BA311 

 
Assignment HW2I       
Florinda Hysa - Individual Qs

 
 

Assignment HW2I        

   

CHAPTER 6 - Q. 7
7. a. What are the two types of consumer panels used for gathering marketing research data?
There are two types of consumer panels research, Home Audit and Mail Diary Method.
In the home audit, the panel member agrees to give permission to an auditor to check the household stocks of certain
product categories at regular intervals. Another condition is that the panel members save all used cartons, wrappers, and
so on, so the auditor can record them.
Whereas in the Mail Diary Method, the panel members record the details of each and every purchase in certain categories
and return the completed diary by mail on regular intervals.

b. Which type of panel is most frequently used in the United States?

In Europe, both types of panels are used extensively, whereas in the United States and Canada what is mostly used is the
mail diary method.

c. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a consumer panel?

Advantages of Consumer Panels
The cost of performing this type of research and gathering constructive feedback is very low.
Research projects can be completed quickly allowing organisations to react swiftly to the findings.
Response rates tend to be high as respondents have opted in to take part in the research.
Consumer panels remain current and give a complete picture at all times.
If there are changes in the brand or in the preferences of consumers, these changes can be researched and
implemented very quickly.
Consumer panels are able to report on more sensitive issues, including X-rated products, alcohol and cigarettes
to name but a few.
The data is incredibly specific, this means there is no danger of researching intentions rather than products.
Lastly, consumer panels can provide a fantastic insight on sales activity and it allows companies, across different
outlets, to compare their figures and effects on consumers.
Disadvantages of Consumer Panels
It is all too easy to end up in a situation where selection is biased, which would distort the evidence if
participants don’t want to give honest feedback.
Opinions from the panel may not be representative if there is a large number of early adopters or trend setters on
the panel.
Furthermore, if someone with no understanding of figures and numbers were to handle the data, it could also
give distorted results.
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 BA311 
 
Assignment HW2I       
Florinda Hysa - Individual Qs

 
 
The outlay can be prohibitive to some organisations in terms of both time and money.
Clearly, using consumer panels for research can be very beneficial to organisations. However, it is essential that
the person handling the data understands the goal of the research and is able to analyse the data, rather than
languages. Naturally, when there are open questions within the online survey, the professional also has to be able
to extrapolate the meaning from these answers.

CHAPTER 7 - Q. 5
5.a Pick any company of your choice, and a) identify its website, b) Browse through the website, c) List
the type of information that is available through the website
Uber.com
https://www.uber.com/
Uber has a very simple and friendly user interface. Once you get into their website, you’re shown how to choose three of
the most popular and used languages right now in the States, english, chinese and spanish.
Then you are directed to categorise yourself into one of their 10 Products of Service. That is how they take the user or
potential customer information which goes directly to the Data Bank.
Right after that and of course paying attention to the safety and being cautious during the COVID-19, they go straight to
suggestions of the most popular restaurants near you showing also the exact distance they are from your location. This
way they also get the information about your location.
There is another section of the website that is specifically for the business. They have plenty of information and offers on
how businesses can order and collaborate with Uber. This is another way to collect information about businesses too.
Another section which is pretty much used recently is Employee Ride or Courtesy Ride.
Employee Ride is to take the work out of work-related trips and to create ground travel and commute programs for
employees.
Courtesy Ride on the other hand aims to impress and to arrange door-to-door rides for business customers, clients, and
guests.
The whole website besides being very easy to use and helpful, works perfectly as a very friendly questionnaire to collect
all the information the company needs to project themselves better in the future according to the customers needs.

