|
Structure
Macromedia Dreamweaver was the software used to design the survey. The instrument included instructions to carefully guide the respondent so as to avoid any errors in answering. Different receptive techniques were utilized throughout, including text fields, a text area, radio buttons, list/menu options or drop-down menus, and checkboxes. The survey had a total of eighteen questions, some of which had many sub-questions. The survey begins with a title page and introductory statement that assures the individual that his or her statements will be kept strictly confidential and that privacy is promised. This page was specifically designed to make the respondent feel at ease and alleviate any apprehensions to taking the survey. There was a total of seven main sections included in the questionnaire with the title page being the first section. Section Two of the survey dealt with top-of-mind awareness and consisted of the Pre-Ad Exposure segment were respondents were asked what their initial attitudes and preferences were towards the various brands of chewing gum brands. In this section subjects were asked to indicate brand favorability for all three gum brands by evenly distributing 10 points according to their likelihood of purchasing. They were restricted to using only whole numbers so as to discourage them from using decimals or fractions. The same questions were asked of two other product categories, breath mints and candy, in order to familiarize respondents with the constant-sum scale format. Section Three of the questionnaire was where the subjects had the chance to view three print ads for each of the three brands of skin moisturizer: Lubriderm, Oil of Olay, and Vaseline. The survey asked the respondents to view the three print ads, but stressed to look at each ad for approximately 15 seconds and to not look back at the ads, seeing as it was unnecessary to remember the ads in detail. This side note was emphasized in order to make later responses as natural as possible. After viewing every advertisement, subjects were asked again to indicate purchase intention concerning only the brands of skin moisturizer. This constant sum-scale question was vital to this consumer preference project because it measured the brand in an ad. From the comparison of pre to post exposure ratings, a change score was created that became vital to later statistical tests. The fourth section deals with attitudes towards the specific brand. First, respondents were asked whether or not there was anything in the ads that made them feel differently about any of the three brands. If the individual answered “yes,” they were asked to answer three more sub-questions, which included an open-ended dialogue box. If they answered “no,” the respondents were asked to skip to question # 5 and continue on with the survey. Next, the participants are asked to indicate how strongly they agree of disagree with certain statements by answering ten five-point Likert items related to brand characteristics. These ten Likert items were asked for each of the three divergent gum brands, with respondents having the option of checking either “strongly agree,” “agree,” “neither agree nor disagree,” “disagree,” or “strongly disagree.” Each radio button was coded as a numeric value for later statistical analyses. Section Five was dedicated to evaluating the print ads and essentially distinguishing whether or not they were liked by the various subjects. For these questions, respondents were asked to check the boxes they felt were an accurate description of the advertised product. A box left unchecked signified the individual did not agree with the one-word descriptors. Section Six evaluated the overall effectiveness of the assorted print ads and the general impression it had on the participants. The same ten evaluative questions were asked for each skin moisturizer, with the questions being more specific and descriptive in order to better assess the efficacy of each print ad. The respondents were asked to answer “yes” or “no” according to how they felt towards the various advertisements and whether or not they agreed with the descriptive question. The last segment of the questionnaire was dedicated to demographic and psychographic information. Respondents were asked a few personal questions regarding gender, age, education level, how often they purchased skin moisturizer, where they purchased it, and why they purchased it. These questions were asked in order to get a more in-depth knowledge of the diverse groups of respondents, letting the researcher know if there are any notable differences between certain sectors of individuals and how they view and react to certain advertised brands. After all questions were completed, participants are then asked to click the “Submit” button at the bottom of the page so as to securely and officially submit their questionnaire. This study is a pseudo-experiment. Instead of having a control group, comparison is made between before and after advertising exposure using the same sample of 60. By subtracting Pre-Ad Exposure Purchase Intention from Post-Ad Exposure Purchase Intention, and change score was calculated. Movement on the constant-sum scale was used to discern differences in brand preferences. The respondents either moved up, down, or stayed the same from pre to post ad exposure. For this specific project, a non-random convenience sample was utilized due to time and monetary constraints. A sample of 60 individuals was found to be a sufficient sample size in order to confidently conduct certain probability techniques and statistical tests. This sample size also allows for enough representation so that if statistical significance is found, the results can be projected onto the general population. The request was in the form of an e-mail sent to acquaintances of the researcher. The email consisted of a short note urging the receiver to complete the survey by clicking on the questionnaire link that directly took them to the survey’s web site. All the data collected was collected in a very short amount of time, starting October 12th and ending on the 26th of October. 83 individuals attempted to complete the questionnaire. 23 participants incompletely filled out the survey, so only 60 respondents were statistically studied. After subjects completed the survey and clicked the “Submit” button, their answers and corresponding field names were immediately stored in an Access database file in the Center for Interactive Advertising, linked via a ColdFusion file. The data received and retrieved was exported into the analytical software system, SPSS, in order to perform various statistical analyses.
|