It is a test that measures consumer reactions to a package or label.

Packaging testing gives your target audience several packaging designs and asks them to provide feedback on each one.

The paired comparison technique is a research design that yields interval-level scaled scores that are created from ratings made by each respondent for all possible pairs of items under consideration.

is a study or part of a study in which respondents compare two or more test stimuli (e.g. products, concepts or labels etc) according to some criterion such as preference.

is 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).

is defined as one researcher interviewing two people together.

Depth interviews that are conducted with two respondents simultaneously. This technique is often employed with a child that is interviewed with a friend to lessen the apprehension of the interview situation.

is a treatment of survey data where only the completed questions are analysed, ie partially complete responses are not excluded from the analysis.

is the collection of data from different countries (or cultural units) and analysis of the aggregated data.

is defined as a group of research participants, selected for market research studies.

is 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.

A general term used to describe a pre-selected group of homogeneous people used more than once over a period of time to collect information.

it identifies a brands strengths & weaknesses – guiding strategic planning, brand activation & growth.  Pantry Check is the type of research where our field researchers enter a respondent’s home and take an inventory of all the products in house that the respondent has claimed to be present at that time.

The Pen-and-Paper Personal Interview (PAPI) method describes any survey where the initial dataset is collected using pen-and-paper rather than electronic devices. 

It contains information about the primary data collection process (e.g. survey duration, interim status of a case, navigational errors in a survey questionnaire). Paradata can provide a means of additional control over or understanding of the quality of the primary data (the responses to the survey questions).

It is a summary measure used to describe a group of people or objects that is based on data from all units in the group.

It is a test that involves metric data (ie data from interval or ratio scales that can be analysed statistically).

Measurements of the original population distribution.

A quantitative guide to answering what's you part-worth comes from conjoint analysis, which tells firms how much consumers are willing to spend for each feature they're considering adding to their brand.

It is 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.

It is 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.

it's a methodology which often takes place without the “participants” awareness and as the name suggests, without them having to actively do anything towards the research.

Some researchers may exclude respondents that have participated in research studies of the same topic or that have participated in research studies during a particular time frame.

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).

The Pearson coefficient is a type of correlation coefficient that represents the relationship between two variables that are measured on the same interval or ratio scale. The Pearson coefficient is a measure of the strength of the association between two continuous variables.

It is the proportion (usually expressed as a percentage) of a population of interest that has accepted a product or an idea in some way.

Penetration analysis requires identifying the product or service focus of the market research, which establishes the scope of the research. 

It is an electronic device attached to a TV set that monitors which programmes are watched by whom.

The ability to document a participant’s reading material as well as their eye reaction at the same time by using a machine.

Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year.

A percentile is a statistic that gives the relative standing of a numerical data point when compared to all other data points in a distribution.

Perceptual mapping is a visual representation of where a brand, product, or service stands among competitors.

It is 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.

In marketing research, this is the process of only contacting people who have previously agreed to be contacted. This group could include people who have not disagreed to be contacted.

Personal Income refers to an individual's total earnings from wages, investment enterprises, and other ventures. It is the sum of all the incomes received by all the individuals or households during a given period.

the technique for gathering information through face-to-face contact with individuals.

It is when human beings record the behaviour of interest or events taking place.

is a projective technique where participants are asked to ascribe “personality-type” traits or characteristics to an object or idea.

is any data that could potentially be used to identify a particular person.

is 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.

PGS stands for Primary Grocery Shopper. 

The respondent is contacted by phone initially and then sent a lengthy questionnaire through the mail. 

A study used where respondents are given pictures of several types of people and are then asked to associate people with the products or services that they might use.

Maintaining the consistency of extraneous variables throughout a study so as to prevent these variables from affecting the outcome.

It is a type of graph that uses pictures or symbols to display the data

It is 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).

It is research in which multiple clients share the cost of conducting research.

It is used in segmentation product usage, and attitudinal, motivational, and other types of market research studies.

Pilot testing is a rehearsal of your research study, allowing you to test your research approach with a small number of test participants before you conduct your main study.

A study where a participant is given a product to use and test in a PMSA (primary metropolitan statistical area).

a product placement test asks consumers to try products in their own homes.

It is a 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.

This process adds one to a randomly selected phone number from a directory. This includes unlisted numbers in the sample.

A point estimator is a statistic used to estimate the value of an unknown parameter of a population. It uses sample data when calculating a single statistic that will be the best estimate of the unknown parameter of the population.

A point of purchase (POP) is a term used by marketers and retailers when planning the placement of consumer products, such as product displays strategically placed in a grocery store aisle or advertised in a weekly flyer.

A point of sale (POS) is a place where a customer executes the payment for goods or services and where sales taxes may become payable.

Used by government agencies, officials, candidates, and political parties to determine the opinion of the electorates.

