Primary market research methods
Questionnaires and surveys
A questionnaire is a set of questions used to collect information. A survey is the process of collecting that information from a sample of people using the questionnaire — so the questionnaire is the tool, and the survey is the activity of handing it out, gathering the answers and looking at what they show.
For example, the owner of a new indoor climbing wall wants to know whether teenagers and parents in the town would pay to use it. They write a questionnaire, then survey 60 people leaving the local leisure centre.
Types of question
The type of question you choose decides what kind of answers come back.
| Question type | What it does | Example | Data collected |
|---|---|---|---|
| Closed | Fixed answers, often yes or no | Have you ever climbed indoors? Yes / No | Quantitative |
| Multiple-choice | Pick one from a list | Which wall would you use most? Bouldering / Roped / Children's wall | Quantitative |
| Scaled | Rate something on a numbered scale | How likely are you to visit? 1 = very unlikely, 10 = very likely | Quantitative |
| Open | Answer in your own words | What would make you visit more often? | Qualitative |
Question wording matters too. Asking “Don't you agree the wall should open late?” pushes people towards yes, so the answers become unreliable. A questionnaire can mix open and closed questions to gather numbers and opinions together.
Advantages
- Low cost, and one questionnaire can gather and combine answers from many people.
- When done online there is no printing or distribution cost, responses arrive immediately, known customers can be targeted (for example by emailing a mailing list) and results are collated and analysed automatically.
Disadvantages
- People may skip questions, or give inaccurate answers to look good or to finish quickly.
- Questionnaires are often ignored, so response rates are low.
- Answers come from a sample, so a small or poorly chosen group can give results that do not represent the wider market — 60 answers from one leisure centre will not tell the owner about the whole town.
Surveys can be carried out in person, such as at a weekend sports event, or remotely through digital channels such as a QR code printed on a poster.
Practise this
Cambridge National Enterprise & Marketing · 2.2 Primary market research methods