Market Research

In experimental research, categorical variables like a subject's gender or ethnicity are known as ____.

blocking variables

Which type of validity is another way of expressing internal consistency?

convergent validity

Which type of validity addresses the question, "Does my measure correlate with measures of similar concepts or known quantities?"

criterion validity

All of the following are disadvantages of open-ended response questions EXCEPT:

irrelevancy

Demand characteristics can be reduced in a number of ways. Which strategy below is NOT one of these?

Administer multiple experimental treatment levels to each subject.

Using click-through rate as a measure of the amount of interest or attention a Web site is receiving can have disadvantages. Which of the following is NOT a flaw of this method?

It does not adequately measure the number of times an ad is clicked on.

____ is the process of describing some property of a phenomenon, usually by assigning numbers, in a reliable and valid way.

Measurement

____ definitions translate conceptual definitions into measurement scales.

Operational

Which statement about scanner data is FALSE, as compared to standard mail diary panel data?

Scanner data measures are considered to be extremely obtrusive.

When a researcher counts the number of African Americans who have appeared on the cover of Newsweek during the past decade, the researcher is engaging in ____.

content analysis

Which type of analysis obtains data by observing and analyzing what is written and shown in advertisements, newspaper articles, blogs, and the like?

content analysis

When a researcher claims that the results of a test market in Indianapolis, Indiana will hold in a national rollout of the new product, this researcher is claiming ____.

external validity

A Web site designer is interested in how people look at a Web site. Specifically, she would like to know where they look first when a page comes up. Which mechanical device would be appropriate for determining?

eye-tracking monitor

When a group of experts agrees that a measuring instrument measures what it is intended to measure, we say that the instrument has ____ validity.

face

Research projects involving experimental manipulations that are implemented in a natural environment are called ____.

field experiments

All of the following can be measured using ratio scales EXCEPT ____.

gender

John is measuring the amount of time it takes for people to make a choice between two options regarding what to select for lunch to infer the strength of their preferences for one alternative over the other. John is measuring response ____.

latency

The degree to which all information collected in a questionnaire addresses a research question that will help the decision maker address the current marketing problem is the extent to which the questionnaire is ____.

relevant

Observing the comments made by travelers waiting in a check-in line at the American Airlines ticket counter in Chicago is an example of what type of observation?

verbal behavior

The test of an experimental manipulation to intended make sure that the manipulation does produce desired differences in the independent variable is called a ____.

manipulation check

When some subjects stop participating in an experiment before it is completed, affecting the results of the study, a(n) ____ effect has occurred.

mortality

Which of the following is a discrete measure?

nominal scales

Observing the movement of a shopper in a supermarket is an example of what type of observation?

physical actions

All of the following are examples of nonverbal behavior EXCEPT ____.

talking

Using a stopwatch to determine how long customers wait at a drive-through location at McDonald's is an example of what type of observation?

temporal pattern

A set of high school students who take the ACT in their junior year perform better on that exam during their senior year because they know better how to take the exam due to what they experienced on the first exam. This is an example of a(n) ____.

testing effect

_____ are things that people made and consumed within a culture that signal something meaningful about the behavior taking place at the time of consumption

Artifacts

All of the following are directly observable phenomena EXCEPT ____.

attitudes

Measures that can take on only one of a finite number of values are called ____.

discrete measures

All of the following are errors associated with direct observation EXCEPT ____.

entrapment

The group receiving the treatment being studied is called the ____.

experimental group

In ____, the value assigned for a response takes on a value opposite to that normally assigned to the scale labels.

reverse coding

If researcher wish to compare six brands of HDTVs on the basis of quality, how many paired comparisons will be necessary?

