PROCEDURESANDTECHNIQUESINMARKETINGRESEARCH 65
Thereareseveralonlineinformation-gatheringtechniquesthatallowtherespondent
morefreedominprovidinganswers.Asonewouldexpect,therehasbeena recentrapid
technologicalevolutioninthisarea. Onlinequestionnairescanhelpwebsitesponsorsto
gaugecustomersatisfaction,profilevisitors,andprovidea waytomeasuretrafficforadver-
tisersbeyondbannerc1ick-throughs.Byusingresearchtoolssuchasexitsurveys,e-tailers
canfindoutwhypeopleareleavingtheirsites-andwhytheymightnot comeback.
Therearefourpopulartypesofonlineresearch.Pop-upsurveysoccurwhenvisitors
areinterceptedwhentheyleavecertainpagesofthewebsite.A questionnairethenappears
ina boxontopoftheirmainbrowserscreensaskingforresponses.Withe-maiUwebsur-
veys,a companysendsane-mailmessageaskingtherecipienttocompletea survey.Some-
timesthesurveyisembeddedinthee-mailitself. Othertimesthee-maillistseithera
passwordedlocationtovisitora uniquelocationthatonlytheaddresseecanaccesstofill
outthesurvey.Onlinegroupsaremuchliketraditionalfocusgroups, butareconductedin
a web-basedchatroomwhereselectindividualsareinvited bythecompanyoritsresearch
firm.Finally,inthecaseofmoderatede-mailgroups,discussionstakeplaceovera period
oftimewitha groupcommunicatingbye-mail.A moderatorcompiles theanswersandsends
thesummarybacktothegroupforcommentsandfollow-up.
Thethirdtechniqueusedtogatherresearchinformationisself-reporting.Thistech-
niqueallowstherespondenttodelivertheinformationina somewhatunstructuredformat.
Oneverypopularve~'sionofthis techniqueis~hefocusgroup.Afocusgrouptakesplace
ina roomwhereapproximately8-10individualsanda trainedmoceratorgathertodiscuss
a particularbusinessproblemorsetofproblems.Often, theroomcontainsa two-waymir-
ror,whichthesponsorsoftheresearchsit behindinordertoobservetheprocess.Thepro-
ceedingsareaudiotapedand/orvideotaped.Focusgroupshavebeenanextremelypopular
typeofdatacollectingfora longtime. A greatdealofdiverseinformationcanbegathered
quickly(assumingthereisa well-trainedmoderator).However,thereareseriouslimitations.
It'sstilla subjectiveprocessandinterp retationis necessary.It is alsoexpensive;oftensev-
eralthousanddollarsper focus group.Finally,it isdifficulttocontrolthebehaviorof
theparticipants. Some dominateandsomesaynothing.And somebecometheequivalent
ofprofessionalfocusgroupme;ubersandno longerareabletoprovidethehoped-for
spontaneity.
Accordingtoa psychologicallyprovenpremise,itispossiblebyimpersonalizingques-
tionstoobtaininformationfroma respondentthathewouldnot, orcouldnot,otherwise
provide.Thismethodinvolvestheuseoftheprojectivetechnique,andrepresentsa second
typeofself-reporttechnique.Theintentoftheprojectivetechniqueis togivere spondents
anopportunitytoanswerquestionswithouttheembarrassmentorconfusioncreatedbydirect
involvement.Severalprojectivetechniquesareemployed:
- Wordassociationtests.Inthewordassociationtest,there spondentisaskedto
saythefirstwordthatcomesintohisminduponthe~)fesentationofanotherword
stimulus.Themostobviousapplicationsofthistest areinresearchonbrandrecog-
nition,companyimage,andadvertis ingappeals. - Sentencecompletiontests.Ina sentencecompletiontest,therespondentis asked
tocompletea numberofsentenceswiththefirstwordsthatcometomind.A series
ofsentencecompletionquestionsusedbya supermarketchainwere:(a)I liketo
shopinanAGsupermarketbecause. ..; Cb)I thinkthatfoodpricesare.
(c)Thethingthatbothers memost about foodshoppinginanAGstoreis....
Thesentencecompletiontestisrelativelysimpletoadministerandeasyto
interpret.Itisusuallydifficult,however,toreducethefindingfroma sentence
completiontesttostatisticalform.