Term
|
Definition
| a structured questionnaire given to a sample of a population and designed to elicit specific information from respondents |
|
|
Term
| Structured Data Collection |
|
Definition
| use of a formal questionnaire that presents questions in a prearranged order |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the ability of the survey mode to effectively and efficiently reach the units specified in the sample |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the percentage of the total attempted interviews that are completed |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The tendency of the respondents to give answers that might not be accurate but that might be desirable from a social standpoint |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the error due to the interviewer not following the correct interviewing procedures |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a survey for which the questionnaire is transmitted by a fax machine to respondents. The respondents can then return the completed questionnaire by faxing it to a designated (toll-free) number or, sometimes, by mail |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A large and nationally representative sample of households that have agreed to periodically participate in mail questionnaires, product tests, and survey research |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Bias that arises when actual respondents differ from those who refuse to participate in ways that effect the survey results |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Coupons, money, or some other incentive to participate that is included with the survey or questionnaire |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Coupons, money, or some other incentive to participate that is sent only to those respondents who complete the survey |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the recording of behavioral patterns of people, objects, and events in a systematic manner to obtain information about the phenomenon of interest |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| an observational research strategy in which human observers record the phenomenon being observed as it occurs |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a special form of personal observation in which the researcher is immersed in the system under study |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| an observational research strategy in which mechanical devices, rather than human observers, record the phenomenon being observed |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the study of human behavior in its natural context that involves observation of behavior and setting along with depth interveiws |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| when the occurrence of x increases the probability of the occurrence of y |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a condition for inferring causality that requires that a cause, X, and an effect, Y, occur together or vary together as predicted by the hypothesis under consideration |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the process of manipulating one or more independent variables and measuring their effect on one or more dependent variables, while controlling for the extraneous variables |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| variables that are manipulated by the researcher and whose effects are measured and compared |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| individuals, organizations, or other entities whose response to independent variables or treatments is being studied |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| variables that measure the effect of the independent variables on the test units |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| variables, other than the independent variables, that influence the response of the test unit |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| involves randomly assigning test units to the experimental and control groups. It is one of the most common techniques used to control for the effect of extraneous variables on the dependent variable |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the group exposed to the manipulated independent variable |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the control group is not exposed to the independent variable manipulation. It provides a point of comparison when examining the effects of these manipulations on the dependent variable |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the set of experimental procedures specifying (1) the test units and sampling procedures, (2) independent variables, (3) dependent variables, and (4) how to control the extraneous variables |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a measure of accuracy of an experiment. It measures if the manipulation of the independent variables, or treatments, actually caused the effects on the dependent variable(s) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a determination of whether the cause-effect relationships found in the experiment can be generalized |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| (extraneous variable) specific events that area external to the experiment but that occur at the same time as the experiment |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| (extraneous variable) attributable to changes in the test units themselves that occurs with the passage of time |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| (extraneous variable) involves changes in the measuring instrument or in the observers or scores themselves |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| (extraneous variable) occurs when test units with extreme scores move closer to the average score during the course of the experiment |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| (extraneous variable) attributable to the improper assignment of test units to treatment conditions |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| (extraneous variable) attributable to the loss of test units while the experiment is in progress |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a method of controlling extraneous variables that involves randomly assigning test units to experimental and control groups by using random numbers. Treatment conditions also are randomly assigned to experimental groups |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a method of controlling extraneous variables that involves matching test units on a set of key background variables before assigning them to the treatment conditions |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a method of controlling extraneous variables by measuring the extraneous variables and adjusting for their effects through statistical methods |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a method of controlling extraneous variables that involves using specific experimental designs |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| designs that do not control for experimental factors by randomization |
|
|
Term
| True Experimental Designs |
|
Definition
| experimental designs distinguished by the fact that the researcher can randomly assign test units to experimental and control groups and also randomly assign treatments to experimental groups |
|
|
Term
| Quasi-Experimental Design |
|
Definition
| designs that apply part of the procedures of true experimentation, while lacking full experimental control |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| designs that allow for the statistical control and analysis of external variables |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a pre-experimental design in which a single group of test units is exposed to a treatment, X, and then a single measurement on the dependent variable is taken |
|
|
Term
| One-group Pretest-posttest design |
|
Definition
| a pre-experimental design in which a group of test units is measured twice, once before and once after the treatment |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a pre-experimental design in which there are two groups; the experimental group, which is exposed to the treatment, and the control group. Measurements on both groups are made only after the treatment, and test units are not assigned at random |
|
|
Term
| Pretest-posttest Control Group Design |
|
Definition
| a true experimental design in which the experimental group is exposed to the treatment but the control group is not. Pretest and posttest measures are taken on both groups. Test units are randomly assigned |
|
|
Term
| Interactive Testing Effect |
|
Definition
| an effect in which a prior measurement affects the test unit's response to the independent variable |
|
|
Term
| Posttest-only control group design |
|
Definition
| a true experimental design in which the experimental group is exposed to the treatment but the control group is not and no pretest measure is taken. Posttest measures are taken on both groups. Test units are randomly assigned |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a quasi-experimental design that involves periodic measurements on the dependent variable for a group of test units. Then, the treatment is administered by the researcher or occurs naturally. After the treatment, periodic measurements are continued in order to determine the treatment effect |
|
|
Term
| Multiple Time Series Design |
