CHAPTER 8: OBSERVATION Observation in Marketing Research Scientific Observation o systematic process of recording behavioral patterns of people, objects, and

d occurrences as they are witnessed o researchers witness and record information while watching events take place or take advantage of some tracking system, which can observe and provide data o can provide insights to marketers o advances in observation technology provides a view of what is happening in the consumers brains o tool for scientific inquiry serves as a formulated research purpose planned systematically recorded systematically and related to general propositions rather than simply reflecting a set of interesting curiosities subjected to checks or controls on validity and reliability A. What can be observed? Observational Studies o allows the gathering of a wide variety of information about behavior o phenomenon

Physical Action (a consumers movement pattern in a store) Verbal Behavior (statements made by the consumers) Expressive Behavior (facial expressions, tones of voices and other forms of body language) Spatial Relations and Locations (how close a consumer stands to a good)

Temporal Patterns (how long a consumer is willing to wait for service) Physical Objects (what brand name items consumers buy) Verbal and Pictorial Records (bar codes on product packages) Observation Method o may be used to describe a wide variety of behavior o cognitive phenomena (attitudes, motivations, preferences, etc.) cannot be observed Observation Research o cannot provide an explanation of why a behavior occurred or what actions were intended o shorter period because several days or weeks would be too costly or impossible B. The Nature of Observation Studies Marketing Researchers o observe people, objects, events, or other phenomena Human Observation o best suits a situation or behavior that is not easily predictable in advance of research Mechanical Observation o can very accurately record situations or types of behavior that are routine, repetitive, or programmatic NOTE: Human and Mechanical Observations are generally unobtrusive (no communication with a respondent takes place therefore data is gathered without a subjects knowledge) Visible Observation o observers presence is known to the subject Hidden Observation o subject is unaware that observation is taking place o hidden, obtrusive observation minimizes

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respondent error advantages of observation over survey (obtain self-reported data from respondents) o data are free from distortions, inaccuracies, or other response biases die to memory error, social desirability bias, etc. o data are recorded when the actual behavior takes place

Observation of Human Behavior Observation Studies emphasize and allow for the systematic recording of nonverbal behavior nonverbal behavior (facial expressions, body language, etc.) can be a communication process by which meanings are exchanged by individuals observation of nonverbal communication may hold considerable promise for the marketing researcher in certain observation studies, verbal expression is very important A. Complementary Evidence individuals true feelings facial expressions or head nods supplement information from interviews conducted behind a one-way mirror when focus group behavior is videotaped, observation of the nonverbal communication symbols can add even more to marketers knowledge of the situation B. Direct Observation straightforward attempt to observe and record what naturally occurs can produce detailed records of what people actually do during an event observer makes no attempt to control or manipulate a situation, instead merely records what occurs an observation form helps keep researchers observations consistent and ensures that they

record all relevant information certain data may be obtained more quickly or easily (gender, race, and other respondent characteristics that can simply be observed) Response Latency o choice time recorded as a measure of the strength of the preference between alternatives o used as a measure of the strength of preference o based on the hypothesis that the longer a decision maker takes to choose between two alternatives, the closer the two alternatives are in terms of preference a. Errors Associated with Direct Observation o observer may record events subjectively o visual cues may influence the interplay between interviewer and respondent o Observer Bias distortion of measurement resulting from the cognitive behavior or actions of a witnessing observer o accuracy may suffer if the observer does not record every detail that describes the persons, objects, and events in a given situation o interpretation of observation data example: facial expressions and other nonverbal communication may have several meanings b. Scientifically Contrived Observation o Contrived Observation observation in which the investigator creates an artificial environment in order to test a hypothesis can increase the frequency of occurrence

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of certain behavior patterns C. Combining Direct Observation and Interviewing during or after in-depth observations, individuals are interviewed to explain their actions D. Ethical Issues in the Observation of Humans respondents right to privacy some people see contrived observation as entrapment (to deceive or trick into difficulty, which clearly is an abusive action) questions researchers should ask themselves before collecting observational data o Is the behavior being observed commonly performed in public where it is expected that others can observe the behavior? if yes, there is no violation of privacy o Is the behavior performed in a setting in which the anonymity of the person being observed is assured (meaning there is no way to identify individuals)? if yes, there is no violation of privacy o Has the person agreed to be observed? if yes, gathering of data is ethical Observation of Physical Objects Physical-trace Evidence o visible mark of some past event or occurrence counting of garbage cans at the run of the twentieth century done by Charles Coolidge Parlins o observation can be compared with the results of the surveys o can correct for overreporting consumption of items and underreporting of items count and record physical inventories through retail or

wholesale audits (from marketing research suppliers) o allows researchers to investigate brand sales on regional and national levels, market shares, seasonal purchasing patterns, etc. advantages o to discover information a respondent could not recall accurately o to avoid untruthfulness or some other form of response bias

