Chapter 6

Introduction to Quantitative
Research

Introduction
In this chapter you will learn about:

The use of quantitative research for customer satisfaction

measurement, customer segmentation and measuring
customer attitudes.

The three main methods of quantitative research direct

measurement, self-completion surveys and interviewing.

The role of the interviewer in quantitative research and how

interviewers win cooperation from respondents.

The role of the questionnaire in quantitative research and

how it can make or break an interview.

Matching quantitative research to the objectives

Faced with a marketing problem, the researcher has to decide how
to solve it. Take for example a company that wants to carry out a
customer satisfaction survey to find out where it is doing well and
where it needs to improve. This is clearly a survey requiring measurement therefore it is a quantitative study. However, before it
can start, the researcher needs to find out what attributes should be
measured for importance and satisfaction. A discussion with the
sales force will help but it may not be enough. The sales team lives

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close to the subject and could be biased. Depth interviews or even a

focus group may be required before the quantitative project begins.
It is quite normal for a research project to need multi-phase research
to deal fully with the problem, and this is known as multi-method
research design. The most common example of this is a client who
first needs to explore a problem, and then wants to carry out some
conclusive research, to help make a sound business decision to
tackle that problem.
There will be implications for both the timetable and the budget in
carrying out qualitative research before hand. Quantitative research,
because it involves large numbers of interviews, is likely to be the
most expensive part of the total project. However, qualitative
research employs specialists and this makes it relatively expensive.
It would be hard to envisage developing a discussion guide, booking interviews, doing the depth interviews, analyzing them and presenting the findings in less than three or four weeks. This would
mean that to carry out a qualitative stage as a precursor to the quantitative research could put pressure on the timing if results for the
whole programme are needed for a certain date.

Key point
Qualitative and
quantitative
research techniques
are not mutually
exclusive. Both
types of research are
often carried out
with qualitative
methods giving the
insights and
quantitative
research the
measurements.

This pressure on timing and costs can lead

to the temptation to skip one or other of
the stages. Maybe the qualitative research
alone will help us see the problems we
should be addressing. Maybe we can skip
the qualitative stage and move straight
into quantitative if we think we know the
questions we should be asking. There is an
obvious danger that decisions could be
made that cut corners and therefore put
the integrity of the research at risk.
Quantitative research enables us to obtain
three different classifications of numbers:
market measures, customer profiles (or segmentation data) and attitudinal data.

Market measures quantify and describe a

market. Common examples include; market and sector size, shares of the market held by suppliers or brands,
penetration levels (what proportion of all potential consumers own
or buy a product), purchase and consumption frequencies, patterns
of consumption and seasonality. Data of this type is essential for
any manager developing or reviewing a marketing plan for a com95

pany, product group or brand. They can be obtained at various levels of the market when people are buying (eg through interviews
with consumers), but also at the point of manufacture or at the
point of distribution (which would entail business to business interviews). Market measures taken from a sample are generally projected or grossed up to the total market or population. For example,
to find out the market size for a breakfast cereal we could sample the
population to find out how many people eat breakfast and in particular this type of cereal and then gross up by the population numbers to arrive at estimates of the total consumption.
Customer profiling occupies a good deal of researchers time. What
type of people or organisations are the customers and potential customers? What types of products or services do they own or use?
Customer profiling is quantitative in nature because reliable breakdowns are needed for the whole market or population. If a survey
indicates that amongst the sample interviewed, the large majority
of people with gas wall heaters are in social classes D and E and live
in older houses, we need to be confident, if we are to use the data
in marketing planning, that this is the case for the whole population. Profiling data can take various forms:

socio-demographics (age, sex, income and occupation group,

education level, home tenure etc),

geodemographics (the types of housing areas in which

people live or for business research, the classifications such
as company size, geographical location, industry etc)

consumer behaviour (frequency of buying a product,

frequency of switching brands etc)

ownership of various products (numbers and brands of

products owned)

attitudes (to products or brands).

Unlike market measures, consumer profiling data can only be collected from consumers in other words the people or companies
that are buying the products.

Think about
How do you segment your customers? When did you last consider this segmentation? How could you segment your customers
on their needs? How could research help you do this?

