AWKWARD QUESTIONS IN CONSUMER SURVEYS: HOW TO CREATE

AND WHAT TO AVOID

LAZEBNYK O. O.
Postgraduate Student of Department of Management and Marketing
European University
Kyiv, Ukraine
In our fast-moving world the goal of each enterprise is to keep its market position
and further development. To achieve this, it is essential to understand who the target
group of goods or services produced by enterprise is. The answers to this and
accompanying questions can be found through market research. Secondary research
involves the collection and processing of already published data, whereas primary
research is based on getting the information that has never been made public before.
Though secondary research is much easier to conduct, primary market research plays a
key role in investing in market success of the enterprise.
Throughout many years the prominent method of primary market research has been
consumer survey. This is the process of gathering the verbal data based on direct
interaction of researcher with respondent on a socio-psychological level [1, p. 84]. Today
nearly 90% of marketing data is collected via surveys [2, p. 126], and the most
widespread type is online survey [3].
Some questions included in market research surveys tend to be rather awkward. The
examples of such questions are those related to personal income and bad habits. On the
one hand, it is important for enterprises to have the images of consumers of their products
or services. The data obtained from surveys helps to establish the appropriate costs for
products, but to do this it is vital to know the income levels of their customers. On the
other hand, not all respondents are willing to reveal their earnings. The online survey
concerning mineral water consumption held during February – March 2020 showed that
18.6% of respondents from Ukraine refused to mention their salary. However, unlike
Ukrainians, all the participants from the EU (excluding Ukrainians living there) and Latin
America agreed to answer about their income.
When the survey was being created, it was taken into account that not everyone
would answer the question about monthly income. That is why it was decided to make it
open-ended. If the survey participants did not wish to answer this question, they could
write it in the space provided in the questionnaire. In addition to this, due to a high crime
rate in Ukraine telling about personal income can be not always safe, so the right not to
do this has to be respected.
Furthermore, nearly 1/5 of Ukrainian residents that took part in the survey received
their salaries in USD. In February – March 2020 they were involved in IT industry, and
Ukraine is one of the leading countries offering software development services for clients
from Europe and North America [4]. There are also many IT companies that have foreign
registrations and pay salaries in USD. Since the exchange rates are prone to frequent
changes, the levels of such salaries in UAH can vary from month to month. This is another
reason to ask about monthly income using the open-ended question.
Although bad habits influence human behaviour, food & drink preferences, and
financial status, not every respondent would like to talk about them. This is especially
true when the questions are dedicated to alcohol drinking. They should be asked only if
the research object is a beer, wine, liquor, etc. market or any other area connected with
alcoholic drinks consumption, such as HoReCa or night clubs. In other cases, any
questions concerning alcohol should be avoided. No one wishes to be treated as a human
addicted to this substance, and such questions can make this impression.
Speaking about smoking, if the survey is not devoted to tobacco industry or any
related sphere, then the only question should be “Do you smoke?”. Its positive side is that
it is unobtrusive and just requires to answer “Yes” or “No”, but the drawback of such
question is a high possibility of the dishonest answer since not everyone is willing to
admit such habit in public. If the open-ended structure is used for this question, the
possible written answers can be “-” or “X”. When respondent writes like this about
income, it clearly displays the refusal to answer. But concerning smoking such symbols
can be misinterpreted, because they can mean either the participant does not want to
answer or does not smoke.
Moreover, by logic, non-smoking respondents have nothing to hide, so they can
bravely answer “No”. If they refuse to answer this question, it can be thought that they
smoke but hide this from others. Nevertheless, their refusal to answer if they smoke
cannot be a direct confirmation of this habit. If the space for respondent to write is
provided for this question, it is likely that this question will not be answered rather than
answered “Yes”.
The above-mentioned points mean the disadvantages of using open-ended style for
question about smoking. What is more, this is a “Yes/No” question, so the best way to
ask it via the questionnaire is to use closed-ended style with the answers “Yes” and “No”
provided to choose. What is more, concerning the topic specifics a good third answer
option is “I smoked but I quit”. Sometimes the lifestyle, health status, tastes, preferences,
etc. of past smokes can differ significantly from those who have never smoked. So,
concerning smoking, the only acceptable question is “Do you smoke?”, which can be
answered either “Yes”, “No”, or “I smoked but I quit”. In mineral water consumption
survey, which was mentioned before, the question about smoking was created this way.
The last thing is to decide whether to make these awkward questions compulsory or
not. If they are optional, the survey participants are likely to skip them. However, it is
vital for enterprises to fully understand their consumers, which means such questions can
be inevitable. That is why it would be better if they are compulsory but created using the
aforementioned approach. Taking everything into consideration, the question about
income should be open-ended, while the question concerning smoking should be closed-
ended and require the answers “Yes”, “No”, and “I smoked but I quit”, and the questions
about alcohol consumption should be avoided.
References:
1. Poltorak, V. A., Taranenko, I. V., & Krasovska, O. Iu. (2014). Marketing
research. (3rd ed., rev.). Kyiv: Tsentr uchbovoi literatury [in Ukrainian].
2. Zinoruk, L. V. (2017). Marketing researches in process improve marketing mix on
enterprise. Internauka, 5(27), pp. 123 – 128 [in Ukrainian].
3. MarketingCharts (2019). Emerging Market Research Techniques Seeing Higher
Levels of Adoption. MarketingCharts. URL:
https://www.marketingcharts.com/industries/market-research-107296 (Accessed
15 October 2019).
4. IDAP (2021). Must-Know: Software Development Outsourcing Companies in
Ukraine. IDAP. URL: https://idapgroup.com/blog/software-development-outsourcing-
companies-in-ukraine/ (Accessed 24 October 2021).