1. For each of the following marketing problems/situations, identify the appropriate research design(s) (i.e., exploratory, descriptive and/or causal) for the market research study. Some or all of the studies may require more than one research design. Explain your recommendations.
a. When Frito-Lay first entered the Thailand market, Ms. Janjaree Thanma who directed marketing for Frito-Lay in Bangkok, Thailand, was faced with a number of marketing problems. First of all, she had to decide on the flavor for the chips. She was told that the favorite flavors of Thais were prawn and tom yam. However, that did not necessarily mean putting these flavors in the chips. Frito-Lay had learned that lesson in China. Second, she was not sure whether the Thais would accept a Western snack like potato chips. She thought she had better get some information about definite demand before she took over the production plant from the Thai partner and hired 1,500 farmers to grow potatoes for Frito-Lay. (5 points)
For the first question, she should use exploratory method to do the research. First, because the company first entered the market, she has no useful information to base on. Even though she was told that Prawn and Tomyam are the favorite flavors for Thais, this information cannot be made up into an assumption that the two flavor chips would be the potential products. Second, if the prawn chips and Tom Yam chips are not accepted by the audiences, they cannot make conclusion and also decision. She does not know whether Thais do not like the two flavor chips or they do not like chips itself. Third, if the research shows the two flavor chips are good, we cannot know whether other flavors like western ones are better. Thus, she should use exploratory method to do the research. She can get second hand information from all kinds of channels, such as the internet, the existed research report, related professionals, the managers in China (since they have much experience already). In addition, she can ask the company to make several samples of different flavors and let customers try. She can also use focused group to get the real thoughts about how to make a flavor specially caters to Thais. In conclusion, the exploratory helps her get the basic acknowledge of the new market and can effectively choose a good flavor for her.
For the second question, she should use exploratory method to do the research. The reason is similar to the first question. Because the company first entered the market and there is little useful information and experience, it is hard for her to describe questions to do research by descriptive or causal.
b. George Russell, marketing director of customer program at the Walt Disney Company, was about to complete the marketing plan for a family package to be introduced in the coming summer. He believed the package, which includes admission tickets, hotel stays, special meals with Disney characters, and other discounts, should appeal to the target market of families. However, he was still unsure about the pricing of the package and he realized that this was a very important decision. After reviewing some historical data of similar programs, he narrowed down to three pricing options. He knew he would need additional research before he could decide on the final price. The market research department had told him that they had access to a mailing list of the target customers (families) segmented by geographic areas as well as by economic, social, and family status. (5 points)
George should use descriptive method to do the research. Since he has already had three options for price, he just needed to know which price should be better for customers to accept and thus generate the most profit. Also, since he has the mailing list and the other information and experience, he needed not to do the exploratory research. And since he didn’t need to find relationship and impact between elements, causal research is not useful. He can divide the participants into three groups; every group has different people segmented by various elements. The research result can tell him which price can be widely accepted in the market. And he can do the simple calculation, “volume * price = revenue”, to decide which pricing method should be used.
2. Envirosell is a New York based consumer behavior research company that studies the relationships between consumers, products, and commercial spaces. It gathers data primarily through observational techniques. Trackers can be assigned to follow shoppers in stores to observe and record their behavior. Video cameras are used to record customer behavior for later analysis. The information is presented to the client with graphs, maps, and short video clips to allow the client to watch how customers shop and purchase not just the client’s product, but also competitors’ products in the same category.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of Envirosell’s observation techniques as compared with consumer surveys? (5 points)
Advantages:
 Avoid cheating and bias when participants do the survey
 The coverage is much larger than surveys, since the time is flexible and the audiences are randomly chosen.
Disadvantages:
 It is hard to collect, calculate, and analyze the data
 It may be time-consuming to observe the consumers.
 There may be ethical issues since the company surveille consumers without permission
 The observers may interpret the consumers behaviors by their biases, and thus the they may misunderstand the consumers’ real thoughts.
3. When customers purchase a food processor they are directed to a website to register their product to validate their warranty. When they click the link they are asked to complete a survey about their shopping behavior, demographics and customer lifestyle with the following message: “Thank you for completing the questionnaire. Your answers will be used for marketing studies and to help us serve you better in the future. You will also benefit by receiving important emails and special offers about products and services that relate directly to your activities, interests, and hobbies.”

Is this an effective technique for obtaining consumer information? Do you think it is subject to any errors or biases? Explain your answer. (5 points)
It is not an effective technique for obtaining consumer information. Since the audiences were told that they will benefit related directly to their activities, interests, and hobbies, they may not tell the truth but tell lies for the special offers which has the most value. In addition, the survey is in some way forced the consumers to complete, because after register and validate the warranty they yet run into a survey. Last, the timing is not appropriate. Because the consumers will register the product before they use it, how can the customers fill the survey before they experience the product?
4. Coco’s is a chain of restaurants targeting families and the elderly. Some of the restaurants are company-owned while most of them are owned by franchisees. To promote a uniform image of the chain, it is necessary that food and service quality be consistent across the restaurants. The company has designed a program to monitor quality at each of its restaurants on an on-going basis. The program will work as follows. Copies of a questionnaire will be given to customers along with the bills. The questionnaire will ask customers to comment on the food, service, and prices. Completed questionnaires will be picked up by waiters and waitresses and collected by the manager on duty. The questionnaires will be sent to headquarters once a month for processing. Results of the questionnaires will be tabulated and reported for each restaurant. Restaurants whose performances are “out-of-line” will be recorded. Restaurants with poor performance repeatedly may lose their franchise.
a. Will the company be able to achieve its research objective using this survey method? Explain your answer. (4 points)
The company will not be able to achieve its research objective, because who help to do the research have direct benefit to the research result. Thus, the waiters and managers could mislead the customers on their behalf. What is even worse, the waiters and managers can cheat the results by doing the survey themselves or change the surveys collected.
b. How would you correct any problems with the survey method used? (4 points) The company could use online survey to guarantee the authenticity. The headquarter could use computer technics to trace the IP to make sure that the survey will not be cheated by managers.
5. APS, an electric utility company in Phoenix, wished to evaluate the potential residential market for equipment that protects against power fluctuations and outages. The voltage flowing into a home or business occasionally surges or drops, and sometimes goes out completely. Power fluctuation can damage electrical devices or cause them to perform improperly, and power outages cause electrical devices to stop working. Users of electricity can protect themselves from the effects of power outages by buying devices with built-in battery backups, or by buying generators to be used when the power goes out. They can protect their equipment from the effects of power fluctuations by connecting electrical devices to “surge suppressors.” The power company wanted to estimate (1) customers’ current usage of equipment that protects against power fluctuations and outages, (2) customers’ purchase intention of this equipment directly from APS, and (3) the amount that these customers expect to pay for the equipment. To accomplish this goal, the company planned a telephone survey of residential customers with the questionnaire shown at the end of the document (Exhibit 1).

What is your evaluation of the above questionnaire? What changes would you recommend? Please organize your evaluations in terms of:
a. The question content and wording (5 points),
 At the beginning of the conversation, the interviewer should greet first, and ask the customers if they have time to do the survey. The sudden beginning gives their customers a feeling of pushing and left them uncomfortable. I recommend that the interviewer should make the conversation more smooth but not rigid. He can use the word such as, “Hi, good morning”, “could you lend a couple of minutes, I have a few questions to ask you so that we can improve our service”, “I appreciate your help”, etc.
 There is a mistake in question 7, if the answer is NO, he should ask question 8, not 9.
 The first question is unrelated to the objective. No matter where the customers live, the interviewer just needs to know if there is power outage. Thus, the question is useless. My recommendation is to delete it.
 The question 10 ask directly how much do the customers expect to pay for the device is useless. First, it is hard for customers to give a reasonable number. They may just randomly give an answer. Second, they may not tell the truth. To reduce the price, they may answer a lower expectation for price. My recommend is that come up with three prices first and only ask one price to one customer. If he does not accept, ask them the expectation. Since we have three options, we can know which price will work for most of the customers.
b. The sequencing of questions (2 points), and
 The question 4 should be asked first. If the answer is there is no or seldom power outage, the interviewer do not need to ask other questions. My recommendation is that to ask the question 4 first.
c. Its overall ability to collect data to achieve the research objectives. (5 points)
 The telephone survey is not a good way. First, to make phone call is high-cost. Second, the data is hard to collect, arrange, and analyze. Third, through phone, the customers may not be patient to do the survey. Forth, the interviewer cannot see the expression, he may lose some information. My recommendation is that to use online survey or do interview survey.
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6. The Thunderbird Commons is interested in learning more about student perceptions of the food and dining experience there. Create a 10-question survey that utilizes principles of good survey design and includes at least one nominal scale question, one ordinal scale question, one interval scale question and one ratio scale question. Include at least one semantic differential scale question and one Likert scale question.
(10 points)

Commons Survey
Hello, I’m the manager of Commons. We want to know how is our current service and what can we improve.
Please be assured that all information will remain completely confidential and will be used for statistical purposes only.
1. How often do you go to Commons to have meals?
A. Almost every meal
B. Often
C. Seldom
D. Nearly never
2. Which region are you from
A. North America
B. Asia
C. South America
D. Africa
E. Europe
F. Other
3. How much do you pay for every meal?
A. 15+
B. 10 – 15
C. 0 – 9
4. Please indicate how much you like each type of food by checking the appropriate position on the scale. Dislike a lot Dislike Like Like a lot
Chinese ____ ____ ____ ____
Japanese ____ ____ ____ ____
American ____ ____ ____ ____
Mexican ____ ____ ____ ____
Indian ____ ____ ____ ____
5. Please rank the food. (5 is the highest, 1 is the lowest)
____ Stir Fries
____ Sandwich
____ Grill
____ Salad
____ Fruit
____ Soup
____ Pizza
6. Please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with each of the following statements about Commons. Strongly agree Strongly agree
The service is superior 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
The check-out service is quick 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
The price is reasonable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
7. Commons is
Capacious ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ Crowd
Clean ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ Dirty
Convenience ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ Inconvenience
8. Please divide 100 points among these elements to represent the importance.
___ Service
___ Environment
___ Food
___ Convenience
___ Communication
100
9. Of these staffs, who do you like? (Check all that apply)
___ Steven
___ Clint
___ George
___ Michael
___ Lisa
___ Ann
10. What suggestions do you have to help us improve the service?
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
Thank you!