Part 3: Quantitative Research

Chapter 9: Quantitative Research

What is quantitative research?

• Quantitative  implies quantity  data based on large samples  that allow measurement and
statistical analysis.

• This raises the question  when does qualitative research end and quantitative research begin?

• Statisticians tell us  that when around 30 people have been asked an open-ended question (for
example, why they like or dislike something)  almost all the possible answers will have been
received.

• When  more people are interviewed  there may be  an occasional mention of another factor
but  the main ones  will have been mentioned.

• There is no  hard and fast number of interviews that  separates qualitative and quantitative
research  but we can say  that we are moving into quantitative territory  with sample sizes
greater than 30.

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti

 Part 3: Quantitative Research
Chapter 9: Quantitative Research
Determining the size of the sample

• How big should the sample be in order to be accurate?  In answering this  we first of all 
have to decide how accurate we want the results to be.

• Most market researchers  are happy  with a result  where we can be 95% certain  of what?

that if we repeated the survey again and again  any results

we obtain would be  plus or minus ( +/-)  5% of what would be
achieved  if we interviewed absolutely everybody.

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti

 Part 3: Quantitative Research
Chapter 9: Quantitative Research
Determining the size of the sample

• Working on this assumption  that +/- 5%  is a reasonable level of error  we can now  think
about how many people we should interview.

• Imagine  that we wanted to carry out a survey to determine the attitudes to political leaders among
the
voting population in the US, Ireland and the UK.

In the US there are just over 200 million people eligible to vote.
In the UK the figure is around 45 million and
in Ireland it is just over 3 million.

There is clearly a wide variation in population size in these audiences.

Is this of relevance to us when deciding how many people we need to interview?

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti

 Part 3: Quantitative Research
Chapter 9: Quantitative Research

Determining the size of the sample

• Where a target audience is large  anything over 10.000  the size of the target audience has
little relevance.

• We are not going to take a 10% sample of each of these audiences.

• What we need is  a sufficiently large sample in each country  to give a valid result.

• It is the absolute size of the sample that matters  not the proportion  that the sample is of the
total population.

Read article and comment

Business Research Methods book definitions

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti

 Part 3: Quantitative Research
Chapter 9: Quantitative Research

Determining the size of the sample

• If we wanted to determine  how many people  we should interview in these three countries 
with an accuracy of +/- 5%  we would use a sample size calculator such as the one shown on page
116.
Here we can see
that a sample of
400 people in
each country
would give us an
answer within the
limits of statistical
error that we have
set (ie 95 per cent
certain the result
will be plus or
minus 5 per cent).

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti

 Part 3: Quantitative Research
Chapter 9: Quantitative Research
Determining the size of the sample

Sample Size Calculators

Survey Monkey

Raosoft

CheckMarket

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti

 Part 3: Quantitative Research
Chapter 9: Quantitative Research
Determining the size of the sample -
Definitions

Confidence Level

For example, a survey might report a 95%

confidence level. But what exactly does this mean?
At first glance you might think that it means it’s 95%
accurate. What a 95 percent confidence level is
saying is that if the poll or survey were repeated
over and over again, the results would match the
results from the actual population 95% of the time. A
0% confidence level means you have no faith at all
that if you repeated the survey that you would get
the same results. A 100% confidence level means
there is no doubt at all that if you repeated the
survey you would get the same results.

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti

 Part 3: Quantitative Research
Chapter 9: Quantitative Research
Determining the size of the sample

Example: A recent article Report states that “38% of Likely U.S. Voters now say their health insurance
coverage has changed because of Obamacare”. “The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points
with a 95% level of confidence.”

What about “+/- 3 percentage points”?

The width of the confidence interval tells us more about how
certain (or uncertain) we are about the true figure in the
population. This width is stated as a plus or minus (in this
case,+/- 3) and is called the confidence interval. When the
interval and confidence level are put together, you get a
spread of percentage. In this case, you would expect the
results to be 35 (38-3) to 41 (35+3) percent, 95% of the time.

