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Means of obtaining primary quantitative data in descriptive research and survey is:
1. Survey method
2. Observation
1. SURVEY METHOD
Survey research, respondents answer through surveys or questionnaires or polls. They
are a popular market research tool to collect feedback from respondents.
Mail panel: consists of a large, nationally representative sample of households that have
agreed to participate in periodic mail questionnaires and product tests. The households are
compensated with various incentives.
E-mail interview : To conduct an e-mail survey, a list of e-mail addresses is obtained. The
survey is written within the body of the e-mail message. E-mail surveys use pure text (ASCII)
to represent questionnaires
Internet interview : Internet or Web surveys use hypertext mark up language (HTML), the
language of the Web, and are posted on a Web site. Respondents may be recruited over the
Internet, from potential respondent databases maintained by the marketing research firm,
from an Internet panel, or they can be recruited by conventional methods (mail, telephone).
The various methods may be compared in terms of task, situational, and respondent factors.
Task factors relate to tasks that have to be performed to collect the data and to the topic of the
survey. These factors consist of diversity of questions and flexibility, use of physical stimuli,
sample control, quantity of data, and response rate.
Situational factors comprise control of the data-collection environment, control of field force,
potential for interviewer bias, speed, and cost. The respondent factors pertain to survey
respondents and include perceived anonymity, social desirability, obtaining sensitive
information, low incidence rate, and respondent control.
1. OBSERVATIONAL METHOD:
They are of following types:
Personal
Mechanical
Audit
Content
Trace
The observational method is the most effective method to conduct this research, and
researchers make use of both quantitative and qualitative observations.
A quantitative observation is the objective collection of data, which is primarily
focused on numbers and values. It suggests “associated with, of or depicted in terms
of a quantity.” Results of quantitative observation are derived using statistical and
numerical analysis methods. It implies observation of any entity associated with a
numeric value such as age, shape, weight, volume, scale, etc. For example, the
researcher can track if current customers will refer the brand using a simple Net
Promoter Score question.
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
They permit measurement of actual very little can be inferred about
behaviour. motives, beliefs, attitudes, and
preferences
There is no reporting bias. there is the potential for observer bias
There is less potential for interviewer Most methods are time consuming and
bias expensive
It is difficult to observe some forms of
behaviour.