What is Field Research

Field Research is a method of collecting qualitative data with the aim to understand, observe, and interact with people in their natural setting. It requires specialized market research tools. The goal is to understand how a subject behaves in a specific setting to identify how different variables in this setting may be interacting with the subject. Field research is used most in the field of social science, such as anthropology and health care professions, as in these fields it is vital to create a bridge between theory and practice.

Methods of Field Research

There are 4 main methods of conducting field research, and they are as follows:

1. Ethnography

Ethnography is a kind of fieldwork that aims to record and analyse a particular culture, society, or community. This method defines social anthropology, and it usually involves the complete immersion of an anthropologist in the culture and everyday life of the community they are trying to study.

     2. Qualitative Interviews

The goal of qualitative interviews is to provide a researcher with a breadth of information that they can sift through in order to make inferences of their sample group. It does so through interviews by directly asking participants questions. There are three types of qualitative interviews; informal, conversational, and open ended.

    3. Direct observation

This method of field research involves researchers gathering information on their subject through close visual inspection in their natural setting. The researcher, and in this case the observer, remains unobtrusive and detached in order to not influence the behavior of their subject.

    4. Participant Observation

In this method of field research, the researchers join people by participating in certain group activities relating to their study in order to observe the participants in the context of said activity.

Steps to conduct Field Research

The following are some key steps taken in conducting field research:

1. Identifying and obtaining a team of researchers who are specialized in the field of research of the study.
2. Identifying the right method of field research for your research topic. The various methods of field research are discussed above. A lot of factors will play a role in deciding what method a researcher chooses, such as duration of the study, financial limitations, and type of study.
3. Visiting the site/setting of the study in order to study the main subjects of the study.
4. Analyzing the data collected through field research.
5. Constructively communicating the results of the field research, whether that be through a research paper or newspaper article etc.

Reasons to conduct Field Research

The following are a few reasons as to why field research is conducted, typically via market research tools:

1. To understand the context of studies: field research allows researchers to identify the setting of their subjects to draw correlations between how their surroundings may be affecting certain behaviors.
2. To acquire in-depth and high quality data:  Field research provides in-depth information as subjects are observed and analysed for a long period of time.
3. When there is a lack of data on a certain subject: field research can be used to fill gaps in data that may only be filled through in-depth primary research.

Examples of Field Research

• The following are real studies conducted using field research in order to answer questions about human behavior in certain settings:
  • William Foote Whyte used participant observation in his 1942 study to answer the question “How is the social structure of a local “slum” organized?”.  The study involved over 3 years of participation and observations among an Italian community in Boston’s North End.
  • Liebow’s study in 1967 involved twenty months of participation and observations among an African American community in Washington, DC, to answer the question “How do the urban poor live?”.
  • American sociologist, Cheri Jo Pascoe, conducted eighteen months of observations and interviews in a racially diverse working-class high school to answer the question “How is masculinity constructed by and among high school students, and what does this mean for our understanding of gender and sexuality?”.

Advantages of Field Research

1. Can yield detailed data as researchers get to observe their subjects in their own setting.
2. May uncover new social facts: Field research can be used to uncover social facts that may not be easily discernible, and that the research participants may also be unaware of.

No tampering of variables as methods of field research are conducted in natural settings in the real world. Voxco's mobile offline research software is a powerful tool for conducting field research.

Disadvantages of Field Research

• Expensive to collect: most methods of field research involve the researcher to immerse themselves into new settings for long periods of time in order to acquire in-depth data. This can be expensive.
• Time consuming: Field research is time consuming to conduct.
• Information gathered may lack breadth: Field research involves in-depth studies and will usually tend to have a small sample group as researchers may be unable to collect in-depth data from large groups of people.

Concept Testing is a market research method used by Companies to evaluate concepts or ideas before it is launched in the market. A target audience is surveyed on the concepts to gauge the interest, acceptance, and willingness of the customers to engage with the concept (product, service, advertisement).The responses collected from the audience help the company make an informative decision before the launch. When a brand is preparing to launch a new product or redesign an old product, they conduct Concept Testing to identify the likes and dislikes of the target market.

Importance:

• Concept testing allows the brand to see how well the product will perform if it is launched in the market. 
• It helps gain insight into the improvements and changes which are needed. 
• Concept testing helps identify how different segments of audiences prefer different features. 
• The data collected from customers prevents the company from investing in concepts that may not be accepted by the customers. 
• Concept testing prevents a company from investing in bad concepts based on assumptions. 

Concept Testing Methods

There are four most commonly used methods of Concept Testing.

Monadic Concept Testing:

In monadic concept testing, a single concept is evaluated by the respondents. If there is more than one concept, the respondents are divided into multiple groups. Each group is then shown one concept to analyze.This means that each respondent only comes across one concept. This allows conducting an in-depth survey. Make sure to keep the survey short and follow up if required.

Sequential Monadic Concept Testing:

In a sequential monadic test, the respondents are asked to evaluate each of the concepts. The respondents are divided into multiple groups and each group is shown the concepts in random sequence. The random sequence prevents the respondents from forming any biased opinions.Multiple concepts are evaluated with a small sample group which saves time and resources for the company. The risk is that the survey questionnaire may end up being long because multiple concepts are tested in one round.[elementor-template id="38118"]

Comparative Concept Testing:

For Comparative Concept Testing, respondents are asked to evaluate between multiple options to select the best Concept. The survey is simple, the brand asks which concept or idea is better and the winning concept is finalized for the launch.

Proto-monadic Concept Testing:

It is a combination of comparative and monadic concept testing. The respondents are asked to select the best concept. Then they are asked questions to evaluate the selected concept.The comparative concept testing alone cannot provide the reason for the respondents’ preferred choice. The second evaluation using the monadic test helps provide the necessary reason. It helps gather information on the various aspects, features, or attributes of the preferred concept.