15

Which term refers to a treatment combination within an experiment?

cell

What type of question is the following?Which of the following services of the United Missouri Bank, besides your personal checking account, do you currently use? (check all that apply) ______ Savings account ______ Car loan ______ Home mortgage loan

checklist question

Which measure represents the percentage of people who are exposed to an Internet advertisement and actually click on the corresponding hyperlink that takes them to a company's Web site?

click-through rate (CTR)

What is another term for a fixed-alternative question?

closed

Which attitude component represents a person's awareness and knowledge of the matter?

cognitive

If the observer or the mechanical device used to record is obvious to subjects, the observation is said to be ____.

visible

Which experimental research design involves repeated measures?

within-subjects design

The manager of a shopping mall records the counties listed on the license plates on cars parked at the mall in order to determine where the shoppers come from. This is an example of ____ observation

direct

A question that poses some problem or topic and asks respondents to answer in their own words is called a(n) ____.

open-ended question

Can you name five brands of tires?" is a(n) ____ question.

open-ended response

Which of the following provides correspondence rules that indicate that a certain value corresponds to some true value of a concept?

scale

A researcher gave Juanita a bar-coded card that she gives to the checkout clerk at the grocery store. The code number is linked to purchase information recorded by the scanner. Juanita is participating in a(n) ____.

scanner-based consumer panel

Which characteristic is a key difference between ratio and interval scales?

absolute zero

`A(n) ____ is a single characteristic or fundamental feature of an object, person, situation, or issue

attribute

"I plan to buy a new DVD player sometime in the next three months" is an aspect of which component of an attitude?

behavioral

Age, gender, brand loyalty, and corporate culture are all examples of ____.

concepts

Which type of measure reflects the intensity of a concept by assigning scores that can take on any value along some scale range?

continuous measure

An airline passenger who is really an employee of the airline complains loudly about not being served a vegetarian meal so that he can note the responses of the flight attendant. This is an example of ____ observation.

contrived

A questionnaire that collects information that is valid is said to be ____.

accurate

All of the following measure physiological reactions EXCEPT ____.

at-home scanning systems

In which type of scale is a neutral point, or point of indifference, at the center of the scale?

balanced

All of the following are experimental design elements EXCEPT for the ____.

manipulation of the dependent variable

"I hate asparagus" is an example of which component of an attitude toward asparagus?

affective

When a respondent is asked whether he agrees, disagrees, or has no opinion to a series of statements, what type of scale is being used?

non-forced-choice

Clara is a market researcher who records shoppers' movement through a grocery store. What method of research is Clara using?

observation

A respondent is given a set of 3" x 5" with the current advertising slogan for a brand or product on each card. The respondent is asked to place the cards into two piles: one for the slogans that she recognizes and can name the brand or product and the other for slogans she does not recognize. This is a ____ task.

sorting

Measuring the distance visitors stand from a painting in a Van Gogh exhibit at the St. Louis Art Museum is an example of what type of observation?

spatial relations

It is possible to directly observe ____.

expressive behavior

Observing a person's television viewing habits is an example of which type of observation?

physical actions

A researcher measures the reliability of an instrument by comparing the results of the odd-numbered questions with the results of the even-numbered questions. What type of reliability is being assessed?

split-half

If the sampling units in an experimental cell are somehow different than the units in another cell, and this difference affects the dependent variable, ____ may occur.

systematic error

When the subject is unaware of being observed in a shopping mall, the observation is said to be ____.

unobtrusive

In a certain study, different interviewers are used in a pretest from those used in the posttest and this produces different results in the study. This is an example of a(n) ____.

instrumentation effect

Experimental results that show that consumers purchased more when a store had bright blue lights than they did when the store had bright orange lights. However, when the lighting was low, there was no difference between blue and orange lights. This illustrates a(n) ____.

interaction

Having observers record the brand names of items found in the kitchen pantries of consumer panel members involves the observation of ____.

physical objects

When the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry measures the popularity of its children's exhibits by the frequency of tile replacement in front of exhibits, it is using what type of observation?

