Group Project

PURPOSE OF THIS SECTION Demonstrate how you will address the objectives: The research method to be used and why this method is appropriate The type of participant who will be recruited for the focus groups The types of questions to be asked (question areas) METHODOLOGY PART 1 - OVERVIEW Provide an OVERVIEW (1 slide) that includes: Methodology to be used (focus groups) Rationale supporting methodology selection Number of “units” (e.g. 10 focus groups) and where (location) Rationale supporting location choice Example Overview The methodology that would be used for this research would be focus groups. A total of 16 focus groups would be conducted throughout the GTA. In order to ensure that focus groups consist of a good representation of those living throughout the GTA, it is recommended that 4 focus groups per each of the following GTA areas be conducted: This would permit a good representation of the GTA and not just the downtown Toronto skier/snowboarder, thereby reducing any type of bias with regard to insight collection. Focus groups are recommended since Snow Caps is in the early stages of better understanding the............. Make a link back to the overall objective & business issue. METHODOLOGY PART 2 -Qualifying Respondents Respondent specs are specific and clear. E.g. Specific income – not “middle class”. They are also COMBINATION of multiple variables. Remember that you will have to recruit participants for the research. A SCREENER would be used to that purpose. See Spaghettio example on eCentennial. To develop the right screener, the RESPONDENT SPECS (specifications) are identified at the proposal stage. At the proposal stage, you are identifying the variables that will be used to recruit participants for research. It is important to think of all the different variables that might apply so you can obtain the best participants to address the issue. Developing a Recruitment Screener A survey to screen and recruit the ‘right’ participants for the qualitative research. Needs to: Recruit the right participants being targeted Should not be too narrow (difficult to recruit) or too broad (too general to find any trends or insights from qual research) Target for research should be actionable/relevant for implementation → Can the business use the findings in their strategy and go-to-market plans? Tips: Be realistic. Do not have overly defined, overly complex interacting demographic, product usage and attitudinal characteristics. This starts making it too difficult to find (which means it’s more costly to recruit and takes more time to recruit too). Keep the screener relatively brief. No more than 12-15 questions that establish basic eligibility and participation requirements. Avoid asking questions not directly related to screening criteria. Ask for one variable/characteristic per question. It makes it easier for the recruiter to categorize and screen potential participants quickly, and is less prone to error. E.g. keep questions about marital status separate from number of children, even if looking for a certain household composition Use active verbs and direct questions. Avoid ambiguity. ASK “How often do you buy breakfast cereal?” RATHER THAN “How often are you at the store for breakfast cereal?” Use plain consumer language. Language that can be understood by everyone with a high school degree. Avoid marketing jargon or industry terms. (E.g. Use the term “smart phone” rather than a “WAP-enabled device”.) Group related questions together. Place more sensitive questions for last. E.g. income and cultural background. Typical Screener Questions (These are NOT discussion guide questions) For Gender: [DO NOT ASK/ READ CATEGORIES UNLESS UNCERTAIN]: Which gender would you say you mostly identify with? Male [TERMINATE] Female Non-binary/Tr For Age: What age group do you belong to? Please stop me when I reach your category: Under 18 [TERMINATE] 18-24 [RECRUIT 2-3 PER GROUP] 25-34 [RECRUIT 2-3 PER GROUP] 35-44 [RECRUIT 2-3 PER GROUP] 45-54 [TERMINATE] 55-64 [TERMINATE] 65 and more [TERMINAT] OBTAIN A GOOD MIX OF AGES 18-44 yrs For primary purchaser & user of product: Who in your household usually buys the cleaning products, such as soaps and cleaners, used in your home? [RECORD ANSWER BELOW] I do I share the purchasing decision equally with someone else Someone else does [TERMINATE] Who mainly does the house cleaning in your home? [RECORD ANSWER BELOW] I do I do it equally with someone Someone else does [TERMINATE] For attitudinal questions regarding shopping : What do you look for when shopping for a household cleaner: [READ LIST AND CHECK ALL THAT APPLY:] Lowest price Whatever is on sale or discounted Whatever I have coupons for High quality [TERMINATE IF NOT SELECTED] A brand name A product that has been recommended to me Other [SPECIFY]:__________ The Recruitment Screener: QUOTAS & SELECTING PARTICIPANTS Place major disqualifying items first – questions that could terminate a respondent from participation – as close to the beginning as possible. Go