Application of Concept Testing in Market Research

Concept testing helps businesses identify the best and the bad ideas. It saves a company from launching a bad concept in the market and faces loss. Concept testing is thus a crucial step before any ad campaign, logo, product, service, etc. are launched.These are some scenarios you can use in your Concept Testing.Identify Market: You need to have a good understanding of the market to target the right audience with the right concept. Concept Testing helps understand the reason why a different segment of audience likes different concepts. The knowledge of different demographic segments helps develop successful market strategies.Pricing: When you want to launch a new product or get an opinion on the prices of your products you can gather customer feedback. It can help you make decisions on how you should change the price or charge your products.Marketing message: With concept testing, you can identify what kind of marketing message resonates with your target audience. It helps you to understand how you can attract and influence your target customers to consider your brand for future business.Branding: You can also use concept testing for deciding logo, website design, color, etc. You can ask the respondent to select the effective idea and understand their reason for their choice.

Best Practices for Concept Testing

For any subtle adjustment whether it is on pricing or features, conduct Concept Testing. By identifying the different aspects of the concept you can focus on the key features. Concept testing can provide a clear view about which concepts need improvement and which need to be dropped. Conduct concept testing for each change made in the product as per customer feedback. Collecting customer’s perspectives on the newly changed concept is the way to ensure that your data stays up-to-date. The ongoing process of concept testing helps you track all the latest trends about customer’s needs and wants.Learn from the previously collected data by comparing it to the new data. Previous data is filled with information that can help you improve new concepts for testing. You can look into past research to identify which method of testing works effectively.The introduction is an important part of the survey because it gives the audience the idea of what the purpose of the survey is. You need to make sure that the concept is described in simple language. The introduction should include the concept, benefits, and key differentiators of the product.The survey design for Concept Testing should be simple. The choice of answers should be easy to understand. Using questions like Likert Scales gives a coherent structure and a smooth flow to the survey. It is also easy to analyze the data collected from a Likert Scale.[elementor-template id="38078"]

FAQs

What is Concept Testing in Market Research?

Concept Testing in Market Research involves using surveys to evaluate the target audience’s acceptance and willingness to buy the new product concept. The new concept is tested before it is introduced in the market to gauge customer’s reaction to the features, price, and other important aspects.

What is a Concept Statement?

A Concept Statement in concept testing is the description of the concept that helps visualize the end product/ service.

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There are four basic methods a brand can conduct Concept Testing:

• Monadic 
• Sequential Monadic
• Comparative
• Proto-monadic

Quantitative and Qualitative research :Which one to prefer?

Research is a great way of gathering data and information to enhance understanding about a variety of issues and ideas. It is imperative to know the kind of research to go for, in order to satisfy a purpose and obtain valuable data in the most convenient manner. While deciding the research type, one also needs to consider how this selection will impact analysis and contribute by providing input to make informed decisions. A research methodology may be easy to conduct but may not generate sufficient key insights or may not be feasible in terms of time, effort and resource investment but may be easy to evaluate and conclude. There should be a certain balance between the conduction and conclusion aspect of research, to pick the correct choice.The two broad categories of research are quantitative and qualitative research.Quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics to describe test and draw conclusions about variables. Such a data can be mathematically and statistically analyzed. It is also viable to present such type of research data in the form of charts and graphs for enhanced understanding. This type of research mainly focuses on testing relationships and hypothesis by gathering maximum information to make a meaningful conclusion. Examples of such type of research include observations, closed-ended type questions in surveys and experimental data.Qualitative research, on the other hand, focuses on descriptive and text-based data to make observations, understand ideas and concepts, gather insights and social perceptions. It is aimed at grasping how people view things around them using an unstructured and unrestricting method of research that allows people to elaborate their viewpoints. Unlike quantitative research, qualitative research is not focused on hard numbers and figures and is analyzed using text based analysis tools. Examples of qualitative research are open-ended questions, interviews, group discussions, video and audio recordings among others

QUANTITATIVEQUALITATIVENumber and figure basedText basedTests relationship and hypothesisIt is used for making observations and enhancing conceptual understandingAnalyzed using statistical and data analysis toolsEvaluated by using summarizing techniques and text based analysisResearched using closed-ended questionsResearched using open-ended questionsPresented using graphs, charts and diagramsTechniques such as Word cloud helps in capturing and presenting key insightsRequires large number of participantsLimited number of participants are neededObjective in natureSubjective in natureLanguage based reportingStatistical reportingExample: interviews and focus groupsExample: Structured questions and observations01

Methodologies

Qualitative researchQualitative research is conducted using focus groups, in-depth interviews, ethnography, documents, reviews and open-ended survey questions. All of these methods allow participants to elaborate and clarify their opinions and thoughts as well as study behavior in specific circumstances. Though it may seem a cumbersome process, collecting qualitative data helps in understand respondent mindset and making assumptions and observations based on authentic information.Focus groups: Discussions between participants with relevant knowledge base to gather holistic data on the research topic.Interviews: One to one dialogue to gather point of views and respondent’s thoughts about products, ideas and concepts.Open-ended survey questions: Unstructured questions meant to gather feedback and respondent’s unrestricted opinion.Documents: Second hand information on research topics to grasp topics using sourced data.Ethnography: An observation style based research involving participation in a community to note behavior and activitiesReviews: Studying and reviewing written piecesQuantitative researchQuantitative research is gathered using closed-ended questions, observations, experiments and different survey methods. These research methods mainly focus on bringing cause and effect relation as well as proving the validity of hypothesis by gathering input to support or deny the same.Closed-ended questions: Questions with limited answer options to assist categorizing and analyzing.Observations: Observing and noting numeric variables like temperature.Experiments: Establishing correlation between variables through controlled conditioning.Telephonic surveys: Gathering structures data through telephonic conversation.Polls: Polling questions and statements to assess agreement, rating and choice.

