The research subjects shop only at stores equipped with UPC scanners, and their
purchases are identified by a special card. Respondents are also told that some of the
commercials they see on cable television may differ from those seen by their neighbors.
Buying patterns are then compared. For example, Kashi cereals tested a Crunchy Wheat
promotion using this system. Half of the 5,000 participating homes in one city saw a
commercial announcing the promotion; the other half saw a commercial that did not
mention the promotion. Kashi used scanner data to evaluate the promotion’s success and
offered the commercials nationwide.
In which stage of the marketing research process did the researchers compare the
average sales of Crunchy Wheat for the group that saw the promotion with the average
sales for the group that did not see the promotion?
a. Defining and locating problems
b. Reporting research findings
c. Developing hypotheses
d. Collecting data
e. Interpreting research findings
Although telephone surveys can be conducted very quickly, a major limitation is .
a. the inability to build rapport with respondents
b. the difficulty in asking probing questions to every respondent
c. that only a few companies prefer this survey method
d. that only a small portion of the population likes to participate
e. the high expense involved when compared to in-home interviews and other forms of
surveys