Chapter 4: Multiple Choice questions

1. The difference between the sample value and the true value in the population under study is
referred to as:
A. sampling error
B. systematic error
C. measurement error
D. chance variation

Ans: D
Response: See page 125
Difficulty: Easy

4. _____________ results from mistakes or problems in the research design.

A. Systematic error
B. Processing error
C. Interviewer error
D. Random error

Ans: A
Response: See page 125
Difficulty: Easy

5. Which of the following would NOT be a type of sample design error?

A. population specification error
B. surrogate information error
C. selection error
D. frame error

Ans: B
Response: See page 125-126
Difficulty: Medium

6. The fact that not every household has a published phone number can cause which type of error in
telephone surveys?
A. sample frame error
B. random error
C. population specification error
D. surrogate information error

Ans: A
Response: See page 125
Difficulty: Medium

5-1
7. When a researcher uses an incomplete sampling frame for a study, this is referred to as
__________.
E. surrogate information error
F. selection error
G. frame error
H. none of the above

Ans: C
Difficulty: Medium
Response: See page 125

8. A manufacturer of desserts developed a new five-minute dessert. A marketing research firm

surveyed females and found an overall poor response to the quickie dessert. A follow-up focus
group revealed that working females without children were not interested in the new idea, but
females with children were. What kind of error was evident in the initial survey?
A. sample frame error
B. random error
C. population specification error
D. surrogate information error

Ans: C
Response: See page 125-126
Difficulty: Medium

9. This type of sample design error can occur even when the population is correctly specified and a
proper sample frame is being used.
A. measurement error
B. random error
C. processing error
D. selection error

Ans: D
Response: See page 126
Difficulty: Medium

10. A researcher hired students to conduct door-to-door interviews. While verifying responses, the
researcher found that one interviewer surveyed consecutive houses in a particular subdivision,
instead of selecting every third house. What kind of error has occurred here?
A. selection error
B. measurement error
C. processing error
D. interviewer error

Ans: A
Response: See page 126
Difficulty: Medium

5-2
11. The Bureau of the Census reported that a more accurate estimate of the total population in the
U.S. could be accomplished by a carefully selected sample, rather than with a census attempting
to count all members of the population. What broad classification of errors is the researcher
indirectly alluding to?
A. random error
B. selection error
C. measurement error
D. frame error

Ans: C
Response: See page 126
Difficulty: Difficult

12. A marketing researcher subcontracted data collection to a field services firm. After the data is
collected, the researcher finds many mistakes. Skip patterns were not followed, and difficult
questions were often left blank. The researcher contacts the interviewers and finds they received
little or no training and no supervision. What kind of error is evident here?
A. processing error
B. interviewer error or bias
C. surrogate information error
D. measurement instrument bias

Ans: B
Response: See page 126-127
Difficulty: Medium

13. In the pretesting of a questionnaire, a researcher finds that respondents perceive several of the
questions as biased, and others as confusing. If the researcher does not make revisions to the
questionnaire, there will probably be a large amount of which of the following?
A. processing error
B. interviewer error
C. surrogate information error
D. measurement instrument bias

Ans: D
Response: See page 127
Difficulty: Medium

14. A questionnaire that is not computer coded, thereby increasing the complexity of inputting the
questionnaire data into a database, will probably suffer from which of the following?
A. processing error
B. interviewer error
C. surrogate information error
D. measurement instrument bias

Ans: A
Response: See page 127

5-3
Difficulty: Easy

15a. A researcher conducts a mail survey in a high-end area of Silicon Valley and finds that of the
3,000 questionnaires mailed out, only 150 are returned, for a 5% response rate. In addition, the
census data for the area indicate a much higher income than that of the returned surveys. The
type of error (bias) prominent here is:
A. surrogate information error
B. refusal rate error
C. nonresponse bias (error)
D. measurement instrument bias (error)

Ans: C
Response: See page 127
Difficulty: Difficult

15. In terms of refusal rate, very few respondents refuse to take a survey
A. before the survey introduction
B. after the introduction
C. after the warm-up questions
D. once the survey is well underway