Analysis

Qualitative researchTexts and language used in qualitative research is highly variable and cannot be uniformly understood. Text based summarizing and interpretation techniques are used to highlight key areas.Thematic analysis: A latent approach that tries to uncover the underlying meaning behind written information by following a series of steps that involve understanding, highlighting, assigning themes and codes and finally writing up the takeaways from the gathered qualitative information as a whole by supporting each of these takeaways using phrases and texts from the first-hand data. It also tries to establish whether or not the purpose of the research has been satisfied based on the data collected.Word cloud: Word cloud is a summarizing tool used for overviewing the key words that texts contain. This usually promotes a follow up discussion on reasons that lead to the use of a word or phrase in relevance to the research topic.Discourse analysis: Understanding communication, linguistics and structure of qualitative data. This technique studies speech, sentence structures, conversational indicators and frame of references to understand how people interact in a social setting.Quantitative researchQuantitative research is based on facts and figures and so, it becomes relatively easier to make sense out of it using data and statistical analysis tools. These tools can be used to summarize and understand nature of relationship between variables. The analysis results describe the data using certain mathematical concepts that can easily be applied due to the structured nature of the data collection process. Descriptive analysis provides holistic and concise figures which combine results from individual responses to provide an overall picture of the collected responses.Such a statistical summary can then be presented in the form of graphs, pie charts, bar diagrams, line charts and other forms of data representation method which makes it easy to comprehend. Such statistical summaries can then be used to validate or invalidate hypothesis. This gives a more realistic and reliable approach for testing theories.

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Limitations

Qualitative research

• Highly varied and complex data makes it difficult to analyze as compared to quantitative data 
• It becomes difficult to assess reliability and validity given the lack of rigidity in answering
• Respondents may not be clear and elaborative in expressing themselves completely and so researchers may sometimes have to follow up to increase their understanding on particular answers.
• It requires a lot of time and money to hire professionals and conduct in-depth interviews.

Quantitative research

• Structured nature of the research limits answer choices

• Analysis of quantitative research requires expertise to decide the right kind of tool and conduct the process properly to generate meaningful results.

• Does not allow researcher to gather insights and study behavior.

• Requires large number responses to make the study substantive which requires a lot of resource investment.

Advantages

Qualitative research

• Aids understanding of participant mindset and reasoning
• Elaborative and unrestricted
• Establishes observations and enhances relationship understanding between variables
• Assists in gathering feedback for identifying gaps and positives.
• Narrative nature of the research makes the study and its results more authentic

Quantitative research

• Minimizes chances of ambiguities and confusion
• Relatively accurate 
• Easy to analyze using systematic tools
• Proves theories based on supportive information
• Easy to present and convey to third parties 
• Easy to summarize, categorize and interpret due to pre-defined structure.

The researcher has to carefully consider the purpose, resource availability and decisions to be made before going ahead with a particular research method. Researchers looking to make observations and establish theories should go for a qualitative approach, while testing and proving these theories is more feasible using a quantitative approach.Free Market Research ToolkitFill out this form to access 5 market research survey templates + 2 MR guide.

What is Pricing Research?

Pricing research is a method of research that measures and evaluates the impact of changes in price of a product on its demand. It is used by organizations to help determine an optimal price for new products, in order to maximise revenue and market share. This type of research is quantitative in nature.

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Techniques used within Pricing Research

Pricing techniques help organizations determine what price their target audience is willing to pay for their product. There are four key techniques used within pricing research, and they are:

• Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter (PSM)
• Gabor-Granger Technique
• Conjoint Analysis
• Brand-Price Trade-Off (BPTO)

• Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter (PSM)

This price sensitivity meter was developed by a Dutch economist named Peter Van Westendorp. The Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter constructs a range of acceptable price points for a given product, determining the expected price range at which consumers will be willing to purchase it. This range is constructed by having customers evaluate a product and then respond to the following four questions:

• • Too Expensive: “At what price would you begin to think this product is too expensive to consider?”
  • Expensive: “At what price would you begin to think this product is expensive but worth considering?”
  • Cheap: “At what price would you begin to think this product is a bargain?”
  • Too Cheap:“At what price would you begin to think the product is so inexpensive that you would question its quality?”

Once responses are collected, the cumulative frequency of the different answers are charted in order to determine a series of acceptable price points. These price points will range from a lower threshold to an upper threshold, and will also include the optimal price point.

PSM is used to understand customers’ pricing expectations, rather than their willingness to pay or their likelihood to buy. It is used to identify how much respondents would expect a product to cost.

• Gabor-Granger Technique

The Gabor-Granger technique involves testing four to five different price points by asking respondents their likelihood to purchase the product at each one of these points.

Respondents indicate their likelihood to purchase at these predefined price points, and this data is used to determine an optimal price point for the product within the market. In contrast to the Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter, where respondents invent prices in response to the questions, the Gabor-Granger technique asks respondents to evaluate predetermined price points that have already been vetted by the company. It identifies the optimal price range for a product, considering it in isolation.

• Conjoint Analysis

Conjoint Analysis, also known as discrete choice analysis, is a pricing research technique that is considered to be the most reliable way to determine the price of a product. It uses a form of conjoint analysis, known as discrete-choice modelling, using which researchers can determine the influence of price, as well as product features, on a customers’ willingness to purchase the product.

In this technique, respondents are given a choice of two to five product profiles, each with different configurations. Respondents are asked to choose one of these profiles. The data collected from respondents allows researchers to create pricing and packaging models that are most likely to appeal to customers.

Discrete choice analysis provides meaningful insights on the complexity of pricing and product preferences. The main drawback of this technique, however, is that it requires specialized expertise to execute, and tends to be more expensive to conduct than other pricing research techniques.

• Brand-Price Trade-Off (BPTO)

BTPO, or Brand-Price Trade-Off, is a statistical tool that is used to identify the effect of price on different areas such as profitability, revenue, market volume, and brand awareness. It is a choice-based pricing technique that depicts consumers’ differing preferences for brands based on their pricing.

Survey respondents are shown a range of branded products, each with a price associated with it. The range usually consists of 3 to 5 products. Consumers are then asked which “offer” would be most appealing to them in a hypothetical buying scenario.

BPTO is useful in situations where you want to understand the relationship between a brand and its prices.

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FAQs on Pricing Research

What are the different pricing techniques used within pricing research?

There are four key pricing research techniques, and they are:

• Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter (PSM)
• Gabor-Granger Technique
• Conjoint Analysis
• Brand-Price Trade-Off (BPTO)

What are the benefits of conducting pricing research?