|
Definition
| a time series design that includes another group of test units to serve as a control group |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A statistical experimental design used to measure the effects of two or more independent variables at various levels and to allow for interactions between variables |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| an artificial setting for experimentation in which the researcher constructs the desired conditions |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| responses given because the respondents attempt to guess the purpose of the experiment and respond accordingly |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| an experimental location set in actual market conditions |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| an application of a controlled experiment done in limited, but carefully selected, test markets. It involves replicating the planned national marketing program for a product in test markets |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| carefully selected parts of the marketplace that are particularly suitable for test marketing |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| after the experiment, the process of informing test subjects what the experiment was about and how the experimental manipulations were performed |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the assignment of numbers or other symbols to characteristics of objects according to certain prespecified rules |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the generation of a continuum upon which measured objects are located |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| refers to the unique labels or descriptors that are used to designate each value of the scale. All scales possess description |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the relative sizes or positions of the descriptors; it is denoted by descriptors such as greater than, less than, and equal to |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the absolute differences between the scale descriptors are known and can be expressed in units |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a unique or fixed beginning or true zero point on a scale |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a scale whose numbers serve only as labels or tags for identifying and classifying objects. WHen used for identification, there is a string one-to-one correspondence between the numbers and the objects |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a ranking scale in which numbers are assigned to objects to indicate the relative extent to which some characteristic is possessed. Thus, it is possible to determine whether an object has more or less of a characteristic than some other object |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a scale in which the numbers are used to rank objects such that numerically equal distances on the scale represent equal distances in the characteristic being measured |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| this is the highest level of measurement. It allows the researcher to identify or classify objects, rank-order the objects, and compare intervals or differences. It also is meaningful to compute ratios of scale values |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| scaling techniques in which there is direct comparison of stimulus objects with one another |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| scaling techniques in which each stimulus object is scaled independently of the others |
|
|
Term
| Paired Comparison Scaling |
|
Definition
| a comparative scaling technique in which a respondent is presented with two objects at a time and asked to select one object in the pair according to some criterion. The data obtained are ordinal in nature |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a comparative scaling technique in which respondents are presented with several objects simultaneously and asked to order or rank them according to some criterion |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a comparative scaling technique in which respondents are required to allocate a constant sum of units, such as points, dollars, chits, stickers, or chips, among a set of stimulus objects with respect to some criterion |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| one of two types of scaling techniques in which each stimulus object is scaled independently of the other objects in the stimulus set |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a measurement scale in which respondents rate the objects by placing a mark at the appropriate position on a line that runs from one extreme of the criterion variable to the other |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a measurement scale that has numbers and/or brief descriptions associated with each category. The categories are ordered in terms of scale position |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a measurement scale with five response categories ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree" which requires the respondents to indicate a degree of agreement or disagreement with each of a series of statements related to the stimulus object |
|
|
Term
| Semantic Differential Scale |
|
Definition
| a 7-point rating scale with end points associated with bipolar labels that have semantic meaning |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a scale for measuring attitudes that consists of a single adjective in the middle of an even-numbered range of values |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the ability to detect subtle differences in the attitude or the characteristic being measured |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a scale with an equal number of favorable and unfavorable categories |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a rating scale that forces the respondents to express an opinion because a "no opinion" option is not provided |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a scale consisting of multiple items, where an item is a single question or statement to be evaluated |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a specific type of concept that exists at a higher level of abstraction that do everyday concepts |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| affects the measurement in a constant way and represents stable factors that affect the observed score in the same way each time the measurement is made |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| measurement error that arises from random changes that have a different effect each time the measurement is made |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the extent to which a scale produces consistent results if repeated measurements are made on the characteristic |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| an approach for assessing reliability in which respondents are administered identical sets of scale items at two different times under as nearly equivalent conditions as possible |
|
|
Term
| Alternative-forms Reliability |
|
Definition
| an approach for assessing reliability that requires two equivalent forms of the scale to be constructed, and then measures the same respondents at two different times using the alternate forms |
|
|
Term
| Internal-consistency Reliability |
|
Definition
| an approach used to assess the reliability of a summated scale and which refers to the consistency with which each item represents the construct of interest |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| aa form of internal-consistency reliability in which the items constituting the scale are divided into two halves, and the resulting half scores are correlated |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a measure of internal-consistency reliability that is the average of all possible split-half coefficients resulting from different splittings of the scale items |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the extent to which differences in observed scale scores reflect true differences among objects on the characteristic being measured, rather than systematic or random errors |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a type of validity, sometimes called face validity, that consists of a subjective but systematic evaluation of the representativeness of the content of a scale for the measuring task at hand |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a type of validity that examines whether the measurement scale performs as expected in relation to other variables selected as meaningful criteria |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a type of validity that addresses the question of what construct or characteristic the scale is measuring. An attempt is made to answer theoretical questions of why a scale works and what deductions can be made concerning the theory underlying the scale |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a measure of construct validity that measures the extent to which the scale correlates positively with other measures of the same construct |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a type of construct validity that assesses the extent to which a measure does not correlate with other constructs from which it is supposed to differ |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a