Development of Survey Questionaire

Developing a questionaire requires creativity. To begin, it

was decided that a variety of question-response formatssuch as

Open-Ended, Close-Ended, and Scaled-Response be used. For Open-

Ended questions, the probed format was used to encourage the

respondent to provide information beyond the initial first

comments. There was a variety of Closed-Ended

questions.Dichotomous closed-ended questions has only two

response options, such as “male” or “female”. There were also a

few multi category closed-ended questions. Both forms were

chosen because they facilitate the questioning process as well

as data entry.1 Labeled scaled-response questions were chosen to

measure subjective properties of consumers.

In developing the survey questionaire, the ultimate goal

was to devise a way to tap the respondent’s true response

without influencing him or her either blatantly or subtly.The

questions developed focussed on the research problem “Why is

Adidas loosing Market Share in the US?”. After numerous drafts,

unecessary and redundant words were eliminated. This process was

important because brevity will help the respondent to comprehend

the central question and reduce the distraction of wordiness.2

The questions were designed using everyday language but did not

1
Burns; Bush, Marketing Research: 306
2
Burns; Bush, Marketing Reserch: 347
include slang or jargon and was easily interpreted by each

respondent.

The group decided on a disguised survey where the

sponsoring company, in this case Adidas, was not identified. The

purpose of the survey was identified in the introduction of the

questionaire which stated “ We are students at Temple University

and need your help in conducting a survey for a Marketing

Research Class.”

To facilitate the questioning process, the first few

questions were screening questions, which were to determine

whether the respondent qualified to participate in the survey.

An Example of this question is “ About how many pairs of

sneakers have you bought in the past year?” Following the

screening were warm-up questions which were simple and easy to

answer. The flow of questions used the funnel approach which,

uses a wide-to-narrow or general-to-specific flow of questions

that places inquiries at the beginning of a topic on the

questionaire that are general in nature, and those requiring

more specific and detailed responses later on3 Once the questions

had been approved by the instructor and minor corrections were

made, data collection began by using convenience sampling.

3
Burns;Bush, Marketing Research: 363
Sample Profile

Majority of the respondents were Temple University

undergraduates. 55% of the respondents were female and 45% were

male. 95% of the respondents had purchased between one and six

sneakers in the past year. 60% purchased sneakers anytime, 30%

purchased sneakers on sale and 10% at full price.

Characteristics of Respondents

Most of the students surveyed were from Generation Y. These

are low income, fashionable and education oriented people, who

have a great zeal for life. Most generation Yer’s or Echo

boomers are trendsetters changing the face of many industries

and how products are marketed. Respondents were generally

willing to participate once they were informed that the

researchers were fellow students. Mall intercepts were used to

create diversity of respondents.

Usage of Sneakers

It was not until the mid-1970’s that the North American

general public’s increased interest in health and fitness began

to change the face of shoe-making, spawning industry giants such

as Nike and Reebok.4 Nike's Air technology, which used a gas-

filled bag of air inserted in the sole of the shoe to cushion

the impact of running, first appeared in 1979.5 Athletic shoes

4
Fritz, Sandy. “High (Tech) Tops.” Popular Science July 1994: 67.
5
Gafney, Andrew. "Running on Air." Popular Mechanics May 1994: 37.
Running shoes became more of a fashion item than an athletics

item in the early 1990's.6

Since that time, athletic shoes have become increasingly

specialized and sneaker prices have grown in accordance to the

advances in technology.7 60% of the respondents surveyed said

they used sneakers for fashion and were concerned about being

cool. 60% respondents did not purchase Adidas shoes because they

were perceived as uncool.

Results of the survey

When asked the most important factor when choosing a pair

of sneakers: 30% said brand and visual appeal, 35% said comfort

and quality, 20% said price and product selection, and 15% said

color. 50% of the respondents said Nike was their favorite

brand, 15% Reebok, 20% New Balance, and 10% Adidas. When asked

how likely respondents were to buy Adidas, 40% said somewhat

likely, 20% said extremely unilikely and 25% were neutral, 10%

were somewhat unlikely, and 5% were extremely likely. 80% 0f

respondents had never used Adidas shoes and 2% had received

Adidas shoes as gifts and 8% had purchased Adidas shoes based on

price. 95% of respondents said they would consider purchasing

Adidas shoes if the styles were appealing, more colors, more

comfort and if Kobe Bryant was removed from the commercials.

6
Betts, Katherine. "Fashion Pumps Up." Vogue Jan. 1994: 84.
7
Smith, Geoffrey. "Sneakers that Jump into the Past." Business Week 13 Mar. 1995: 71.
Limitations

Considering the fact that the researchers were students and

had no budget, convenience sampling was the only alternative

available. The time frame for the research was short even though

this project began the second week of class. Mall intercepts and

self administered surveys were used because they are fast and

convenient data collection methods. The sample size could not be

determined before hand since convenience sampling was being used

and the sample size was relatively small and not representative

of the total population. Nonreponse was a problem since some

questions were partially anwered and had to be deleted from the

decoding process.

Conslusions

From the survey and focus group, it became apparent that

our research problem was accurate. Consumers thought Adidas was

uncool, uncomfortable and price was not an issue when purchasing

shoes. The use of kobe Bryant in commercials was not helping

Adidas since his attitudes were being transferred to the shoes.

Some respondents complained the three stipes were too much. It

also came to light that even though consumers were very loyal to

brands, most would switch brands if persuaded with the right

tools.

Recommendations
 Adidas stands to gain market share if it broadens its

product line with innovative shoes that are visually appealing

and comfortable. Adidas could create new commercials that have a

better liked athlete than Kobe Bryant and could buy prime time

spots so the ads would have wide reach.