The key benefits of conducting pricing research are:

• It can predict consumers’ responses to price change

Your brand name is the first point of contact for your target audience. It conveys the essence of the brand’s value, personality, and promise. It helps distinguish your brand from competitors and builds trust with customers.

In this blog, we will dive into the steps of effective brand name testing and explore how a strong brand name aligns with the brand’s objectives and identity.

What is Brand Name Testing?

Your company’s brand name will play a significant role in shaping your brand image and will also act as an identifier that distinguishes your brand from competitors. As your brand name can play such a big role in shaping your brand image, it is important to pick a name that will resonate with your target audience and will fit the brand image that you want to portray. This is where brand name research comes into the picture.

Brand name testing involves presenting your target audience with a variety of brand name options and asking them to provide feedback on each one. This research helps you make an informed decision while choosing a brand name that is best suited to your company using qualitative and quantitative backing.

Why is Brand Name Testing Important?

Brand name testing helps determine a name that resonates with the target market. The process offers several key benefits. Let’s look into some ways it is important to evaluate potential brand names.

1. It can significantly impact brand perception. A well-chosen name can make your brand more appealing and memorable. Conversely, a poorly chosen name can lead to a lack of trust in the brand.
2. A strategically evaluated brand name that aligns with brand values will help build strong brand-consumer relationships and drive loyalty over time.
3. Choosing a brand name without testing with the target audience will lead to a lack of interest and engagement with the brand. This can also lead to misinterpretations and damage brand credibility.

Also read: What is Concept Testing

Steps to Take to Conduct Brand Name Testing

Now that we have explored the importance of brand name research, let’s look at how to pick a brand name.

1. Pick the brand names you want to test:

The first step in brand name testing is to create a list of brand names that you want to test. These brand names should be ones that you and your coworkers are already confident of. The number of brand names you choose to include will determine the kind of survey design you select.

One effective tool to aid in the early stages of selecting prospective names is using a brand name generator. This tool helps generate name options that align well with your brand’s identity and maximizes creativity, especially before moving into formal testing.

These are some of the most common survey designs:

Monadic Testing:

This research design involves showing participants a single stimulus in isolation. It gives you a measure of how appealing a certain brand name is without skewing the respondent’s perception with the influence of other stimuli/brand names.

Sequential Monadic Design:

This research design involves asking respondents for feedback on multiple stimuli. However, each brand name shown must be evaluated separately rather than evaluation through comparison.

2. Select the parameters by which you will assess the brand names:

The next step is to select the parameters, or metrics, by which you want respondents to assess your brand name. These are a few metrics by which you can measure how good a brand name is:

• Uniqueness: Does the brand name stand out against competitors, or is it easily confused with other brand names?
• Pronounceability: Is the brand name easy to pronounce, or is it common for people to mispronounce it?
• Appeal: Is the brand name appealing to your target audience?
• Purchase Intent: Does the brand name motivate people to purchase the brand’s products/services?

The metric(s) you select should depend on what your goals are for your brand name. If you want a brand name that is memorable and stands out, the most valuable metric for you to measure would be uniqueness.

3. Gather data for brand name testing:

Once you’ve chosen the metrics by which you want your brand name assessed, you can create your brand name testing survey and send it out to your target audience.

Leverage a robust survey software that empowers you to design interactive brand name surveys. Use image questions, ranking, or rating question types to gather a holistic view of potential brand names. Customize the survey with brand colors and fonts to showcase the brand image to the respondents, helping them share insightful feedback.

4. Analyse results to select a brand name:

The final step is to analyze the responses collected in order to evaluate each brand name. This is the most important step, as it involves selecting a brand name that will appeal to your target audience and match the brand perception you want to create.

How brand name surveys can help you find the best options?

Your brand name sticks to the audience’s experience, emotion, and memory. Getting it right can help you nurture a strong brand image and reputation.

1. Brand name testing allows you to understand how your target consumers perceive each potential name. Through surveys, you can gauge factors like brand recall, likability, and uniqueness.
2. Testing multiple names allows you to assess how each name resonates with the market and stands out from competitors. By comparing each name, you can determine the uniqueness of each name.
3. The feedback from your target market can help you understand how to narrow down your options and make it more strong.
4. The process can help mitigate the risk of choosing a name that could have a negative impact on brand reputation. By gathering customer feedback, you can identify and address any potential issues with the options before the official launch.

Why Choose Voxco for your Brand Name Testing Surveys?

These are a few reasons why you should choose Voxco’s Survey Software to conduct your Brand Name Testing Surveys:

• Omnichannel Survey Solution

Our Omnichannel survey software allows you to create your brand name testing survey on a centralized platform before sending it through all channels. This saves time re-programming surveys for multiple channels. Additionally, all collected data is presented on a single integrated platform, allowing you to compare feedback received through all channels.

• Voxco IVR and Voxco Dialer

You can use our survey software in amalgamation with additional tools, such as Voxco Dialer and Voxco IVR, for the most seamless and efficient omnichannel survey experience.

• Powerful Dashboards

Voxco’s powerful and dynamic dashboards provide you with real-time visual presentations of your brand-tracking survey responses. This can help you make a quicker decision while picking your brand name, as our dashboard presents data from across all channels on one unified platform.

• Voxco Audience:

With Voxco’s market research panel, you can gather data from willing respondents representing the total population. With Voxco Audience, you can create your own sample audience to conduct brand name analysis.

A coding management system can organize and quantify comments from your customers, prospects, or other constituents.  Coding is all about gleaning actionable insight from textual comments.  Coding originated in the survey research industry and its terminology and technique come from that industry.

The survey research industry has elevated the art coding customer comments to a science.  These techniques are valuable to any company that wants to have an accurate understanding of what their customers are telling them – and what company does not?

To understand how you can use these techniques to keep your finger on the pulse of your customers, let us first introduce some concepts and terminology.

What is Coding?

Open and Closed End Questions

Think about the surveys you have seen.  There are two basic types of questions, such as these:

1. On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our business to a friend or colleague?
2. Why did you give us that rating?