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Attitudinal data is used in a quite general sense to cover issues such

as awareness, perceptions, beliefs, evaluations, preferences and
propensities to buy products. Attitudes are therefore subjective and
are in the minds of individuals. They are perceptions, but since
these influence purchasing habits, they are extremely important.
For this reason, a good deal of market research is concerned with the
measurement of attitudes.
Similarly, attitudes are taken to be a predictor of future behaviour.
Preferences between real products or concept bundles can, with
appropriate analysis, lead to predications on what will actually happen in the market including the consequences of changing some
element of the marketing mix such as the price or product quality.
Attitudes are also very much the subject of qualitative research
which is often concerned to identify which categories of attitudes
effects customer choice. In quantitative research, however, the focus
is on establishing the degree to which specific attitudes exist
amongst the market and population. People have attitudes to
brands and this can markedly affect their behaviour. Measuring
brand awareness and brand loyalty are important roles of quantitative research.
Qualitative research may have revealed some doubts about peoples
attitudes to a particular brand, but what proportion of potential
consumers hold such negative views and how does this link the purchase frequency? Various techniques are used to measure attitudes
but in one form or another scalar measurement is the usual tool (see
also the chapter on questionnaire design).

Think about
How is your organisations corporate brand positioned? What are
its brand values? To what extent do these affect peoples attitude
to doing business with your company? How does it affect the
prices of your products? What could qualitative research tell you
about your brand? What could quantitative research tell you
about your brand?

The major quantitative research techniques

There are three major methods of obtaining quantification of attitudes or behaviour in a population:

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direct measurement

self-completion

interviewing (phone and face to face).

Direct measurement
Many companies need to regularly measure the position of their
brands in the market place. Manufacturers of fast moving consumer
goods (fmcg) such as chocolate bars or soap powder, obtain these
measures through retail audits.
In a retail audit, a representative sample of retail outlets is taken
(including different types and sizes of outlet with the final data broken down between these classifications) and the sales are established for relevant brands and products. The data from the outlets
is then aggregated and grossed up to represent the whole market.
Audits were first used in the 1930s and were one of the first major
methods of market research data collection giving rise to such large
companies as AGB (Audits of Great Britain) and Nielsen. In the first
instance the audits were carried out by staff visiting the outlets
where a count was made of the stock levels of products at two
points in time. Then the difference plus deliveries (taken from delivery notes etc) was considered to be the sales over the period. The
counting was labour intensive and expensive.
In the 1990s stock counts in retail auditing were replaced by EPOS
(electronic point of sale) data. This allows data to be measured
through electronic scanning of bar codes at the tills for each and
every product bought and thereby providing information to tightly
control stock levels, purchasing, shelf space etc as well as facilitating
efficient check-outs. EPOS data offers increased accuracy (eg no
more lost delivery notes), more frequent measurement (hourly if
need be) and many other benefits (eg cross relating items purchased). Much retail auditing is, therefore, now based on EPOS data
with the major research companies involved securing access to
retailers own databases.
Retail audits, whilst not conceptually complex, are a major organisational undertaking, complicated in some respects by EPOS. They
are consequently carried out by only a few specialised companies.
The costs involved are high and the data is largely syndicated. Retail
audits are also on-going and, therefore, continuous as opposed to ad
hoc research.

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Another method of direct measurement is TV audience research.

Today the most common method of measuring television viewing is
through peoplemeters which are electronic devices that sit on a
television and feed a data storage unit, also in the household, which
in turn is linked to the telephone so it can transmit viewing data
back to the market research companys central computer. In any one
television region (or even a small country) a panel of around 400
households is signed up to have peoplemeters installed on their
TVs. In the homes that are equipped with the peoplemeters, the
viewers use remote control units to indicate who is watching the
television and what they think of the programmes.
Another method of direct measurement is mystery shopping. (See also
Chapter 5 where this is also covered as a qualitative method).
Service levels in retail outlets can be measured by interviewing customers. However, customers recall may lapse or they may forget to
mention small and important points of detail. An alternative is to
observe and record what actually happens in the outlets. This is carried out by research staff posing as customers. The Market Research
Society Code Of Ethics offers guidance on this method, recommending that only the outlets of the sponsoring client can be mystery shopped. In other words, Ford could mystery shop its own car
dealers but not those of any other car franchise as this would be
knowingly wasting their time (since there is never any intention
that the mystery shopper will buy a car, they simply pretend to do
so). Arguably this technique, which relies on researcher observation,
is less direct than retail audits through EPOS which deals in objective data collection, without the interviewers opinions.
Other sorts of observations are also used occasionally in market
research eg traffic counts and in poster research.

