Deck 4: Exploratory Research Design: Secondary Data

Question 1

One of the problems when evaluating secondary data is that the data may be updated too frequently for the purpose of the problem at hand.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

As compared to primary data, secondary data are collected rapidly and easily, at a relatively low cost, and in a short time.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Secondary data can help you develop an approach to the problem, answer certain research questions and test some hypotheses, and interpret primary data more insightfully.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Secondary data are originated by a researcher for the specific purpose of addressing the problem at hand.

Question 5

It is easy to evaluate the accuracy of secondary data because the researcher did participate in the research.

Question 6

Before collecting external secondary data, it is useful to analyze internal secondary data.

Question 7

Examination of available primary data is a prerequisite to the collection of secondary data.

Question 8

Directory databases provide information on individuals, organizations, and services.

Question 9

Secondary data may be classified as either internal or extant.

Question 10

External data are those generated within the organization for which the research is being conducted.

Question 11

Secondary data may be measured in units that may not be appropriate for the current problem.

Question 12

Data published anonymously or in a form that attempts to hide the details of the data collection methodology and process should be viewed with suspicion.

Question 13

Secondary internal sources of data are often not fully exploited by organizations.

Question 14

Secondary internal data have two significant advantages. They are easily available and inexpensive.

Question 15

Chrysler's Personal Information Centers collect data from car owners on all aspects of buying a car. These PICs give the company the ability to engage in customized marketing. Chrysler is using internal secondary data in its database marketing efforts.

Question 16

Primary data should be the starting point in the search for external data.

Question 17

Private sources update census data at a detailed geographic level for between-census years.

Question 18

Primary data are data that have already been collected for purposes other than the problem at hand.

Question 19

It is not possible to reconfigure the available data, for example, convert the units of measurements, so that the resulting data are more useful to the problem at hand.

Question 20

Data collected with a specific objective in mind is always appropriate in another situation.

Question 21

Syndicated sources collect data for marketing research problems specific to individual clients.

Question 22

Scanner data is obtained by passing merchandise over a laser scanner that reads the UPC code from the packages.

Question 23

The ________ for primary data is very involved and the ________ is high.

A)collection purpose; collection time
B)collection process; collection cost
C)collection process; collection purpose
D)collection cost; collection time

Question 24

Surveys are the primary means of obtaining information about consumers' motives, attitudes, and preferences.

Question 25

Which of the following statements refer to the currency criteria when evaluating secondary data?

A)Data should be reliable and generalizable to the problem at hand.
B)Syndicated firms periodically update census data.
C)The objective will determine the relevance of the data. Reconfigure the data to increase their usefulness, if possible.
D)Assess accuracy by comparing data from different sources.

Question 26

The range and sources of syndicated data available for industrial goods firms are more limited than those available to consumer goods firms.

Question 27

Audits can help consumer product firms determine the size of the total market and distribution of sales by type of outlet and by different regions.

Question 28

Financial, operating, and employment data are also collected by industry services' syndicated research firms for one in 10 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)industrial categories.

Question 29

Ethical issues also arise if the users of secondary data are unduly critical of the data that do not support their interests and viewpoints.

Question 30

Syndicated sources, also referred to as syndicated services, are companies that collect and sell common pools of data of known commercial value, designed to serve information needs shared by a number of clients.

Question 31

The distinguishing feature of purchase and media panels is that the respondents record specific behaviors as they occur.

Question 32

A lifestyle may be defined as a distinctive pattern of living that is described by the activities people engage in, the interests they have, and the opinions they hold of themselves and the world around them (AIOs).

Question 33

As compared to primary data, secondary data are collected ________.

A)rapidly and easily
B)at a relatively low cost
C)in a short time
D)all of the above

Question 34

Syndicated sources can be classified based on the unit of measurement (households/consumers or institutions).

Question 35

When institutions are the unit of measurement, the data may be obtained from retailers, wholesalers, or households.

Question 36

Maps that solve marketing problems are called thematic maps.

Question 37

Scanner data have an obvious disadvantage over surveys and purchase panels, because they reflect purchasing behavior that is not subject to interviewing, recording, memory, or expert biases.

Question 38

Syndicated services data are not collected for the purpose of marketing research problems specific to individual clients.

Question 39

Which of the following is not a disadvantage of secondary data?

A)The objectives, nature, and methods used to collect the secondary data may not be appropriate to the present situation.
B)Secondary data may be lacking in accuracy.
C)Secondary data may be expensive and time consuming.
D)Secondary data may not be completely current or dependable.

Question 40

An advantage of scanner data is that in-store variables like pricing, promotions, and displays are part of the data set.

Question 41

The CRM system used by Chrysler is an example of ________.

