Introduction
At Bounce Insights, we strive to make market research easy and accessible to everyone. In an industry dominated with fancy jargon, we have developed a go-to glossary for all things market research.
Since Market Research is constantly evolving, we will continuously update this glossary to make sure you don’t miss out on anything!
Table of Contents
A - C
This occurs when respondents agree with all questions within the survey even if they are contradictory.
An ambiguous question is defined as one where there is no specific query, meaning that a respondent will struggle to answer, not because they are a bad respondent but because it is a bad question.
Respondents are often bias toward answer options higher on the list in a quantitative survey question, randomly shuffling the answer options for each respondent will reduce this bias.
A question that offers a limited selection of answer options to choose from.
Conditional logic allow you to create dynamic surveys that change what a respondent sees and what happens based on their responses, e.g. if a respondent answers yes to a certain question they are shown a different question to a respondent who answered no.
A group of individuals selected by a business or organisation to provide input on products and services for research purposes.
The price you pay per completed survey. This calculation is based on number of respondents, the targetting criteria and more.
Courtesy bias is a type of response bias that occurs when respondents tend to not fully state their unhappiness with a service or product as an attempt to be polite or courteous toward the researcher.
Segmenting respondents into subgroups based on their targetting criteria or on specific response in order to compare and analyse the results by those subgroups
A way of doing business that fosters a positive customer experience at every stage of the customer journey, building customer loyalty and satisfaction which leads to long-lasting growth.
D - K
Removing unqualified, biased or incomplete responses from a survey. This process improves data quality and protects against survey bias.
A question allowing respondents to input a singular date/time or even a range of date/time as responses.
Demand bias comes from the respondents being influenced simply by being part of the research, particularly when they are involved in longitudinal surveys or research communities.
A question where there can be only two answers, commonly ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
This occurs when researchers blend two questions into one, and then allow for only one answer. They are a form of ambigious questions and will cause inaccurate research.
Any survey are sent to targeted respondents via email.
This bias occurs when respondents provide extreme answers, whether it be positive or negative.
A question allowing respondents to select one image from many options. This question type improves respondents’ survey experience and gives a break from answering all textual questions. They are ideal for gathering research on branding and advertising choices.
L - O
A question using biased language to influence respondents in a direction which subtly prompts the respondent to answer in a particular way.
A single choice question that uses a 5 point scale that ranges from one extreme attitude to another.
Loaded questions make assumptions and the respondent may not be able to answer accurately.
Researchers performing a longitudinal study will run the same survey many times over short or long periods, in an effort to observe how the opinions, behaviors or habits of the same population change over time.
An Online Market Research Community as a closed network of profiled, opted-in research participants who take part in structured and unstructured qualitative research tasks.
A closed-ended question that asks respondents to evaluate one or more row items using the same set of column choices.
Any survey are conducted over a mobile app.
A question providing a list of answer options and asking respondents to select all that apply.
A nationally representative sample describes a sample that is representative of the national population by 1-3 attributes, generally age, gender and region. In this regard, some component of the sample mirrors the population (based on census).
A question that requires a numeric answer. For example, researchers may ask how much money you’d potentially pay for a product or service.
A question requiring respondents to type their response into a text box. Open-ended questions gather qualitative responses, getting a response from the respondent in their own words.
P - R
Any survey where the initial dataset is collected using pen-and-paper rather than electronic devices.
A question which asks respondents to order answer choices by way of preference.
Projective techniques, also known as enabling techniques, are methods that can be used by researchers to tap into respondent’s deep motivations and attitudes.
Qualitative survey questions aim to gather data that is not easily quantified such as attitudes, habits, and challenges, aiming to understand the ‘why’.
Quantitative research is about collecting information that can be expressed numerically.
This is a bias that occurs when the initial questions of your survey influences the answers your respondents give to the subsequent questions later on in the survey.
Your questionnaire is the list of questions you plan to ask your respondents.
A question displaying a scale of answer options from any range (1 to 3, 1 to 10, etc.)
A respondent is a person within your sample who completes your survey.
Response bias is a general term for when respondents answer inaccurately or falsely to questions and it covers a wide range of effects and influences.
Response rate is the number of people who answered the survey divided by the number of people in the sample.
S - Z
A question that either qualifies or disqualifies respondents from taking your survey—depending on how they answer, also known as screeners.
Selection bias or sampling bias occurs when you only capture responses from a certain segment of your audience which skewed your results.
A question with a list of answer options, from which respondents may choose one answer.
A question which allows respondents to include into a numerical scale, ideal for responses that require a percentage or monetary value.
This bias is linked with acquiescence bias and occurs because respondents want to be perceived in their best light. Therefore, respondents may exaggerate their habits, beliefs, and personal preferences so they are more socially attractive, even when surveys are anonymous.
Respondents who complete surveys far too fast to have actually read the questions or truly contemplated answers. Speeder reduce the quality of the survey data and should be removed.
The primary aim for the survey, essentially what the researcher wants to know and why they need a survey. A goal is not strictly measurable and tangible.
Objectives are more specific and measurable than a survey goal and they break down the steps to take in order to achieve the survey goal.
A telephone survey, also known as CATI or computer-assisted telephonic interview, is a research method where the researcher surveys respondents over the telephone. Unlike email surveys, researchers conduct data collection by conducting phone interviews and punching the responses themselves.
A type of stratification where quotas are used to weight respondent pools however the researcher would like. E.g. a researcher weighs their survey so 40% of respondents are aged 18-24, 30% are aged 25-34 and 30% are aged 35+.
