International Journal of Market Research

Verbal scales are intrinsic to attitude measurement. One approach is to employ agreement–disagreement scales. However, when inter-country comparisons will be made, it cannot be presumed that results will be directly comparable. Different verbal usages often prevail, even where the language is the same. Variations in the patterns of response across cultures and languages are non-systemic, the consequence of which is that single overall country adjustments should not be used. Focusing on meaningful measurement can yield scales that provide real comparability.

Online research has experienced astonishing growth over the past 15 years. To keep up with this growth, researchers have developed new ways of accessing and utilising respondents. Nevertheless, they can still find it difficult to complete the needed number of interviews on time, particularly when the target population is rare or in high demand. For this reason, it is common today for researchers to use more than one sample source for some types of project, such as a tracking survey that measures change over time. Adding one or more sample source to the original might address the need for more respondents, but some evidence suggests that it might also decrease sample representativeness and reduce response accuracy. In this paper, we introduce a new methodology that enables researchers to select potential survey respondents from either a single sample source or multiple sources based on how well their characteristics match an appropriate, evolving standard with demonstrated evidence of external validity. We also present evidence suggesting that, in the aggregate, respondents who are selected through the new methodology are more representative of the target population than respondents selected by other means. Finally, we consider possible implications of the new methodology on methods other than online research with non-probability samples.

Many commentators tell us that the qualitative research tools in most common use, while fit for many purposes, are ineffective in discovering the emotional reasons behind behaviour. In my arena - children and young people's research - I am seeking to address this with the development of creative workshops. With this, I have for the first time combined my dual backgrounds of qualitative research and drama (before retraining as a researcher, I was in theatre for 15 years as an actor and director, including many productions for children). Workshops will comprise a mix of research and drama exercises, together accessing areas normally hidden during, for instance, standard focus groups. The impetus for this development comes from a current trend to involve storytelling in research in some way or another.

Western retailers find alignment with consumers in Greater China challenging. Managers struggle to understand local retail values, especially where quantitative marketing research obfuscates meanings behind overly simplified constructs - lacking richness that is key to alignment. As researchers embedded in a distant indigenous culture, we use an interpretive research design, drawing on longitudinal data collected over a six-year period, to reveal multiple lenses of local realities, giving a perspective on international retailers' misalignment. The multimethod approach integrates ethnography, interviews, participant observations, videography and extended data in podcasts. We show how everyday products can be purely functional (global) at one time but embedded with symbolic meaning (local) at another, thereby confounding international retailers and researchers. Managers and researchers tend to reduce the legitimacy of meanings that differ from the values and beliefs of their existing (home/local) paradigm. We present a conceptual model that clarifies the marketing metaphor of ‘alignment’ for retailers targeting Far East Asian markets.

Brand image measures using the typical ‘pick any’ answer format have been shown to be unstable (Rungie et al. 2005). In the present study, we find that these poor stability results are mainly caused by the pick-any measure itself because it allows consumers to evade reporting true associations. Using a forcedchoice binary measure, we find that stable brand attribute associations are in fact present with much higher incidence (70%), thus outperforming both the measures predominantly used in industry (pick-any, 41%) and academia (7-point scale measure, 59%). Under simulated optimal conditions, the forced-choice binary measure leads to 90% stability of brand-attribute associations and is therefore recommended as the optimal answer format for brand image studies.

Churchill (1979) proposed a detailed procedure for the development of better multi-item measures that has become popular. Recently, however, many scholars have challenged this dominant paradigm. They argue that, in many marketing contexts where the target construct has a precise and concrete definition, long multi-item measures can be substituted by shorter measures with fewer items, or even single-item measures. This has resulted in the controversy around the relative superiority of single- versus multi-item scales. We review the extant literature to summarise various arguments in favour of (or against) multi-item and singleitem measures, respectively. Moreover, we propose an integrated framework for developing a new scale, reducing long multi-item scales to shorter multi-item measures or to single-item measures, or to expand an existing short (single-item) scale. The significant contributions of this paper to the literature are identified.