A)directory databases
B)database marketing
C)audits
D)none of the above

Question 42

________ are databases stored in computers that require a telecommunications network to access.

A)Offline databases
B)Bibliographic databases
C)Online databases
D)Special purpose databases

Question 43

Based on the criteria for evaluating secondary data shown in Table 4.2 in the text, the data collected by Nielsen Media Research may be suspect because of all of the following criteria except ________.

A)specification/methodology
B)error/accuracy
C)objective
D)dependability

Question 44

You are researching secondary data on the shopping habits of households for your project. A marketing research firm that had done research in the area has agreed to allow you to dial into their mainframe computer to access the data. You will be accessing a(n)________.

A)online database
B)special purpose database
C)offline database
D)customer database

Question 45

Which of the following statements is not true about the currency of secondary data?

A)The time lag between data collection and publication may be long.
B)The value of secondary data is diminished as it becomes dated.
C)The data may not be updated frequently enough for the problem at hand.
D)All of the above are correct.

Question 46

Errors in the approach, research design, sampling, data collection, analysis, and reporting stages of the project refer to the ________ criteria for evaluating secondary data.

A)nature
B)objective
C)error/accuracy
D)currency

Question 47

You are reviewing secondary data to help with a project concerning consumer preferences for television programs based on viewer income.Which of the following statements would not be of concern when considering the nature criteria for evaluating secondary data?

A)The relationships examined should be taken into account.
B)Secondary data may be measured in units that may not be appropriate for the current problem.
C)The researcher must determine if the data are accurate enough for the purpose of the present study.
D)It is possible to reconfigure the available data so that the resulting data are more useful to the problem at hand.

Question 48

Creating a marketing database involves all of the following steps except ________.

A)transferring raw sales information to a microcomputer
B)enhancing consumer purchase information by overlaying it with demographic and psychographic information
C)analyzing information in terms of a customer's activity over the life of the business relationship
D)none of the above

Question 49

Which of the following statements refer to the objective criteria when evaluating secondary data?

A)Data should be reliable and generalizable to the problem at hand.
B)Syndicated firms periodically update census data.
C)The objective will determine the relevance of the data. Reconfigure the data to increase their usefulness, if possible.
D)Assess accuracy by comparing data from different sources.

Question 50

An overall indication of the dependability of data may be obtained by examining the ________, credibility, reputation, and ________ of the source.

A)accuracy; trustworthiness
B)trustworthiness; expertise
C)expertise; accuracy
D)None of the above is correct.

Question 51

Caterpillar needed to know what truck fleets should test their two new engines; how they could get a marketing strategy that could be measured; and how to adjust for the coming downturn in sales. To answer these questions, they gave their salesforce laptops and paid them to enter customer information related to each sale they made. Caterpillar analyzed the newly acquired customer data and developed strategies to address their marketing questions. Caterpillar utilized ________.

A)secondary marketing
B)external marketing
C)database marketing
D)internal marketing

Question 52

________ are an excellent source of standard or recurring information.

A)Directories
B)Indexes
C)Guides
D)Statistical published data

Question 53

Examples of other government publications published by the federal government include all of the following except ________.

A)Periodical Abstract
B)Business Conditions Digest
C)Statistical Abstract of the United States
D)Survey of Current Business

Question 54

If the key variables have not been defined or are defined in a manner inconsistent with the researcher's definition, then the usefulness of the data is limited. This statement refers to the ________ criteria for evaluating secondary data.

A)nature
B)objective
C)error/accuracy
D)currency

Question 55

It is possible to locate information on a particular topic in several different publications by using ________.

A)directories
B)indexes
C)guides
D)statistical published data

Question 56

________ are helpful for identifying individuals or organizations that collect specific data.

A)Directories
B)Indexes
C)Guides
D)Statistical published data

Question 57

When evaluating secondary data, the ________ criteria asks the question of "why the data were collected in the first place."

A)nature
B)objective
C)error/accuracy
D)currency

Question 58

Which of the following classifications of secondary data is not a classification for external secondary data (Figure 4.1 in the text)?

A)published materials
B)computerized databases
C)ready-to-use
D)syndicated services

Question 59

You are researching secondary data on the shopping habits of households for your project. You found a data source available via CD-ROM at the library. You are about to check out a(n)________.

A)online database
B)internet database
C)offline database
D)customer database

Question 60

Published external secondary data sources may be broadly classified as ________ or ________ sources (Figure 4.2 in the text).

A)public business; government
B)general business; government
C)general business; federal
D)public business; federal

Question 61

Scanner data where panel members are identified by an ID card allowing each panel member's purchases to be stored with respect to the individual shopper are referred to as ________.

A)scanner panels with cable TV
B)volume tracking data
C)scanner panels
D)none of the above

Question 62

Discuss the advantages and uses of secondary data.

Question 63

Information provided by industry services is useful for which of the following?