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti

 Part 3: Quantitative Research
Chapter 9: Quantitative Research
Determining the size of the sample - Definitions

Response Rate: Your response rate is the percentage of people who respond to your survey.

Margin of error: Margin of error tells you how much error surrounds a measure. It's a percentage that
describes how much the opinions and behavior of the sample you survey is likely to deviate from the total
population.

The smaller the margin of error is, the closer you are to having the exact answer at a given confidence
level.

In general, the larger your sample size, the lower the margin of error. The closer your sample is in size to
your population, the more representative your results are likely to be. And that’s why you’ll notice that the
recommended sample size in the table below gets smaller as your tolerance for error gets larger.

For example, let's say we asked 400 people if they have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Barack
Obama and 55% say favorable. Using a 95% confidence level and ±5% margin of error, if we repeated
this survey 100 times under the same conditions, 95 out of 100 times, the response would be somewhere
between 50% and 60%.

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti

 Part 3: Quantitative Research
Chapter 9: Quantitative Research

Determining the size of the sample

• Everyone  within the sample  must have an equal chance of being selected  that is  the
sample must be random.

• Furthermore  if we want to analyze the results  by state  or county  or gender  or any

other demographic  we would lose this level of accuracy.

• If we want  to slice and dice  the data  and look at smaller cells of respondents we would
have to think  about how big those cells of respondents would be.

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti

 Part 3: Quantitative Research
Chapter 9: Quantitative Research

Determining the size of the sample

For example (continuation of the slide 5 example)  if we wanted to look at  male versus female
respondents  and each made up around half of the sample  we would need a sample of 800 in
total  if the sub-samples of males and females are to give us a result where we can be certain they are
plus or minus 5%.

• Researchers  wanting a reasonably accurate view of attitudes, behavior or consumption  in any

country  often choose  a sample size of between 500 and 1,000 respondents  knowing that
this  will give an acceptable result.

• More about sampling methods in Chapter 10.

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti

 Part 3: Quantitative Research
Chapter 9: Quantitative Research

Determining the size of the sample

• It should be clear by now that  that a quantitative survey  begins  with a minimum of 30
questionnaire completes  but more normally 200-plus.

• The ultimate size of the sample  depends on the number of sub-cells  that may need analyzing
 bearing in mind that  we like a minimum of 30 in each cell.

• With this sample size  we have a reasonable degree of confidence  in the result being
representative of the total population.

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti

 Part 3: Quantitative Research
Chapter 9: Quantitative Research

The tools of the quantitative researcher - Face-to-face interviews

• In the early days of market research  almost all surveys  were carried out  face to face  by
interviewers armed with clipboards and questionnaires.

• Some face-to-face interviews  are still appropriate  for example  in shopping malls, at
exhibitions or even in busy streets.

• But  there are only a limited number  of large face-to-face surveys carried out for quantitative
purposes  not only because of the high cost  but also for the security of the interviewers.

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti

 Part 3: Quantitative Research
Chapter 9: Quantitative Research

The tools of the quantitative researcher - Telephone interviews

• In developed countries  as households prospered  and most acquired telephones 

telephone interviews  quickly replaced those carried out face-to-face.

• A 10 / 15 minute interview over the telephone  yields what might take 20 to 30 minutes face to
face  usually for a lower cost.

• However  over the last decade  many householders  have chosen not to be listed in telephone
directories  and so are not available for sampling.

• At the same time  hard-wired phones are rapidly being replaced by mobiles  again removing
potential respondents from the sample frame  as there are no publicly available lists of mobile
phone numbers.

• Today  telephone interviews  account for just over a tenth  of all the interviews  that are
carried out by the industry  and many of these are for business-to-business studies.

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti

 Part 3: Quantitative Research
Chapter 9: Quantitative Research

The tools of the quantitative researcher - Online surveys

• Today  online surveys  have taken over as the  dominant source of quantitative research.

• These self-completion surveys  can be received on mobile phones, iPads and computers.

• They  can be administered quickly and efficiently  in a matter of minutes.

• They have made  significant strides (a long, decisive step)  in reducing the cost and improving
 the speed of completion of quantitative research.

• More about online surveys  in Chapter 15.

