P

Package Test A test that measures consumer reactions to a package or label.
Paired Comparison Evaluation A study or part of a study in which respondents compare two or more test stimuli (eg products, concepts or labels etc) according to some criterion such as preference.
Paired Comparison Scale A type of comparative scale where respondents are presented with two alternatives and they are asked to choose which they prefer (according to a criterion).
Paired Depth see friendship pair interview.
Pairwise Deletion A treatment of survey data where only the completed questions are analysed, ie partially complete responses are not excluded from the analysis.
Pan-cultural Analysis The collection of data from different countries (or cultural units) and analysis of the aggregated data.
Panel Conditioning A form of systematic error that occurs when panel participants change their behaviour (that is being observed) as a result of being part of the panel.
Pantry Check see home audit.
Parameter A summary measure used to describe a group of people or objects that is based on data from all units in the group.
Parametric Test A test that involves metric data (ie data from interval or ratio scales that can be analysed statistically).
Partial Correlation Coefficient A statistic that is calculated to measure the association between two variables after controlling (or adjusting) for the effects of one or more additional variables.
Participant A general term covering anyone who is involved in a research study and not just someone who is interviewed, eg in an observation study or a group discussion.
Pearson Coefficient see product moment correlation coefficient.
Penetration The proportion of a population of interest that has accepted a product or an idea in some way. It is always expressed as percentage.
People Meter (aka Audimeter) An electronic device attached to a TV set that monitors which programmes are watched by whom.
Perceptual Mapping An analysis technique that is designed to demonstrate how consumers view a concept or brand relative to the alternatives. Perceptual maps can be constructed from different types of analysis, eg Factor analysis, correspondence analysis and multi-dimensional scaling.
Periodicity A cyclical variation in a characteristic being measured. Periodicity can lead to a bias in systematic sampling when the period of the cycle coincides with the sampling interval being used. Also : Frequency of occurrence of a phenomenon.
Personal Interview When respondents are questioned face-to-face by an interviewer. The interviewer may cover any topic. The personal interview can be conducted in the respondent's home, place of business or at a central location facility. These interviews can be long or short depending on the topic to be discussed. Exhibits are often used in this approach to aid the respondent in answering questions.
Personalisation Technique A projective technique where participants are asked to ascribe "personality-type" traits or characteristics to an object or idea.
Personal Observation When human beings record the behaviour of interest or events taking place.
Persuasion A copy testing measure intended to indicate the motivating ability of an ad, by subtracting the proportion of respondents choosing the test brand prior to ad exposure (or in an unexposed control group) from the proportion choosing it after exposure. It is the net shift in brand choice from unexposed to exposed.
Pictograph A type of graph that uses pictures or symbols to display the data.
Pictorial Scale A type of scale where the intervals are represented by a sequence of pictures or diagrams, eg smiling faces (as opposed to numbers or words).
Pilot Testing see pre-testing.
Placement Test see home use test.
Plausibility Sample Type of non-probability sample where the sample is chosen because it appears plausible that sample units are representative of the population of interest, although there is no evidence to support this assumption.
Population of Interest (aka Target Population or Ideal Population) The group about whom the researcher wants to know more and from whom a sample will be drawn.
Population Mis-specification Error A type of non-sampling error caused by incorrectly defining the population of interest for a survey and either excluding or including certain types of respondents, eg limiting a survey to previous consumers of a product (and not asking the views of those who have not tried it).
Pop-up Survey A questionnaire that appears on the screen of a web site visitor. The term can also be used to refer to an invitation to participate in a survey. Pop-up surveys are usually triggered by a mechanism of some form, eg after a pre-defined period of time, or after so many visitors to a web page.
Position Bias see order bias.
Postal Survey see mail survey.
Post-test An evaluation of advertising after it has been run in the media.
Post-test Only Control Group Design A type of true experimental design where test units are randomly allocated to an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group is exposed to a treatment and both groups are measured afterwards.
Power The probability that a hypothesis testing procedure will lead to a rejection of a null hypothesis that is false. The power is one minus the probability of committing a Type II error, ie 1-b.
Precision Level A measure of the spread of a confidence interval. The narrower the interval, the higher the level of precision.
