Questionnaire Method of Data Collection

 “Data collection means the assembling, for
the purpose of particular investigation of
entirely new data, presumably not already
available in published sources”.
DR. AMITABH MISHRA 2

DATA COLLECTION METHOD
QUESTIONNAIRE/
SURVEY
CLASSIFICATION BASED ON
METHOD OF COMMNICATION
PERSONAL
INTERVIEW
TELEPHONIC
INTERVIEW
MAIL SURVEY
CLASSIFICATION BASED ON
STRUCTURE & DISGUISENESS
STRUCTURED-
NONDISGUISED
QUESTIONNING
NON
STRUCTURED-
NONDISGUISED
QUESTIONNING
NNON
STRUCTURED-
DISGUISED
QUESTIONNING
STRUCTURED-
DISGUISED
QUESTIONNING
OBSERVATION

QUESTIONNAIRE
OR
SURVEY
METHOD

 “A formal list of questions are called
questionnaire”.
 “A questionnaire is the vehicle used to pose
the questions that the researcher wants
respondents to answer”.

 In questionnaire method data are collected by
asking questions to the people who are thought of
having desired information.
 Questions may be asked in written or in person.

 Translates the research objectives into specific
questions
 Standardizes those questions and the response
categories
 Fosters cooperation and motivation
 Serves as permanent records of the research
7DR. AMITABH MISHRA

 Can speed up the process of data analysis.
 Can serve as the basis for reliability and
validity measures.
8DR. AMITABH MISHRA

1. Many marketing problems can be studied only by asking
questions.
Ex- knowledge , opinion, motivation, intention etc.
2. Questionnaire are faster and cheaper than observation.
Interviewer can proceed from one interview to another with
no wait in between.

3. Some events that take place over a time period, would
require lengthy observations, but questions can be answered
in few seconds.
Ex: no. of trip to the supermarket in a week
4. It is not normally feasible to observe personal activities.
◦ Ex- brushing teeth.

1. Unwillingness of respondents to provide information.
1. Questions about income or about personal subjects frequently meet
refusal.
2. Inability of respondents to provide information.
1. Many motivations are largely subconscious.
2. Most products are brought without any conscious array of reasons for
and against.
Ex- How many consumers analyze their reason for buying a particular
bar of soap?

3. Respondents can not furnish information
because they are unable to remember it
Ex- How many times did you eat corn flakes for breakfast
last months. (only those who always or never eat cornflakes
could answer such questions accurately)
4. The questioning process influence the result
obtained
Ex- “Don’t you see any problem with using credit cards for
online purchases?”
5. Often respondents attempts to give answer
that they will think please the interviewer

QUESTIONNAIRE
BASED ON METHOD OF
COMMNICATION
PERSONAL
INTERVIEW
TELEPHONIC
INTERVIEW
MAIL
SURVEY
BASED ON STRUCTURE &
DISGUISENESS
STRUCTURED-
NONDISGUISED
QUESTIONNING
NON
STRUCTURED-
NONDISGUISED
QUESTIONNING
NNON
STRUCTURED-
DISGUISED
QUESTIONNING
STRUCTURED-
DISGUISED
QUESTIONNING
Classification based on

BASED ON STRUCTURE &
DISGUISENESS
STRUCTURED-
NONDISGUISED
QUESTIONNING
NON STRUCTURED-
NONDISGUISED
QUESTIONNING
NON STRUCTURED-
DISGUISED
QUESTIONNING
STRUCTURED- DISGUISED
QUESTIONNING

1.STRUCTURED- NONDISGUISED QUESTIONNING
2.NON STRUCTURED- NONDISGUISED QUESTIONNING
3.NON STRUCTURED- DISGUISED QUESTIONNING
4.STRUCTURED- DISGUISED QUESTIONNING

 “A process of following a prescribed sequence of questions
is referred as structured study”. While other is Non
structured study.
 “In Non Disguised questioning questionnaire are constructed
in such a way that the objective is clear to the respondent”.
In Disguised questioning questionnaire are constructed in
such a way that the objective is not clear to the respondent”.

 In Marketing research most of questionnaire study are
structured and non disguised study.
 Data obtained in structured and non disguised study are
easier to tabulate and interpret than data gathered in other
ways.

