PROCEDURESANDTECHNIQUESINMARKETINGRESEARCH 63
andcompletedquickly. Unfortunately,interpretinganobservationisstillverysubjective
andmistakesarcmade.
Gatheringinformationthroughaquestionnaireformatreflectsthemostpopularresearch
technique.Therearetwointerrelatedissues:thedesignofthequestionnaireandtheadmin-
istrationofthequestionnaire.
Thereareseveralrulesofthumbthatshouldbefollowed whendesigninga ques-
tionnaire.Forexample,a goodquestionnaireshouldbelikea well-writtenstory:it should
belogical,relevant, easytofollow,andinterestingtothereader/respondent.Therearealso
a hostoftechniquesandrelatedguidelines.Forexample,Figure3.4illustratestheforms
questionscantake.Ayes/noquestionis considereda closed-endeddichotomousquestion;
i.e.,respondenlmustcheckoneoftwopossibleanswers.Questions4 and5 aretwotypes
ofscaledquestions. Questions6-8areopen-ended,inthatrespondentcanprovideanyanswer
desired.Closed-endedquestionsarebestusedwhentheresearcherdesiresa particularset
ofanswersorfeelstherespondentisunlikelyto comeupwithanoriginalanswer.Open-
endedquestionsallowtherespondenttocomeupwithpersonalanswers.Ofcourse,there
isa riskthattherespondentwillhavenoanswer.
Otherconsiderationsarewhethertoplacetheeasierquestionsat thebeginningofthe
questionnaire,groupsimilarquestions,orplacedemographicquestionsattheendofthe
questionnaire.Again,thegoalis toenaoletherespondenttoanswerthequestionnaireeas-
ilyandaccuratejy.
Thedesignofa questionnaireisa functionofhowthequestionnaireisadministered,
andviceversa.Fourtechniquesforadministeringa questionnairearecurrentlyused:mail,
telephone,personalinterview, andonline.Inthemailtechnique,thequestionnaireisdis-
tributedandreturnedthroughthemail.A typicalpacketmightcontaina coverletterexplain-
ingthepurposeoftheresearch,a copyofthequestionnaire,a stampedself-addressedreturn
envelope,andanincentiveforcompliance(cash,merchandise,contributiontocharity,or
copyofreport).Mailquestionnairesallowtheresearchertoaska largenumberofques-
tionsovera broad rangeoftopics.Theyalsoallowtherespondenttoanswerthequestion-
naireattheirleisure. Finally, thestandardizedformatdoesnotallowforsubjectivebias.
Unfortunately,theseadvantagescanbecomelimitations.Thelongerthequestionnaire,the
lesslikelytheindividualwillrespond.infact,a responserateof10-20%iscommonwith-
outanincentive.Controlislostthroughthemailprocess.Didthetargetedpersonanswer
thequestionnaire?Didtherespondentunderstandthequestions?Didshe/hecompletethe
questionnaire?Wasthequestionnairereturnedontime?Thelossofcontrolalsomeansthat
theinterviewercannotprobefurtherintoaninterestingorcontroversialanswer.
Amoreconvenientandfasterwayofgathenngmarketinginformationistoconduct
atelephonesurvey.Namesandrelatedtelephonenumberscanbeobtaineddirectlyfroma
telephonedirectoryorfromanintcrnallyorexternallygenerateddatabase.Telephonesur-
veysarelimitedinseveralimportantways,suchasthedifficultyofreachingthecorrect
respondent,theproblemofcompletingtheinterviewif therespondentdecidestohangup,
andtheinabilitytoeliminatethebiasintroducedbynotinterviewingthosewithoutphones
orindividualsWIthunlistednumbers.Also, 10 - 15 questionsarelikelytobethemaximum
numbertobeasked.Therefore,onlya limitednumberoftopicscanbeaddressed.Inspite
oftheselimitation~,thetelephonesurveymethodhasgrowninpopularity.Thecostsare
relativelylow, researchcompanie~canprovidewell-trainedandtechnicallysupportedinter-
viewers,andthetechniqueworksiftheresearchquestionsarelimitedandrequirea quick
answer.Still,it wouldbebetteriftheydidn'tcallwhileyouwereeatingdinner.
Althoughoftenve ry costlyandtime-consuming,personalinterviewsmayconstitute
thebestwayofcollectingsurveyinformation.Oncecomplianceisgained,thewell-trained
interviewercanmakesuretherightpersonis answering,askasmanyquestionsasnecessary,