Self-completion surveys
Self completion surveys have traditionally been carried out by posting questionnaires to the target audience coupled with a strong
incentive to persuade people to reply. As the penetration of internet
access continues to increase across populations, researchers are making more use of web based surveys in which the respondent can
complete the questionnaire on-line. This brings considerable advantages because routing and skip questions are handled automatically
and the respondent can type in comments (with no problems of
hard to read handwriting). The replies to the questionnaires are fed
straight into the data analysis pot, eliminating data entry errors and
removing a substantial cost. Self completion surveys work best with

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groups of people who have a strong relationship with the product

or service that is being researched. They are used, for example,
amongst new house buyers who have a strong interest in sitting
down for half an hour to twenty minutes to complete a questionnaire. They would not work so well if they sought information on a
subject such as toilet rolls. If the interest level is low, researchers
attempt to boost replies by offering prize draws or financial incentives.
Whether the self completion questionnaires are sent out via the
post or on-line, they suffer from unpredictable and usually low levels of response. It is not unusual for only 10% of a population to
reply. These respondents could represent an atypical group of complainers or enthusiasts. It would need an expensive survey of these
non-respondents by telephone or face to face interview (as we know
that mailed questionnaires do not get a response) and budgets do
not allow for this check back.
Response rates of 30% and higher from a single mailing are quite
common when the subject is about a new car or on behalf of a company with some apparent authority such as British Gas or one of the
water companies. In contrast, respondents receiving a questionnaire
through the post enquiring about the type of pen they use would
most probably yield a low response, (less than 5 per cent is likely),
because the subject is not compelling. It is difficult therefore to
know if the results from a mailed questionnaire are representative of
the whole population. Despite this limitation, nearly 7 million selfcompletion paper or web interviews are sent in for analysis in the
UK each year5 and this is equal to the number of face to face and
telephone interviews taken together.
Postal surveys depend on suitable databases containing the correct
names and addresses of respondents. If lists are out-of-date, contain
inaccuracies in spelling of the names and addresses, or are made up
of unsuitable respondents, the questionnaires will fall on stony
ground and the response rates will be low. Returned and unopened
envelopes will indicate that there are problems with the mailing list
and could indicate the need for a check back to find out the true
reply rate amongst valid respondents. Whilst check backs are useful,
they substantially add to the cost and complexity of the study.
The shorter the questionnaire, the more likely it will be completed
and returned. However, 40 questions carefully laid out on two sides
of A3 (folded to make four pages of A4) can look less than 20 questions spread over six single pages. In general, the number of questions does not influence responses as much as the interest factor
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and there are many example of questionnaires the size of booklets

obtaining high response rates.
Respondents want to feel that their efforts in completing the questionnaire are valued. It is important, therefore, that the cover letter
gives purpose to the study and convinces recipients that their
replies really matter. Legitimacy influences response rates in all
types of surveys and it is especially important in postal studies. If
possible a benefit should be mentioned such as the promise of better products, improved service or a gift (or money).
Postal surveys which offer anonymity have a higher response than
those where respondents must identify themselves. Much depends on
the circumstances. In many business-to-business surveys, respondents
may be happy to be identified as long as they are confident that the
research is bone fide and not a surreptitious attempt at selling.
Response rates can be boosted by a second mailing. If the first mailing yields a 25 per cent response, a second one could draw a further
10-15 per cent. The researcher needs, therefore, to consider whether
to send a second mailing to the non-respondents and accept the fall
off in response rate or to draw up an extension to the first sample
and achieve a 25 per cent response from a fresh list.

