Kristen Roberts, Olivia Serrill, & Paige Bundschuh

PSYC 653 Business of Evaluation

University of Maryland

Prof. Nikita Arun

Survey

The Fruitzone India Limited (FIL) survey was constructed with the intention of being

dis rib ed o FIL s c rren clien ele. While the observational plan has the ability to gauge valuable

feedback from individuals who may not be recurring FIL customers, the survey will help the

organization understand the views regular customers, as will the focus group guide thereafter. It is

our hope that in targeting this specific group of clients, the survey will offer more detailed feedback

from individuals who ha e grea er kno ledge of he organi a ion s c rren j ice selec ion, b siness

needs, and perhaps a deeper understanding of competitors within the market for comparison. With

these goals in mind, a potential sampling strategy may include emailing the survey to a portion of

FIL s mos rec rring clien s.

Once having established these objectives, and providing a brief introduction, initial survey

questions identified buyer trends. This included understanding how often the client makes purchases

from FIL, the average amount they spend per visit, factors the client considers when making juice

purchases, and so on. Through these questions, researchers would be able to categorize clients based

on their purchasing history / trends and analyze patterns between clientele behaviors and their

provided feedback. Additionally, these q es ions allo ed for a more holis ic ie of ho clien s

chose juices, and their satisfaction with FIL s current juice selection, before diving deeper into more

direct questions regarding the new sugarcane juice.

Before in rod cing block o of he s r e q es ions, a small descrip ion of FIL s ne

sugarcane juice was provided. This description included health benefits of the new product in

addition to informing participants that the juice would be locally sustained. When designing the

survey, we felt this break in the questions was not only ideal to present the new product, but to also

transition participants into a mindset of answering questions of a different topic.

 Following, the next questions asked participants to provide feedback on their initial reaction

to the new product, inclinations to try this product, how the product could enhance FIL, and if there

was potential that introduction of this product would influence their spending habits (i.e. clients

may spend / purchase more from FIL). The purpose of these questions was to receive direct

feedback on the sugarcane juice, and its impact on the company at large. While the prior, more

broad q es ions offer grea insigh in o clien s opinions of the company, these secondary questions

were focused on directly answering the research question: Should Fruitzone India Limited launch

sugarcane juice?

To round out the survey, we implemented a few demographic questions. These gathered

information such as gender, age, and race. However, more FIL-specific questions were included as

well s ch as Ho long is o r comm e o FIL? and Do o ha e an allergies / heal h concerns

o o ld like o see he FIL eam ca er o ards? . These questions not only provided valuable

feedback on the clientele participating in the survey, but also lay the foundation for future company

prod c s or ini ia i es ha be er s i clien s an s and needs. In closing, he s r e ended i h

another thank you and offered participants a free juice for their participation.

Ultimately, the compiled survey aimed to not only introduce the new sugarcane juice, but to

del e deeper in o he clien s ho gh s on FIL as a s ccessf l organi a ion. In s r c ring q es ions

this way, we feel the survey is not stagnant, but rather sets the tone for FIL to continue advancing

their selection and products to further satisfy their existing clientele, and new clients to come!

Survey Link: https://umdsurvey.umd.edu/jfe/form/SV_eQy0Whs6b5Nobul

Focus Group Guide

Based on research related to new product testing our team has found was that there are

several necessary elements to assess when it comes to launching a new product line. These elements

include type of product, brand, frequency of consumption, price, aesthetics, and novelty of the item.

These are important factors to consider when gathering participant data.

I cen ered m q es ions aro nd hese focal poin s o r and nders and more abo he par icipan s

likes and dislikes regarding these areas. I tried to bring specificity to questions such as frequency

and developed the question to reflect how often consumption happens within a week to gain more

clarity and to make the data more concrete when assessing later.

I also decided to create more generalizable questions about fruit juice upfront so that participants

can answer honestly about their preferences with juices before introducing the sample juice and

asking further probing questions to the group. This is to eliminate any social desirability or

influence that may come from the moderators of the focus group from influencing their responses

about their purchasing and consumption habits.

