Glossary of Terms
F - J
Female Head-of-Household (FHH):
The woman most responsible for maintaining the household. May or may not be the primary wage earner.
Field
The physical location where the interviewing takes place.
Field Director
The person assigned to implement the design of a survey through data collection companies. He/she is generally responsible for selecting the data collection companies and preparing specific study instructions for the interviewers and supervisors.
Field Service
See Data Collection Company
Field Supervisor
The person responsible for the selection, hiring and training of interviewers. He/she is responsible for the data collection phase of the survey according to instructions.
Focus Group/Interview (FGI)
An unstructured interviewing technique where a small group (8 to 10) of eligible respondents are invited to participate in a discussion about a particular topic. A trained moderator guides the discussion of the respondent group. A type of qualitative research.
Frequency
The number of times a specific condition exists. This is usually recorded by number of times per day, per week or per month.
Full Service (F.S.) Research Company
A company hired by a manufacturer or service company to design and manage the implementation of a research project, as well as analyze and interpret the data. The full service company may collect the data themselves or hire a data collection company for this phase of a project.
Gratuity
See Cooperation (Co-op) Fee.
Grid
A chart that can be used to record responses to questions or track the progress of a project.
Hand Tab
The simplest type of tabulation possible; consists of a manual count of the answers to certain questions on the questionnaires.
Handout Cards
See Exhibits.
Hash Mark
A way of tallying or counting by accumulating identical lines into groups of five, i.e., 1111 1111. Each mark or line represents one respondent or item.
Head of Household (HH)
One person in a household is termed as the "Head." The Head is usually the person who has primary decision-making responsibility for the household and lives in the dwelling. When two or more people share this responsibility, the client will specify which individual should be surveyed. It may be the person earning the greater income in the household. Survey assignments will generally specify male or female Head of Household to be interviewed.
Home Audit:
A survey where an interviewer enters a respondent's home to take an actual inventory of particular products on hand in the house at the time of the interview.
Home Use Test (HUT)
The placement of a test product with the respondent to be used under in-home usage conditions over a specific time period. The test product may be "identified" or labeled as to what it is, or the product may be "blind," only identified by a code letter or number. Respondents may be questioned before they are given the product to use. They are definitely questioned about their reactions to the product after their in-home use experience.
Host or Hostess
The person whose major responsibility is the comfort of clients, guests and respondents at a focus group or central location test
In-depth Interview (IDI)
An interviewing approach which delves into the respondent's reactions to questions in an unstructured manner. In all in-depth interviews, a guide is essential, enabling the interviewer to direct the flow of conversation to relevant subjects. In many cases, the interviewer will be a trained focus group moderator. A type of qualitative research.
Incentive
See Cooperation (Co-op) Fee.
Incidence
The frequency of something occurring in the population. It usually refers to persons and is stated as a percentage (i.e., the percentage of people in the U.S. who eat cereal for breakfast). In marketing and opinion research, incidence is a measure of the level of effort needed to reach qualified or eligible respondents.
Industrial Survey
A marketing research study which focuses upon products and services utilized by businesses and manufacturing firms, conducted among respondents employed in such bus-inesses (as opposed to a consumer survey).
Initial Refusal
This occurs when a respondent refuses to participate in a survey at the interviewer's initial introductory statement.
Interactive Interviewing
Asking questions and recording answers via computer
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Research
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) research allows respondents to take surveys
by interacting with a computer using a telephone touch pad instead of a
computer keyboard, incoming telephone call, direct mail questionnaire or
face-to-face interview. Respondents call a toll-free phone number, enter
a code and then take a survey. Respondents enter their responses by using
the touch-buttons on the phone's keypad. If a "voice capture" feature is
used, open-ended responses are digitally recorded when the respondent speaks
into the phone's mouthpiece. The data captured are available almost instantaneously
to the researcher. A common application of IVR is to combine the technology
with a respondent incentive. For example, phone cards, preloaded with a
given amount of phone time, are printed with the survey company's name
and phone number for respondents to call. The cards are disseminated to
the desired respondent universe with instructions that by calling the phone
number printed on the card and completing the survey, the respondent will
be given the activation number for the free phone minutes. Dissemination
of the cards can be by mail or in person, the latter being of particular
benefit when trying to research a universe that is gathered in one place
for a brief point in time (car races, bars, mall openings, state fairs,
etc.). The IVR application works particularly well among respondents who
are less likely to be willing to accept telephone/intercept interviews
and among respondents who do not have computer or Internet access. Additionally,
respondents with literacy limitations and those with language barriers
to English are easily accommodated by this technology. It should be noted
that IVR research technology can be combined with more traditional research
techniques to form a hybrid interview methodology. For example, if certain
stimuli need to be presented, such as pictures of new package designs,
the stimuli can be provided to the respondent on paper and then the survey
administered via IVR.
Intercept Interview
A term used to describe a study conducted in person with respondents who are approached or intercepted in high traffic locations such as grocery stores or shopping malls.
Interview
The exchange of information between the interviewer and the respondent. A questionnaire is the vehicle used for this exchange. The interviewer records the respondent's responses to a question or series of questions. The exchange can be in person or on the telephone; answers can be recorded on paper or via computer.
Interviewee
See Respondent
Interviewer
The person conducting the interviewing by asking questions.
Interviewer Bias
An influence on answers to questions caused by the presence, attitudes or actions of the person asking the questions.