physical-trace analysis

A researcher is conducting an experiment in which one group of people is exposed to one advertisement and another group is exposed to another advertisement. Specifically, he is examining the effect of headline font sizes on consumers' attitude toward the brand advertised. The participants in this experimental research are referred to as ____.

subjects

When a change in the wording of questions, a change in interviewers, or a change in other procedures causes a change in the dependent variable, a(n) ____ effect has occurred.

instrumentation

The question as to whether the independent variable was the sole cause of the change in the dependent variable is the basic issue in ____.

internal validity

Which type of effect is a function of time and the naturally occurring events that coincide with growth and experience?

maturation effect

Observing traffic patterns at a busy intersection with cameras is an example of what type of observation?

spatial relations and locations

Which experimental design involves manipulating a single independent variable to observe its effect on a single dependent variable?

basic experimental design

When the person administering experimental procedures influences the subjects' behavior or sways them to slant their answers to cooperate with him or her, ____ has occurred.

experimenter bias

Compared to open-ended response questions, fixed-alternative questions:

require less interviewer skill

In which experimental research design does each subject receive only one treatment combination?

between-subjects design

Which type of measure assigns a value to an observation based on a mathematical derivation of multiple measures?

composite measure

Which of the following refers to concepts measured with multiple variables?

construct

When a researcher analyzes commercials appearing during Saturday morning cartoons, the researcher is engaging in ____.

content analysis

A food company tests a new product by having one group of subjects taste their own product first and then taste a competitor's product second, while a second group of experimental subjects tastes the competitor's product first followed by the company's own product. Which type of experimental design is being used?

counterbalanced

The change in the dependent variable that occurs because members of one experimental group experienced different historical situations than members of other experimental groups is called a(n) ____.

cohort effect

Which term refers to an alternative explanation beyond the experimental variables for any observed differences in the dependent variables?

confound

When a competitor introduces a 15 percent price cut in order to blunt the effect of a test marketing study, a ____ effect has occurred.

history

Which of the following is an indicator of a measure's internal consistency?

reliability

Monica is conducting an experiment in which all subjects see all of the ads she is testing. This type of experiment, in which an individual subject is exposed to more than one level of an experimental treatment, is called a ____ design.

repeated measures

A researcher is measuring consumers' attitudes toward product placement in movies using five attitude items. She created a scale by simply adding up the responses to each item making up the composite measure. This composite measure is called a(n) ____.

summated scale

Which term means that subjects in all experimental groups are exposed to identical conditions except for the differing experimental treatments?

constancy of conditions

A respondent is asked: "How often, on the average, do you go out to a movie?" and is asked to indicate her answer by circling one of the following: never, rarely, sometimes, often, or very often. This is best described as a(n) ____ scale.

category

A person's weight is best described as being measured on a(n) ____ scale.

ratio

Salespeople are tested one year after a sales training program and perform better on the exam, not because of the training program, but because they have gained one year's experience in sales. Which type of effect has occurred?

maturation effect

When Walgreen's uses cables across the road as "traffic counters" to determine the density of traffic near a possible retail store location, what type of observation is being used?

mechanical observation

Dichotomous and multiple-choice alternatives in fixed-alternative questions should not have overlap among categories. That is, the categories should be ____.

mutually exclusive

Caroline is participating in an experimental study in which she is taking an herbal supplement and the researcher measures her perceived energy levels for several weeks. Although she doesn't know it, the supplement she is given in the study does not contain the herb of interest. However, Caroline feels as though she has more energy than before, and she attributes it to the herbal supplement. This effect is called a(n) ____.

placebo effect

Which device measures involuntary changes in the electrical resistance of the skin?

psychogalvanometer

A researcher can equally distribute the effects of extraneous variables to all conditions in an experiment by using ____.

randomization

A respondent is given a list of four local shopping malls and asked to put them in order, from the one he most likes to shop at to the one he least likes to shop at. This is a(n) ____ task.

ranking

Which type of scale is regarded as the highest form of measurement?

ratio