OBSERVATION

I. Human Observations people (rather than machines) watching other people.

to pose as consumers and shop at competitors' stores to compare prices, displays, service performances, cleanliness, and the like .

 A. Mystery Shoppers -people that are employed by a firm

 B. One-Way Mirror Observations - The practice of watching unseen from behind a one-way mirror. Often used for product testing and with focus groups.

 C. Shopper Patterns - refers to drawings that

record the footsteps of a shopper through a store. They show the flow of a representative sample of shoppers through a store.
 D. Content Analysis - A technique used to study

written material, usually advertising copy, by breaking it into meaningful units, using carefully applied rules.

 E. Humanistic Inquiry - A method of inquiry in which

the researcher is immersed in [becomes a part of] the system or group under study, rather than using the scientific method of standing apart from the system being studied.

II. People Watching an Activity

subject products. There are two general categories: Retail audits measure sales to final consumers, and wholesale audits determine the amount of product movement from warehouses to retailers. Retail distribution audits are similar to store audits however these audits do not measure inventory sales: instead they are observational studies at the retail level

Audits - are examinations and verifications of the sales of

In marketing research, the most frequently used types of observational techniques are:

Personal observation
 observing products in use to detect usage patterns and    

problems observing license plates in store parking lots determining the socio-economic status of shoppers determining the level of package scrutiny determining the time it takes to make a purchase decision

Mechanical observation
 eye-tracking analysis while subjects watch

advertisements

oculometers - what the subject is looking at pupilometers - how interested is the viewer

 electronic checkout scanners - records purchase    

behaviour on-site cameras in stores Nielson box for tracking television station watching voice pitch meters - measures emotional reactions Psycho-galvanometer - measures galvanic skin response

Audits
 retail audits to determine the quality of service in

stores  inventory audits to determine product acceptance  shelf space audits

Trace Analysis
 credit card records  computer cookie records  garbology - looking for traces of purchase

patterns in garbage  detecting store traffic patterns by observing the wear in the floor (long term) or the dirt on the floor (short term)  exposure to advertisements

Content analysis
 observe the content of magazines, television

broadcasts, radio broadcasts, or newspapers, either articles, programs, or advertisements