The first of these is called a closed-end question because the possible answers are known in advance.  The second is called an open-end question.  There are an infinite number of possible responses to the question.

Verbatims

Perhaps surprisingly, we do not call the text that the respondent types for an open-end question an “answer”.  Instead, we call it a verbatim.  Yes, I know that “verbatim” is not a noun, but it has been adopted as one in the survey research industry.  Why do we not call the text an answer?  Well, because we cannot do much with the text alone. 

Coding

Imagine you have 5,000 responses to the short survey above and your boss asks you: What percentage of our customers rated us below 8 because of a product delivery problem?  Perhaps you would read each of the verbatims from the second question and make notes on a piece of paper, then tally up the results.  If you are more methodical you might put the verbatims in Excel and make a column for “Delivery Problem” and put a 1 in the column if the verbatim mentions a delivery problem.  As you do this, you would probably add other columns for other issues mentioned, perhaps “Product Quality” and “Technical Support”.  That way when your boss asks you tomorrow for how many customers gave us a negative rating for technical support, you could have the answer instantly, just by summing the Technical Support column.

In survey research we call what you just did in Excel Coding.  The columns such as Delivery Problem and Technical Support are called Codes, but you can see that in a certain sense we could also call them Answers.  When you put a 1 in the Technical Support column, you mean that this customer mentioned technical support as an issue.  

By coding the verbatims as you have done in Excel you have turned the qualitative data (the verbatims) into quantitative data (the codes).

Sources of Verbatims

In the example above we talked about a simple two question survey.  You may have recognized this as a classic Net Promoter Score (NPS®) survey.  This is a good place to start when learning about coding, because the technique of verbatim coding was developed and refined in the survey research industry.

But traditional surveys are certainly not the only source of verbatims for coding.  Verbatim coding is applicable whenever you want to get actionable insights from comments.  This includes such sources as:

• NPS surveys
• Employee satisfaction surveys
• Help desk inquiries
• Call center transcriptions
• CRM systems

Verbatim coding is appropriate whenever you need to quantify comments from constituents.

Reasons for Coding

If we think of coding as tagging comments with codes that attribute meaning to the comment, we see that there are two primary reasons for coding.

Quantification

Coding turns qualitative data into quantitative data.  Once our NPS survey is coded we can easily ask questions such as:

• What percentage of net detractors mentioned product delivery?
• How does the number of net detractors mentioning product delivery in Q1 compare with Q2?
• How does the number of net detractors mentioning product delivery in the Central Region compare with the Eastern Region?

Note that in the second and third example above we assume that we have some additional information.  In the second example we assume we know the time the comment was given.  This comes along for free; we just need to make a record of the date of receipt of the comment.  The third example assumes we know the region the customer is in.  We could of course get this information by asking a closed end Region question in the NPS survey.  But hopefully we can get this information, and much more, by using our CRM system to augment the data with known information about the customer.

Quantification and analysis of verbatims in this fashion is the bread and butter of the survey research industry.  But these techniques are equally applicable for in-house analysis – and far less costly than engaging a research company.

Classification and Indexing

Even after they are coded, verbatims remain a very rich source of insight into your customers thoughts and attitudes.  With coded verbatims you can get your hands on the verbatims most applicable for a business question you are considering.  For example, a product manager with a delivery problem in the Central Division might, and probably should, read a selection of verbatims from that region that mention delivery.  Once coded, finding these verbatims is trivial.

Classification of verbatims by coding allows product managers and others to keep their fingers on the pulse of the customer using the rich texture of verbatim comments, targeted at specific areas of interest by coding.

Coding Methodologies

We started by looking at coding verbatims using Excel.  That is not a contrived example.  There are small survey research companies that do just that.  But there are far more convenient and productive techniques than using Excel.

Human Coding

In the survey research industry verbatim coding is a profession.  People trained in coding read and code every verbatim in open end survey questions.  The industry uses Ascribe Coder to code over 200 million verbatims each year.

Human coding produces the highest accuracy and allows for nuanced differences in meaning between codes.  The construction of a well-designed code frame, which is the set of codes for a question, is part of the art of human coding.  Human coders have full control over the form of the code frame and can deliver results tailored to a specific survey research objective.

The accuracy and control afforded by human coding comes at an associated cost of labor and turn-around time.

Automated Coding

Advances in natural language processing today allow fully automated coding.  Ascribe CX Inspector can code thousands of verbatims in minutes, with no human involvement.  CX Inspector constructs a set of groups automatically by analysis of the verbatims and classifies the verbatims into those groups.  The groups are directly analogous to codes, although they are created by the machine rather than by hand.

Blended Approaches

To be fair, a market researcher would not call the fully automated approach verbatim coding because:

• It does not use a code frame constructed by the researcher
• The accuracy is lower than human coding

With the addition of some human labor, the results of fully automated coding can be massaged to resemble human coding more closely.  In CX Inspector you can edit the automatically created groups by merging and renaming them.  This gives you control similar to the code frame in Ascribe Coder while retaining the speed advantage of automated classification of verbatims.  The resulting groups can be saved as a taxonomy and used on multiple projects, just as you might use a code frame in Ascribe Coder for multiple projects.

Working in the other direction, Ascribe Coder provides the Coding Assistant.  Coding Assistant uses natural language processing to suggest verbatims to code based on prior human coding.  Coding Assistant confers much of the speed advantage of fully automated coding, while retaining full human control of the results.

Conclusion

Verbatim coding was developed by the survey research industry, but its usefulness is not confined to that industry.  Verbatim coding is applicable whenever you need to organize and quantify comments from your constituents.  Tools such as Ascribe Coder and CX Inspector allow you to reap the benefits of verbatim coding without engaging a third party supplier.

On the Voxco blog, we have been often focused on increasing response rates through survey design tactics.

That being said, simply “getting through the door” needs to be a key priority for market researchers wanting to drive response rates.