Key point
Self-completion
surveys work best
when there is a
strong relationship
between the
respondent and the
subject. In such
cases respondents
will be motivated to
complete the
questionnaires and a
high response rate
will be achieved.

Much depends on the importance of winning a high overall response rate. If a high
rate from the given sample is critical, then
a second mailing is justified and should
take place about two weeks after the first.
Time could, of course, be a prohibiting factor as the second mailing, together with
the waiting time for the responses to come
in, will add at least a further four weeks to
the survey. It is preferable, though not
essential, that the second mailing misses
out those who have already returned a
questionnaire. Eliminating the initial
replies requires respondents to have identified themselves. Also, it is laborious
removing respondents from the list if
there are hundreds of names and addresses
on the sample frame.

There are times of the year when a mailing will yield a poor
response. The August holiday month and Christmas are obvious
periods to avoid.

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Think about
Your Human Resources department is concerned about low
morale amongst the workforce in your company which is resulting in a high staff churn and low productivity. They ask your
advice about carrying out an employee survey. Your workforce is
divided between shop floor staff who do not have access to computers or e-mail and office based staff who all have e-mail
addresses. How would you organise the collection of data? What
conditions could you offer to protect anonymity of responses?
What measures would you take to obtain the maximum possible
response?

Interviewing
Figure 6.1 shows the numbers and type of interviews carried out by
market research agencies that are members of the BMRA, the main
body representing agencies in the UK.
Figure 6.1 Methods Of Interviewing In The UK, 2000
Method of Interviewing

Number of Interviews

Self-completion (post and internet)

6,800,000

Face to face (in home) interview

3,600,000

Telephone interview

3,600,000

Street interview

790,000

Hall test

440,000

Mystery shopping

330,000

Total

15,560,000

Source: BMRA web site (figures have been rounded)

Most of the information required in research projects can only be
obtained through an administered interview with respondents. The
choice between these methods is dependent on a trade-off between:

what is practical with the target audience (do we have

telephone numbers of the audience, do we need to show
them anything?)

costs and budgets (how much money do we have to spend

on the research?)

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the timescale (when is the information required?).

Face to face interviews are used in both consumer and business to

business research (for cost reasons, rather less in the latter) and may
be carried out in the street any public place in respondents
homes, at place of work (particularly relevant for business to business research) or special venues eg where products can be shown
as part of the interview (often referred to as hall tests).
Face to face interviews are still a favoured means of collecting primary information in many surveys for good reasons:
Better explanations. In face to face interviews respondents have more
time to consider their answers and the interviewer can gain a deeper
understanding of the validity of a response. Sometimes interviewers
need to show advertisements, logos, headlines or samples and this
is plainly suited to personal situations.
Depth. It is easier to maintain the interest of respondents for a
longer period of time in face to face interviews. Being face-to-face
with respondents gives the interviewer more control and refusals to
answer questions are less likely than over the telephone. Concern
about confidentiality can be more readily satisfied than with an
`anonymous person at the end of a phone. An interviewer on the
doorstep or in the High Street can show an identity card.
Greater accuracy. In a face to face interview respondents can look up
information and products can be examined. If the interview is at a
business, files of information can be referred to, or phone calls made
to colleagues to confirm a point. The interviewer may be able to
make a visual check to ensure that the answers are correct.
Product placements. Products placements can be sent through the
post but it is usually better for them to be delivered by hand by the
interviewer. Face-to-face contact with respondents permits a more
thorough briefing on how to use the product. Pre-test questions can
be asked, and arrangements can be made for the follow-up.
Against the advantages of face to face interviewing, there are a number of disadvantages:
Organisation. Face to face interviews are difficult to organise. If the
interviews are country-wide, a national field force is required. The
subject may be complex and demand a personal briefing which is
expensive to arrange when interviewers are scattered geographically.
Monitoring and controlling face to face interviews is more difficult
than with telephone interviews. Face to face interviews need to