Pre-coded Questions see Closed-ended Questions.
Pre-codes The numbers printed on a questionnaire for data entry and tabulation purposes. For closed-ended questions, the numbers can be circled as the answer.
Pre-coding The assignment of codes to close ended questions before the fieldwork of a survey is carried out.
Predictive Validity is the degree to which a measured marketing phenomenon at one point in time is able to predict another marketing phenomenon at a future point in time.
Pre-experimental Design is an experimental design where randomisation procedures are not used to control for external variables. Examples of pre-experimental designs are: one-shot case study, one group pre-test/post-test and a static group.
Preference Test is a test where research participants are asked to compare a number of products or services and express their preferences.
Pre-measurement Error see pre-testing bias.
Pre-recruited Participants are consumers or business professionals who are contacted (by telephone, mail or in person etc) and invited to participate in a research study scheduled for a future date and time, provided they qualify. People who agree and are eligible are often compensated for their participation in the research.
Pre-selected Sample see pre-recruited participants.
Pre-teen (aka Tweenager or Tween) Young persons aged around 8 to 12, who do not consider themselves to be a child, but they are not yet a teenager.
Pre-test Used to refer to two different activities. A pre-test is where a questionnaire is tested on a (statistically) small sample of respondents before a full-scale study, in order to identify any problems such as unclear wording or the questionnaire taking too long to administer. A pre-test can also be used to refer to an initial measurement (such as brand or advertising awareness) before an experimental treatment is administered and subsequent measurements are taken. In this sense a pre-test can also be called a base line, benchmark or pre-wave.
Pre-testing (aka Pilot Testing) In pre-testing the questionnaire is tried on a (statistically) small group of respondents to identify any unforeseen problems such as the wording or flow of the questions.
Pre-testing Bias (aka Pre-measurement Error or Main Testing Effect) is when the pre-testing in an experiment has a systematic effect on the main experimental results, regardless of what happens between the measurements.
Pre-test Manipulation Interaction Bias (aka Interactive Testing Effect) is present when the pre-testing in an experiment heightens participants' sensitivity and makes them behave in a systematically different way during the experiment that prevents the results being generalised to a population of interest (ie it reduces external validity).
Pre-test - Post-test Control Group Design An experimental design where test units are randomly allocated to an experimental group and a control group. Both groups are measured before and after the groups are exposed to an experiment.
Pre-wave see base line.
Pricing Research A research that aims to determine how demand varies with changes in price.
Primary Data are data that are collected specifically for a current research project.
Primary Purchaser is the person responsible for 50% or more of the household grocery purchases.
Probability Proportionate to Size An approach used in cluster sampling where the clusters have widely differing numbers of units in them. Clusters are selected with a probability proportional to the number of units in them. The units within each selected cluster are then sampled with a probability inversely proportional to the number of units, so that the probability of selecting each unit from the selected clusters is equal.
Probability Sample A sampling technique where all units in the population of interest have a known and non-zero chance of being selected. Examples of probability samples are: simple random, Systematic, Stratified and Cluster.
Probing is the asking of additional questions to encourage a respondent to enlarge on a particular answer or opinion so that their answer can be further understood by the researcher.
Processing Error A type of non-sampling error caused during the processing of the data. Examples include the incorrect entry of data and incorrect assignment of values.
Product Image is the impression created about the characteristics of a product or service. These may be perceived or real attributes and they can be conveyed through communications, packaging or personal experience.
Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (r) (aka Correlation Coefficient) is a statistic that is calculated to determine whether a linear relationship exists between two metric variables and it takes values between -1 and +1 (depending on the degree of the relationship). A negative value indicates that the variables move in opposite directions and a positive value indicates that they move in the same direction. A value of 0 indicates that there is no linear relationship (although there may be a non-linear relationship).
Product Placement Test Refers to two types of tests: a home use test, where participants evaluate products in their own homes or in a natural usage context. It can also refer to a test where products are placed on retail shelves to observe the rate of sale.
Professional Respondent A respondent who regularly attends group discussions, whose views may well not be typical of the intended respondents.