Without building that initial feeling of amicability and trust in phone surveys, the interviewer will have a hard time getting a complete. Here’s why trust matters in encouraging respondent participation and facilitating meaningful CATI survey results:

• It plays a crucial role in convincing respondents that the information they provide is highly valuable.
• It motivates the respondents to share sensitive or potentially embarrassing information which they won’t share otherwise.
• It assures respondents that their information is safe and will not be misused, mocked, or shared in any case.
• It promises respondents that they will not regret the time spent with a company (brand touchpoints) rather they’ll cherish it.

According to GRBN, “only 1 in 10 people have a high level of trust in market research companies.” Therefore, fostering trust is extremely important to garner meaningful results through your survey efforts. Today, we’re covering our top tips for increasing phone survey completes through inspiring trust in potential survey respondents.

Start Creating Surveys Now

Listen and Callback

Interviewers’ first instinct may be to get the person on the line to listen to them. However, it’s crucial that interviewers are listening to their potential respondent. Are they busy? Are they engaged with what you’re saying? Should you offer to call them back? These are questions your interviewer needs to be asking themselves.

At a bare minimum, there are two main types of callbacks: a hard callback where it’s clear the correct person was reached but they were too busy, and a soft callback in which it is uncertain whether the right person was reached or even interested. Of course, successful researchers strive to have the least amount of soft callbacks as possible.

You should ensure that the phone survey software that you’re using allows for callback queues, callback messaging and other call management tools.

Voxco’s survey software provides researchers with plethora of interviewer tools to improve productivity of phone survey projects. Book a demo for free consultation.

Pepper in Sociodemographic Questions

It’s very common for researchers to build surveys that ask respondents all their socio-demographic questions right off the bat to filter the respondent as quickly as possible. You should be careful about what questions you ask the respondent. Take a look at our expert written demographic survey template.

But, this may not be the correct approach to building trust and getting quality answers to the more specific questions in the study. The reality is that sociodemographic questions err on the side of personal and may turn respondents off to your study (eg: What is your age? What is your annual income? What is your religion?).

In the case that not all sociodemographic questions are answered, you can still use the semi-completed survey and weight it as less significant than more complete surveys. After conducting the demographic survey, all you need to do is segment your customers, we’ve got a survey template on segmentation.

Surveys are a Conversation NOT an Interrogation

Guiding interviewers to administer surveys with the proper attitude is certainly a challenge for those managing call centers. The idea, of course, is to have the interviewer and interviewee are genuinely interested in the back-and-forth conversation.

Beyond ensuring that your interviewer team is consistently motivated and your call center culture is inspiring, consistent feedback is key. Using a survey software with built-in reporting features for line items like general call monitoring, productivity, and call analytics will help managers understand the interviewers’ areas for improvement and address them quickly.  

Explore Voxco’s telephony features with a free demo with our team.

Step Up to the Plate, High-Converters!

When the time comes for callbacks, work with your high-converting interviewers to communicate with the potential respondents that did not complete. In these cases, the responsibility to re-engage these people rests on the interviewers’ side.

In many circumstances, people refuse to participate in surveys due to the time commitment of doing the survey. However, as two sides of the same coin, people are also inherently interested in giving their opinion on things that they deem important. In that regard, that’s why the interviewer approach is so important to getting the completes your study needs.

In most of the cases, you need to set up correct survey reward programs. But setting up a reward program can be a task. We have compiled a guide to simplify this process for you.

The Right Tool for the Job

While interviewing methods are a critical part of inspiring interviewee trust and survey completion, it all starts with the right software.

Researchers must ensure that their CATI software has robust callback organizing and scheduling capabilities (by shift, timeslot, etc.). It is also important to have the ability to set and manage complex quotas, in order to assign groups and roles – in the case that you want to employ a high-converting interviewer or an interviewer that speaks a different language.

In addition to these features, Voxco Survey Software has a fully integrated platform, with one unified database for online and phone surveys. Within the CATI software, you can also integrate a cloud-based or on-premise dialer, and an IVR system.

Editor’s note : The blog was originally published in June, 2020 and is now updated for accuracy, comprehensiveness & freshness.

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What is an Exit Poll?

When it’s about the election, an exit poll is all everyone talks about. In simple terms, election exit polls are the poll of voters taken after people exit from voting stations on the day of the election.

During the time of the election, people are eager for information. Pollsters conduct exit polls using voter’s responses about their choices and project how the election turned out even before the ballot reveals the real result. Pollsters are generally private organizations or companies working in association with newspapers and/or media.

Exit polls, unlike opinion polls, gather information on who people voted in favor of instead of who they intend to favor. The pollsters or surveyors approach this direction of poll information because real outcomes may take hours or days to tally. Once the votes are added, the media and newspapers explain the outcome on the grounds of exit polls.

How reliable are Exit Polls?

Exit poll, while primarily used to understand the outcome of election results or predict them, is also used to figure out the reason behind their vote. Exit polls are rendered reliable to collect demographic data of the voters.

Election voting has always been conducted namelessly, but exit polls can confirm who has cast their vote. Exit polls also provide statistical data to understand the voter’s decision on why they cast their vote on the ballot. Also, exit polls have been used for a long time as a rough indicator against any decision misrepresentation and election fraud.

However, exit polls also face issues like the most popular of all, “1992 UK General Election”. The error caused by exit polls in this election was that the poll was predicted to have a hung parliament. Still, after the final result, John Major’s Conservative Party Government held the position.

Exit polls rely on the people who went to the voting station to vote. The surveyors can’t reach those who cast their vote by postal ballot and absentee voting. This often causes a vast difference between exit polls results and final results. Hence, pollsters must consider such factors to gather a more accurate exit poll result.

Functioning of Exit Polls

• The first step in conducting exit polls is to categorize sample size, which races to operate in, and what questions to ask. 
• The organization must also be equipped with a social research survey tool for gathering data and analyzing it.
• The organization will then research the polling station’s location, the voting duration, and what the rules are in those states or districts. 
• Next, the organization allots one or more (depends on the organization) interviewers in each zone from the time polls open until a little before they close. The interviewer conducts the exit polls on the voters. The frequency of how many voters are interviewed depends on the organization. 
• The data gathered by the interviewers are sent to the organization, where they are tallied and sent to broadcasting channels and newspapers.
• The questionnaires in exit polls primarily include questions on demographics, their opinion on candidates, and when they decided to vote. The voters themselves fill out the questionnaire. The questionnaire and exit polls are confidential.