type of validity that assesses the relationship between theoretical constructs. It seeks to confirm significant correlations between the constructs as predicted by theory |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a structured technique for data collection that consists of a series of questions, written or verbal, that a respondent answers |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a single question that attempts to cover two issues. Such questions can be confusing to respondents and can result in ambiguous responses |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| initial questions in a questionnaire that screen potential respondents to ensure they meet the requirements of the sample |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| open-ended questions that respondents answer in their own words |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Questions that prespecify the set of response alternatives and the response format. A structured question could be multiple-choice, dichotomous, or a scale |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a respondent's tendency to choose an alternative merely because it occupies a certain position on the page or in a list |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a question that gives the respondent a clue as to what the answer should be |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Bias resulting from some respondents' tendency to agree with the direction of a leading question |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| information that relates directly to the marketing research problem |
|
|
Term
| Classification Information |
|
Definition
| socioeconomic and demographic characteristics used to classify respondents |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A strategy for ordering questions in a questionnaire in which the sequence starts with the general questions, which are followed by progressively specific questions, in order to prevent specific questions from biasing responses to general questions |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| questions used to guide respondents or interviewers through a survey by directing them to different spots on the questionnaire depending on the answers given |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| in questionnaire design, assigning a code to every conceivable response before data collection |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the testing of the questionnaire on a small sample of respondents for the purpose of improving the questionnaire by identifying and eliminating potential problems before using it in the actual survey |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| objects that possess the information the researcher seeks and about which the researcher will make inferences |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the aggregate of all elements, sharing some common set of characteristics, that comprise the universe for the purpose of the marketing research problem |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a complete enumeration of the elements of a population or study objects |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a subgroup of the elements of the population selected for participation in the study |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the collection of elements or objects that possess the information the researcher seeks and about which the researcher will make inferences |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the basic unit containing the elements of the population to be sampled |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a representation of the elements of the target population. It consists of a list or set of directions for identifying the target population |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| sampling techniques that do not use chance selection procedures, but that instead rely on the researcher's personal judgment and/or convenience |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the level of uncertainty about the characteristic being measured. Greater precision implies smaller sampling error |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a sampling procedure in which each element of the population has a fixed probabilistic chance of being selected for the sample |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the number of elements to be included in a study |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a nonprobability sampling technique that attempts to obtain a sample of convenient elements. The selection of sampling units is left primarily to the interviewer |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a form of convenience sampling in which the population elements are purposively selected based on the judgment of the researcher |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a nonprobability sampling technique that is a two-stage restricted judgmental sampling. The first stage consists of developing control categories or quotas of population elements. In the second stage, sample elements are selected based on convenience or judgment |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a nonprobability sampling technique in which an initial group of respondents is selected randomly. Subsequent respondents are selected based on the referrals or information provided by the initial respondents. This process may be carried out in waves by obtaining referrals from referrals |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a probability sampling technique in which each element in the population has a known and equal probability of selection. Every element is selected independently of every other element, and the sample is drawn by a random procedure from a sampling frame |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a probability sampling technique in which the sample is chosen b y selecting a random starting point and then picking every 'n'th element in succession from the sampling frame |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a probability sampling technique that uses a two-step process to partition the population into subpopulations, or strata. Elements are selected from each stratum by a random procedure |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a two-step probability sampling technique. First, the target population is divided into mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive subpopulations called clusters. Then, a random sample of clusters is selected based on a probability sampling technique, such as simple random sampling. For each selected cluster, either all the elements are included in the sample or a sample of elements is drawn probabilistically |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a common form of cluster sampling in which the clusters consist of geographic areas, such as counties, housing tracts, blocks, and so forth |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the rate of occurrence of persons eligible to participate in the study expressed as a percentage |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the percentage of qualified respondents who complete an interview. It enables researchers to take into account anticipated refusals by people who qualify |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the number of completed interviews divided by the number of eligible respondents in the sample |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a basis for classical statistical inference that is bell shaped and symmetrical in appearance. Its measures of central tendency are all identical |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a summary description of a fixed characteristic or measure of the target population |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a summary description of a characteristic or measure of the sample that is used as an estimate of the population parameter |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the desired size of the estimating interval and is the maximum permissible difference between the sample statistic and the population parameter |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the range into which the true population parameter will fall, assuming a given level of confidence |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the probability that a confidence interval will include the population parameter |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the error due to the particular sample selected being an imperfect representation of the population of interest |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the distribution of the values of a sample statistic computed for each possible sample of a given size that could be drawn from the target population under a specified sampling plan |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the process of generalizing the sample results to the population results |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| as the sample size increases, the distribution of the sample mean of a randomly selected sample approaches the normal distribution |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the standard deviation of the sampling distribution of the mean or proportion |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the number of standard errors that a point is away from the mean |
|
|
