Market research glossary

Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) is an interview method where the interviewers talk face-to-face with the respondents but follow an electronic script with built in routing on a tablet computer, typing in the respondent’s answers to each question as the interview proceeds. CAPI can be more efficient in terms of data entry than traditional pen and paper techniques and ensures that the correct question (based on the respondent’s previous answers) is always presented to the interviewer.

A Projective Technique that involves the respondent viewing a cartoon dialogue with two speech bubbles. One of the speech bubbles is empty for the respondent to fill in their answers.

Computer Assisted Self Interviewing (CASI) is an interview method where the interviewee communicates directly with a computer instead of the interviewer. Online surveys are a form of CASI, although the term is more commonly used in situations where respondents attend a central location (e.g. to view, taste or smell a product) and then complete a survey about it on a tablet computer.

Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) is an interview method where the interviewers call the respondents and follow an electronic script with built in routing, typing in the respondent’s answers to each question as the interview proceeds. The routing ensures that each respondent is always asked the correct questions based on their previous answers.

A survey in which a computer telephones respondents and asks pre-recorded questions, which they answer using a touch-tone phone or by giving a short answer. Nowadays it is more common to conduct these surveys by sending the questions as text messages to the respondent’s mobile phone.

Research designed to find out if changes in one variable causes a change in another variable, for example, how the amount of advertising that a person sees for a particular brand influences their likelihood of purchasing  that brand.

A mass collection of data from members of the population of interest.

A virtual space where an online focus group takes place. Individuals discuss a topic online, usually through instant text messaging.

Choice modelling is a technique used in market research to understand the consumer decision-making process. It involves offering participants a choice between a number of different bundles of attributes a product may have (such as price, brand etc) and asking the participant to choose the bundle they prefer. This gives businesses the knowledge of which attributes consumers prefer to build a more appealing product.

A form of interpreting where the interpreter sits alongside moderator and whispers a simultaneous interpretation of what is being said. The term comes from the French word for “whispering”.

The client is the sponsor of a research project. Clients will often reach out to an experienced market research agency, such as FieldworkHub International, to conduct fieldwork on their behalf.

A type of question where the respondent has a set of predefined answers to choose from. See also Open Question.

A statistical method which is used to group similar objects into categories retrospectively. Cluster analysis is often used to identify psychographic segments.

A sampling approach where the clusters of the population are separated into units (for example, households may be separated by income level or household structure). Respondents are then typically selected at random from each unit.

A qualitative research technique in which customers work together (with each other, with a moderator or with representatives of the client conducting the research) to solve a problem, improve a product or service, or develop aspects of a brand.

All professional market research societies have a code of conduct that outlines the rights and responsibilities of those involved in a research project. FieldworkHub complies with the Market Research Society’s Code of Conduct which can be found here: www.mrs.org.uk/standards/code_of_conduct and ICC/Sommar code of conduct which can be found  here: www.esomar.org/uploads/pdf/professional-standards/ICCESOMAR_Code_English_.pdf

The translation of respondent answers into a form which is easy to analyse, such as numerical codes. Open-ended questions in quantitative surveys, where respondents may have used different words to express similar concepts, are often processed in this way.

Short-cuts in thinking that lead people to make imperfect decisions. Human decision-making is heavily influenced by past experience, emotional predisposition, social influence or cognitive limitations. This is helpful in the sense that it enables us to avoid being overloaded by the volume of information that is available to us, but can lead us to make poor choices, particularly in unfamiliar situations. Well-designed market research will typically aim to minimise the impact of cognitive bias.

Research in which each participant is shown two or more products or concepts and asked to compare them, as opposed to Monadic Testing where each participant is shown a single product or concept.

Market research carried out to evaluate competitors to understand their strengths and weaknesses, market positioning and strategies. Competitor analysis typically includes an element of secondary research (i.e. desk research) but can also make use of primary research methodologies such as mystery shopping, interviews with competitors’ customers and interviews with former employees of competitors.

The starting point of the creative process which acts as a stimulus for the product, service, advertising and/or pack designs.

Research based on respondent reactions to the description of a product or service as opposed to the actual product or service itself. Concept tests can be used in either qualitative or quantitative studies to enable clients to determine if the description of a product or service has enough merit to be pursued, as well as highlighting changes that need to be made before further development takes place.

A confidence level refers to the probability of the gathered data from market research being accurate. A confidence level of 95% is the widely accepted margin of error for most research projects. Factors that can affect confidence level include the sample size used and variability of demographics within a group of participants.

Confirmation bias is what happens when an individual seeks out patterns of data to support their own preconceived ideas or beliefs. This can lead to flawed conclusions and reinforces ineffective strategies.

The qualitative research approach of recruiting respondents with conflicting attitudes, values or beliefs in relation to a specific topic. These interviews aim to explore a topic from different perspectives while unlocking subject matter, exploring the strength of the issues and opinions held and finding common ground between different attitudinal or behavioural groups of consumers.

A survey-based statistical technique which provides a quantitative measure on how respondents value different features of a product or service.

A form of interpreting where the interpreter speaks in the gaps between speech, e.g. the moderator asks a question and pause while the interpreter translates it, the interviewee then replies and pauses while the interpreter translates the answer. This form of interpreting is often used in Depth Interviews, particularly if the moderator, interviewee and interpreter are all sitting in the same room or on a video link with a single audio channel. See also Simultaneous Interpreting.

Consumer market research involves gathering and analysing data on consumers of products or services. The type of data gathered helps businesses to understand their customer’s needs, preferences and behaviours, ultimately leading to better product development and more effective marketing campaigns.

In market research, consumer profiling involves gathering data about a business or organisation’s customers to create a profile representing demographics, preferences, and purchasing habits. Profiles can be created for both ideal and current customers for businesses to use as a guide for marketing, strategy development and product development that suits the needs of the customer.

A type of software used in qualitative research. It counts the number of times key phrases/words are used in a conversation.

Observing market research participants in a controlled setting (as opposed to Ethnographic Market Research, which aims to observe participants in a natural setting).

This is a non probability-based sampling technique which involves selecting respondents based on who is the most accessible at the time.

AI-driven chatbots and virtual assistants that engage users in human-like dialogue. They are used in surveys, customer support, and market research interviews.

The process of determining the level of understanding, impact, awareness, and credibility that particular advertising or marketing copy generates. The term originates from print advertising but today copy testing is most commonly used in online marketing since the medium allows for very fast and accurate testing of different copies.

During the process of quantitative data analysis, cross tabulations (cross tabs) are used to examine responses to one question relative to responses to one or more other questions (e.g. to identify how different age groups answer particular questions in a different way). Cross-tabs allow researchers to quickly and clearly identify the results of the research conducted and pick out key themes or stories.

A method of market research that involves two or more countries or across two or more cultural or ethnic groups.

Journey mapping visually captures customers’ processes, needs and perceptions throughout their interaction and relationship with a given brand. The customer journey map is used to visualise the end to end customer journey across all touchpoints between the customer and the organisation. This is potentially from initial awareness through to contact, purchasing, after sales support, and then renewal or repurchase. The map helps clients to look at how their customers actually experience their brand versus how the brand thinks customers do.

Also known as Customer Experience (CX) Research. A quantitative market research tool used to identify levels of customer satisfaction in relation to various aspects of a product or service. A customer satisfaction survey generally relates to customer experience and includes ways to measure the respondents’ overall satisfaction, likelihood to re-commission a service company or return to the same store or brand to buy a product and their willingness to recommend the service, product or brand to others (see Net Promoter Score).

A method which is used to analyse qualitative data. The original data is cut and pasted into sections of a table relating to the various research topics.