1:- Do your family own piano?
Yes No
(If yes)
2:- What type of piano you have?
Upright Spinet Granel Other
3:- Did you buy it or it was a gift?
buy Gift
4:- Which member of your family, if any, can now
play piano?

 In this technique, instead of approaching respondents with
a fixed list of questions. The interviewer attempts to get
respondents to talk freely about subject of interest.
 Such interviews do not involve the formal
questionnaires, yet the discussion is directed to the
specific problem at hand.

 Direct questioning dealing with motives rarely
elicit useful answers.
 Most people do not have clear idea why they make
specific marketing decision.
 Few examples of non structured and non
disguised questioning are-
1. Depth Interview.
2. Focus-group Interview.

Focus-group
Interview

 The focus group interview is a panel of people, led
by a trained moderator, who meet for 90 min to 2
hrs. The moderator uses the principle of group
dynamics to focus or guide the group in an
exchange of ideas, feelings and experience on
specific topic.
 The moderator’s task is to ensure that open
discussion is “focused” on some area of interest.

 Focus groups are used to generate ideas, to learn
the respondents’ “vocabulary,” and to gain some
insights into basic needs and attitudes.
 Focus group interviews may be-
1. Traditional
2. Non Traditional or Online

Group Size 8-12
Group Composition Homogeneous, respondents,
prescreened
Physical Setting Relaxed, informal atmosphere
Time Duration 1-3 hours
Recording Use of audiocassettes and
videotapes
Moderator Observational, interpersonal, and
communication skills of the
moderator

1. Traditional: Select 6 to 12 persons and meet in a dedicated room
with one-way mirror for client viewing, for about two hours.
2. Nontraditional: Online focus groups are a form of nontraditional
focus groups. Online focus group is one in which the respondents
and/or clients communicate and/or observe by use of the
Internet.
◦ Online with client viewing from distant locations.
◦ May have 25 or even 50 respondents.
◦ Allow client interaction.
◦ May take place in nontraditional locations.

Viewing room looking into the focus group room
through one-way mirror

One-way mirror
Layout of focus group room and viewing room
Viewer room
Focus group room

 Generate fresh ideas
 Allow clients to observe their participants
 May be directed at understanding a wide
variety of issues
 Allow fairly easy access to special respondent
groups

 Representativeness of participants
 Interpretation sometimes difficult
 High cost per participant

Depth
Interviews

 “Depth interview is an unstructured, direct, personal
interview in which a single respondent is probed by a
highly skilled interviewer to uncover underlying
motivations, beliefs, attitude and feeling on a topic”
 Depth interview is a set of probing questions posed
one-on-one to a subject by a trained interviewer so
as to gain an idea of what the subject thinks about
something or why he or she behaves a certain way.

 A depth interview can take from 30 min to 1 hr.
 Unlike focus group interview, depth interview are
conducted on a one to one basis.
 Like focus group interview, depth interview are
unstructured and direct way of obtaining
information.

Characteristic Focus
Groups
Depth
Interviews
Group synergy and dynamics + -
Peer pressure/group influence - +
Client involvement + -
Generation of innovative ideas + -
In-depth probing of individuals - +
Uncovering hidden motives - +
Note: A + indicates a relative advantage over the other procedure,
A - indicates a relative disadvantage.

Note: A + indicates a relative advantage over the other procedure,
A - indicates a relative disadvantage.
Discussion of sensitive topics
Amount of information
Bias in moderation and
interpretation
Cost per respondent
-
+
+
+
+
-
-
-
Characteristic Focus
Groups
Depth
Interviews

 Many people are either unwilling or unable to accurate reports as
to their own attitudes and motivations.
 In such situations other methods probably give bias results.
 To over come this difficulty psychologists have developed non
structured and disguised techniques known as-
◦ Projective Techniques.

 “An unstructured, indirect form of questioning that
encourages respondents to project their underlying
motivations, beliefs, attitudes or feelings regarding
the issues of concern”.
 In projective techniques all individuals, in
describing a situation, interpret that situation to a
degree.
 The description they give is a mixture of their own
attitude, belief, feeling and motivation.

 In projective techniques, respondents are asked to interpret
the behavior of others.
 In interpreting the behavior of others, respondents indirectly
project their own motivations, beliefs, attitudes, or feelings
into the situation.