CHAPTER 8 - Q. 5
5. Toothpaste manufacturers have found consistently that if they ask for detailed information on the
frequency with which people brush their teeth, and then make minimal assumptions as to the quantity of
toothpaste used on each occasion, as well as spillage and failure to squeeze the tube empty, the result is a
serious overstatement of toothpaste consumption. How would you explain this phenomenon? Would it be
possible to design a study to overcome these problems and obtain more accurate estimates of
consumption? Describe how such a study could be conducted.
Numerous products launched in the oral care market in general, are expansions of recognized brands. Marketers realize
that there is more demand for products that provide whitening and odour-fighting benefits. Taking advantage of

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 BA311 
 
Assignment HW2I       
Florinda Hysa - Individual Qs

 
 
recognized brand names is one strategy through which oral care marketers can bring innovative and novel products into
the market.
Regarding the extensive application of marketing research techniques to understand the usage and consumption of
consumers towards toothpaste, a very generic and routine product used by people of all age groups and demographics I
think it will be necessary to be conducted a very detailed and specific research project.
Due to a constraint on the cost and time aspects that this research might take, it should be employed a sampling approach,
distributed to respondents spread all across the varied demographic profile. First, it will be probably convenient to start
out with a questionnaire distributed to respondents primarily via email.
The questionnaire and the entire research after that should make clear the data according to each gender and age.
One of the most important questions of the questionnaire would be “How often do you use toothpaste in a day’? The
cumulative percentage out of that question would give a very accurate information about the toothpaste consumption.
Also, as a common sense, most of the people are influenced to purchase their toothpaste by their dentist. That said, we
could have a detailed data chart on the frequency of people visiting the dentist, their common issues and if they are
strongly suggested to use the toothpaste on a specific frequency.
Another topic of the study would be to correlate the income of families or individuals to their willingness to buy
expensive or cheap toothpaste. The more expensive the toothpaste is, the less likely it will be to use in large loads on
every use
Hence, there should be 3 important factors that should be taken into consideration: Factor 1: Place Factor 2: Price
Factor 3: Promotion.
Classifying the customers based on demographic and lifestyle parameters should be always on top of this study list of
considerations.

CHAPTER 9 - Q. 7
7. What are the general advantages and disadvantages associated with obtaining information by
questioning and by observation? Which method provides more control over the sample?

The advantages and disadvantages of questionnaires

The advantages of questionnaires:
Practical
Large amounts of information can be collected from a large number of people in a short period of time and in a
relatively cost effective way
Can be carried out by the researcher or by any number of people with limited affect to its validity and reliability
The results of the questionnaires can usually be quickly and easily quantified by either a researcher or through
the use of a software package
Can be analysed more 'scientifically' and objectively than other forms of research
When data has been quantified, it can be used to compare and contrast other research and may be used to
measure change

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 BA311 
 
Assignment HW2I       
Florinda Hysa - Individual Qs

 
 
The disadvantages of questionnaires
Is argued to be inadequate to understand some forms of information - i.e. changes of emotions, behaviour,
feelings etc.
They ask only a limited amount of information without explanation
Validity lack
There is no way to tell how truthful a respondent is being
There is no way of telling how much thought a respondent has put in
People may read differently into each question and therefore reply based on their own interpretation of the
question - i.e. what is 'good' to someone may be 'poor' to someone else, therefore there is a level of subjectivity
that is not acknowledged
There is a level of researcher imposition, meaning that when developing the questionnaire, the researcher is
making their own decisions and assumptions as to what is and is not important, therefore they may be missing
something that is of importance

The advantages and disadvantages of observations:

Observation is a qualitative method of collecting and analyzing the information by observing the subjects under the
natural or contrived environment. Observation is done based on the characteristics like Demographic characters, Attitude,
beliefs and opinions, Awareness of the product, Psychological characters and Behavioral pattern.

The advantages of observations:

Due to disguised forms of observation, behavior is naturally studied and data is not distorted.
The subjects behave in the desired natural manner and do not get influenced by what the observer wants to listen.
Observation techniques are cost effective and produce valid results.
People are observed and their willingness to participate is not taken into account as in case of focus group
discussions or personal interviews.

The disadvantages of observations:

Time consuming and may involve a large amount of inactivity.
Observations may lack depth and qualitative richness.
If the ethics are not handled well, legal action can be taken.
Example: Transportation departments make use of the observation techniques to conduct traffic counts. Retail
marketers use these when they record purchasing behavior through bar-coded transactions, etc.

Observations usually provide more control over the samples due to their different and specific applied methods:
Disguised & Non-disguised, Direct & Indirect, Human & Mechanical, Structured & Unstructured, Natural & Contrived
setting.