For example, the National Election Pool informs their interviewer to talk to every third or fifth voter. They aim to conduct 100 to 150 interviews. NEP will stop the interviewer three times a day and take the exit polls results to tally them. Edison Media Research conducts exit polls for NEP. 

When NEP conducts their questionnaires, the interviewers are instructed to record visually the age, gender, and race of those who declined to participate. This helps in the tally of the result. The NEP reports the exit polls data after the tallies, refusals, and questionnaires are processed.

Do you want to know how satisfied your employees are with their employment but don't know what to ask them? Don't worry, we're here to assist you.

How satisfied your employees are, depends on several factors such as the workplace, condition of everyday life at their office, their pay, the atmosphere at work, etc.

Ultimately, your employees are the ones who interact with customers on a daily basis and contribute to the success of your organization.

In this blog, we will discuss why you need to conduct an employee satisfaction survey. On top of that, we have provided you with a list of questions you should ask your employees.

Before getting started, let us understand what employee satisfaction actually is.

What is an employee satisfaction survey?

Employee satisfaction surveys are used to assess the degree of satisfaction of its employees with the organization and their jobs. Such surveys are carried out not only to determine how satisfied employees are with their positions but also to determine how dedicated and aligned they are with the company's goals, vision, and aspirations.

It explores how employees perceive business culture, employee growth, colleague relationships, superior recognition, and other significant concerns.

Why do you need an employee satisfaction survey?

Unsatisfied employees may become noxious over time, affecting employee morale, fouling the workplace, and increasing turnover. Employees who feel encouraged and happy are more willing to go far beyond.

Low satisfaction can have a negative influence on an organization's bottom line in a variety of ways. Now, let's look at why you should conduct an employee satisfaction survey:

1. Acknowledging employee skill gaps

Employee surveys are an efficient way for organizations to identify specific employee shortfalls.

Employee surveys, when carried out on a regular basis, assist management in developing training sessions for employees to overcome shortcomings and promote success.

2. Obtain honest and ethical feedback

Source

While procuring feedback, organizations prioritize a greater response rate in order to have more precise data. However, in employee satisfaction surveys, the quality of the information collected is more important than the responses.

With access to high-quality data, management may utilize additional insight to support business decisions and implement modifications to provide the best working atmosphere.

3. Improve employee retention

Source

Another critical objective of carrying out employee satisfaction surveys is to keep employees onboard for a prolonged period of time.

Organizations invest a lot of effort and resources in their employees from the time they are hired until they leave. This explains why losing employees in the initial stages could be overwhelming.

Now that you have learned the need to conduct employee satisfaction surveys. Let us now explore the questions you should ask your employees.

Top 10 Employee Satisfaction Survey Questions

You might have discovered the fact that asking the right questions is vitally important for creating a highly satisfied workforce.

We have created a list of the top 10 employee satisfaction questions. Let’s have a look.

1. Do you think your position permits you to learn new skills?

Employees seek out their own learning opportunities when they believe their employer is not assisting them in avoiding obsolescence. And such learning opportunities are usually found outside of their core firms. This question determines how satisfied your employees are with the training possibilities available at your company.

2. Is your management open to assisting you in completing your work?

Managers should recognize an employee's distinctive skills and give them projects that focus on them. If your survey findings suggest that employees do not feel motivated, you have the evidence you need to call for extra training for them.

3. Do you get along with your coworkers?

Employees spend a substantial amount of time with their coworkers, and therefore they have a major impact on their job satisfaction and inspiration. Being surrounded by passionate and productive people makes work more motivating and enjoyable. This question might reveal communication problems between the employees.

4. Do you agree that you are being fairly rewarded for the position you hold?

While engagement and gratitude are important factors in retaining employees, so does remuneration. Every employee wants to be compensated and enjoy benefits in addition to their income. It's a good idea to include questions about your company's salary and benefits package in your survey.

5. How likely are you to recommend our organization as a wonderful place to work?

Your company's success is dependent on its ability to recruit qualified individuals in a competitive marketplace. Understanding whether or not your workers would endorse your organization is critical, not solely for retention efforts.

However, it also implies that you may reduce the expense of recruiting by encouraging references. It also implies that they are definitely satisfied with employee engagement.

6. Does your management appreciate your opinions?

Employers who do not promote open discussions with their employees or who tend to prioritize the opinions of some employees above others can be a big cause of discontent.

Secondly, it might hinder employees from making a stand about serious concerns and contributing useful ideas. For successful management performance, it's crucial to modify a management style accordingly.

7. Do you consider yourself to have a great work-life balance?

Employee surveys are an effective method for determining the overall level of employee stress. Inquiring about employees' feelings about their current work-life balance might provide useful information. It is a critical aspect of ensuring long-term employee happiness.

8. Where do you see yourself in this organization in the near future?

If your organization has a poor level of engagement, it is unlikely that your employees will be dissatisfied in the long run. As a consequence, engaged workers are convinced that they will be prepared to thrive and grow with the company, ensuring a bright future for both.

Asking this question provides better insights into retention issues and potential turnover.

9. Do you feel your accomplishments are acknowledged?

If your employees do not feel valued and acknowledged, they will often leave your organization. If a survey reveals that employees lack a sense of achievement, you have a chance to prove the real-world worth of your company's work and develop measures that acknowledge the necessary contributions.

10. Is there a clear understanding of the organization's strategic objectives?

Employees that have specific objectives can take the necessary actions to achieve success. If goals and objectives are unclear and yearly performance assessments are unsatisfactory, employees who feel let down by a company's evaluation system may develop bitterness and disappointment.

Key Takeaway

We think that these questions will be extremely beneficial to your organization in terms of employee satisfaction. You need to include a variety of question types to obtain a thorough picture of the retention of employees at your firm.