Projective
Techniques
Association
Techniques
Word
association
Completion
Techniques
Sentence
completion
Story
completion
Construction
Techniques
Picture
response
Cartoon test
Expressive
Techniques
Role playing
Third person
technique

 In association technique, an individual is presented
with a stimulus and asked to respond with the first
thing that comes to mind.
 Word association is best known Projective
Technique.

In Word association, a series of word is read one at a time to
respondents. After each word the respondent say the first thing that
come in to their mind.
The words of interest, called test words, are interspersed throughout the
list which also contains some neutral, or filler words to disguise the
purpose of the study.

 Responses are analyzed by calculating:
◦ The frequency with which any word is given as a response;
◦ The amount of time that elapses before a response is given
and
◦ The number of respondents who do not respond at all to a
test word within a reasonable period of time.

 Say the first thing that come in to their mind
regarding Big Bazar’s
◦ Location
◦ Parking
◦ Shopping
◦ Quality
◦ Price.

“In completion technique the respondent is asked to complete an
incomplete stimulus situation”.
Completion techniques can be classified as-
1. Sentence completion.
2. Story completion.

Sentence completion

 In sentence completion, respondents are given an
incomplete sentences and asked to complete them.
Generally, they are asked to use the first word or
phrase that comes to mind.
 In Sentence Completion respondents are required to
complete a partial sentence.

Complete this sentence:
1. A person who shops at Spencer is _____ ____ __ __ __ _
2. Cadbury’s “Dairy Milk Silk” is most liked by _____ ____ _
3. When I think of spending my summers on Hill Station, I… …
… ………………………
4. “People who buy over internet are………………………… … … …
A variation of sentence completion is paragraph completion,
in which the respondent completes a paragraph beginning with
the stimulus phrase.

Story Completion

In story completion, respondents are given part of a
story – enough to direct attention to a particular
topic but not to hint at the ending. They are
required to give the conclusion in their own words.

Construction
Techniques
Picture
response
Cartoon test

With a picture response, the respondents are asked to
describe a series of pictures of ordinary as well as
unusual events. The respondent's interpretation of
the pictures gives indications of that individual's
personality.

DR. AMITABH MISHRA
54
Describe the picture and prepare a short story based on picture
EXAMPLE

 In cartoon tests, cartoon characters are shown in a
specific situation related to the problem. The
respondents are asked to indicate what one
cartoon character might say in response to the
comments of another character. Cartoon tests are
simpler to administer and analyze than picture
response techniques.

Let’s see if we
can pick up
some house
wares at BIG
BAZAR.
BIG BAZAR

In expressive techniques,
respondents are presented
with a verbal or visual situation
and asked to relate the
feelings and attitudes of other
people to the situation.
EXPRESSIVE
TECHNIQUES
ROLE PLAYING
THIERD
PERSON TECH.

 Role playing. Respondents are asked to play the role or
assume the behavior of someone else.
 Third-person technique. The respondent is presented
with a verbal or visual situation and the respondent is
asked to relate the beliefs and attitudes of a third person
rather than directly expressing personal beliefs and
attitudes. This third person may be a friend, neighbor,
colleague, or a “typical” person.

 They may elicit responses that subjects would be
unwilling or unable to give if they knew the purpose of
the study.
 Helpful when the issues to be addressed are personal,
sensitive, or subject to strong social norms.
 Helpful when underlying motivations, beliefs, and
attitudes are operating at a subconscious level.

 Suffer from many of the disadvantages of unstructured
direct techniques, but to a greater extent.
 Require highly-trained interviewers.
 Skilled interpreters are also required to analyze the
responses.
 There is a serious risk of interpretation bias.
 They tend to be expensive.
 May require respondents to engage in unusual behavior.

BASED ON METHOD
OF COMMNICATION
PERSONAL
INTERVIEW
TELEPHONIC
INTERVIEW
MAIL
SURVEY

 Telephone Interview
 Personal Interview
 Mail Survey
 Electronic

 Telephone Interviews
are those in which an
interviewer obtain
information from
respondents via a
telephone device.

