Discussing Surveys, Purpose, Unbiased Data & Planning

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What is the purpose of a survey?

A survey is conducted as a way of gathering information for participants. They come in a few different forms - you can ask people a survey over the phone, you can ask those questions on a face-to-face basis, you can email them a survey to answer over the computer, you can stop people walking through a mall to ask them questions. The possibilities are endless.

Why do a survey? Well, one of the main reasons we would conduct a survey is to gain knowledge of a specific topic or situation. For example, you might have had an idea or hypothesis, and would like to gain information on the topic. You might administer a survey to people, in order to assess their opinion in the topic. Examining the results of their survey, you can then understand the phenomena!

Surveys might be used in a formal way to scientifically validate data collected from a large group of people in a controlled setting, or it could be used informally just to gather information from a few participants on their thoughts or feelings. Surveys could be conducted by research scientists, by market researchers, or by an individual.

Three examples of surveys:

1) A company has just launched a new flavor of iced tea in the market. They predicted that sales would be phenomenal; however, the reality is that sales are only minimal. They are stumped as to why the product is not selling well. They decide to conduct a survey to find out more information as to why this occurred.

The company contracts a market research firm, who has a large database of consumers who frequent grocery stores. They decide to do telephone surveys, and call the consumers to ask them of their opinions.

The company decided to formulate a survey to understand what was going on the market. They asked questions such as: brand awareness (are people aware of their new iced tea), purchase habits (do they normally buy iced tea? have they bought this new iced tea?) purchase intentions (would they buy the product in the future, and why...)

The purpose of this survey is to gain insight into the consumer's thoughts and experiences. The results of the survey would yield valuable info. For example, if the survey results show that people were not even aware of the product then they can use this to formulate their marketing strategy. However, on the other hand, if people say that they saw the product, but has no intention to purchase it because it is too expensive, then the company needs to rethink their pricing strategy.

The ultimate purpose of the survey is to gain information as to why the product is not selling, and to try to rectify the problem.

2) It has been hypothesized that babies who are good eaters will sleep better then picky babies. A survey is sent out to thousands of parents nationwide, asking them questions on their kids eating and sleeping habits. The survey is sent out via email to parents. It is beneficial to conduct this via email so that they can answer the questions at their own leisure.

The purpose of this survey ...