Surveys Res/341

Surveys may be conducted through personal interviews, telephone, mail, in malls, on the internet, through observation, experience, or data mining. Personal interviews are advantageous because one can do a more lengthy survey using this technique. One can also repeat any questions that the person taking the survey did not understand. The disadvantage is cost, this method requires you and the person taking the survey to be in the same place. The cost of getting to a location may be high along with the cost of taking the time to conduct the survey. Telephone surveys are advantageous because with this type survey comes the ability to cover a large geographic area at very low cost. They are fast to do once you have contacted the person. The disadvantage is trying to contact another person and getting them to agree to a survey. This type survey has changed in the customer area because of the " do not call " list ruling that went into affect several years ago.

Surveys by mail advantage is the low cost of sending out a number of surveys and one can cover a wide area using this method. Disadvantages are they need to be short in length, you may not know the actual person filling out the survey and returning it, the return rate on this type survey is the lowest of all the research tools, and it is a slow method to use to get responses. Mall surveys advantage is being able to show visual aids of products and companies that might be doing marketing studies can also select the correct demographic profile for the product that they are selling. The disadvantage is that many people are in a hurry and do not want to take the time to do a survey and they can be expensive depending on whether a product is demonstrated and the cost of hiring a person to do the interviewing at the mall.

The advantage of using the internet is the low cost of creating a survey on a web site. An email can be created to target a specific audience, this is very cost effective and the return rate is good...