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There are many ways to get information.
The most common research methods are: literature
searches, talking with people, focus groups, personal
interviews, telephone surveys, mail surveys, email
surveys, and internet surveys.
A literature search involves
reviewing all readily available materials. These
materials can include internal company information,
relevant trade publications, newspapers, magazines,
annual reports, company literature, on-line data bases,
and any other published materials. It is a very
inexpensive method of gathering information, although it
often does not yield timely information. Literature
searches over the web are the fastest, while library
literature searches can take between one and eight weeks.
Talking with people is a good way to
get information during the initial stages of a research
project. It can be used to gather information that is not
publicly available, or that is too new to be found in the
literature. Examples might include meetings with
prospects, customers, suppliers, and other types of
business conversations at trade shows, seminars, and
association meetings. Although often valuable, the
information has questionable validity because it is
highly subjective and might not be representative of the
population.
A focus group is used as a
preliminary research technique to explore peoples ideas
and attitudes. It is often used to test new approaches
(such as products or advertising), and to discover
customer concerns. A group of 6 to 20 people meet in a
conference-room-like setting with a trained moderator.
The room usually contains a one-way mirror for viewing,
including audio and video capabilities. The moderator
leads the group's discussion and keeps the focus on the
areas you want to explore. Focus groups can be conducted
within a couple of weeks and cost between two and three
thousand dollars. Their disadvantage is that the sample
is small and may not be representative of the population
in general.
Personal interviews are a way to get
in-depth and comprehensive information. They involve one
person interviewing another person for personal or
detailed information. Personal interviews are very
expensive because of the one-to-one nature of the
interview ($50+ per interview). Typically, an interviewer
will ask questions from a written questionnaire and
record the answers verbatim. Sometimes, the questionnaire
is simply a list of topics that the research wants to
discuss with an industry expert. Personal interviews
(because of their expense) are generally used only when
subjects are not likely to respond to other survey
methods.
Telephone surveys are the fastest
method of gathering information from a relatively large
sample (100-400 respondents). The interviewer follows a
prepared script that is essentially the same as a written
questionnaire. However, unlike a mail survey, the
telephone survey allows the opportunity for some opinion
probing. Telephone surveys generally last less than ten
minutes. Typical costs are between four and six thousand
dollars, and they can be completed in two to four weeks.
Mail surveys are a cost effective
method of gathering information. They are ideal for large
sample sizes, or when the sample comes from a wide
geographic area. They cost a little less than telephone
interviews, however, they take over twice as long to
complete (eight to twelve weeks). Because there is no
interviewer, there is no possibility of interviewer bias.
The main disadvantage is the inability to probe
respondents for more detailed information.
Email and internet surveys are
relatively new and little is known about the effect of
sampling bias in internet surveys. While it is clearly
the most cost effective and fastest method of
distributing a survey, the demographic profile of the
internet user does not represent the general population,
although this is changing. Before doing an email or
internet survey, carefully consider the effect that this
bias might have on the results.
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