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have a supervisor in attendance for part of the time and checkbacks, by visit or post, must be organised. For the most part, however, the interviewer is working in isolation and the quality of the
work has a considerable dependency on the conscientiousness of
the individual.
Cost. The cost of personal consumer interviews varies considerably
between those carried out in the street and the home. In-home
interviews based on pre-selected addresses are, in turn, more expensive than those to a quota. In general, street interviews cost the
same to carry out as telephone interviews. In some cases, street
interviews offer advantages over the telephone by allowing show
cards and visuals, while at other times the facility to random sample and achieve complete geographical coverage could swing the
benefits in favour of telephone interviewing.
Time. In-home interviews are time consuming because of the travel
time between respondents (this is not the case, of course, when the
interviews are carried out in the street). The prior commitments of
the field force and the delays caused by questionnaires being mailed
out and returned, normally mean that at least a two-week period is
necessary for organising a face to face interviewing project. A
month is more reasonable. A programme of business-to-business
interviews may have less face to face interviews than a consumer
study but they too take an inordinate time to organise as the
researchers struggle to set up interviews in the diaries of busy managers.
The use of telephone research has grown rapidly so that in the year
2000 it was level pegging with face to face interviewing. Telephone
interviewing is widely used in business to business research because
virtually all business respondents are contactable by phone and are
used to being contacted in this way.
The greatest advantages of the telephone against personal interviewing is its speed and low cost. These are most evident in business-to-business market research.
In favourable circumstances, perhaps five to six 20 minute interviews with managers in industry can be completed in a day over the
telephone. In the same time only 1 or 2 interviews can be achieved
face-to-face.
In consumer research the time and cost advantages of telephone
interviewing are not quite so clear-cut. If the comparison is between
street and telephone interviewing then there is probably little difference in either time or cost in fact, street interviewing might
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even be cheaper. However, when compared with in-home interviews, the telephone is both quicker and cheaper since there is no
time wasted in travel between interview points.
Concerns about doorstep security also favour the telephone as an
interviewing medium. Householders do not have to answer the
door to a stranger while interviewers are saved the risk of entering
dubious neighbourhoods. Not surprisingly, telephone interviewing
is a far more popular data collection method in the US than in
Europe.
We have seen that there are a number of
strong arguments in favour of telephone
Key point
interviews, with particularly important
benefits in cost and speed. However, there
The telephone has
are sometimes good reasons for not using
become one of the
telephone interviews. Visuals are difficult
favoured tools for
to use. If something has to be shown, then
market research
the telephone is not the right approach.
interviewing
Nor is the telephone suited when it is necbecause it is quick
and inexpensive.
essary to ask respondents to consider a
Compared with face
number of pre-determined factors in order
to face interviews
to test their views. More than five or six
there is no loss of
factors on a list are difficult to hold in the
quality of
mind and so it is usual to show these on a
information when
card in order that they can be given fair
simple questions are consideration. The phone also invites an
asked on behaviour
instant response and so does not encourand attitudes.
age a fully considered and reflective
answer. The answer is likely to be spontaneous and off the top. (Of course, this
can be an advantage in questions such as brand recall).
Despite these limitations, the advantages of the telephone in data
collection are considerable and the method is likely to continue to
make inroads against street and face-to-face interviews.

Think about
You supply business machines (colour printers) to almost every
type of business in the UK and have had two quotes from agencies for a customer satisfaction survey. One quote offers you 50
depth interviews which will be carried out face to face, the other
offers 500 interviews by telephone. Which would you choose?
What are the reasons for your choice?

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The role of the interviewer in quantitative research