I also added a question about how adventurous a participant is in consuming a juice that is

more unique in flavor than the flavors they typically choose. This can help with the validity in the

data so that participants who say they hate trying new flavors align with later participant answers

about trying such a novelty juice. This can help ensure that the data is not being skewed by further

bias.

My sampling strategy for this focus group would be to focus on cluster sampling via the

location of participants. We decided to use location as a main factor since the juices from Tropiviva

will be sold in FIL locations. We would sample from a population of people who live within an

hour away from the location. This would ensure that we would collect data from participants who

would be in an immediate area that has access to traveling to the FIL location to purchase the juice.
If conducting several focus groups, we could sample different neighborhoods surrounding the FIL

location to see what neighborhoods respond differently. We could also divide focus groups by the

distance they would need to travel to purchase the juice. For instance, we could have one group

within 5-10 minutes, one group between 11-30 minutes, and one group that is 30 minutes away and

over. This could also inform us on what parameters a participant would be willing to travel to buy

this novelty juice.

We would create a framework for the sampling with the data collected from the initial

survey and ask participants of the survey if they would like to be contacted for further research

opportunities. From the survey participants we could use a number generator to randomly choose

participants from each location cluster on whether or not they would be willing to participate. Initial

surveys for this research will be implemented and sent out to current FIL clientele who choose to

participate in the survey. Random selection of participants who complete the survey will determine

what sample population is chosen. If participants agree to participate and complete a focus group

session, further incentive in the form of a gift card will be presented to each participant for their

further assistance and time.

The focus group will help uncover more detailed information that cannot be captured from

the initial survey that was sent out. This will help inform the researchers about the more

complicated questions about taste, flavor, texture, appearance, smell, that cannot be captured from a

limited survey. This will bring more qualitative data that can either confirm or challenge data

collected by the survey and help with the development of how the observation study is conducted.

For instance, if participants say that the taste of the sugarcane juice is excellent but the appearance

of color in the juice is not appetizing, the observer can focus their observation guide on appearance

of packaging and how that translated to customers making a purchase of the juice.
FOCUS GROUP GUIDE
Company

Date:

Start Time:

Stop Time:

Moderator:

Observer(s):

Venue:

Participants:
QUESTIONS: PRE- SAMPLING
Focus Group Question 1: Do you drink fruit juice on a regular basis?

Probing Questions: i. If you do drink fruit juice regularly, why do you drink
fruit juice?
1. Taste?
2. Health?
3. Pricing?

ii. If o don drink fr i j ice, what is your main

reasoning?
1. Taste?
2. Health?
3. Pricing?
Notes:

Common Responses/Themes:

Noteworthy Individual Responses:

Summary and Reflection:

Focus Group Question 2: What is your favorite flavor of fruit juice?

Notes:

Common Responses/Themes:

Noteworthy Individual Responses:

Summary and Reflection:

Focus Group Question 3: What qualities are the most important to you when
purchasing fruit juice?

a. Taste
b. Price
c. Health Benefits
d. Novelty
e. Appearance
f. Other, etc.
Notes:

Common Responses/Themes:

Noteworthy Individual Responses:

Summary and Reflection:

Focus Group Question 4: Do you enjoy trying new flavors of fruit juice or do
you typically stick with the same flavor?

Notes:

Common Responses/Themes:

Noteworthy Individual Responses:

Summary and Reflection:

Focus Group Question 5: How often do you consume fruit juice in a typical
week?

a. Once a week or less

b. Between 2 to 4 times per week
c. More than 5 times per week
Notes:

Common Responses/Themes:

Noteworthy Individual Responses:

Summary and Reflection:

Focus Group Question 6: Is there a brand of juice that you typically purchase?

Probing Questions: Do you pay attention to the brand of juice when making a
purchase?

