U. S. Radio (Jan-Dec 1960)

response than a dullai bill. The object is to provide some sign that you appreciate the cooperation oi the respondent. After the first responses are in, it is pointed out, send out second questionnaires and third and fourth ones if necessary to those who did not answer the first time. "Tliis means you will have to key the questionnaires so you will know who did and who did not answer," Mrs. Selinger advises. "A simple code will enable you to check off the respondents against your master list. Then you can send out follow-up questionnaires to the others. "The key will serve a double purpose. Besides providing you with a list of non-respondents, it can also tell you whether you have a geographically representative list. "While you will not be able to validate your survev with scientific precision, some kind of cross checking is advisable. By keving the questionnaires, you can see whether a disproportionate number of responses are coming in from one particular location, or if you are getting replies from all areas of your listening radius. "Checking your responses against available marketing or dcmograjihic statistics is a good idea. And a telephone or personal interview followup of another small sample will also help in checking results." Xo matter how much care has gone into preparing the survey, points out Mr. Manville, and how exacting and representative the method has been, the job is not finished until the presentation is prepared in a forthright and professional manner. For radio research, like all media research, he continues, is basically promotional in its goals. Much of it is done with the hope of using the results as a sales tool. And no advertiser would expect to receive a survey done by a station in which the station didn't show up well. "This does not mean that the station has to show up first on every subject in its presentation," Mrs. Selinger says. "Be sure to include all the facts. First of all, if the advertiser realizes you've left out something he won't put much credence in your entire presentation. Secondly, there's a chance that you are less likely to be believed if you show up too well." Or, to put it another way, Mr. Manville observes, "If you have a strong enough sales story that allows you to present ini favorable information about yourself, you are more likely to impress the advertiser, in addition to adding to the credibility of the presentation. "Mail surveys," he says, "aie excellent tools in the right hands. If they are well done they can be extremely useful in pinpointing the station's market. It can help to show the station where its strongest selling points lie. "If it is not done well, however, or if it is luulertaken by a person with neither experience in nor respect for the research field, it can be not only useless to the station but actually harmful." "Certain kinds of surveys can be well done by mail," Mr. Morgan says. "And stations willing to approach a mail survey project with care may find themselves with results that will be helpful both to themselves at the management level, and to their advertisers and media prospects." • • • lllllllllll AFTER THE RESULTS ARE IN The Advertising Research Foundation is a non-profit organization supported by adveitisers, advertising agencies and advertising media. Its basic purpose is to further, through the fostering of research, scientific practices in adveitising and marketing. In pursuing this goal, the ARF has set up certain research standards and criteria against which it measures the validity of surveys that come before it for examination. The following questions can serve as a guide to a station executive attempting to check the results of a survey against accepted standards. They have been abstracted from the ARF's booklet. Criteria for Marketing and Advertising Research: • Have the questions been well designed? Are they simple, concise and clear? • Has the best sampling plan been followed to assure a representative response? • Has the sampling plan been fully executed? • Is the sample large enough? • Have the responses been tabulated com pletely without any guesswork as to the meaning of answers? • Is the interpretation forthright and logical? Are all the facts included? The presentation of the facts should include the following: • Full statement of proljlems to be resolved by the study. • Names of organizations that financed and participated in the survey, and what is their interest in the sui-vey. • Exact period of time covered in collecting data. • Date of publication of the report. • Copies of questiotmaires. • Sources of collateral data. • Complete statement of methodology. "Simplicity and clarity."" says the ARF. "should be the main objective of the analysis and presentation. Present the results only for what they are and what they represent." ilillllllllllilllilllllllllllllllll 17. S. RADIO • April 1960 31