 Speed
 Cost
 Absence of face-to-face contact
 Cooperation
 Incentives to respond
 Limited duration
 Lack of visual medium

Telephone
interviews
Traditional Fax survey Voice mail survey
Computer assisted
telephone
interview

 Traditional telephone interviews involves phoning a
sample of respondents and asking them a series of
questions.
 The interviewer uses a paper questionnaire and
records the responses with a pencil.

A survey that uses fax machines as a way for respondents
to receive and return questionnaires.
The researcher generally makes a phone call intimating
the respondents about the survey matter and then send the
questionnaire to the respondents by a fax machine

◦ Fax survey reduces sender’s printing and postage costs
◦ Fax survey is quicker than traditional mail surveys
◦ In Fax surveys, Only respondents with fax machines who
are willing to exert the extra effort will return
questionnaires.
◦ Fax survey is not suitable for household survey as the fax
machines are rarely found in houses.

 Voice mail survey is completely automated telephone survey method
where fixed response questions are posed to respondents through a
pre recorded voice of the professional interviewer and the
respondent is supposed to press the telephone button to register
the responses.
 The process is completely mechanical and lack the personal touch of
the interviewer.

 In CATI the telephone interviewer has a personal computer ,
that is networked with the phone system and to a central data
processing unit.
 Interviewer sits in front of a computer terminal and wear a
mini head-set.
 The interviewer read the questions posed on the screen and
record the respondents answers directly in to the computer.

 Interviewing time is reduced.
 Data quality is enhanced.
 Laborious steps in data collection,
questionnaire coding and entering the data in
to computer is eliminated.

 Personal Interview (face to face interview) are
those in which an interviewer obtain information
from respondents in face to face meeting.

Personal
interview
In-home
Mall-
intercept
Computer
assisted

 In-home interviews respondents are
interviewed face to face in their homes.
◦ Respondent cooperation is excellent
◦ long Questionnaires can be executed
◦ Response rate is high
◦ Possibility of respondent misunderstanding is low.

◦ Degree of interviewer influence of answer is high
◦ call back or follow-up is difficult
◦ Cost is highest due to travel costs
◦ visual materials may be shown or demonstrated;
extended probing possible

 In mall intercept interviews, respondents are
intercepted while they are shopping in malls.
◦ Speed of data collection is fast
◦ Respondent cooperation is moderate to low
◦ Questionnaire length is moderate to long
◦ Response rate is medium

◦ Degree of interviewer influence of answers is high.
◦ Supervision of interviewers is moderate to high
◦ call back or follow-up is difficult
◦ Cost is lower than door-to-door

 In CAPI the respondent sits in front of a
computer terminal and answer the
questionnaire on computer screen by using
key board and mouse.

 In Mail Survey Questionnaires are mailed to respondents who
also return them by mail.
 A typical mail interview package consist of-
◦ Out going envelop.
◦ Cover letter.
◦ Questionnaire.
◦ Return envelop.
◦ An incentive

Mail survey
Traditional
Mail interview
Panel mail

 In traditional mail interview, questionnaires
are mailed to preselected potential
respondents. The respondents complete and
return the questionnaire.
 There is no verbal interaction between
researcher and respondent.

 Mail panel consist of a large, nationally representative sample
of households that have agreed to participate in periodic mail
questionnaire and product tests.
 Household are compensated with various incentives.
 Data on the panel is updated every year.

◦ Cost is low
◦ Its Convenient for respondent
◦ Absence of interviewer
◦ Standardized questions
◦ Less Time consuming
◦ It is appropriate for Lengthy questionnaires

◦ Surveys distributed through electronic mail.
◦ Benefits:
 Speed of distribution; Lower distribution and processing costs
 Faster turnaround time ; Flexibility & Less handling of paper
questionnaires
◦ Potential Problems:
 Anonymity of respondents creating response bias
 Capacity of e-mail systems and computers
 Computer skills/competencies of respondents

◦ A self-administered questionnaire posted
on a Web site.
 Respondents provide answers to
questions displayed online by:
 Highlighting a phrase,
 Clicking an icon, or
 Keying in an answer.
DR. AMITABH MISHRA

◦ Not all individuals have internet access.
◦ Respondents may lack powerful computers with
high-speed connections to the internet.
◦ Respondents’ computer skills may be relatively
unsophisticated.

Questionnaire Method of Data Collection

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