The quality of data is heavily influenced by the standards of the
interviewing fieldforce. In many surveys the variability and error in
the data can be as much from bias in interviewing as from sampling
error. These influences could be the result of not following the questionnaire wording or mis-recording responses. Most questionnaires
used in quantitative research involve a predominance of pre-coded
or closed questions and the layout of the response codes can help to
minimise problems of mis-recording. More problematical, however,
is the recording of open ended questions (eg why did you buy this
product?). Interviewers are instructed to record such responses verbatim but in practice they summarise the comment and there is no
way of knowing whether what is recorded reasonably reflects the
response given. Even the recording of apparently simple responses
such as numbers can lead to problems; zeros missed off or decimal
places moved. Minimising such problems is partly a matter of interviewer training and briefing although reducing the use of openended questions in a quantitative survey may be the more radical
and sure solution.
Good project management attempts to limit the effect of these
problems as well as keep research in tight financial and timescale
control. In a large project there could be 20 to 30 interviewers carrying out the interviews and this reduces the chances of one interviewers bad practice significantly distorting the overall data.
Comparisons of performance between the interviewers will quickly
identify possible problems and more detailed checks can be made.
Much can be done to head off problems in interviewing by good
training and briefings. The interviewer briefing is the occasion
when interviewers are told who to contact and how to administer
the interview. Undoubtedly personal briefings are to be preferred
but it can be very expensive assembling an interviewing force that
is scattered around the country. Normally well written briefing
notes and sometimes taped briefings from the supervisors, suffice
(briefing telephone interviewers is much easier as they are based in
one location).
A significant bias that occurs in market research surveys arises from
non-response. Over time, average response rates in market research
have fallen and can be as low as 50%. If non-response was random,
the problem would be of little consequence but it is not. Typically
certain groups of potential respondents are less likely to respond
than others some neighbourhoods, for example, are now effectively no-go areas for face to face interviewing and although
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weighting methods can partly compensate, the problem leads to

quite significant levels of data distortion.
Sometimes it is difficult to ascertain the true non-response rate. For
example in street interviews we cannot be certain how many people take avoiding action by passing the interviewer on the opposite
side of the road.
The interviewer can play an important role in ensuring that high levels of cooperation are achieved. Factors that affect cooperation are:

the perceived legitimacy of the interview

the benefits to the respondent of taking part

the approach of the interviewer in being able to

communicate an interest in the subject.

Legitimacy
People are more inclined to take part in a survey if they believe that
it is being carried out for a bona fide purpose. Members of the public want to know that the survey really is for the purposes of market
research and not a cloaked approach to selling (market researchers
refer to this as SUGGING or selling under the guise of market
research). An interviewer with a Market Research Society accreditation card will offer that confidence.
Surveys carried out over the phone do not allow the interviewer to
show their card and so they may use appropriate words to communicate that they are working under the rules of the Market
Research Society Code Of Ethics which promises anonymity and
confidentiality.
A business to business respondent is likely to be interested in knowing which organisation is sponsoring the research before giving
information, some of which could be damaging to their interests if
it got into the hands of a competitor.

Benefits
In most of the market research interviews carried out in the UK,
respondents do not receive payment for their trouble. Even when
they do (as is the case of focus groups or in interviews with doctors)
it is usually a modest sum.
Some subjects that are being researched are intrinsically interesting
to respondents and this can play an important role in obtaining

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cooperation. An interview about a recent car purchase is more interesting than one about writing paper.
Manufacturers of writing paper are just as likely to need market
research as manufacturers of cars and they must seek hooks that
persuade people to take part. Sometimes it is sufficient to remind
people that this is their chance to tell manufacturers what is
thought of their products so that improvements can be made. If
there are no monetary incentives or promises of improved products
and services, much could depend on the interviewers approach.

The interviewers approach

Most people arent sat around waiting for an interviewer to call.
They lead busy lives and must be persuaded that it is worth them
parting with a few minutes of their time (more likely 15 minutes to
half an hour) for no immediate gain.
The interviewers confidence and enthusiasm markedly affects
cooperation levels. In the case of the street or home interview, the
interviewers appearance and demeanour plays an important role.
In telephone interviews, the voice is an obvious contributor to
achieving cooperation.

Key point
Skilled interviewers
are capable of
working with badly
designed
questionnaires.
However a good
interviewer and a
well designed
questionnaire will
always produce
good research.

A diffident or apologetic interviewer

could make the respondent uneasy and
less likely to cooperate.
The interviewer treads a fine line between
persuasion, persistence and browbeating
the respondent. Interviewers know that
most interviews need `selling in and,
when success is finally achieved, respondents actually quite enjoy the process.