Notes:

Common Responses/Themes:

Noteworthy Individual Responses:

Summary and Reflection:

Allow participants to taste a sugarcane juice sample.

QUESTIONS: POST SAMPLING
Focus Group Question 7: What are your initial thoughts after tasting
the sugarcane juice?

Probing Questions: a. Do you like the flavor? The texture? The aftertaste?
b. Is there anything about the juice that you did not
enjoy?
Notes:

Common Responses/Themes:

Noteworthy Individual Responses:

Summary and Reflection:

Focus Group Question 8: Please let me know up to how much you would pay
for a bottle of sugarcane juice.

a. Less than $1
b. Between $1 - $3
c. Over $5
Notes:

Common Responses/Themes:

Noteworthy Individual Responses:

Summary and Reflection:

Focus Group Question 9: Did you know there are health benefits to drinking
sugarcane juice?

Probing Questions: Knowing there are health benefits to consuming

sugarcane juice, does that influence your decision to buy
sugarcane juice over other juices?

Notes:

Common Responses/Themes:

Noteworthy Individual Responses:

Summary and Reflection:

Focus Group Question 10: Would you consider purchasing this sugarcane juice
if it was easily available to you?

Notes:

Common Responses/Themes:

Noteworthy Individual Responses:

Summary and Reflection:

Focus Group Question 11: What final thoughts would you like to share about
this sampling experience?

Notes:

Common Responses/Themes:

Noteworthy Individual Responses:

Summary and Reflection:

Observation Guide

This portion of the study involves manufacturing sugarcane juice for Fruitzone India Limited

(FIL) and observing consumer behavior as they try samples of the juice. Sample products are a

popular marketing strategy to obtain product feedback in a real-life setting (Detweiler, 2019). The

researchers will gather qualitative observational data from consumers before committing to long-term

production of sugarcane juice under the Tropiviva brand. The purpose of this research is to observe

themes in consumer behavior related to Tropiviva sugarcane juice. The goal of this observational

research is to use the emerging themes surrounding consumer behavior to understand the market for

sugarcane juice under the Tropiviva brand. A cluster sample of FIL stores in each geographical region

of India will serve as the uncontrolled observation site. We chose cluster sampling because it is

popular in market research. In this case, the researchers would group FIL stores by geographic area

and then randomly select individual stores from that cluster to represent the total population of FIL

stores.

A covert researcher will hand out samples of the sugarcane juice at participating stores.

Shoppers will know they are sampling a new product, but they will not know they are participating

in a study. The researcher is concealed to keep customer reactions as natural as possible and avoid

the Hawthorne effect. Theoretically, covert research creates ethical concerns, but this particular study

is low risk and doesn se an confiden ial or personall iden ifiable informa ion. This study is

considered moderate participant observation, because the researcher is in the context of the study and

is interacting with customers but is also being passive at times. The researcher may watch customers

and record their browsing and purchasing behaviors without interacting with them. This method relies

on descriptive field notes until observation is no longer yielding new information.

We chose to use a semi-structured observation guide in order to improve interrater reliability

and make it easier to code the qualitative data for analysis. This study uses focused observation to
uncover emerging themes in consumer feelings and behavior towards the new sugarcane juice. If we

had data from our survey and focus group, then we would have analyzed it for emerging themes to

help create the sub-dimensions for our guide. The goal would be to see if themes found in the other

measures were similar to those found in a naturalistic setting.

Due to the lack of data, we focused on emerging themes in consumer behavior related to

product sampling, browsing, consumer needs, purchasing, and the juice market. The dimensions

covered direct interactions with and reactions to the new sugarcane juice, which can provide insight

into how the product will fare in the juice market. Product sampling allows for direct observation of

consumers interacting with products. For instance, the customer may comment that the juice is too

sweet. Browsing behaviors can show which products customers are drawn to in the store. Shoppers

may go directly for the sugarcane juice display after sampling the juice. Observing consumer needs

can help uncover if there is a demand for the product and allow for product adjustments to fit

consumer needs. These dimensions also allowed for direct observation of qualitative data that is not

self-reported, unlike surveys and focus groups. Questions about purchasing behavior can show a

customer bought the product, rather than a survey indicating that the customer would buy the product.