Ans: D
Response: See page 127
Difficulty: Medium

16. At which point do people typically refuse to take a survey?

a. before the survey introduction
b. after the introduction
c. after the warm-up questions
d. once the survey is well underway
e. the rate of refusal is about the same for each of the above

Ans: A
Difficulty: Medium
Response: See page 127

17. When survey respondents deliberately falsify their income this is known as which type of bias?
A. interviewer bias
B. nonresponse bias
C. measurement instrument bias
D. response bias

Ans: D
Response: See page 128
Difficulty: Easy

5-4
17b. When the researcher achieves a very low response rate, he/she should be concerned with
______________.
A. surrogate information error
B. refusal rate error
C. nonresponse bias (error)
D. measurement instrument bias (error)
E. none of the above

Ans: C
Difficulty: Medium
Response: See page 127

18. Which of the following is currently the least popular type of data collection?
a. Internet surveys
b. mall-intercept interviews
c. door-to-door interviews
d. telephone surveys

Ans: C
Difficulty: Easy
Response: See page 129

19. A researcher is studying farmers in a developing country to see which types of government
communications about crop rotation are most effective. What type of survey method is most
likely to be used?
A. Internet panel
B. door-to-door interviews
C. central location telephone
D. self-administered interviews

Ans: B
Response: See page 129
Difficulty: Difficult

20. Which of the following is a disadvantage of mall-intercept interviewing over door-to-door

interviewing?
A. representative samples
B. less travel time
C. interviewer spends a higher percentage of their time doing interviews
D. lower sampling costs

Ans: A
Response: See page 131
Difficulty: Medium

21. Which of the following data collection techniques can produce excellent sample quality?
A. executive interviews

5-5
 B. mall intercept
C. central location telephone
D. self-administered interviews

Ans: C
Response: See page 133
Difficulty: Medium

22. A researcher who wants to use probing should consider using which type of questionnaire?
a. mail
b. Internet
c. telephone
d. none of the above

Ans: C
Difficulty: Medium
Response: See page 131-133

23. Which of the following is an advantage of CATI?

a. automatically handling respondent selection
b. automatically handling skip patterns
c. eliminating selection bias
d. computer tabulation of data can occur at any time
e. All of the above are advantages of CATI.

Ans: E
Difficulty: Hard
Response: See page 133-134

24. Which of the following is a disadvantage of CATI?

A. increasing response rates and respondent cooperation
B. automatically handling respondent selection and skip patterns
C. customized questionnaires according to responses
D. computer tabulation of data can occur at any time

Ans: A
Response: See page 133-134
Difficulty: Medium

25. Which of the following is an example of a self-administered questionnaire?

A. telephone survey
B. door-to-door survey
C. mail survey
D. mall intercept

Ans: C

5-6
Response: See page 134-135
Difficulty: Easy

26. To determine how the same group of respondents feels at different points of time, the researcher
must use what kind of study?
a. mail
b. Internet
c. telephone
d. longitudinal

Ans: D
Difficulty: Difficult
Response: See page 137

27. A mail panel is a type of which kind of study?

A. Ad hoc
B. qualitative
C. CATI
D. Longitudinal

Ans: D
Response: See page 137
Difficulty: Medium

28. Which is NOT a tactic employed to increase mail survey response rates?
A. Monetary Incentives
B. Emotional Appeals
C. Premiums
D. Promise of future opportunities

Ans: D
Response: See page 137
Difficulty: Medium

29. Non-response bias occurs in ad-hoc mail surveys with which group of people?
A. those with interest in the topic
B. those with less education
C. students
D. men

Ans: C
Response: See page 137
Difficulty: Medium

5-7
30. If a researcher requires excellent sampling precision in a survey, the most likely method would
be:
A. central-location telephone interview with random-digit dialing
B. online survey recruited through banner advertising on news websites
C. intercept interviews conducted at major airports
D. self-administered questionnaire distributed with delivered newspapers