Activity: look for platforms where

you can create your online survey

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti

 Part 3: Quantitative Research
Chapter 9: Quantitative Research

The tools of the quantitative researcher - Online surveys

Get paid for completing online surveys

Activity: look for platforms where you can get paid for completing an online survey.

Ranking

Suggestions:

Toluna
Surveyeah
Nicequest

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti

 Part 3: Quantitative Research
Chapter 9: Quantitative Research

What quantitative research is used for

• Most quantitative studies  are sponsored  by private firms or government departments  that
need the insights for their own planning.

• As the word quantitative suggests  this type of research  is used for market measurements.

• These measurements  are required to determine proportions of people:

 who use products (and services),
 who are aware of products,
 to establish which brands are known and which would be considered.

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti

 Part 3: Quantitative Research
Chapter 9: Quantitative Research

What quantitative research is used for

• The data  likely to be used in  some form of analysis  such as  segmenting the market or
determining the likelihood of buying products and services.

• Data  could also feed the assessment  of the size of markets  providing a measurement of
opportunity.

• Nearly  all quantitative studies  will have specific objectives and these could be various such
as:

 guiding decisions on price,

 promotion,
 the channel to market or
 assisting in product development.

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti

 Part 3: Quantitative Research
Chapter 9: Quantitative Research

What quantitative research is used for

• Many quantitative studies  are repeated each year (sometimes more frequently)  in order to
track changes in data.

• These studies  are particularly important  for measuring changes  in awareness to brands
and people’s attitudes to brands.

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti

 Part 3: Quantitative Research
Chapter 9: Quantitative Research

Analyzing quantitative research

• Quantitative research  provides  market researchers  with

raw data  for drawing conclusions and taking action.

• Data  can be presented  showing what proportion of

respondents  gave certain answers.

• This is useful but  not necessarily insightful.

• The data analyst  is looking for links  between different

answers  to see if a relationship exists between two or more

variables.

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti

 Part 3: Quantitative Research
Chapter 9: Quantitative Research

Analyzing quantitative research

• Cross-tabulation  will show the results  for

different groups of respondents  and highlight
variations from the norm.

• Simple XY graphs  are frequently used  to

show the relationship between two questions.

• All the time  the analyst is mindful  that the

measurements must be significant = that is 
in sufficient numbers  to be accurate and
representative of the population as a whole.

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti

 Part 3: Quantitative Research
Chapter 9: Quantitative Research

Analyzing quantitative research

• Market research survey companies  have specialist data processing teams  who can produce
cross analysis tables.

• They have statisticians  who can apply various tests to the data.

• Market analysts  need to be comfortable with numbers  and especially basic programs such as
Excel.

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti

 Part 3: Quantitative Research
Chapter 9: Quantitative Research

Analyzing quantitative research

• In addition to Excel  there are a number of programs  that can be used by the quantitative
market researcher  to analyze the data.

• SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences)  is a widely used program.

• Variations on SPSS  are programs such as  Q, R or SAS which are attuned to the needs of
market research.

• When the data is required for more specific purposes  such as conjoint analysis  software
such as  Sawtooth may be appropriate.

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti

 Part 3: Quantitative Research
Chapter 9: Quantitative Research
Tips

• Quantitative research can be expensive when based on large samples.

• Only carry out the research when you are absolutely sure what questions you want to ask and for
what purpose the answers will be used.

• There are diminishing returns in having a large sample size.

• Doubling the size of a sample from 500 to 1,000 interviews improves the accuracy from plus or minus
4.5% to plus or minus 3.2%.

• Ask yourself whether the extra cost of the larger sample is worth it.

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti

 Part 3: Quantitative Research
Chapter 9: Quantitative Research
Tips

• Look for relationships among quantitative variables to see if they indicate cause and effect.

• Use XY graphs to explore the different relationships between answers to questions.

• Even though you are interested in aggregated responses, it is important to get your hands dirty in the
data and look at line-by-line responses to see if any data stands out as being peculiar or are outliers.

• Learn how to use pivot tables in Excel.

Professor Sol García Tobar - Beratti