Market Research Design Tips

In a recent post I outlined three types of attitude questions (those pertaining to affect, cognition and action), and why it is important to create separate survey items pertaining to each concept.  Action-based questions attempt to measure potential behavior, or the likelihood that an individual will take certain actions, and thus could also be grouped together with questions of behavior.  I’d like to go into a little more detail about the relationship between attitudes and behavior - the research findings might surprise you!

Many market research projects want to establish how likely people are to purchase (or consider purchasing) particular products and services.  They might find that 75% of their survey sample would be “interested” in buying a certain new electronic device, for example.  The project manager could conclude that they have a wide open market, and that 3 out of every 4 people (potentially) will purchase their product. 

This conclusion is based on one (rather big) assumption, however: that attitude equals behavior.  While purchasing behavior is different (and likely less complex) than, say, voting behavior, it is not necessarily the case that attitude is a good predictor of behavior.  Forty years ago, in fact, one study outlined seven reasons for the weak relationship that still hold true today:

1. There may be no clear way for an attitude to become expressed in a behavior.
2. Attitudes may reflect fantasy or sublimation more than realistic responses.
3. Individuals may not be willing to disclose honest expression of certain opinions.
4. Individuals may translate opinions into action in unpredictable ways, such as suppression and inaction, displacement into other arenas, and rationalization.
5. Individuals may lack the informational resources to act.
6. Individuals may lack the opportunity to act.
7. Individuals may lack the sense of efficacy to act.

This of course does not mean you should stop measuring potential behaviors.  But it should remind you that “actions speak louder than words,” and I simply urge you to take the results from behavioral likelihood questions with a grain of salt.