Research Instruments. Marketing researchers have a choice of two main re-
search instruments in collecting primary data: questionnaires and mechanical devices.■ Questionnaires:A questionnaire consists of a set of questions presented to re-
spondents for their answers. Because of its flexibility, the questionnaire is by
far the most common instrument used to collect primary data. Question-
naires need to be carefully developed, tested, and debugged before they are
administered on a large scale.
In preparing a questionnaire, the professional marketing researcher care-
fully chooses the questions and their form, wording, and sequence. The form
of the question asked can influence the response. Marketing researchers dis-
tinguish between closed-end and open-end questions. Closed-end questions
prespecify all the possible answers. Open-end questionsallow respondents to
answer in their own words. Closed-end questions provide answers that are
easier to interpret and tabulate. Open-end questions often reveal more be-
cause they do not constrain respondents’ answers. Open-end questions are
especially useful in exploratory research, where the researcher is looking for
insight into how people think rather than in measuring how many people
think a certain way. Table 1.3 provides examples of both types of questions.Analyzing
Marketing(^110) Opportunities
A. Closed-end Questions
Name Description Example