How to Manage the Mechanics of Quantitative Research

(Textbook Page 291) 

This unit provides a detailed outline of the roles, qualifications and tasks required to get a marketing research study done once the questionnaire has been finalized.  

The Players (P. 292)

• The field manager oversees the work done at each phase of field operations, including instructing the team, conducting quality checks and ensuring schedules are met. 
• Scripters turn the final questionnaire into a smoothly functioning interview experience by creating the logic and look-and-feel of a digital questionnaire.  The result must function on multiple devices (computers, tablets, phones) and be accurate, efficient and pleasing.
• Interviewers induce respondents to participate and keep them engaged and ensure questions are asked and responses recorded accurately and completely, without bias. 
• Supervisors train and monitor the interviewers to ensure quality interviews.
• When pen and paper questionnaires are used, a Data Entry team enters the responses into a data base, and cleans any erroneous responses. 
• Coders group responses from open-ended questions into categories so the frequency of mentioning specific themes can be tabulated.  Coders can also clean up the language. 
• Data Processing uses the data file and the tabulation plan provided by the researcher to create computer tables that organize the data for analysis. 
• The Marketing Science team creates more advanced types of analysis including segmentation, driver analysis, discrete choice, landscaping maps etc., 

How is Fieldwork Organized? (P. 297) 

The fieldwork process ensures the right people and resources are allocated to the study, all players are aligned, all the tools are accurate, and the process will flow efficiently. 

1. Preliminary checking – the field manager relies on her experience to check the questionnaire for possible comprehension, programming and fielding problems
2. The kick-off meeting brings the researcher and entire fieldwork team together to ensure everyone understands the study’s objectives, process and timelines.
3. The questionnaire is scripted or programmed to create the digital interface interviewers or respondents will see on their screens.  It ensures the right questions show up at the right time in front of the right respondents. 
4. The researcher must then test the digital links, role-playing to go through every possible pathway in the questionnaire to ensure the right questions appear after each response. 
5. Quality checking paper questionnaires also involves role-playing to read through the questionnaire and check that all termination and skipping instructions are in place. 
6. Translation to other languages, if needed, is done once everyone has signed off on the original language version.  The translator must understand questionnaire design principles and be comfortable with local nuances and colloquialisms of the destination language. 
7. Preparing online samples involves selecting potential respondents from a panel or client list who fit the target description.  In telephone interviewing, it may involve a form of random digit dialing; in intercept interviews the field staff will need instructions on how to create the sample themselves. 
8. Pre-testing involves conducting a few interviews before going ahead with the full fieldwork to ensure everything is functioning correctly. A pilot study is a small-scale launch with data processing to ensure the data is being captured correctly. In a digital environment, it is often called a ‘soft launch’. 
9. The invitation to participate may be a simple alert for a panel sample.  If the sample is client-supplied, the invitation might come from the client directly. This unit outlines guidelines for this important initial contact moment. 
10. When the study is in field, researchers will track quotas, order additional sample, troubleshoot if problems arise, and pull trial data runs.  They can also prepare for the next steps.

When interviewers are involved: 
•    An interviewing manual provides administration instructions, sample selection guidelines, general interviewing instructions and respondent management directions. 
•    A field briefing familiarizes supervisors and interviewers with the special requirements of the study and may involve practice interviews.  

How does Data Management Work? (P. 309)

Data preparation can begin as soon as fieldwork starts and responses start to come in.  It moulds the responses into a form researchers can analyze and use to prepare a report. 

1. Cleaning the data is particularly important if working with a pen and paper questionnaire.  A supervisor will watch for gaps or suspicious patterns and may validate by recontacting the respondent.  Data entry errors can be caught with double entry. 
2. Coding open ends requires a coding manual, based on past studies or review of a limited responses.  The researcher reviews the proposed codes to ensure they align with objectives.
3. Data Processing starts with a tabulation plan prepared by the researcher outlining how the data is to be organized in computer tables.  Weighting may be applied to reflect the intended population profile. The tabulation plan specifies what breaks are wanted in the data and identifies specific cross-tabulations between questions.  

Principles and Best Practices (P. 315) 

• We must show respect for the respondent; without them we would not be able to provide the insights our clients need to make effective marketing decisions. 
• We must maintain our respondents’ and clients’ right to security, confidentiality and anonymity. This textbook unit provides guidelines to achieve this. 
• We must avoid unethical practices such as sugging (selling under the guise of research), frugging (fundraising under the guise), push polling (using question flow and wording to change opinions) and lead generation (legal but not the role of marketing research).
• We ensure the quality of the questionnaire’s logic and functionality by putting in place quality control measures such as pre-testing, link testing, soft launches and monitoring returns.
• Interviewers will be monitored to ensure they are doing their jobs properly. 
• If monitoring is not possible, the work of each interviewer will be verified by calling a sample of his/her interviews to ensure they were properly conducted and accurately recorded. 
• Researchers will create a critical path schedule for each study, with feedback from the fieldwork teams and will track it throughout the process, finding solutions to any potential delays as they happen.
• Response rates are monitored, paying attention to the proportions who: 
  • agree to participate (an indicator of the quality of the sample source and incentive), 
  • are dropped off at each phase of screening (ensuring the final results can be projected back to the population) and 
  • complete the full interview (reflecting the relevance of the topic and the quality, length and complexity of the questionnaire,).  

What the Interviewers Should know (P.321) 

Properly trained interviewer will make the respondents understand what is needed of them, ask questions properly and report answers accurately without bias.  They are:

• trained in general principles when first hired, 
• instructed on how to use each questionnaire they work with, and 
• monitored continually to ensure the highest quality.

General principles of interviewing include: 

1.  The interview is a ‘live’ exchange – requiring skills to adapt to each respondent’s particular needs and read each question as if it is being read for the first time. 
2.  The interviewer should understand the intent of the questionnaire and how the questions fit together to make a meaningful interview
3.  An experienced interviewer will understand the respondent’s mindset and strive to build rapport, improving the experience for all and the quality of the data
4.  They would carefully ask closed-ended questions and response options according to instructions and record responses accurately
5.  They would read open-ended questions with great care and accurately capture the true essence of what the respondent says, without interpretation
6.  Probing (“what else?”), when instructed to do so, can push respondents to turn a general response into a more detailed response. Clarification (“What do you mean by…”) can make an answer more precise.
7.  Interviewers must be comfortable asking personal questions without embarrassment or hesitation.