey questions are distributed
in the body of the message
– Download email attachment: download and print
questionnaire and return by email, fax or mail.
– Visitor lists : visitors to web-site
– Opt-in lists : customers asked to participate
– Purchased lists : from list suppliers
• Two-stage research approach can be used :
– Email contact
– Direction to website or attached form

30. Email surveys
Advantages
• Ease of transferring
information – both to
and from
• Cost savings
Disadvantages
• Cannot use skip
patterns
• Inappropriate
respondent replies
cannot be blocked
• More post-survey data
cleaning required
• Email system may be
limited

31. Internet surveys
• Accessed from a website and the responses
entered and added directly to the researcher’s
web site or service
• Respondents recruited online or by traditional
methods
• Passwords may be necessary to limit access to
once only
• Usually conducted by using an Internet panel

32. Internet survey panels
• Opt-in panels
– Participants have agreed to provide data on a regular basis (f.e.
Loyalty program)
• Pre-recruited panels
– Challenge is to recruit panel that reflects the population
– Researcher tends to set quotas
• Screened panels:
– Variation of pre-recruited panel. Participants selected on specific
relevant criteria
• Web invited participation
– Pop-up or banner invitation
– 1inN Website visitor selection

33. Disadvantages of Internet surveys
• Self-selection to participate
• Unrepresentative user population
• Multiresponders
• Lack of interpersonal contact

34. Technical issues
• May be regarded as SPAM
– intrusive use, may create sample bias
– Genuine survey regarded as spam may slow down
response
• Bad email addresses
– in one UK study 35% of invalid addresses from a one
year-old database. Assumption that email addresses
change frequently.
• Duplicate responses (over-sampling)
– Server-generated passwords required for each respondent to
avoid clicking on “Submit” more than once.
Olatundun, 2009.