Content Analysis systematic observation and quantitative description of the manifest content of communication obtains data by observing and analyzing the contents or messages of advertisements, newspaper articles, television programs, letters, etc. used to investigate questions such as whether some advertisers use certain themes, appeals, claims, or deceptive practices more than others Mechanical Observation primary means of observation is mechanical rather than human video cameras, traffic counters and other machines help observe and record behavior A. Television Monitoring computerized mechanical observation used to obtain television ratings system for estimating national television audiences examples o People Meter (gather data about the viewing of television shows at home) and Portable People Meter (gather data about the radio and television signal codes received) by Nielsen Media Research o TiVo digital television recorder (gather data about

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the viewing of advertisements) by PreTesting Company B. Monitoring Through Website Traffic gathering data about online behavior is easier and inexpensive challenges o to identify which measures are meaningful o to interpret the data correctly Hits o mouse clicks on a single page of a website o if a visitor clicks on many links, the page receives multiple hits Page Views o single, discrete clicks to load individual pages of a website o more conservatively indicate how many users visit each individual page on the website o may be used to track the path or sequence of pages that each visitor follows a. Click-Through Rates o percentage of people who are exposed to an advertisement who actually click on the corresponding hyperlink to enter the website o click-through rates are generally very low o flaws of hits and page views hits do not differentiate between a lot of activity by a few visitors and a little activity by many visitors (researcher lacks information about the meaning behind the numbers) some hits are likely made by mistake o the highest click-through rates tend to occur on pages displaying search results o does not indicate whether online clicks are as valuable in terms of sales

C. Scanner-Based Research this technology allows researchers to investigate questions that are demographically or promotionally specific investigates the different ways consumers respond to price promotions and the effects of those differences on a promotions profitability Scanner-based Consumer Panel o type of consumer panel in which participants purchasing habits are recorded with a laser scanner rather than a purchase diary o obtains background information about the household data from scanner research parallel data with some improvements o the data measure observed (actual) purchase behavior rather than reported behavior (recorded later in a diary) o substituting mechanical for human record-keeping improves accuracy o measures are unobtrusive, eliminating interviewing and the possibility of social desirability or other bias on the part of respondents o more extensive purchase data can be collected, because all Universal Product Code (UPC) categories are measured o the data collected from computerized checkout scanners can be combined with data about advertising, price changes, displays, and special sales promotions At-home Scanning Systems o systems that allow consumer panelists to perform their own scanning after taking home products, using handheld wants that read

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UPC symbols makes it possible to investigate purchases made at stores that lack in-store scanning equipment D. Measuring Physiological Reactions four major categories of mechanical devices o Eye-tracking Monitor mechanical device used to observe eye movements come eye monitors use infrared light beams to measure unconscious eye movements data are analyzed by computer to determine which components of an advertisement were seen and which were overlooked based on the principle that adrenaline is released when the body is aroused o Pupilometer mechanical device used to observe and record changes in the diameter of a subjects pupils changes in the pupil size may be interpreted as changes in cognitive activity that result from the stimulus based on the assumption that increased pupil size reflects positive attitudes toward and interest in advertisements o Psychogalvanometer device that measure galvanic skin response measures the involuntary changes in the electrical resistance of the skin based on the assumption that physiological changes accompany emotional reactions to advertisements, packages, and slogans o Voice-pitched Analysis o

physiological measurement technique that records abnormal frequencies in the voice that are supposed to reflect emotional reactions to various stimuli does not require the researcher to surround subjects with mazes of wires or equipment devices assume that physiological reactions are associated with persuasiveness or predict some cognitive response disadvantages o calibration sensitivity, of measuring devices o devices are expensive o physiological measurement if coincidental o subjects are usually placed in artificial settings (they know that they are being observed)

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