A)sales management decisions such as defining territories and setting quotas
B)advertising decisions such as allocating advertising budgets
C)segmenting the market and designing custom products and services for important segments
D)all of the above

Question 64

The different types of scanner data are useful for a variety of purposes. Which of the following purposes applies to scanner data?

A)data used for consumer beliefs
B)data used for establishing consumer attitudes
C)data used to determine customer motives
D)making advertising decisions, including budget, copy and media, pricing

Question 65

Which of the following is a characteristic of audit services (Table 4.3 in the text)?

A)household purchases recorded through electronic scanners in supermarkets
B)households provide specific information regularly over an extended period of time; respondents asked to record specific behaviors as they occur
C)verification of product movement by examining physical records or performing inventory analysis
D)data banks on industrial establishment created through direct inquiries of companies, clipping services, and corporate reports

Question 66

Gallup and Robinson Magazine Impact Research Service (MIRS)test ads using an at-home in-magazine context among widely dispersed samples. Test ads may naturally appear in the magazine or are inserted as tip-ins. It provides strong, validated measures of recall, persuasion, and ad reaction with responsive scheduling. The MIRS is an example of surveys being used ________.

A)to evaluate advertising
B)to examine purchase and consumption behavior
C)for market segmentation
D)all of the above

Question 67

The uses of retail and wholesale audit data include all of the following except ________.

A)identifying shelf space allocation and inventory problems
B)establishing profiles of specific user groups
C)developing sales potentials and forecasts
D)analyzing distribution problems

Question 68

Which of the following is a disadvantage of audit services (Table 4.3 in the text)?

A)interviewer errors; respondent errors
B)data is lacking in terms of content, quantity, and quality
C)data may not be representative; quality of data limited
D)coverage may be incomplete; matching of data on the competitive activity may be difficult

Question 69

________ databases provide information on individuals, organizations and services.

A)Special purpose
B)Bibliographic
C)Directory
D)Numeric

Question 70

________ are databases composed of citations to articles in journals, magazines, newspapers, marketing research studies, technical reports, government documents, and the like.

A)Offline databases
B)Bibliographic databases
C)Online databases
D)Internet databases

Question 71

InfoUSA (www.infousa.com)is a leading provider of sales and marketing support data. InfoUSA provides data via a ________.

A)offline database
B)bibliographic database
C)online database
D)internet database

Question 72

Which of the following concerns are important when evaluating secondary data for international projects?

A)Measurement units may not be equivalent across countries.
B)The accuracy of secondary data may vary from country to country.
C)Both A and B are correct.
D)None of the above are correct.

Question 73

Surveys can be used for which of the following purposes?

A)to evaluate advertising
B)to examine purchase and consumption behavior
C)for market segmentation
D)all of the above

Question 74

Which of the following is a disadvantage of surveys (Table 4.3 in the text)?

A)interviewer errors; respondent errors
B)data is lacking in terms of content, quantity, and quality
C)data may not be representative; quality of data limited
D)coverage may be incomplete; matching of data on the competitive activity may be difficult

Question 75

A data gathering technique that is comprised of samples of respondents whose television viewing behavior is automatically recorded by electronic devices, supplementing the purchase information recorded online or in a diary is referred to as ________.

A)scanner diary panels/cable TV
B)scanner panels
C)purchase panels
D)media panels

Question 76

Sales & Marketing Management's annual Survey of Buying Power provides data to help you analyze each of your U.S.markets, whether they are cities, counties, metro areas, or states.What of the following information is also true of the Survey of Buying Power?

A)It features statistics, rankings, and projections for every county and media market in the United States with demographic broken out by age, race, city, county, and state.
B)It features information on retail spending; and projections for future growth in these areas.
C)It features a unique measure of spending power that takes population, EBI, and retail sales into account to determine a market's ability to buy.
D)All of the above are true.

Question 77

________ combines geography with demographic information and a company's sales data or other proprietary information to develop thematic maps.

A)Single-source data
B)Demographic mapping
C)Computer mapping
D)Thematic mapping

Question 78

Which of the following is a characteristic of purchase panels (Table 4.3 in the text)?

A)household purchases recorded through electronic scanners in supermarkets
B)households provide specific information regularly over an extended period of time; respondents asked to record specific behaviors as they occur
C)verification of product movement by examining physical records or performing inventory analysis
D)data banks on industrial establishment created through direct inquiries of companies, clipping services, and corporate reports

Question 79

Which of the following practices might be unethical?

A)the use of secondary data alone when the research requires primary data collection
B)the client is billed a fixed fee for the project
C)the unnecessary collection of expensive primary data when the research problem can be addressed based on secondary sources alone
D)Both A and C are correct.

Question 80

According to your text, volume tracking data and scanner panels with cable TV are sources of scanner data. Which of the following is also a type of scanner data?

A)grocery panels
B)scanner panels
C)Both A and B are correct.
D)none of the above