Profile General term that covers the description of a population of interest (or a sub-group) according to certain characteristics. For example a demographic profile describes consumers in terms of their age, gender, life-cycle stage and occupation.
Projective Techniques (aka Enabling Techniques) A form of disguised questioning that encourage participants to attribute their feelings, beliefs or motivations to another person, object or situation. Examples of projective techniques are word association, sentence completion and thematic apperception tests.
Prompted Awareness (aka Aided Awareness) Percentage of respondents who claim to have seen something (eg a brand or an advert) after having been shown some form of stimulus material.
Prompting A technique where respondents are made aware of the possible answers to questions by an interviewer either reading them out or showing some material during the research.
Prompt Material Any material that is shown to participants in research projects.
Proportionate Stratified Sample A type of probability sample where the probability of a unit being selected from a stratum is proportional to the number of units in the stratum.
Proposal An outline of how marketing research data could be collected and used to solve a specific problem. Proposals are normally written by research suppliers and they usually are divided into the following sections: background, objectives, methodology, costing and timings.
Proprietary Techniques Research techniques that are considered to be the intellectual property of a research supplier.
Pseudo Research A research that is carried out for reasons other than to reduce the risk in a resource-allocation decision.
Psychodrawing A projective technique where participants are asked to attach abstract notions such as colours, shapes or symbols to objects.
Psychographics Quantified psychological profiles of individuals, based on their attitudes and behaviour.
Purchase Intentions A measure of respondents' attitudes towards buying a particular product or service.
Pupilometer A device used to measure the dilation of a participant's pupil in response to a visual stimulus.
Purchase Panel see consumer panel.
Purposive Sample see quota sample

Q

Qualified Refusal is where a respondent is eligible to take part in the research study, but for some reason refuses or is unable to complete the study.
Qualified Respondent see eligible respondent.
Qualitative Research involves the use of unstructured exploratory techniques (such as group discussions and in-depth interviews) that are based on statistically small samples in order to investigate a problem further.
Quality Control refers to a set of procedures to ensure that interviewers follow the directives provided by the sampling plan.
Quantitative Research involves the collection of (statistically) large samples of quantitative data and usually some form of statistical analysis. Quantitative research is often used to validate the findings from qualitative research.
Quasi-experimental Design is a type of experimental design that applies some but not all of the procedures of a true experiment and lacks full experimental control. Examples of quasi-experimental designs are: time series and multiple time series.
Questionnaire a structured technique for collecting data consisting of a series of questions. Questionnaires can be self-completion or administered by an interviewer, they can be completed orally or in writing.
Questionnaire Administration is the process of asking questions and recording the answers. A self-administered questionnaire is completed by the respondent and not administered by an interviewer.
Quintiles are a set of four values that divide the total frequency into five equal parts.
Quota is the total number of interviews to be completed by a data collection company. Quotas may also be defined by market, by product, by respondent profile by interviewer or by rotation etc.
Quota Sample (aka Purposive Sample) is a type of non-probability sample where the required numbers of units with particular characteristics are specified.
Quota Sheet is a form used to track completed interviews in a study. It is normally used by the supervisor.
Q-Sort Scaling is a type of comparative scale where respondents are asked to sort between 60-90 objects (usually) into piles according to some criteria. It is a useful technique for sorting relatively large numbers of objects quite quickly.

R

Random Digit Dialing is a method of reducing sampling frame error and involves the use of randomly generated numbers for a telephone survey, instead of relying on telephone directories or other lists of numbers that may exclude certain types of consumers.
Random Error is an error that affects measurements in an unpredictable way due to random chance changes or differences.
Randomization involves the use of random chance to assign experimental units to different treatments.
Randomized Block Design is a type of statistical experimental design where units are blocked (or grouped) on the basis of one external variable to ensure that the experimental and control group are matched on that variable.
Random Sample see probability sample.
Random Sample see simple random sample.
Random Sampling Error is the error caused by a particular sample not being representative of the population of interest due to random variation.
Range is a measure of variability that is the difference between the largest and the smallest value in a set of values.
Ranked Scale see ordinal scale.