from broad to more specific requirements throughout. Tell the recruiter if you need a tally of who was terminated. Otherwise they won’t keep track and it will be impossible to reconstruct the info if you want it at a later date. Be specific on quota requirements in the screener – so that it is easy for the interview to follow and know if someone qualifies or not for the research. They should not have to refer to a separate set of instructions. Clearly differentiate the instructions to the recruiter from the text to be read/asked potential participants. This is done using square brackets, and text that is bolded and in all caps: [TERMINATE] Some differences between a Qualitative and Quantitative screener to keep in mind QUALITATIVE QUANTITATIVE Very specific. Targeted towards a specific target Fairly broad. Focused on collecting insights from many people who are involved in the category. Focused on recruiting ideal participants for the research. Focused on capturing a large population to understand variances within that large population Longer - 12-15 questions. Brief section, typically 5-7 questions maximum. Additional segmenting questions are at the end of the questionnaire. Phone is preferred to capture creativity and ease of participating in process. Online is the most common method/form – questions and answers are written based on the respondent taking time to read and answer the question themselves. Instructions are for the recruiter. Some questions are ‘read’ and some questions are for the interviewer to record without asking/reading Instructions are for the programmer. Managing “Professional Respondents” You want to avoid leading, and YES/NO questions in the Discussion Guide as well, and instead ask ‘open-ended’ questions that get people to talk. Avoid yes/no questions in the screener – you do not want people to know exactly what you are recruiting for. Be careful with phrasing – avoid leading / prompting questions. Try to phrase questions in a way that get respondents to talk rather than react. Use the response categories only to code the response. This also allows the recruiter to gauge if participant is articulate → AN IMPORTANT QUALIFYING CRITERIA. If a specific product/brand variant is important, ask the participant to go and get the product to see if they can read the information off the label rather than rely on their memory. Check photo identification on the day of the focus groups. METHODOLOGY PART 2 – QUALIFYING RESPONDENTS WHO WILL YOU BE RECRUITING FOR QUALITATIVE RESEARCH? Start to build the profile of the ideal participant. Think of it as layers applying to each respondent. Start broad and narrow down. Mixing customer segments within groups Do you need to set up different groups for different customer segments or do you want to ‘mix’ segments within a group? A focus group’s make-up has a significant impact on findings. Homogeneity within groups helps to highlight trends and differences between groups. But homogeneity isn’t always needed and is a source of added costs. Another option is to set minimums or maximums within a group to ensure focus groups are not homogeneous. Previous knowledge will lead to some expectations/assumptions regarding what type of respondents will differ in opinions or behaviour to guide the process. Examples of possible respondent specs for a household cleaning product. All of these would apply to one study (ie. all respondents recruited for that one qualitative research study would meet all of these criteria): Females, aged 21-49, Mix of ages. Household income – at least $20,000 if single and at least $30,000 if married. Good mix-up to $120,000. Primary purchaser of household cleaning products. Concerned for environment (strong agreement) Notice how these ‘build’ on each other. Notice how some are for ‘within’ a group. So how do we create respondent specs? There are AT LEAST 6 KEY VARIABLES that you need to consider as you are deciding who to recruit/who should qualify as a respondent LOCATION - Always start with location! DEMOGRAPHICS USAGE ATTITUDES PSYCHOGRAPHICS OTHER LOCATION Start with LOCATION first (you have already have referred to the locations in the “Overall” section because this is a key qualifying criteria). This becomes your “base” for how your groups will be organized. Then you select other variables (the other 5 dimensions) that might be important. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO CHOOSE THEM ALL!!! Choose what makes sense and what might influence your project. DEMOGRAPHICS Gender Age Marital status Family composition Income (personal or household??) Education Etc. USAGE Category or brand Current user, lapsed user, non-user Frequency of usage – how often do they use the product, service or brand ATTITUDES Toward the category or the brand – often we exclude those who have no affinity for the category/specific brand; Primary decision maker Primary purchaser PSYCHOGRAPHICS Lifestyle attitudes or values that a person holds dear, (but occasionally is defined as a mix of values and demographics.) Often defined by the client/brand commissioning the research. Examples: Empty Nesters, DIYers, Budget conscious shoppers OTHER Creative & Articulate Standard industry and occupational exclusions Any allergies to the product/category if it is something you ingest (food, beverage) or put on your body (e.g. shampoos, lotions, etc.) Limits on certain types of occupations (E.g. “no more than 2”... unemployed, students, stay at home parents, teachers) REVIEW: Which criteria do you want to use to create separate focus groups, and which criteria do you want to use to have a good mix within a group? For example – do you need 1 focus group of 18-24 year olds, and 1 focus group with 25-34 year olds in each location? Or are you fine with doing 1 focus group with 18-34 year olds, but having a minimum of 3 people 18-24 and a minimum of 3 people 25-34 years old? Example: SNOW CAPS INC - METHODOLOGY The overall objective of this study would be: to better understand the types of photos that would entice Toronto skiers/snowboarders to Snow Caps’ ski resort. METHODOLOGY: Qualifying Respondents It is recommended that a variety of Torontonians throughout the GTA be included in this study. The table that follows outlines the number and composition of GTA respondents Remember: Start with your highest level of classification first – e.g. location (TORONTO ONLY?). If all qualitative research will be conducted in the same city, then go to the next level of classification e.g. perhaps it is demographics (e.g. gender, or age, or user group). Really think about the things that are important to screen your respondents. (They will be built into your Screening Questionnaire and the Screening Questionnaire will be handed off to the recruiters who will recruit your respondents.) Remember – the Qualifying Respondents’ section ALWAYS includes: Creative Articulate No sight/hearing problems Standard Industry and occupational exclusions Typically, the decision maker and perhaps the primary purchaser will also be included in your screening You do NOT need to include every single variable. The more variables you have, the harder and longer it will take to recruit. On the other hand – you want the ideal of the few participants you are recruiting. Ask yourself... Are some specs absolutely needed? Are some specs more “nice to have”? Can I relax some specs to reduce costs or if too difficult to recruit? Are some specs redundant? Or maybe better captured by another variable? What group(s) of target consumers might respond differently/would benefit being in a separate group? Where does this assumption come from? COCA-COLA – CASE STUDY - CLIENT BRIEFING Coca Cola is considering introducing a new pomegranate-flavoured Coke soft drink. Coca Cola wants to obtain reaction to this new flavour concept from consumers in Canada’s three largest soft drink markets, Toronto (GTA), Calgary and Vancouver. These markets consume the greatest volume of soft drinks in Canada, and typically it is teens between the ages of 16 and 18 years, followed by young adults between the ages of 19 and 25 years, who are consuming most of the soft drinks. The new pomegranate-flavoured product is in its early stages of development but two concepts have been developed to describe the product. One concept focusses only on flavor (great refreshing flavor/taste), and the other concept focuses only on the health benefits (very healthy fruits particles (anti-oxidants) included in the drink) of the crushed pomegranate seeds that have been fused into the soft drink. Coca Cola hypothesizes that current medium (drink two to four 12 ounce cans of Coca Cola per week (no more, no less)), regular (not diet) Coca Cola users will really enjoy this drink. But they would also like to know what their competitor’s (PepsiCo) medium consumers of regular Pepsi cola (not light-coloured soft drinks) might think of this new pomegranate-infused Coca Cola product and whether one or both of the concepts might be compelling enough to win Pepsi cola drinkers over to Coca Cola. Coca Cola has indicated that they would like to conduct focus groups and they only require English focus groups for this first stage of research. The Coca Cola R&D department has developed a prototype/sample that respondents can taste during the focus groups. However, the Marketing team at Coca Cola has no idea what to charge for this new flavor of Coca Cola, assuming consumers like it. Is there an opportunity to charge a premium price (versus regular Coca Cola)? The budget (excluding travel) is $160,000 (excluding HST) and client indicated that each group should cost approximately, but no more than, $6,500. Client wants to ensure that all three cities are equally represented with the same types of respondents. Quantifying Respondents

Category: Group Project

Protected: MKTG 758 – Week #3B – The Methodology Section of the Proposal

Protected: Week 2b Research Briefings and Objectives: Proposal Components, Research Objectives

Protected: MKTG 758 – Assignment #1 – The Proposal – Described