A poll is a survey gathering opinions from the respondents. Polls are often used during political elections to gauge voter sentiment about one candidate over the other.

Pop-up retail is a retail store (a "pop-up shop") that is opened temporarily to take advantage of a faddish trend or seasonal demand.

It is 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.

A population, or universe, is the entire set of people data or things that is the subject of exploration.

The peak of a population distribution that contains equal amounts distributed both above and below it.

The Population Distribution is a form of a probability distribution that measures the frequency with which the items or variables that make up the population are drawn or expected to be drawn for a given research study.

It is 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).

It is the group about whom the researcher wants to know more and from whom a sample will be drawn.

The population pyramid represents the breakdown of the population by gender and age at a given point in time.

A population specification error occurs when researchers don't know precisely who to survey.

The Standard Deviation of this distribution of sample means is the Standard Error of each individual sample mean.

A web interface for users to login and access information pertaining to their accounts. Services offered in portals often include news, links, email, and entertainment possibilities.

It caused by respondents' tendency to opt. for alternatives in certain positions (e.g., the first few mentioned) regardless of their. content. Researchers seem to have overlooked this conclusion, possibly because they.

Positioning refers to the ability to influence consumer perception. Competitive advantages allow a company to achieve regarding a brand or product relative to competitors. 

Post hoc segmentation utilizes information collected in consumer surveys or other sources, such as customer transaction records, to classify consumers into groups that are relatively homogenous and distinct from one another.

It is an evaluation of advertising after it has been run in the media.

It is 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.

A postal survey is a quantitative data collection method in which paper questionnaires are sent by post to potential participants, the paper questionnaires are completed by the participants themselves (i.e. self-administered), and returned by post to the survey organisation. 

Poverty means that the income level from employment is so low that basic human needs can't be met.

It is 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, i.e. 1-â.

Precoded questions refer to survey items for which response categories may be identified and defined exhaustively, or very nearly so, prior to data collection activities.

are numbers printed on a questionnaire for data entry and tabulation purposes. For closed-ended questions, the numbers can be circled as the answer.

It is the assignment of codes (coding) 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.

It is an experimental design where randomization 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

When the pre-testing in an experiment has a systematic effect on the main experimental results, regardless of what happens between the measurements.

Consumers or business professionals are contacted either by telephone, mail, or in person and invited to participate in a study scheduled for a future date and time, if qualified.

An interview located at a convenient location in which participants that have been contacted and qualified prior to the interview go.

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.

A sample is defined as a smaller set of data that a researcher chooses or selects from a larger population by using a pre-defined selection method. 

is a young person aged around 8/9 to 12, who does not consider themselves to be a child, but they are not yet a teenager.

can be 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.

is a type of true experimental design where test units are randomly allocated to an experimental group and a control group. Both groups are measured before and after the experimental group is exposed to a treatment.

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).

is when 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.

is when the pre-testing in an experiment has a systematic effect on the main experimental results, regardless of what happens between the measurements.

The result of a study conducted to obtain a snapshot or reading of current conditions prior to some change in market conditions or the introduction of some test conditions.

Relates to accuracy in sampling and consistency in repeated sampling. If data seems to be widely scattered and would be difficult to duplicate, there would be a lack of precision due to the high standard error.

is a measure of the spread of a confidence interval. The narrower the interval, the higher the level of precision

A predictive dialer is an outbound calling system that automatically dials from a list of telephone numbers, much like autodialers or robot dialers.

The predictive function of marketing research allows data to be used to predict or forecast the results of a marketing decision or consumer action.

Predictive validity is the extent to which the test score for IQ predicts how well researchers conduct market research.

The predictor variable provides information on an associated dependent variable regarding a particular outcome.

Preference is when you choose a specific company's product or service when you have other, equally priced and available options.

Behavioral Targeting (also known as preference marketing, behavioral  advertising, behavioral marketing, or online profiling) is defined by the  FTC as “the tracking of a consumer’s online activities over time –  including the searches the consumer has conducted, the Web pages  visited, and the content viewed – in order to deliver advertising  targeted to the individual consumer’s interests.”

It is a test where research participants are asked to compare a number of products or services and express their preferences.I

The gathering and studying of data relating to consumer preferences, purchasing power, etc., especially prior to introducing a product.

It is a desktop- or cloud-based application that allows the user to present information to an audience using a sequence of multimedia formats, such as images, video, audio and text.

It is research that aims to determine how demand for a product or service will vary with changes in price.

are data that are collected specifically for a current research project.

A PMSA con- sists of a large urbanized county or a cluster of counties (cities and towns in New England) that demonstrate strong internal economic and social links in addition to close ties with the central core of the larger area.

It is the person responsible for 50% or more of the household grocery purchases.

