Surveys and Samples

Chapter 1 made the point that primary sources of market research findings are often derived from a field survey. The purpose of this relatively short chapter is to discuss some of the problems which arise in such field work. In some instances it will be practical to cover all possible customers by means of a survey, because there are so few of them; the obverse side of this condition, however, is that each possible respondent is virtually indispensable, the co-operation of all respondents is therefore particularly important and the amount of information to be extracted is considerable. In short, the survey loses much of its value if even a single respondent refuses to co-operate. In other instances the number of potential customers will be so great that either the amount of information sought will be very small, and the method of collection will be the cheapest possible with little or no attempt to follow up non-respondents, or only a proportion, possibly a very small proportion, will be interviewed — that is, a sample will have to be taken.