MSG Team's other articles

9985 International Retailing and Retail Logistics Challenges

International Retailing is seeing exciting times. With globalisation and availability of new market opportunities, we see a lot of aggression from International Retailers in consolidating their operations within the country and setting up new outlets in emerging markets such as South East Asia. International buying and supply chain has undergone a series of evolution since […]

10345 Merchandising in International Retailing – An Introduction

International Retailing is going places. With globalization and with E Commerce, the horizon of opportunities has expanded significantly. Efficiency and the profitable operations of International Retailing both in terms of fashion as well as grocery retailing is dependant largely upon the Buying or Merchandising function. As the industry has progressed and evolved, the key role […]

11182 Routes to Strategic Growth: Organic or Inorganic Growth

Organic Growth Organic growth in management parlance refers to the growth of a company that occurs naturally. In other words, if a company grows through increased revenues and increased profitability on its own without resorting to mergers and acquisitions, then it is known to grow organically. For instance, companies like Infosys are known to shun […]

10952 Relationship Marketing Using the Internet

Introduction With the advent of the internet and big data analysis, organizations have been able to use relationship marketing and database mining as a powerful marketing tool. This combination of the internet, technology and relationship marketing is referred to as customer relationship management. Customer relationship marketing uses direct marketing, relationship marketing and database mining to […]

12255 Actualizing Business as Usual Strategies for Mission Critical Organizations and Functions

What are BAU or Business As Usual Strategies and how do they Work? Business as Usual or BAU strategies and action plans are meant to keep vital organizational functions and processes up and running even in times of extreme events that disrupt the other functions. This is especially the case when such functions and processes […]

Search with tags

  • No tags available.

The Survey method is the technique of gathering data by asking questions to people who are thought to have desired information. A formal list of questionnaire is prepared. Generally a non disguised approach is used. The respondents are asked questions on their demographic interest opinion.

Advantages of Survey Method

  1. As compared to other methods (direct observation, experimentation) survey yield a broader range of information.

    Surveys are effective to produce information on socio-economic characteristics, attitudes, opinions, motives etc and to gather information for planning product features, advertising media, sales promotion, channels of distribution and other marketing variables.

  2. Questioning is usually faster and cheaper that Observation.

  3. Questions are simple to administer.

  4. Data is reliable

  5. The variability of results is reduced.

  6. It is relatively simple to analyze, quote and interrelate the data obtained by survey method

Disadvantages of Survey Method

  1. Unwillingness of respondents to provide information- This requires salesmanship on the part of the interviewer. The interviewer may assure that the information will be kept secret or apply the technique of offering some presents.

  2. Inability of the respondents to provide information- This may be due to:

    1. Lack of knowledge

    2. Lapse of memory

    3. Inability to identify their motives and provide “reasons why?” for their actions

  3. Human Biases of the respondents are there, for eg: “Ego”

  4. Symantec difficulties are there - it is difficult, if not impossible, to state a given question in such a way that it will mean exactly same thing to each respondent. Similarly two different wordings of the same question will frequently produce quite different results.

How to overcome the limitations of Survey Method

  1. Careful framing and phrasing of questions.

  2. Careful control of data gathering by employing specially trained investigators who will observe carefully report on subtle reactions of persons interviewed

  3. Cautious interpretations by a clear recognition of the limitations of the data and understating of what exactly the data represents. This is especially true of responses to questions like - “What price would you be willing to pay for this product?”

  4. Looking at facts in relative rather than absolute terms. For eg - A survey by a dentist team showed that the number of families in the middle income group used toothpaste taken by itself in the absolute sense, the results of the survey are in some doubt. Even though the individual group readings shall differ say for eg: for upper income group families it could be 90 %. Hence we should look at the facts in relative rather than in absolute terms.

Article Written by

MSG Team

An insightful writer passionate about sharing expertise, trends, and tips, dedicated to inspiring and informing readers through engaging and thoughtful content.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Articles

Conjoint Analysis – Meaning, Usage and its Limitations

MSG Team

Case Study

MSG Team

Brand Health Survey

MSG Team