Primary research is research you conduct yourself (or hire someone to do for you.) It involves going directly to a source – usually customers and prospective customers in your target market – to ask questions and gather information.

Primary sampling unit refers to Sampling units that are selected in the first (primary) stage of a multi-stage sample ultimately aimed at selecting individual elements.

A privacy policy is a statement or legal document (in privacy law) that discloses some or all of the ways a party gathers, uses, discloses, and manages a customer or client's data.

The probability density function (PDF) is a statistical expression that defines a probability distribution (the likelihood of an outcome) for a discrete random variable (e.g., a stock or ETF) as opposed to a continuous random variable.

A probability distribution is a statistical function that describes all the possible values and likelihoods that a random variable can take within a given range.

The numerical value representing the likelihood of an event occurring. The value will be between one and zero, with one occurring every time and zero never occurring. 

The probability of an event is a number between 0 and 1, where, roughly speaking, 0 indicates the impossibility of the event and 1 indicates certainty. 

It is 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

It is a sample 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.

It 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.

The probit model is a statistical probability model with two categories in the dependent variable.

It is 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.

A group of products that offer similar benefits can be referred to as product categories.

A pretest of a particular product with a consumer group before the product is placed in the market.

It 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.

It 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.

Retail and wholesale data that a company collects, packages, and sells to many firms.

Product placement is the purposeful incorporation of commercial content into non- commercial settings, that is, a product plug generated via the fusion of advertising and entertainment.

is referring 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.

Product Positioning Research is carried out to understand the position of a product or a brand in comparison to a competitor can also be used to measure perceptions of a brand or product compared to a competitor, this ensures they can be effectively positioned in a target market.

is used to measure the impact of price changes on demand of a product and to determine the optimal price for new products.

Tests designed to determine how target consumers would react to early editions of new products.

The Professional Researcher Certification program (PRC) is designed to recognize the qualifications and expertise of marketing and opinion research professionals. 

is one who regularly attends group discussions, whose views may well not be typical of the intended respondents.

is a 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.

is a method of providing detailed information about a target market, and helping businesses to gain an in-depth insight into their customers, so they understand their market much better.

Programmatic research is defined by an over-arching project research theme that focuses on a key educational issue, problem, phenomena or outcome, along with a number of themes – specific research studies that address important aspects or components of the issue, problem, phenomena or outcome.

It is a continuous process of collecting and analyzing information about the market, products, customers, as well as competitors in order to determine which steps can lead to the success of the organization.

The Market Research Project Director is responsible for the overall execution of the fieldwork surrounding a research initiative.

Projectability addresses whether the result of your study means anything beyond the people who participated in the research.

is the amount of revenue a company expects to earn at some point in the future.

Projective techniques are indirect methods used in qualitative research. These techniques allow researchers to tap into consumers' deep motivations, beliefs, attitudes and values.

are 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.

Projective techniques allow respondents to project their subjective or true opinions and beliefs onto other people or even objects. 

is any material that is shown to participants in research projects.

is the percentage of respondents who claim to have seen something (eg a brand or an advert) after having been shown some form of stimulus material.

is 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.

A study that is sampled with a proportion that is maintained between the sample and the size of the stratum and the size of the stratum compared to the size of the population.

Proportional sampling is a method of sampling in which the investigator divides a finite population into subpopulations and then applies random sampling techniques to each subpopulation.

is 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.

is an outline (usually in writing) 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 Research is defined as that for which users request confidentiality of proposal, data and results for a certain period of time.

are research techniques that are considered to be the intellectual property of a research supplier.

A prototype is a representation of a product idea, whether it is a simple model you put together yourself, a 3D print out or a highly refined version produced by a prototyping firm. Several prototypes are likely to be built, assessed and tested before a product comes to market.

is research that is carried out for reasons other than to reduce the risk in a resource-allocation decision.

is a projective technique where participants are asked to attach abstract notions such as colours, shapes or symbols to objects.

are quantified psychological profiles of individuals, based on their attitudes and behaviour.

is a device used to measure the dilation of a participant’s pupil in response to a visual stimulus.

A way of measuring a participant's intention to buy a particular product.

A way of measuring a participant's intention to buy a particular product.

are a measure of respondents’ attitudes towards buying a particular product or service.

A group of selected research participants who have agreed to provide pre-designated information at regular specified intervals over an extended period of time. 

The Purpose of Market Research is to Satisfy Customers In essence, it could be argued that customer satisfaction is the ultimate goal of market research. Satisfied customers are happy ones because their needs have been met.

Purposive sampling is an intentional selection of informants based on their ability to elucidate a specific theme, concept, or phenomenon.

A push poll is an interactive marketing technique, most commonly employed during political campaigning, in which an individual or organization attempts to manipulate or alter prospective voters' views under the guise of conducting an opinion poll.