Advanced Question Types
As well as standard question types (e.g. single-code, multi-code, grid questions, open text), we have the ability to ask certain more advanced research questions, such as:
Van Westendorp
Van Westendorp is an advanced research method used to determine price sensitivity, to determine how much a respondent is willing to pay for a product, and where consumer interest falls off as price increases.
A respondent will be asked to type in at which prices they consider a product to be:
- Too expensive
- Expensive
- Cheap
- Too cheap
This is used to determine the range of acceptable prices, whereby the product is not so expensive as to not be attractive to consumers, but not so cheap that they feel it is not worthwhile.
Gabor-Granger
This is another advanced research technique used to determine the price elasticity of products and services. This is achieved by asking respondents if they would buy a product at a series of different prices, with a scale determined on the product/service on offer. First, the respondent is shown the starting price point which is in the middle of the scale, and asked “Would you be willing to buy X at this price?” for instance. If the respondent is willing to purchase, they are asked again with a higher price point again if they are willing to purchase. If they are not willing to purchase at the first price point, then a lower price will be shown with the same question. This process is repeated until the highest price point a respondent will pay is determined.
Heat maps
We can show respondents an image and ask them to click on areas of interest, which when we have the whole dataset together will form a useful heatmap, highlighting where people have selected. This has the benefit of being easier for respondents to answer than typing out which parts they find most attractive, and makes for quicker analysis and insight. This could for example be to see:
- Which parts of an advertisement catch the eye first
- Which parts of product packaging are most appealing, or informative
- Which area of a webpage people are most drawn to
- How easy it is to spot a certain piece of information on a webpage, or advertisement
- Product preferences, by showing multiple products on the same page
- To quiz people on their knowledge of where cities / countries are located
Respondents can be limited to place just one dot on the image, or several depending on what task they are being asked to complete.
Text / image highlighter
If you have a piece of text you want to user test (perhaps for the back of product packaging, or a claim in an avert) then we can ask respondents to highlight areas they like/dislike, and then leave comments explaining their answers. Then we can see overall which areas are most liked/disliked.
We can also do a similar task for images, which can be broken up into separate parts (e.g. logo, brand message, image of spokesperson), and we can ask respondents to select if they like/dislike each area, and what their reasons are.
Both of these methods help to gain greater insight into materials, in a way which is fun for respondents to fill out, and provide a depth of data.
An example of where we have used heatmaps is our pillow packaging research Packaging design research – Comfy Group – OnePoll Market Research