Ans: A
Response: See page 139
Difficulty: Medium

31. A food products manufacturer would like to conduct a taste test of its new diet cookie. The most
logical survey method would be:
A. multiple Internet panels
B. mall intercept interviews
C. computer assisted telephone surveys
D. mail surveys to grocery store employees

Ans: B
Response: See page 138
Difficulty: Medium

True – False

32. Surveys have a low rate of usage in marketing research compared to other means of data
collection.

Ans: False
Response: See page 123
Difficulty: Easy

33. The total amount of error in a particular project involving a survey is referred to as random error.

Ans: False
Difficulty: Hard
Response: See page 124

34. Most marketing research is completely error free.

Ans: False
Difficulty: Medium
Response: See pages 124-125

5-8
35. Although the odds are 50-50, if you flip a coin ten times, you could get 10 tails. Similarly in a
survey with a very small sample size, you could get all females. This error is random sampling
error.
Ans: True
Response: See pages 125
Difficulty: Medium

36. Random error can be reduced by increasing sample size.

Ans: True
Response: See page 125
Difficulty: Easy

37. A survey of Florida residents showed that respondents were more educated than the rate reported
by the U.S. Census. This bias is called systematic error.

Ans: True
Response: See page 125
Difficulty: Medium

38. Using a phone book as a sampling frame is likely to result in sampling frame error.

Ans: True
Response: See page 125
Difficulty: Medium

39. A new mall intercept interviewer was nervous about his first day at work and decided to interview
only his friends who had come to the mall. This error is called surrogate information error.

ANSWER: False
Response: See page 126
Difficulty: Medium

40. Measurement error is often a more serious threat to survey accuracy than is random error.

Ans: True
Difficulty: Hard
Response: See page 126

41. When interviewers falsify data, the type of error introduced is interviewer error.

Ans: True
Difficulty: Medium
Response: See page 126

42. One of the major causes of surrogate information error is failure to properly define the research
problem.

5-9
Ans: True
Difficulty: Medium
Response: See page 126

43. Most of the refusals to participate in a survey occur after the introduction is read.

ANSWER: False
Response: See page 127
Difficulty: Medium

44. Across all survey methods, the majority of people refuse to answer surveys.

Ans: True
Response: See page 127
Difficulty: Medium

45. It is possible for respondents to falsify answers unconsciously.

Ans: True
Response: See page 129
Difficulty: Easy

46. Mall-intercept interviewing is seen as a low-cost alternative to door-to-door interviewing, if the

population definition is that of mall shoppers.

Ans: True
Response: See page 131
Difficulty: Medium

47. Mall-intercept interviewing is being replaced by some researchers with in-store research.

Ans: True
Difficulty: Medium
Response: See page 131

48. Random-digit dialing enables market researchers to reach households with unlisted phone
numbers.

Ans: True
Response: See page 131-132
Difficulty: Easy

5-10
49. New technologies such as random-digit dialing, caller ID, and answering machines have
increased the efficiency of telephone interviewing.

Ans: False
Response: See page 131-133
Difficulty: Medium

50. Most current telephone research is biased due to the fact that most people have abandoned land
lines in favor of cell phones.

Ans: False
Difficulty: Hard
Response: See page 131-133

51. Inability to probe is a major disadvantage of mail and self-administered interviews.

Ans: True
Response: See page 134
Difficulty: Easy

52. Mail surveys are a type of self-administered questionnaire.

Ans: True
Response: See page 134-136
Difficulty: Easy

53. An advantage of mail panel surveys is the ability to conduct longitudinal research.

Ans: True
Response: See page 136
Difficulty: Easy

54. Ad hoc mail surveys generally produce higher response rates than mail panel surveys.

Ans: False
Response: See page 136-137
Difficulty: Medium

55. More people participate in mail surveys than in any other type of traditional survey research.

Ans: True
Difficulty: Hard
Response: See page 138

56. Excellent samples can be obtained from central location telephone surveys.

Ans. True

5-11
Difficulty: Medium
Response: See page 141

57. When employing special measurement techniques, the researcher should invoke a telephone
interview.

Ans. False
Difficulty: Medium
Response: See page 140

5-12