Fieldwork quality is generally verified

after completion. This usually involves a
check-back to around 10% of respondents
with key questions re-asked. Interviewers
also need general training in how to work
and this is a separate and prior issue to
briefing for a particular job; the minimum accepted training for a
raw recruit is considered to be two to three days with follow-on
close supervision. The need for training, briefing and verification
also exists at the data processing stage and wherever else labour
intensive tasks are carried out by staff not directly involved in the
design of the research.
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Think about
You are approached by someone in the street with a clip board.
They want you to help them by answering some questions and it
will take around 10 minutes. What are the hooks they could use
that would be effective in persuading you to take part?

Tips for winning cooperation in interviews

1.

Communicate enthusiasm and confidence. Interest in a survey is

strongly influenced by the interviewers approach.

2.

Make the introduction brief. Once the respondent has

answered the first question, there is a good chance they will
also answer the last one. A key to successful interviewing is
to quickly get them talking.

3.

Justify the interview. The respondent should be offered a hook

or benefit for taking part in the survey (such as better
products or improved services).

4.

Appease the respondents concerns. Sometimes respondents are

concerned about their ability to answer the questions.

5.

Make it easy for the respondent. It may be more convenient to

call at another time.

6.

Give assurances. Explain that market research is to provide

feedback to help suppliers meet customers needs. It is not
used directly for selling purposes and there will be no sales
pressure as a result of taking part in the survey.

The role of the questionnaire in quantitative

research

Key point
The attitude of the
interviewer is crucial
in winning
cooperation from the
respondent.

The questionnaire is the instrument at the

centre of the interview. A good questionnaire flows logically, and has questions
that are clear and relevant to the respondent. It has instructions that guide the
interviewer what to do and where to go
next. If it has been designed well and
tested in a small number of pilot interviews, it will ensure that the interview is a
pleasant experience for both interviewer

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and respondent. Quantitative research involves collecting a standard range of data from a significant sample of respondents typically hundreds or thousands and so the method of data recording
needs to be considered as part of the research design.
Many questionnaires are now on a computer screen. Sixty percent
of all telephone interviews are CATI (computer aided telephone
interviewing) and 30% of face to face interviews are CAPI (computer
aided face to face interviewing).
Given the growing popularity of computer aided interviewing it
must offer considerable advantages. These are:

The interviewer is left free to concentrate on the interview

itself as the routing instructions are taken care of.

Data is entered directly and the subsequent transactions of

data processing are eliminated. Costs and punching errors
are reduced.

The whole process is speeded up because data is entered as it

is obtained.

At intervals during the survey, the researcher can interrogate

the computer to examine the results.

An analysis of results can be obtained immediately after the

last interview has been completed.

There are some disadvantages to computer aided interviewing.

A conventional questionnaire can be knocked up in no time

and without the help of someone who knows their way
around the technical nuances of a computer aided
interviewing system. Getting a questionnaire set up and
running, fault free on a CATI or CAPI system takes time.

Coping with open ended responses presents some problems

on a computer because, although the systems can
accommodate open ended comment, capturing them
requires interviewers to have good typing skills. If a
respondent makes changes to an earlier answer when part
way through the interview, it is more difficult to return and
make alterations than is the case with paper questionnaires.

It is more difficult to make margin notes on a computer

aided interview and these may be useful at a later stage when
interpreting the response from that individual.

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In general, computer aided interviews are best suited to structured

surveys of a couple of hundred interviews or more, especially tracking surveys where all the possible answers have been worked out
and can be listed as pre-coded responses.

SCARY STORY
I was once making a training video on market research and took
a team of people plus cameras to a busy shopping precinct in the
centre of Manchester. The interviewers were experienced and
part of our trusty fieldforce. They were instructed to approach
people in the street and engage them in an interview. The cameras followed them around as they stalked their quarry, many of
them suffering brusque rejections.
An attractive and vivacious graduate trainee was part of the
entourage watching the shoot. She asked me if she could have a
go at interviewing. Nothing could be lost because things were
moving slowly.
With a huge smile on her face, she confidently walked up to the
first person walking towards her and, surprise, surprise, they willingly took part. This happened time and again so the filming was
finished in record time.
The learning for me was the importance of the approach and
attitude of the interviewer in successfully winning the cooperation of respondents to take part in market research surveys.

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