Rank Order Scaling (aka Ranking) is a type of comparative scale where respondents are presented with a set of objects and they are asked to rank them first, second, third etc according to a criterion. Each rank is only used once.
Ranking see rank order scaling.
Rating is a procedure used to evaluate an idea, product, advertisement etc where respondents are asked to select one response from a scale to indicate the degree of their opinion.
Rating Scale see scales.
Ratio Scale is a type of interval scale with a zero point, which represents an absence of the characteristic being measured. The data from ratio scales can be analyzed statistically (which is not possible with data from nominal or ordinal scales).
Raw Data refers to data before analysis or weighting.
Reach is the proportion of a specified television audience or universe that have been contacted by an advertisement at least once.
Reactive Bias is a type of experimental error where participants in an experiment change their normal behaviour as a direct result of the experimental conditions.
Readership is the number of people who read a particular publication and it is not necessarily related to its circulation. Example, more than one person in a household may read the same copy of the magazine or newspaper.
Recall Interview see call-back.
Recall Measurement (aka Recall Test) is a type of post-test that investigates respondents' ability to recall something they may have read, heard or seen. Recall measurements can be taken without or with the benefit of some form of stimulus material - see spontaneous and prompted awareness.
Recall Test see recall measurement.
Recommendations are suggested courses of action or an assessment of the relative strengths and weaknesses of particular courses of action.
Reconvened Group Discussion refers to two group discussions with the same participants that are separated by a period of time.
Recruiting is the inviting of selected participants (who meet specific eligibility criteria) to take part in a research project. The work is undertaken by a field recruiter (often just referred to as a recruiter).
Referral Sample see snowball sample.
Refusal refers to respondents who will not participate in a research project. Refusals are tracked at various stages within a research project - see initial refusals and qualified refusals.
Refusal Rate is the percentage of contacted people who decline to co-operate with the research study.
Regression Analysis is the analysis of the relationship between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables. Its purpose is to determine whether a relationship exists and the strength of the relationship. It is also used to determine the mathematical relationship between the variables, predict the values of the dependent variable and control other independent variables when evaluating the effect of one or more independent variables.
Related Recall is a copy testing measure that is intended to quantify a commercial's attention-getting ability. Respondents are interviewed (usually by phone) within a specific period after exposure to the advertising medium and they are asked questions to determine the proportion of people who watched a programme and remembered seeing the particular commercial.
Relevance is a term used to describe whether or not some advertising or a brand proposition shares some fundamental values with a particular group of consumers.
Reliability is the extent to which a research process can be repeated and produce consistent results (i.e. it is free from random error).
Repertoire refers to the range of different brands used by consumers.
Representative Sample is a sample that contains units in the same proportion as the population of interest.
Research Brief see Brief.
Research Design is the framework for conducting a market research project that specifies how information will be collected and analyzed to answer the questions at hand.
Research Effect is a general term that suggests the research itself may be contributing to a change in the data.
Residual is the difference between an observed and a predicted value.
Respondent is the person who is interviewed by a researcher.
Respondent Error (aka Response Bias) is a type of non-sampling error caused by respondents intentionally or unintentionally providing incorrect answers to research questions. Possible sources of respondent error can be: inability error, best light phenomenon, social group norms or selection bias.
Respondent Fatigue is when respondents' are disinclined to continue participating in a research project and it can lead to invalid responses (usually towards the end of the research project).
Respondent Fee see incentive.
Respondent Level Data is data from an individual respondent.
Response Bias see respondent error.
Response Latency is the speed with which a respondent provides an answer.
Response Rate is the percentage of all attempted interviews that are completed.
Response Style is a systematic tendency of respondents to select particular categories of responses regardless of the content of the questions.
Resulting Sample is the sample that has been achieved in a particular research project (which may be different to the intended sample).
Role Playing is a projective technique where participants are asked to play the role or assume the behaviour of someone else.
Rotation Procedure is the process of changing the order of asking questions or showing material to respondents for every interview according to a set of instructions. This process minimizes the risk of order bias (i.e. respondents favouring objects because of their position in a list)

A, B, C
D, E, F
G, H, I
J, K, L
M, N, O
P, Q, R
S, T, U, V
W, X, Y, Z