The market behavior dimension can also uncover information about competitors, which is critical

when a company decides to invest in a new product.

Finally, the FIL stores will sell the sugarcane juice for the duration of the study. The sales data

for the new juice will be collected to supplement the observational data. The barcode scanned upon

purchase will store information in a database including the quantity of juice purchased, purchase date

and time, and store location. This data collection is anonymous and poses no risks to participants, and

the benefits of additional quantitative data outweigh the costs to study participants.
Observation Topic: Consumer behavior towards Tropiviva sugarcane juice

Observation Site: e.g. Store in Geographic Region I

Time:

Date:

Researcher:

Sampling Behavior

Guiding Questions:
1) Unsolicited initial reactions
a) Positive reactions
b) Negative reactions
2) Target market
a) Are there demographic trends in those who liked and disliked the juice?
b) Are there demographic trends in those who sampled and who did not sample?
3) Intent to buy
a) Do customers that are sampling ask if the juice is for sale in the store?
b) Do they say they would like to buy the juice? If not, do they say why?
4) Taste testing
a) Do customers ask for more than one sample?
b) Do customers ask for samples of other flavors?

Notes/Examples:

Reflexive Notes:
 Browsing Behavior

Guiding Questions:
1) Which direction do customers go when they see the sample booth?
a) Directly to the sampling booth
b) Directly to the sugarcane juice section
c) Other sections of the store
2) Time spent in the store
a) How long do customers spend in the store?
b) What is the busiest area of the store?
3) Products
a) What products are they browsing?
b) Do they ask for help finding a product (i.e. the sugarcane juice)?
4) Which direction do shoppers go in the store immediately after sampling the
sugarcane juice?

Notes/Examples:

Reflexive Notes:
 Consumer Needs

Guiding Questions:
1) Customer inquiries about health benefits of sugarcane juice
2) Unsolicited comments on the packaging/juice bottle design of the product
3) Accessibility/Location
a) Questions about ordering the juice online for delivery
b) Questions about if the sugarcane juice is found in other FIL stores
c) Where did the customer travel from? Do they live far away, but the sugarcane
j ice isn offered at their nearest FIL location?
4) Comments about pricing of the product
5) Are there other flavors customers mention they would like to see from Tropiviva
instead of sugarcane juice?

Notes/Examples:

Reflexive Notes:
 Purchasing Behavior

Guiding Questions:
1) Are people buying the Tropiviva sugarcane juice after sampling it?
2) Do customers purchase the juice without sampling it?
3) Has the customer mentioned that they have previously bought the Tropiviva sugarcane juice
at this location (or at another location)?
4) Are customers buying in bulk or in lower quantities?
5) Are customers buying the original Tropiviva flavors instead of the new juice? Or are they
buying the sugarcane juice in addition to original flavors?

Notes/Examples:

Reflexive Notes:
 Market Behavior

Guiding Questions:
1) Referrals
a) Have shoppers heard about the new sugarcane juice being released?
b) Did the customer mention they heard about the new juice from someone else and
wanted to try it?
c) Would the customer recommend this juice to someone else?
2) Competing brands
a) Do the customers trying the samples mention they drink competing brands of
sugarcane juice?
b) Do they mention they prefer other brands? Why? (cost, taste, accessibility, etc.)
3) Location
a) Is sugarcane juice popular in this particular region or are shoppers looking for
another original Tropiviva flavor in the store?
4) Seasonal preferences
a) Is sugarcane juice popular in this particular region at this time of year or are
customers looking for another original Tropiviva flavor in the store?

Notes/Examples:

Reflexive Notes:

Additional Observations:
 References

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CASE STUDY MATERIALS PROVIDED BY DR.NIKITA ARUN FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES