Methodologies

Dealing with social desirability response bias in market research

Social desirability response bias is a common problem with market research. Questionnaires often incorporate threatening or sensitive questions, which may lead respondents to adjust their answers so as to appear politically correct or socially acceptable. These notes may help you deal with this particular problem . . .

Cultural differences in response patterns

Are you planning to carry out a survey across different countries? Ever wondered if European respondents are, for instance, more likely to select negative points on a response scale than Americans or Asians? This would, of course, undermine comparability of customer satisfaction across different regions . . .

One size doesn't fit all: designing response scales for your survey

When developing a new survey, one of the tasks is to determine which response scale is most appropriate. These notes for market researchers describe some of the issues and criteria that should be taken into account when choosing the optimal response scale. . .