Segmentation, you may know means grouping of people. Psychographic segmentation likewise means a grouping of people based on the psychological traits that influence their consumption habits. Market research tools can allow analysts to conduct this form of segmentation easily. The segments of customers or consumers are based on their: social class, lifestyle, personality, interests, and so on.Psychographic data can help you give your business a customer-centric image that is relevant for a brand in the market.Psychographic data can be considered the last piece to complete the set of a holistic view of customer’s purchase or consumption behavior. It is conducted by understanding “How” people think about your service and “What” they should buy to reach the “Why” the customer should appreciate your products/service. The psychographic survey takes into consideration the psychological journey of the customer.To measure and predict these patterns the researchers fulfill some basic criteria such as:

• What is the motivation behind customer’s thoughts?
• What are the principles they follow?
• What in fluencies them to make a decision?

Understanding customer’s demands and expectations play a major role in the marketing strategy. As a result, the data can be used as guidance to provide the market with products that are customer-oriented.Therefore, the belief of psychometric segmentation is that understanding the customers would help them to understand your brand.For example, if a Chinese restaurant wants to open a branch they will have to take into consideration several factors. They need to conduct market research to consider the area with a better social circle, the food habit of the neighborhood people, and many more factors. They will put out a survey with questions beneficial for their strategy and then decide their business plan.

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Collection of Psychometric Segmentation Data

Psychometric data is challenging to collect because people are not always willing to tell you everything you want for research purposes. Moreover, you need to dig beyond the obvious data and read between the lines. You need deep insight to understand the psychological functioning of your customers.There are several ways you can collect these data, some are listed below.Survey:

• This is the most common method used by all companies or organizations to understand their consumers. 
• Open-ended questions help in surveys the most as they let customers answer freely. You can use these responses to group your customers and then take action on the suggestions. You can also use a Likert scale to gain data on your customer’s experience. Or, a Semantic differential scale to understand how your customers feel about certain services or concepts.

Third-PartyThis method is quite tricky and may turn out expensive. Third-party implies that you take help from market research companies that can provide you customer data for your market. You can then use the information you require. There are two ways this method functions: focus group and customer interviews.

• • Focus Group: This includes a wide range of responses because the target of this survey consists of people from different backgrounds. The idea behind the focus group is that once a customer responds well to the object/service, they bring in more people with a similar choice.
  • Customer Interviews: These are discussions conducted with customers to collect relevant data based on their opinions. This helps create a balance because it gives you a picture of what right or wrong you are doing in your business.

Cookies

•  Many websites use cookies to track a customer’s journey online. When a customer agrees to the cookie on a website it means they are giving permission to the website to access your personal information. A company can collect psychographic data by tracking the user’s journey and activity on social media, websites, online purchases, and other online platforms. 
• The digital data obtained by this method gives a complete picture of the customer; who they are, what they do online, how much time they spent, their reviews, why they spent time online. This information helps a company build its online presence attractive enough to keep its customers visiting daily.

Variables of Psychometric Segmentation

Exploratory Research Guide

Conducting exploratory research seems tricky but an effective guide can help.Download NowCustomers have a special need and expectation from brands and these demands are based on a certain factor which affects their life. Companies use these factors to promote and capture the attention of their customers in the market. The following are the variables used for marketing strategies.Personality:

• Customer personality is believed to be strongly related to their purchase habit. Products and services can be catered to various personalities. Also, different concepts and surveys can be used to analyze different personalities. 
• For instance, Mirror in 2018 began selling itself as an interactive home trainer. The workshop for the product advertised towards people with the personality of workout-lovers. The customers who can’t find time to go to the gym responded to this business strategy.

Lifestyle:

• Understanding the kind of lifestyle your customers have from their social media activity or keeping track of the trends can help you create a strategy to attract your customers. Such development of products is more successful because they are created based on customer’s lifestyles.
• For example, the “Yuppie Handbook” of the 80s was targeted towards young, urban, and working-class professionals who earned enough to spend on fashion over utility. 

Social Status:

• Social status which is based on the income of one person often is the determining factor of their purchase behavior. Each social class has its choice of brands that they can afford. 
• For example, a brand can aim for rich, upper-class people because their brand has a clear idea of who can afford them. High quality and high price become their brand image, with their audience being upper-class.

Interests:

• The market observes the activities and interests enjoyed by the customers to create customer-centric products or services. Their opinions about a concept are factors that the companies or organization build their marketing strategies around.
• For instance, digital communities are one such example of an interest group. You can find many sites dedicated to particular interests or activities focusing on customers who enjoy such options. You can find websites with movies, music videos, channels with video games, etc. all such websites target audiences who share the same interests.

Values:

• Value is one such segment that catches the attention of the customers. You can track the values of your customers based on the data you have collected about their lifestyles, interest, social class, etc. 
• More and more companies are targeting values related to the environment. Sustainable fashion, furniture, architecture are some examples that are now being advertised as a marketing strategy.

Examples of Psychographic Segmentation

Starbucks Starbucks uses psychographic segmentation while conducting market research as you can see the range of products they sell.For examples,

• Frappuccinos and Sandwiches are catered for those who can’t drink coffee but can spend their time socializing in their stores. 
• Top-quality beans to brew coffee for those customers who like their coffee of premium quality and have a high income. 

Starbucks advertises and appeals to their customers with a high success rate because they use psychographic segmentation.Foot Locker

• Foot Locker uses the psychographic segment of Authority to track and appeal to its customers. The product badges of Foot Lockers are a stamp of approval that drives customer’s purchase behavior. 
• They can use this behavior pattern of their customer who responds to Authority and implement it on their business strategy.

See Voxco survey software in action with a Free demo.Book a Free Demo

See Voxco survey software in action with a Free demo.

Book a Free Demo

Advantages of Psychographic Segmentation

• This market research tool can help you understand the psychological working of the customer’s behavior.
• Segmentation depending on psychographic factors can help customize your business service and products.
• The detailed insights from psychographic segmentation along with geographic and demographical segmentation give you a vividly clear picture of the customer’s attitude.